school me up on some hydro knowledge...

Hey everyone

looking to go from soil to hydro pretty soon and I just wanted to
See if I got this right...

so how do people grow multiple strains in a ebb and flow table?
Im not getting it because my plants take different amounts of nutes...
so is that possible?

Maybe get multiple reservoirs and maybe sectioning off the table?

same question goes for a system like those made by stealth hydro there multi grow bubbleponics...

how do u do multiple strains in these systems?

Bucketponics seem so much better and safer...

one plant,one reservoir, one stone...independent of one another...

I'll chime in-- I'm doing aeroponic, but my system is basically just a res with a square tube coming out of it. There is a fountain pump that pumps the water/feed up a line, and the line goes up the tube and has sprayers at each site.

I'll go ahead and tell you (bc I am dealing with this myself), but its not recommended to run different strains, especially not like different strains that like different levels of nutes. I just ran an OG that drank nutes like crazy; to feed it the same would burn up my white lavenders. Maybe there are certain types of hydro where its possible, or if you want to try running different RES's would probably be your only option . in my system the roots intertwine with each other, so come flower I'm gonna have a hard time figuring out how to only pull certain plants (I have 4 plants and 4 different strains in 1 system).

Jeez, I never realize how high I am until I go back and read my posts lol. I hope that made sense.

Anyways, something else I was thinking, and this might only be an aeroponic thing, but it really helps to watch the water level, and know if/when/how much its going down. It doesn't matter if its a certain amount of water; you could fill it with 10.754 gallons, as long as you mark a line or put a suction cup or something to mark where its full.

If your water level is going down, and your ppm's are going down, then you can increase the concentration safely.
If your water level goes down, and your ppm goes up, then check your pH bc you might have lockout (unless the plants are really small, and the water is just evaporating faster)
If your water level goes down, and your ppm stays the same, then you're gravy and try and keep it that way.

Again, I read this in an aero thread but it makes sense that it would work the same way with hydro. The only other advice I can give you (as someone who switched from organic soil grows to synthetic/salt aero) is to have a good system to keep your temps in check; I had a week or so of highbres temps, around 75-78 and it caused a slime problem that I have been battling ever since. Read up on beneficial microbes to help battle slime, and learn when to use peroxide to fight it (it can kill your good microbes too).

Btw, here's a quick shot of my system, in case I didn't make an y sense explaining it
There's the res, and the water pumping up the line
4 plants sitting in net pots, you can see the blue dream on the left is the tallest. I do my best to keep the t5's close but its hard, especially the little desert diesel (2nd from right), but they seem to be growing alright. You'll be amazed how fast the growth is with hydro, and synthetic nutes. But yeah I dunno what I'm gonna do when I get into flower, lol. Theyre all hybrids but they definitely have a couple different phenos. I should've started a post like you did, lol.

Coming soon: help Thor with his aero shit

Thanks for the input fellow asgardian

What have u been doing to battle rez temp? Im thinking of doing multiple 5 gal buckets but im concerned about temps...I think the water bottle method is kinda ghetto and I would like a more permanent fix...

it seems its give and take on all aspects...

If u have any literature about aero or hydro that u found really informative please share...I went thru alot of rosemans stuff and it was good but always wanting more...

could go dwc keep your buckets independent.

Man honestly, I just switched my grow room a few weeks ago, bit in the old one I had an air conditioner in the window for the summer months. Now that its colder, I haven't been using the air conditioner and I haven't had any problems with res temp.

The water bottle method is ghetto, but it works. The only other option would be to get one of those water cooling systems, I think they're a little pricey. I bought a bunch of lunch box ice packs (the little blue square ones) bc they are smaller and have more surface area, so they'll bring the temps down quicker, but they that fast. I also keep a couple bigger Gatorade/whatever bottles froZen and handy so I have something that will keep it cool a little longer. But honestly, with my window cracked about an inch and my res sitting right below it, I haven't had to worry about it lately.

That, plus my aero is under four, 4' t5's so they don't get that hot. The benefit to my aero system, is that when I switch to flower I can keep my res outside of my tent, and just stick the plastic tube through one of the lower ports on my tent, which is a 5'x5'x7' with a 1000 watt bulb. Lately even without the ac my temps stay below 77° f.

