not enough hydroton in my 3x3 table?

[TicalionStalion]

I got 9 little ladies in my 3x3 table, everytime it floods, it seems to float all the hydroton and uproot/knock over my plants, kinda exposing the roots to the light. its hella gay. I only used 1 50 L bag in the table to start with. I just bought another bag, gonna wash it and add it, think that'll do the trick??

thanks! happy 420 yall.

 

[redspaghetti]

do you fill the whole table with hydroton ??
if so, i suggest you use netted pot and fill them up with hydroton instead, save more hydronton/space and easier to work with
cheers,
red.

 

[TicalionStalion]

yes, the table is filled with hydroton. I only used 1 50l bag at first, thats why they were floating around, there wasnt enough, if any media covering the top of the rapid rooter plugs. I bought another bag of hydroton and put about half on there, now they seem to stay perfectly in place. they just werent properly buried in enough hydroton.

yeah, next round Ill probly do some net pots. do you fill the table with hydroton, and bury the net pots into it, and fill the pots too? or do you just fill the pots with hydroton and sit them all on the flood table, and they get flooded that way?? sounds more organized.

thanks!

 

[redspaghetti]

I think its best you fill the net pot with hydroton and put the plants in there, no hydroton on the table, but i do see some grower use the whole table of hydroton, ( that is just too much hydroton IMO ) that why you will use less hydroton = save money and less time washing them

got a pic or 2?
cheers,
red.

 

[Harvest]

im with red on this one, id just grab some 1 gal pots....why the hydroton in the table if i may ask?

 

[Saran]

I ran a small ebb and flow table till I built my planter system I too was often tempted to fill the table up ya know all that root area and stuff .

You made a big mistake, I'd flood the table and use an aquarium net to scoop the balls out,, I got good results using pasta strainers from the Dollar shops, throw the hydron in there wet and pop the plants in wet set the strainers in the table 2 days it will be moving right along like nothing happened .

 

[TicalionStalion]

not sure what made me go hydroton bed, seemed like a good idea to me at the time lol. (hydro newb) yeah Ill def get some pics posted in a few days. yeah I did use a ton of hydroton, next time Ill go net pots. thanks red!! pics comin soon!

 

[TicalionStalion]

either way, the plants are looking great and the only problem I was having, I have fixed. everything should work out just fine. what makes u say Iv made a big mistake? Ill throw some pics up real soon.

 

[dubbalicious]

IMO, about a bag and a half is gonna probably be perfect, I personally use containers, but this is only cuz cleaning those table out will be not fun IMO, should work fine though, maybe get a digi timer and fine tune your flood cycle, they dont need to be flooded for 15min, roots actually can start to get damaged after more than 20 mins. of being submerged, I personally vary my flooding depending on time of the plants life. peace dubba

 

[TicalionStalion]

thanks dub, I got a digi timer, they get flooded for 7 minutes at a time. and yep, 1.5 bags is exactly what I got in there now, everythins lookin good, holdin in place. Ill have pics up real soon.

thanks again guys!

take care.

 

[VERMI]

how do you cover the roots if your only using net pots?

 

[VERMI]

wont the roots die off if they see any light?

 

[High Country]

MY LITTLE SOG 3x3 table, clones go straight into the hydroton, no problems.

 

[CaptainTrips]

im with red on this one, id just grab some 1 gal pots....why the hydroton in the table if i may ask?

The only reason I can really see is it will save a lot of water/nutes, since you will need much less water to "fill" the table. I don't really see any other reason not to just use containers, but thats just me.

 

[dubwise]

I've tried using both containers and just hydroton in my 4x4 table and I prefer the hydroton bed. It does take more hydroton but my tomatoes seem to like the bigger space to grow in....when I was using net pots, the roots never seemed to grow as well. This of course could have been my newbness, but this run of tomatoes in the 4x4 w/ all hydroton seems to be doing much better.
@highcountry-THAT IS AWESOME!

 

[dtfsux]

I had the opposite results, my plants didnt like the hydroton bed. I ran 3 tables and ran all 3 like that for a while, then switched to using pots and got better results. I think they liked having their own root zone

I have done mostly SOG, so I never had much of an issue with roots being exposed, as all the containers are jammed next to each other. I have grown bigger plants occasionally like moms, and sometimes in flower. I never had an issue with roots being exposed, they will just grow along the bottom of the table, and the canopy does a good job of keeping light off them.

Some hydroton will float, Dont know why some floats and some doesnt. You can throw a 50L bag into a swimming pool and some will sink like a rock, some will float forever.

I also tried some rock that was similiar to hydroton, I think it was called lica rock, and it floated alot more.

You just have to use enough to keep it all settled.

 

[Harvest]

when i tried the hydroton bed, i had a couple plants take over the others with root growth.