Top drip watering schedule?

singlespeed · Nov 26, 2010

Question… What is a good watering schedule for a top drip system. I use 6 inch rockwool cubes, 1/4 feed lines, little giant pump(small one) and watered every 8 hrs for 45 seconds. On my last cycle, I felt like it was too much water and it fed at night too, which I hear is a no-no!

Does anyone have any recommendations on feeding schedules?

Single

motherlode · Nov 26, 2010

its not a no no to feed at night - if your cubes get dry thats a no no

I have fed as many as 6 times a day top feed in rockwool - what I used to do was start out once a day, then twice etc as my plants needed

so really what you need to do is see what your plants like/want - everybody's system, lights, plants and temps are different

OGONLY · Nov 26, 2010

I run a drip system using rockwool cubes. I water once a day. This time I stacked 2 4x4cubes (started with one then went to 2 when roots went crazy) in veg (vegged 6 weeks) then put them on a 6 in.cube right before flower. I have one feed line on the 4x4 cube and another on the six in. cube. Since I have 14 virticle inches of cube...I have a lot of cube to soak up the water. That being said watering more than once a day for me would be overwatering. My plants are really digging all of the cube space. Huge root ball equals big buds.

If you are going with just six inch cubes I would say 2 times a day at 2 minutes per feed should be sufficient. I like to manually water as opposed to timed waterings. I like to make sure there is about a minute or 2 of runoff. I also test PH and ppm of runoff. Sometimes the run off PH is super low because of plant changing balance inside cube due to nutrient uptake. If this is the case I will water long enough for runoff water to show correct ph. Usually only takes 2 or 3 minutes.

Here are some pics of my girls taken yesterday at day 40 flower. :smoke

OGONLY · Nov 26, 2010

Guess I messed up. Here they are.

singlespeed · Nov 27, 2010

Thanks for the feedback guys. Those plants looks really good. OG kush? How tall are your plants? They look big for 4 inch blocks. Do you have pictures of your block setup?

singlespeed · Nov 27, 2010

Has anybody tried the Sure to grow cubes?

I was thinking of trying one of my trays in rockwool and the other in the sure to grow cubes with the slab?

motherlode · Nov 27, 2010

hear nothing but bad about the STG cubes

OGONLY · Nov 27, 2010

Singlespeed yes the plantsin the shots are OG Kush. Not sure exactly the size of the plants. They are in trays which are at knee high. The plants reach up to about my nose and I'm 5'10".
By the way, each plant is on 2 4x4 cubes on top of a 6 in. cube. This is the best pic I could find. Not too clear but maybe u can get the idea.

singlespeed · Nov 27, 2010

Cool thanks for the pic.

wicked22 · Nov 28, 2010

I run a drip system and I run it 24/7. I keep 3 of those circle airstone in my tank and run those 24/7 as well to keep everything moving and mixing.

dentonland · Nov 30, 2010

nice pics ogonly. do you run airstones in your rez....

Hey single i ran 6x6 cubes and flooded the tables but learned from here to top feed on timers. I was always told once the light turns on in flower check the bottom of the cube for dampness... if its dry you wanna increase obviously.. i was flooding every six hrs for 6 minutes and thats what i needed for constant moisture..

Original Grower · Nov 30, 2010

hey dude, 6 inch is big for drip imvho. ive rocked 3x3 for 7 years now, and they can handle 24/7 in nft and during the day and night in freedom style bucket systems. i tried top feed with bigger 4 inch(4x4) and 6x 6 and they retain a ton of water.

i would feed when lights on, then study when they need another feed, then go from there. ive generall y only seen big cubes for flood drain tables fed 3 times a day with h20 lkeves peaking at no more then 1/2 the cubes, peace, og

OGONLY · Dec 1, 2010

Hey Orinal Grower. As I stated earlier, I'm getting killer results with 2 4x4s stacked on each other on top of a 6x6 in drip. Sure the cubes hold a lot of water, but my flowering plants seem to be using it all up. I water once a day for 5 minutes or less. Never seen bigger buds in rockwool than these. I'm only at 46 days in flower.

Original Grower · Dec 1, 2010

cooldude, ya once a day sounds right. i was doing a mpb style with 6x6 and the deep 4x4x4 and they held too much water for more then 1-2 feeds a day max. not my style, i just prefer 24/7 water cycles. peace, og

Original Grower · Dec 3, 2010

watch the video on stg cubes they lookthe shit, cheap, clean, safe and ready to use, plug n play, og

OGONLY · Dec 3, 2010

I saw the vid too and it sounds good. Problem is everybody on here I've heard talk about them say they suck. Not sure why?

singlespeed · Dec 3, 2010

Decisions decisions… I have some 6x6 rockwool cubes leftover, so I am have to use them. I am going to start them with only daytime feeding and see how it goes. Last time the cubed stayed really damp and I started getting fungus Knats on my cube. I got rid of them easily enough with those yellow sticky cards but I would rather not deal with that crap.

The guy at the hydro store was talking crap about the stg cubes and slabs but couldn't give me a straight answer to justify his opinion, so I am still going to try the slabs in one of my trays. One tray with, and one without, it should be obvious by the end of the grow if they are BS or not.

Original Grower · Dec 4, 2010

id be stoked to hear your trials with the stg, the inventor seems pretty bent on their superiority to other mediums. i think with any new kid in town stirring the pot is threatening to other industry leaders. no one likes looking bad or being shown up lol.

i personally love the bucket inserts for flood buckets, and am hoping to do a trial myself in the next couple months. we should start a stg thread to discuss trial, error and pros and cons, peace, og

Colordude · Jun 6, 2016

singlespeed said:
Decisions decisions… I have some 6x6 rockwool cubes leftover, so I am have to use them. I am going to start them with only daytime feeding and see how it goes. Last time the cubed stayed really damp and I started getting fungus Knats on my cube. I got rid of them easily enough with those yellow sticky cards but I would rather not deal with that crap.

The guy at the hydro store was talking crap about the stg cubes and slabs but couldn't give me a straight answer to justify his opinion, so I am still going to try the slabs in one of my trays. One tray with, and one without, it should be obvious by the end of the grow if they are BS or not.

Just wondering how the STC worked out for you? Thx

Colordude · Jun 6, 2016

Moving to Rockwool from coco now. Done with dirt. . .
Thinking top feeding is the best, using 4 or 6 inch cubes on slabs in trays. Does anyone reuse runoff - I'm thinking it's not worth it - just puts new variables in the nutrient equation.
From Ogonly's post, prob watering once daily, 5 mins, will be enough.
These girls are going to be under 315 LECs.

Top drip watering schedule?

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