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Deforced

Deforced

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Ok thankyou, what medium would you recommend by chance? If I was to stay with flood and drian? It would be a shame to ditch this system after forking out so much money on. Its an iws flood and drain btw. Cheers
 
tobh

tobh

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perlite or hydroton would be excellent choices. rockwool could work but it's pretty similar to coco in how it is best suited towards top feed. if i were to do f&d again I would personally use perlite in fabric pots only because i absolutely despite hydroton.
 
Anthem

Anthem

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Right I've done my test of runoff ppm and ec, I pushed 0.5 ec and 6.0ph through and its coming back out at 0.8 and 6.3ph. There is a bit of salt on the top of each pot so I'm in two minds to flush the cap out of them even though the readings aren't crazy and start my normal feeding straight after? Or after the flush would you leave it a couple of days before introducing full strength feed again?
I run flood and drain and I have never flushed for entire runs. There should not be any salt build up on the top of the media. If there is that is probably part of your problem. You have the float height set too high and the roots are not getting enough oxygen. I am not entirely familiar with your system but it is a notch off of the greentree systems. I have no idea why you want to run hydroton and coco together. In the future I would use just the hydroton.
 
Deforced

Deforced

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Ok
perlite or hydroton would be excellent choices. rockwool could work but it's pretty similar to coco in how it is best suited towards top feed. if i were to do f&d again I would personally use perlite in fabric pots only because i absolutely despite hydroton.
Thankyou very much for your feedback, I appreciate it.
 
Deforced

Deforced

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I run flood and drain and I have never flushed for entire runs. There should not be any salt build up on the top of the media. If there is that is probably part of your problem. You have the float height set too high and the roots are not getting enough oxygen. I am not entirely familiar with your system but it is a notch off of the greentree systems. I have no idea why you want to run hydroton and coco together. In the future I would use just the hydroton.
Thanks for your input, I've never tried straight hydroton before, only ever ran 60/40mix hence why I'm still using it, I can give hydroton a try next run maybe and see how that turns out. Thanks
 
tobh

tobh

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I run flood and drain and I have never flushed for entire runs. There should not be any salt build up on the top of the media. If there is that is probably part of your problem. You have the float height set too high and the roots are not getting enough oxygen. I am not entirely familiar with your system but it is a notch off of the greentree systems. I have no idea why you want to run hydroton and coco together. In the future I would use just the hydroton.
agreed. i think the coco in the mix is the root cause to your problems. it's just not suited to f&d at all.
 
Anthem

Anthem

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Thanks for your input, I've never tried straight hydroton before, only ever ran 60/40mix hence why I'm still using it, I can give hydroton a try next run maybe and see how that turns out. Thanks
Yes I see that in your previous posts you did the same, but to be honest it seems you are fighting the same problem as you did on your last run. Running Coco and Hydroton together is not something I am familiar with doing. I have run both but never together. Coco has come along way with fertigation techniques but it is really just hydroponics with a different media. Pick one or the other and do not mix them. This is adding to the headaches.
 
Deforced

Deforced

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Yes I see that in your previous posts you did the same, but to be honest it seems you are fighting the same problem as you did on your last run. Running Coco and Hydroton together is not something I am familiar with doing. I have run both but never together. Coco has come along way with fertigation techniques but it is really just hydroponics with a different media. Pick one or the other and do not mix them. This is adding to the headaches.
Ok, I think I'm going try just coco and see how I get on next run. I am having the exact same problems everytime I start a new batch! They say that the hydroton mixed in with the coco adds areation to the medium that's all. Thanks
 
Anthem

Anthem

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Ok, I think I'm going try just coco and see how I get on next run. I am having the exact same problems everytime I start a new batch! They say that the hydroton mixed in with the coco adds areation to the medium that's all. Thanks
If you are going to stick to the buckets the hydroton is a better option. Coco is best top feed and drain to waste or recycled. To be honest, I never intend to start growing hydroponically. I was in coco and I was trying to run it more like soil. It just does not work well. Coco drys out too fast IMO. So when it dries out the salt stays in the media and the plants start to suffer. I ended up in hydro because it made more sense than trying to set up drain tables with pumps to pump out the waste. Would I go back to coco, no way. Hydro is better for me.
 
