Ebb n flow or Drip to waste??

[Dubsta]

I'm starting up my new table i got about 25 clones of Super Silver Haze but I dought im going to use them all. Maybe i should. What do u all think i should do? There already about 8in tall. I have them still in there small rockwool cubes veggin under the 400w now still in the humidy tray without the top. I need to take them out ASAP. I was gonna put them into 4x4 RW Cubes and veg but now im thinking coco. I've seen alot of killer Coco grows that kick ass. sog on tables. This table is 4x3 with a 600w over it. Pretty bit air cooled hood expecially compaired to those 3 im using in the pic..

I have another 3x3 table going now in 4x4in rockwool cubes 10in square nets with hydrotron that take up the whole space 4x4 in there with 16 NL (Really have like 14 and the rest is full of other strains in 4x4 rockwool tubes no coco net.. I was thinking of doing the same somewhat. But i kinda want to go coco what do u think. This is my new table. I did coco before but in bigger pots and i hand watered and i liked it and did't like it to much. I have some pure plend pro for soil or coco so if i go thought rought im good with nutes, and cal-mag.

ps i know i need to take my saw to the legs i made them extra long on purpose till i had my res under and made them way to long.. easy fit though. $30 DIY 4x3 table.

 

[Rolln J]

im getting ridiculous growth in my ebb/flow in hydroton in gallon grow bags - but coco drip to waste is frigging cool too - Id slam them all in and turn them right back either way you go...

nice table man - are those cement mixing tubs from the hardware store?

 

[buffbuds]

I've tried it all, and have gone back to top drip recirculating coco pots, straight coco mind you, try to get canna, if not, botanicare works. I found that drip to waste is OK, but alot more work, more expensive, and the nutes seem to do just as well with a good weekly clean and change with a clearex in between.

 

[GroHi]

BB, you do a preflush prior to recircing it? Peace.

 

[20north]

a more even root system in a ebb and flow system thats what i do

 

[buffbuds]

GroHi, Yes, I flush often, but not before EVERY re-circulation. Friday night, I kill the timers, to let the pots dry more than usual in time for flushing the next day. Saturday morning 15 minutes after lights on I dump the rez, fill it with enough clearex and RO water to saturate the pots and get about 10% runnoff. Spray the plants down with 1/4 strength base nutrients, then I dump the res again, and let those soak for half the duration of one feeding cycle, enough to break down the majority of salt build ups (4-6 hours total). I clean the deposits in the bottom of the tray and the reservoir with hydrozyme. Then, I fill the res with enough plain water to achieve 200% runnoff from each pot (about 2 times the ammount I would normall feed each plant), hand watering to ensure even and total saturation, directing that waste water away from the clean rez, into the drain. By This point it's saturday afternoon, time to fill the resevoirs with the appropriate strength nutrient for that week, and the I wait only long enough after the RO watering to let the pots stop dripping (<30 minutes) before giving them a slight shot of nutrients saturday night, sundays I'm gone, so I leave them running more frequent feedings, less duration, always achieving a 10% runoff, until the end of the day. Then, Monday, it's back to 1X or 2X daily waterings (when deep in flower).

My reasoning is this, they will get a more full dose of nutrients friday night when I let them dry out a bit more, this builds up in the tissues, and can supply all the needed energy for saturday's ordeal. Saturday, I water again, with foliar spraying, and keeping the lights away, because it's like a weekly BIG rain storm, which is saturating the dry, nutrient rich ground with water, which won't be taken up as quickly, due to foliar feeding. Then, a few hours later, the RO water is what strips the soil of all it's nutes, as would happen towards the tail end of a heavy rainstorm. Then, they can uptake pure water for a bit, to level out the strong nutes they just got at the begining of flush, and I keep the ground more moist, as would happen after a storm, allowing a bit of nutrients to permiate the soil, slowly increasing the PPM, as would happen the hours after a rain storm, when bacteria thrive in the soil and break down matter into usable nutrient, which trickle down slowly through already moist soil. Then, after they are up to the proper runoff, give them 5 more days of regular feedings, which simulate the daily condensation of dew, or afternoon rainstorms, which moistens the nutrient rich soil, while not flushing away any of the built up nutrients......


