Ebb N Flow Rockwool into Hydroton Beds

[Reebs]

personally i've tried every wich way of Ebb and Flow with tray.

i've come the the conclusion that 6"pots filled with hydroton, sitting on cocco mat, flooded 15mins every 2 hours works like a charm.

the pots allow root growth just like a reagular potted plant and then some as the roots eventually shoot out the bottom of the pot. hence the cocco mat to allow the roots to go crazy growing in and under the mat. i've been through the various root problems associated with Ebb & Flow tray setups and i've personally locked down that problem now with my setup.

hope this helps.. PS Start using Hygrozyme and Aquasheild or something of the likes from the beggining of veg and you can minimize root problems as well...

as a local old timer told me, focus on keeping your roots healthy and the plant will do the rest. very vague tip but i've found this to be helpful

 

[GR33NL3AF]

personally i've tried every wich way of Ebb and Flow with tray.

i've come the the conclusion that 6"pots filled with hydroton, sitting on cocco mat, flooded 15mins every 2 hours works like a charm.

the pots allow root growth just like a reagular potted plant and then some as the roots eventually shoot out the bottom of the pot. hence the cocco mat to allow the roots to go crazy growing in and under the mat. i've been through the various root problems associated with Ebb & Flow tray setups and i've personally locked down that problem now with my setup.

hope this helps.. PS Start using Hygrozyme and Aquasheild or something of the likes from the beggining of veg and you can minimize root problems as well...

as a local old timer told me, focus on keeping your roots healthy and the plant will do the rest. very vague tip but i've found this to be helpful

That's awesome Reebs! My last hydro run was 4" cube SOG and I had one plant showing signs of rot early on, just a weak little plant. I filled up a 2 gal smart pot with a perlite/hydroton combo and dropped the 4" cube into the pot. The little plant grew out of the rot and ended up competing as the heaviest yielder. If I ever go back to Hydro I will run a setup like that. Did you ever run a bed of Hydroton?

 

[Reebs]

i have never just filled the tray and then put my cuts directly in there. but i have used hydroton as i do cocco mat now. basically at that point i was just trying to cover the roots before i was introduced to cocco mat.

lol i always imagined filling a full 4x8 tray with hydroton though. like how intense would that be fore me... i wash my hydroton with "hygrozyme" too so that would get $$$$$$

 

[woodsmaneh]

I grow for hydroponics, a UC systems and struggled for a while trying to find the best way to start them off on the right path for water growth. So far I have found that starting in RW and moving to 4" RW cubes than a 10" net pot with the cube at the bottom with one layer of hydroton under the cube. I run them like this for 8 weeks and they do very well. The only issue is green slime, but a little B&W fixes that. So I think your on the right track.

Using two different mediums is not such a great idea as roots like to grow in what they will wind up in, for example : peat pots than plant in dirt, rockwool than in water or rockwool. Starting in RW and than going into Coco will set your root growth back a bit and stress the plants. Coco is kind of like the short bus, you need some special knowledge to use it right and the right nutrients. I used Coco for about 10 years and loved the stuff, good luck and Merry Christmas

Peace

 

[EatPizza]

I run ebb and flows in 4in Hugo blocks and personally I have tried it both with or without a coco mat as I was worried about the same thing( roots not being able to grow as big). I have found that I am much happier with my results with running just cubes, both my yields and plants reflect this. When I run just cubes I am able to feed more frequently which obviously would result in a higher yield. Not only that, but my plants when I run just cubes stay beautiful and green all the way through harvest. When I ran the coco mat the mat seemed to be absorbing and holding water and also made it to where under the mat the root were constantly sitting in water because the light could not penetrate the table and dry the small amount of water that wont drain in, left behind in the crevices of the tables. As a result of this my plants although they still ended decently yielding the quality of the nuggets were not up to my usual standards. I did however have huge pearly white root mass if that counts for anything.:p Anyway if you're plants are growing at the rate they should the canopy should shade the roots pretty quickly I never have really had stunted root growth or much algae growth on my table because of this. Bottom line save yourself the time, hassle and money and run just cubes on the table, you will be happy you did.

Do you cover your trays as well, or just let the canopy shade your tables? Won't evem a little shaded light, damage roots?