G
genEric
- 28
- 0
Howdy ya'll!
If you take a peek at my gallery you'll see what was originally going to be a top-feed "fence post" system.
Threw five well-rooted clones (in 2" rockwool cubes) into 3.75" net pots which I back-filled with the little rockwool bits. Needless to things didn't pan out:
Two of the five refused to throw down roots (they didn't need to as they had more than enough water in that damn rockwool!) and were, therefore, over watered. I pulled 'em out, gave 'em a breather, and cut my top-feeding to once a day on the remaining three.
To make a looooong story only slightly shorter I learned real quick that in this enclosed non-evaporating system rockwool was not the way to go so I pulled all five, back-filled the net pots with Hydroton around the rockwool starter cubes, and resumed top-feeding. Growth was okay at best. As the roots exit the net pots they were browning out and air-pruning themselves. Not cool...
I yanked the whole top-feed manifold and ran a "laser line" which is nothing more than a spray line inside the pipe. Things seem much happier now. The root tips are no longer browning out and air-pruning themselves so the spray/mist/humidity in the pipe seems to be doing it's job.
I don't want to over or, of course, under-water, so I've been hitting them with 15 minutes on/45 minutes off when the lights are on and I give them 2 15 minute shots during the night to keep the roots from drying out.
Any suggestions on an "optimal" shedule? This small system will only be used for vegetative growth and once they are about 12" tall and topped a couple times they will be moved over to our tried-and-true 100% ghetto top-feed table that is also in my gallery. No problems there- 15 on/45off 100% rockwool has worked great for years. What we'll do from now on is simply plant the entire net pot in the larger pots on the table, back-fill with rockwool bits, jam the spaghetti lines halway down the side on the upstream side of each pot, and let 'em go. No worries at all with the top-feed table.
It's this brilliant idea of mine using fence-posts, trying to keep things neat, clean, self-contained, and minimal maintenance, that has caused all the grief!
I guess my main questions can be summarised as follows:
Is my 15on/45 off cool or would I benefit from running feed constantly?
None of the sprays hit the pots directly as I assume I'd be setting myself up for rotten roots. The splash/spray bouncing around in the pipe seems to be wetting the hydroton nicely with all but the top inch getting wet.
I've gotten a lot of varying suggestions from 24/7 to just a few short bursts and everything in between. I'd really appreciate something definative if possible.
As it stands I feel pretty good about where I'm at right now but of course I always want to fine tune things and of course prevent any problems before they arise.
I've roots about 1" long poking out of the net pots beautifully. I hope to avoid problems later when they get longer so here I am trying to plan ahead and prevent problems.
If you good farmers would be so kind as to take a peek at my gallery, give it some thought, and throw your collective wisdom out here I would be forever grateful.
Thanks.
Keep it green ya'll!
Peace,
genEric
If you take a peek at my gallery you'll see what was originally going to be a top-feed "fence post" system.
Threw five well-rooted clones (in 2" rockwool cubes) into 3.75" net pots which I back-filled with the little rockwool bits. Needless to things didn't pan out:
Two of the five refused to throw down roots (they didn't need to as they had more than enough water in that damn rockwool!) and were, therefore, over watered. I pulled 'em out, gave 'em a breather, and cut my top-feeding to once a day on the remaining three.
To make a looooong story only slightly shorter I learned real quick that in this enclosed non-evaporating system rockwool was not the way to go so I pulled all five, back-filled the net pots with Hydroton around the rockwool starter cubes, and resumed top-feeding. Growth was okay at best. As the roots exit the net pots they were browning out and air-pruning themselves. Not cool...
I yanked the whole top-feed manifold and ran a "laser line" which is nothing more than a spray line inside the pipe. Things seem much happier now. The root tips are no longer browning out and air-pruning themselves so the spray/mist/humidity in the pipe seems to be doing it's job.
I don't want to over or, of course, under-water, so I've been hitting them with 15 minutes on/45 minutes off when the lights are on and I give them 2 15 minute shots during the night to keep the roots from drying out.
Any suggestions on an "optimal" shedule? This small system will only be used for vegetative growth and once they are about 12" tall and topped a couple times they will be moved over to our tried-and-true 100% ghetto top-feed table that is also in my gallery. No problems there- 15 on/45off 100% rockwool has worked great for years. What we'll do from now on is simply plant the entire net pot in the larger pots on the table, back-fill with rockwool bits, jam the spaghetti lines halway down the side on the upstream side of each pot, and let 'em go. No worries at all with the top-feed table.
It's this brilliant idea of mine using fence-posts, trying to keep things neat, clean, self-contained, and minimal maintenance, that has caused all the grief!
I guess my main questions can be summarised as follows:
Is my 15on/45 off cool or would I benefit from running feed constantly?
None of the sprays hit the pots directly as I assume I'd be setting myself up for rotten roots. The splash/spray bouncing around in the pipe seems to be wetting the hydroton nicely with all but the top inch getting wet.
I've gotten a lot of varying suggestions from 24/7 to just a few short bursts and everything in between. I'd really appreciate something definative if possible.
As it stands I feel pretty good about where I'm at right now but of course I always want to fine tune things and of course prevent any problems before they arise.
I've roots about 1" long poking out of the net pots beautifully. I hope to avoid problems later when they get longer so here I am trying to plan ahead and prevent problems.
If you good farmers would be so kind as to take a peek at my gallery, give it some thought, and throw your collective wisdom out here I would be forever grateful.
Thanks.
Keep it green ya'll!
Peace,
genEric
