Hyrdro Drip System Overwatering?

I have am seeing one of my girls is starting to droop. What is the best way to help her?

Hyrdo-clay pellets- 24 hour current drip 1 .5 inch from Rockwool. PPM started at 369 and now (2 days) gone to 628.

Drooping as understand it is from overwatering or heat. Heat is 76-80 and water temp same.

Any advice?

thanks green thumbs!

try lowering ur rez temp under 70. Ideal 68 degrees.

I ran a drip system before and I used to water 3 x's a day 15-30 minute intervals.Droopy leafs is usually a sign of over watering.

jcdws602 said:

I ran a drip system before and I used to water 3 x's a day 15-30 minute intervals.Droopy leafs is usually a sign of over watering.

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Have the drip stakes at the side of the pots, not in the middle.

You can water every hour with drip, you just dont want to drip right onto the rockwool if that is what you are using. In my drip I drip 15 minutes on and 45 minutes off, 24/7.

Plants love flowing, highly oxygenated water running over their roots.

Ive ran the emitters 24/7 for weeks before with no ill effect to the plants.

You definitely want to lower the water temp if you can.

GreenThumbSucker said:

Have the drip stakes at the side of the pots, not in the middle.

You can water every hour with drip, you just dont want to drip right onto the rockwool if that is what you are using. In my drip I drip 15 minutes on and 45 minutes off, 24/7.

Plants love flowing, highly oxygenated water running over their roots.

Ive ran the emitters 24/7 for weeks before with no ill effect to the plants.

You definitely want to lower the water temp if you can.

Click to expand...

Thanks!

So i will try the once an hour deal for awhile... cause most of the girls look super happy.

Drips are on outer edge.... but Rock Wool does stay pretty soaked... is that ok? or should they kind dry out a bit?

..but Rock Wool does stay pretty soaked... is that ok? or should they kind dry out a bit?

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I had the same problem. I actually had to make drip rings out of T's and spaghetti hose to avoid this problem. Once you get the drip rings made, bury them so that the drip ring is at the bottom of where the rockwool sits. That was the hydroton gets a good, even soaking, but the rockwool stays fairly dry.

That's the shitty part about mixing two different mediums. Rockwool needs to be wetted only once or twice a day, whereas hydroton can almost be continually watered. However, the method above should solve your problem.

Another thing, watch the res temp, as the res heats up, the amount of disolved oxygen goes down which paves the way for pathogens, which consume even more oxygen, which creates an even better environment for anaerobic bacteria, which consume even more oxygen.... you see where this is going. Eventually, the nute solution is so oxygen depleted that it doesn't matter what irrigation cycle or how much bubbling you do, there just isn't enough DO for the plant to survive. If I were in your situation (and I was about a month ago), I would change out the res, clean everything and start with a fresh solution. Then I would add some H2O2 and make sure the res temp stays below 70f.

Good luck.