ebb and flow question

[chong'sbong]

Hello guys. I'm thinking of changing my veg set up over to an ebb and flow. Right now I just put my 4" rockwool cubes into a tray and water by hand. I want to change over to an ebb and flow.

Questions.

Is it a good idea to use an ebb and flow system for my veg. ?

Can I use rockwool cubes in my ebb and flow ? will they soak up or hold too much water ?

How often should I flood the table ? every day ? twice a day ? 1o times a day ?


How long should I flood it for at a time ? 5 min ? 10 min ?




Any help would be much appreciated

 

[turbo14]

How it going bro?

First things first, I would switch from your rockwool cubes to some rapid rooters, they are much more efficient in hydroponic applications. Rockwoll tends to algae and slime up pretty quick.

As for flooding scheduling, I'm assuming you are using hydroton as your medium. If this is the case then set your flooding schedule to every 3 hours for 15-20 minutes depending on pump size.(some take longer to fill tray) Also, try to aerate your res with air stones to keep the water highly oxygenated as well as mixed up.

Happy growing

Turbo

 

[chong'sbong]

turbo, Thanks for the response. I have not bee useing hydroton. I was just planning on setting the freestanding cubes into the tray. would that work ? or if i switch over to rapid rooters could I just set those into the tray and then ebb and flow or must i use the hydroton ?

thanks

 

[turbo14]

I personally have not used the cubes alone but have seen it done for sure. You will need to grow the plants pretty small for those to be stable enough though. As for those are not a very large base for a larger plant. Expect a lot of algae if you use rockwool cubes. You will be pleased that you switched to rapid rooters, believe me. How long do you plan on vegging? A great way to use the tables are 5 1/2" square pots as well as tons of other net pots and containers filled with hydroton. It really just depends on how many plants you are wanting to grow.

Turbo

 

[superultramega]

I preveg my clones in rockwool cubes with wicks into a light nute solution. They can grow to about 12" IN 1.5" rockwool cubes. The roots grow down the wick (rope) and into the nute soln. I don't aerate the nutes and surprisingly it has shown no ill effects. I pull the prevegged clones out and give them a few days more veg in the main room before they switch to flower. They can be left for weeks. Seriously.

 

[Anima]

I use 4 inch rockwool in an ebb and flow system.. They are buried in hydroton to prevent light on them- preventing algae.

There is some links in my sig. Hopefully you can get some ideas from there

Peace and kindness
-Anima

 

[gregor_mendel]

cubecap.ca has a hard plastic top that should eliminate algae problems

 

[EvilTwin]

Chong...
I wouldn't do what you're thinking. Rockwool as a medium is much more suited to top drip. Waste salts build up too rapidly in it when used E&F.

An important question is...what system are you using for flowering. Your veg system should mesh nicely with that.
ET

 

[Anima]

Rockwool as a medium is much more suited to top drip. Waste salts build up too rapidly in it when used E&F.

This is good advise. The reason rockwool works with my setup is because it gets completely submerged every flood.

 

[EvilTwin]

The reason rockwool works with my setup is because it gets completely submerged every flood.

Hi Anima...
That's the way it should be done if using rockwool with E&F. Hard to do if you have a shallow tray. Seen many rockwool grows go south.

There was a thread awhile back about a guy who was sampling nutes from the center of rockwool cubes (using a syringe and needle). He was coming up with wild numbers unsuited to plant health.

I preveg my clones in rockwool cubes with wicks into a light nute solution. They can grow to about 12" IN 1.5" rockwool cubes. The roots grow down the wick (rope) and into the nute soln. I don't aerate the nutes and surprisingly it has shown no ill effects. I pull the prevegged clones out and give them a few days more veg in the main room before they switch to flower. They can be left for weeks. Seriously.

Hey S.U.M.
That's a very intriguing idea. Love to see some pictures if you have any posted anywhere.

Cheers,
ET

 

[superultramega]

I had pics of it up on OG in a cloning sticky. I'll try to get some pics this week and post them. It's pretty much no hassle cloning and pre-veg.
Cheap,easy, hard to F up. Just the way I like it.

 

[EvilTwin]

I had pics of it up on OG in a cloning sticky. I'll try to get some pics this week and post them. It's pretty much no hassle cloning and pre-veg.
Cheap,easy, hard to F up. Just the way I like it.

Cool...
As I was thinking about it, I figured a light-tight storage box with holes drilled in the top for the wicks, set cubes on top...something like that?

And you use it for making the clones as well as a mini-veg?

Been dabbling with a very small E&F tray with the same goals in mind.

Anyway, thanks for the idea.
ET

 

[superultramega]

Cool...
As I was thinking about it, I figured a light-tight storage box with holes drilled in the top for the wicks, set cubes on top...something like that?

And you use it for making the clones as well as a mini-veg?

Been dabbling with a very small E&F tray with the same goals in mind.

Anyway, thinks for the idea.
ET

I drilled holes in a sheet of 1/4" PVC sheet and set it over a flat filled with nute soln. I learned the hard way you need to cut the sheet through the holes because the roots will expand once they pass through and you won't be able to get them out unless you can separate the support sheet from around the wicks.

I just took clones yesterday so everything can be photographed easily. I'll try to get some photos up tomorrow. They're in their own (light proof) box in the flowering room and it's night time for the flowering girls right now.

 

[chong'sbong]

I plan on veging my plants for about 1 mounth. I would like them to be about 16" -18" before going into flower. My flowering system is a waterfarm and It works really great with the rockwool cubes. So I would love to continue to use the cubes if I can. So If I'm going to do that I should make sure the cubes get covered by water at high tide ? How many times a day ? how often ?

 

[EvilTwin]

I plan on veging my plants for about 1 mounth. I would like them to be about 16" -18" before going into flower. My flowering system is a waterfarm and It works really great with the rockwool cubes. So I would love to continue to use the cubes if I can. So If I'm going to do that I should make sure the cubes get covered by water at high tide ? How many times a day ? how often ?

Hi Chong,
Now that I know that you're going into a top drip system, your idea of an Ebb&Flow veg system with rockwool actually seems more workable.

One problem you should be aware of is that it is problematic to have the rockwool sitting directly on an impervious plastic surface. That obstructs flow and you end up with cubes being too wet.

And if you stick the cubes into hydroton like Anima does, or on a coco mat...then you'll damage roots when you go to separate them.

I'm trying to solve this very issue right now. This is what I've come up with. I'm going to clone in small cubes (1' or 1 1/2") and once rooted...they will go onto an ebb and flow tray using small grow bags full of hydroton. Once vegging is done and ready to go into the big pots I can just snip off the grow bag with a scissors or sharp knife.

Far as details about flooding...why don't you start with Anima's grow thread.
Cheers,
ET

 

[chong'sbong]

I'm trying to solve this very issue right now. This is what I've come up with. I'm going to clone in small cubes (1' or 1 1/2") and once rooted...they will go onto an ebb and flow tray using small grow bags full of hydroton. Once vegging is done and ready to go into the big pots I can just snip off the grow bag with a scissors or sharp knife.

Wow I think that a great Idea. I will give that a try as well. That sounds like it would work out nice. I will give it a try and post the outcome here