I think things through way too much. BUT..... I am just trying to learn from mother nature. Afterall, she gave us this plant, and it was selected to do as well as possible in the "average" conditions nature throws its way. Shit. I gotta stop reading and posting this late. Just finished MY flush, though I'm hand watering this week, so I gotta head back to the "office" tomorrow mid morning to continue this regimine.

 

[Jalisco Kid]

Dub if you have a cool ambient temps I would run with a recycling sys with hydroton. If heat is an issue coir is very forgiving. I do not care for pithy coir I like to add chunky coir or hydroton so it does not compact that much. Surprised to see you still running double skunk, what I have seen it is a pretty avg joe plant.
Flushing that much changes chem balance inside your plants,takes away too much time for the plants to grow while they rebalance. Look at greenhouse management. They are growing crops without the leeway we have because we grow something that cost so much. They deal with a very narrow margin, if they thought they would get more from flushing like that they would. I am assuming we are all using food grade salts.Suerte JK

 

[GroHi]

BB, thanks for the response... appreciate the detail as a little freaky like you in those respects. peace.

I'm a big believer in pre-plant flush... I use compressed coir... CCG bricks (finer pith w longer shreds) & Atami Bounce (chunks w very little pith). Basically one brick each gives me a great consistency for top-fed methods where a little more time/moisture retention is needed. Going to run a Ebb&Flo w the Atami chunks only to see how this works as a replace for the rocks... not convinced the stg insert will work w/o issues.

Anywho... once I pre-flush down to under 200ppms on the run-off, I recharge w a 5ml/gal CM+ mix along with a light base nute. At this point I transplant & run a higher pH (6.5) along w 2ml/gal CM+ (& the bases/adds) for a few weeks, drain2waste. It takes this amount of time for my pH to correct up & the cations to really balance. No flush from this point on until my final 12-14days, with just ro water.

You might want to try this as you can see there is no further "flush" incorporated. I manage my rez levels when recircin along with run-offs. I go heavy run-off (50%) when top-feeding, d2w. Each time, full nute program. Easy as pie once the pre-flush is incorporated. Peace.

 

[kushedout]

i just started coco (brick) with the ebb and flow tables, ive been having descent results, i mixed hydroton in my veg room and they seem to be growing better. i still flush with water and cal-mag cuz it just doesnt seem right, but i want to keep the coco cuz its just the best stuff out there for mediums mho. im new to these tables but it beats handwatering.

 

[20north]

get roots organics aurora coco you can use all different kinds of nutrients not just coco specific nutes

 

[socalsinner]

I like hydroton in a recirc system. Hard to overwater and you can reuse them . Brother is right though make sure the environment is controlled ... hydroton is not forgiving.

 

[CoCannabis303]

I like the BIY flood table!

 

[buddygreen]

flood and drain is the way to go.

 

[mayorbud]

We are on our 3rd grow out using a flood and drain with hydrotrons and we have had two and a half(#3 won't be done till mid feb.) fantastic harvests of better weed than I've ever bought.We use fox farms nutes. and we just follow along with a fox farms chart that we got at the hydro store.It just goes week by week what to put in and when to change your resivor water ,very easy.

 

[fiftythree33]

Would really like to know where to get those trays from... anyone know?

 

[fractaLz]

Any local hydro shop will have them or can order them. Otherwise just checkout the hundreds of online shops. Some people use cement mixing containers too

 

[dj trichome]

ive found coco or coir you can go right into it but use epsom salt 1 tsp per gallon mixed with ur nutes or cal mag ive never tried itepsom salt is $2 allways ramp ur nutes i keep mine at 300 for veg and ramp upto a 1000 even with additives for flower.
healthy hydro i say 12 hr cycle immediately flood in drain
rock wool croutons in 1 gall hard pots top feed by hand until established.
oh nice n clean good work

 

[fiftythree33]

thanks fractalz he mentioned making the table for $30 and you can't get much that cheap at a hydro shop and I havent seen that size tub anywhere else... I'll need to look harder I suppose :D

 

[surfguy1936]

i used to b a flow guy. but then i learned that drip to waste is the best, yes you will go throw more water etc, but everytime you your table floods again it has less nutrients. when your doing Drip to waste your plants will take what they need the first go throw so if your just reciruclating the water your nute solution is already diluted. so DRIP TO WASTE