Deforced

Deforced

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Ok, I've had a think and I would like to go hydroton, Also I've never grown just hydroton before, is it as simple as keeping ph and ec in check and away you go? So basically the exact same as coco but introduce more floods
 
Anthem

Anthem

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Ok, I've had a think and I would like to go hydroton, Also I've never grown just hydroton before, is it as simple as keeping ph and ec in check and away you go? So basically the exact same as coco but introduce more floods
You only need to flood twice a day for 30 minutes at a time. I am presently trying to grow clones faster and I am only flooding once a day to try and force root growth. I am curious with the coco, what keeps it out of the flood bucket? Are you running smart pots inside of the lower bucket? People seem to think hydroton dries out really fast and it does not. Keep your feed under 950 max on the 500 scale. PH of 5. 7 to 5. 8. If the PH goes up they want water, in the PH goes down they are hungry.
 
tobh

tobh

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yeah hydroton actually has a decent holding capacity. it's just a bitch to clean initially and between runs. with a solid root mass mixed in it'll hold even more water between events.

i just think coco will act like rockwool in f&d. sure, it can work. it's not the right media for the job though. like rockwool it's going to retain far too much water between events and getting it dialed right without issues will be a headache. something completely inert with less holding capacity -- queue perlite and hydroton -- are the right media for that kind of system.
 
Anthem

Anthem

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yeah hydroton actually has a decent holding capacity. it's just a bitch to clean initially and between runs. with a solid root mass mixed in it'll hold even more water between events.

i just think coco will act like rockwool in f&d. sure, it can work. it's not the right media for the job though. like rockwool it's going to retain far too much water between events and getting it dialed right without issues will be a headache. something completely inert with less holding capacity -- queue perlite and hydroton -- are the right media for that kind of system.
In all fairness, I do not reuse the stuff. It is just not practical for me. I did come up with a good way to get it clean from the bag. I just pour it into 5 gallon pots and wash it 3 times. works well. But no way am I going to try an clean that stuff. There is a new product that looks interesting. It is plastic so not sure it how well the roots would stick to it. I was thinking about trying it, but the water content in hydroton is hard to step away from.
 
Deforced

Deforced

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You only need to flood twice a day for 30 minutes at a time. I am presently trying to grow clones faster and I am only flooding once a day to try and force root growth. I am curious with the coco, what keeps it out of the flood bucket? Are you running smart pots inside of the lower bucket? People seem to think hydroton dries out really fast and it does not. Keep your feed under 950 max on the 500 scale. PH of 5. 7 to 5. 8. If the PH goes up they want water, in the PH goes down they are hungry.
Basically they are 10.5litre punch pots with a fine mesh at the bottom instead of normal drainage holes for better drainage. Then the 10.5l pot is sat inside the flood bucket. Quite simple yet effective if you get it dialed in I suppose. The reason I'd try coco first before hydroton is because I start the plants off in 4.5l pots before my crop is finished then they are around 2ft tall ready to be transplanted straight to the system, this way knocks loads of time off waiting from seed.
 
Deforced

Deforced

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yeah hydroton actually has a decent holding capacity. it's just a bitch to clean initially and between runs. with a solid root mass mixed in it'll hold even more water between events.

i just think coco will act like rockwool in f&d. sure, it can work. it's not the right media for the job though. like rockwool it's going to retain far too much water between events and getting it dialed right without issues will be a headache. something completely inert with less holding capacity -- queue perlite and hydroton -- are the right media for that kind of system.
I'll have a look into what other mediums I can try, im trying stay with something I can start seedlings off in 4.5l pots and transplant to the system if you know what I mean pal.
 
tobh

tobh

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perlite would fit the bill fine. it'll hold its structure pretty well once well rooted too whereas hydroton is liable to end up everywhere when you try to transplant. another option is just start em in their final 10.5l pots and don't worry about having to move em at all.
 
Anthem

Anthem

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Basically they are 10.5litre punch pots with a fine mesh at the bottom instead of normal drainage holes for better drainage. Then the 10.5l pot is sat inside the flood bucket. Quite simple yet effective if you get it dialed in I suppose. The reason I'd try coco first before hydroton is because I start the plants off in 4.5l pots before my crop is finished then they are around 2ft tall ready to be transplanted straight to the system, this way knocks loads of time off waiting from seed.
I will PM you some stuff
 
Anthem

Anthem

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I'll have a look into what other mediums I can try, im trying stay with something I can start seedlings off in 4.5l pots and transplant to the system if you know what I mean pal.
Did you know people cannot start a conversation with you? it is in your settings
 
Deforced

Deforced

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perlite would fit the bill fine. it'll hold its structure pretty well once well rooted too whereas hydroton is liable to end up everywhere when you try to transplant. another option is just start em in their final 10.5l pots and don't worry about having to move em at all.
Right okay pal I'll look into perlite thanks. I've already thought about that but don't have the room that's all
 

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