Something Besides Hydroton?

[Stoner Smurf]

Anyone use anything besides hydroton? I hate the stuff it's so messy. No matter how much I wash it, it seems I can never get rid of all of that red dust. I've completely given up on reusing it, roots cling to it too well.

In a UC the medium's water holding properties aren't a factor. We just need something to hold the plant in place. So why does everyone use hydroton? I was thinking of finding some glass black marbles or something. Easy to clean, easy to reuse.

 

[UCtheOceanState]

i got a sample of these rocks for a sample at the colorado maximum yield indoor garden show this past yr they work killer, cant remember the name, pretty sure botanicare makes them, no dust or garbage, nice clean stuff, you wash it once and the dust is gone, stuff is lite like perilite but was hard like granite

 

[jczam]

Have you heard of GrowStones? They're made from recycled glass bottles, come ph neutral and you can reuse them like hydroton (if sterilized). A little dusty at first but after a rinse they're fine.

 

[UCHQ]

Growstones are def our top recommendation.

 

[smokie]

http://www.growstone.com/horticulture/retail_hydroponics.html
Made in the USA

Maybe ill check them out when my bag of the current stuff runs out.

 

[Bubblehaze]

Higromite silica rock I found it to work the best but its not cheap.
Make sure you get the medium the big ones let light in the small ones fall through.

 

[QuarterbackMo]

This is what I do... IMO if you use hydroton you need to make something like this as it is absolutely essential to mass cleaning it correctly.

This is an old rdwc bucket I converted into the hydroton washer. Just drill as many holes as you feel like drilling on the sides and bottom like so...

Then you fill that bitch up with hydroton till its damn near at the top of where you drilled the holes at and rinse off the initial layer of dust like you normally would.....

Then you take something like this broomstick here

and agitate the shit out of the hydroton for like a good minute straight then rinse real good make sure you run the hose along the sides and bottom on the outside of the bucket too. Repeat this process about 4 times then spread hydroton out onto towels stirring it around every now and then for a day or 3 till its dry. Then store it in buckets until further usage. I promise this works you will never have another problem with hydroton again :yes

 

[pimpin]

look on ebay there where some rubber deals people where converting over to i just dont have time to look for you right now sorry

 

[woodsmaneh]

I use hydroton and it's like trying to keep a swarm of bees in one place. The stuff is everywhere, so this is what I do. When I chop I put the net pot over a large container and pull the root ball out and give it a good shake to get all the hydroton out when I am done with all the pots I dump it into a mesh bag and toss into the washer on regular wash and away we go. I add 2 cups of bleach and run it through an extra wash. You can do it a a laundry mat also.

 

[woodsmaneh]

Back in the 70's I used river washed pea gravel and it worked awesome.