And btw, I can't think of any links or anything right off hand, but I'll see what I can find. I'm like you, I read up every chance I get. Spent my first 5 months with my nose in info all day long, and it's definitely paid off. I just cropped an og, and I won't know till it's dry but I should have about a half a pound on it (and og is supposedly a shitty yielder. The smoke is dank as hell, too. Soil gives you nice, solid plants; growing hydro is like growing fucking lettuce-- the plants seem softer, and dry faster. They're like moist and crunchy like lettuce lol. I was squeezing my blue dream and the stalk just busted open. I taped it up and it healed solid, tho.

Banks,
I've done quite a bit of E&F sog type. And while I agree, mixing strains on a flood table is a bad idea...I have done it a couple times. But I'll add I was very familiar with the growth characteristis of both strains. White Widow and Buddha's sister. I had to add a little extra Mg (epsom salts) for the WW but the BS didn't mind. This was done under duress to fill the tray. Generally best to avoid.
JD

banks dank said:

Hey everyone

looking to go from soil to hydro pretty soon and I just wanted to
See if I got this right...

so how do people grow multiple strains in a ebb and flow table?
Im not getting it because my plants take different amounts of nutes...
so is that possible?

Maybe get multiple reservoirs and maybe sectioning off the table?

same question goes for a system like those made by stealth hydro there multi grow bubbleponics...

how do u do multiple strains in these systems?

Bucketponics seem so much better and safer...

one plant,one reservoir, one stone...independent of one another...

Click to expand...

Why not just build 2 tables and have 2 reservoirs only would cost like 150usd more

Why go from soil to anything else? Hey it's yer thing though .......Yeah DWC would solve that the best,,,,,choose plants that you are familiar with and seem to have the same traits. Don't be shocked when "things" happen faster in hydro and here comes the daily pH monitoring thing too.....Do yourself a favor and start out with RO water and add 5ml CALiMAGic per gallon

Thanks for your help guys I do appreciate it

I forgot to mention one other thing....so with an ebb and flow or a "central" reservoir style setup, not only would u have to get strains thats are simular in nutrient styles, but also in age. An old plant takes more than a young one...

So perpetual harvest is hard to do...how can u introduce clones to the table when the nute value is so high?

What I mean is u cant put a freshly rooted clone on a ebb and flow that has mature plants on it. Different nute values for different ages...

Am I right?

Yeah, that's one thing you won't be able to avoid-- different aged plants are definitely gonna need different RES's. I started mine from seed, and they kind of get shocked and have to adjust for a couple days before they start to grow, once you put them in the system. And that's with the ppms at like 600 or something. I could imagine clones would croak out pretty quick if you tried sticking them with some 2-3 week plants that are @1000 ppm.

It sounds like dwc would be your best option (for multiple plants/ages). Just use a 5 gallon bucket for each res-- and get air pumps with like 4 outlets a piece and what not so you don't have to have 1 of everything for your different RES's.

ThorGanjason said:

Yeah, that's one thing you won't be able to avoid-- different aged plants are definitely gonna need different RES's. I started mine from seed, and they kind of get shocked and have to adjust for a couple days before they start to grow, once you put them in the system. And that's with the ppms at like 600 or something. I could imagine clones would croak out pretty quick if you tried sticking them with some 2-3 week plants that are @1000 ppm.

It sounds like dwc would be your best option (for multiple plants/ages). Just use a 5 gallon bucket for each res-- and get air pumps with like 4 outlets a piece and what not so you don't have to have 1 of everything for your different RES's.

Click to expand...

Thats exactly what I thought, thanks thor.

Cant wait to join the hydro club I feel so cool!

Haha no doubt man. yeah, its dofferent and I do love soil but it has tooons of advantages. Personally I think its a lot easier. That's not the right word--its a lot less work it seems like, when its set set up. When you're not having problems your just checking the pH and ppm once/twice a day. Change the res every Now and then. You don't have all the transplanting. Which I work with 7 gallon pots, its a lot of soil vegging 8 week plants.

But yeah, you'll definitely par yourself on the back and smile when you bring those girls to life with nothing but water

Hey dude, I'm local and I give free advice and even consultations. If your a patient. I roll Deep Water Culture and am just harvesting my first official cannabis plant from it. A green crack with a cola the size of a grenade. Ive done strawberries, peppers, and tomatoes the same way as practice for cannabis though.

The DWC is awesome because it is almost 0 maintenance and allows for different nutrient blends for each strain, I like specifically the bubble buckets with the passive air-flow rings that force water to drip from the top.