Hello Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have had a few pm's from farmers about washing their hydroton. I'll give you a break down in more detail:
Take a small trash can (33 gallon Rubbermaid Roughneck is perfect) and cut 4 to 6 4" holes in the sides as far down to the bottom as you can go and cover each one of them with mesh cloth or mesh wire. If using the mesh wire, make sure the holes are small enough so the hydroton doesn't fall through them. Fill the trash can with the hydroton and put your garden hose into the trash can and wash the hydroton for a good 30 minutes each time, doing this 2 - 3 times, making sure to get as much silt and junk off as you can.
When you're filling your growing pots with the hydroton, give it a
good soak before putting them in the pots as this minimizes more dust falling off during potting.
After that I would take your base nutrient(s), say an A & B or 3 part, and mix it to 500 or so ppm and add
hygrozyme to it and run that mix for a week prior to planting, pH'ing it as needed and keeping it within the right range (5.5 - 6.5). Over time (could be a week could be 3 weeks) the pH will naturally stabilize out.
Make sure to put a sediment filter for the water that goes back into the reservoir to collect any debris that might cause any problems.
To minimize
all these problems you could go to drain to waste using a 70/30 mix of hydroton/perlite using 2 gph pressure compensating dripper's with a 4 port manifold on it so 4 drip stakes go to each plant. Each dose is metered to 126 mL of solution per minute of on time, so you can conserve the water you're using and totally get rid of the headache of fluctuating pH since it isn't recirculating. A good base line to start out watering is a minute on every 60 to 80 minutes while lights are on. You will use a little bit more water, but life is much simpler.
Also, make sure that you do not over use nutrients, as the relationships between the N-P-K-Mg-Ca-S highly determine what your pH can be. Say you have more Ammoniacal Nitrogen in solution, you're pH can go down. If you have more Nitrate nitrogen in solution your pH can go up since the releasing of the OH- ion from the nitrate into solution. Say you have too much phosphorus in solution your pH will go down. You have too much potassium in solution your pH will go up. Now put it all into perspective, as an example, say you have too much nitrogen in solution, it affects Phosphorus uptake which in turn affects Calcium uptake which in turn affects Potassium uptake which can lead to a raising of the pH. There can be numerous different variables using the N-P-K-Mg-Ca-S relationships that could affect your pH. Jalisco Kid had it straight on point.
9.9 out of 10 times if there is a problem use less, not more, because a lockout of something is occurring causing toxicity's & deficiencies & pH imbalance.
Hope this helps everyone!
The Kind Man
|Scientia Ipsum Est Vox|
|Knowledge Itself Is Power|
