Flood cycle's for Hydroton

i am switching from rockwool to hydroton on my next grow,i will be using RW cubes for rooting the cuttings only,the rest is hydroton in 8"net pots,i know that I'll have to flood the table more often,but how often and long should the flood cycle last?...thank's....bonbon

--Hey Bonbon! How ya doin!? -I think you autta flood every 5 min when your workin with rocks,for a minit at least. -You mite also want to run a tube up to the pot and tdf them too, -or at least give yourself that option. -Actually I think you could tdf them in rocks constantly! -If you want to flood them tho youl need a short duration timer. -Sounds interesting! Are you gonna grow full term like this?

1/2 hour every 4 hours

You may have to adjust the flood times as the plants get a larger root mass as I always had problems into flower with the roots growing too large in the pot - hydroton overflowing on the table - and a possibility of things overflowing.

Best of Luck

SYK

--Wow! -How do the roots stay moist between cycles? -Ya mean the roots just sit there and dry out for 3 and a half hours?!?! -How dose THIS work?

I use hydrotron in a ebb & flow table and my experience is:

First started out doing more frequent less time method and it worked pretty good. I thought it was to much start and stop on my pump and timers so, I made another change

Less frequent but longer cycles worked noticably different. Much faster growth and healthier looking plants. I couldn't stop there

Now, I am set up at 30 minutes every 4 hours(with lights on) or so in veg and about the same on the flower side and I added one cycle for about 10 minutes during the dark cycle. Everything is growing insane. So much difference it's hard to believe.

The Hydrotron is fired clay pellets. It is porous (sp)and soaks up a certain amount of moisture to hold in. It holds a pretty good amount of moisture after the flood cycle is over. Your roots are not exposed to the air directly and they typically will not dry to the point of damage or at all for that matter. I've done as bad as not flooding at all for a couple of days (bad, hard on the plants, do not suggest doing this at all) and I have screwed up and left the pump on and flooded for 2 days strait with no damage at all. It's kind of hard to overwater in flood setup because the water level doesn't completely or should not cover the entire root mass. I set mine only to cover about the bottom 3" to 4" of the pot. Only the root ends or so need to get water saturated on them. Your roots really seem to like it better if they are watered or covered only breifly, basically creating a film of water and nutes on the root system and then back in free air. Your tweaking the water, air, and nute mix to find the killer combo for your particular strain. I am kind of shooting for a NFT type delivery to the roots using a flood table.

And yes, SYK is right, the roots do grow enough to displace Hydrotron rocks right out of the pot and into the tub. No big deal I just scoop them out. Don't fill pots so full in the begining. They compress alot in the start so not alot of cross flow of air, water, or nutes. I actually think the lava rock setup (a la Krusty) is a better way to go, I just do not have the space to use a bucket the size I would need for setup.

Anyways, thats what I do with my setup and it's working great. It took me about two or three grow cycles to get everything tweaked the way I like it now.

Maybe a better way to do it and believe me, I am always looking for an advantage.

Texas Kid

I use 6'' square pots with Hydroton and I flood for 15 min. every hour that the lights are on.

JLP

--Far Out! -I had no idea roots could go that long between cycles like that with hydroton rocks! -Are your roots exposed or are they all contained in the pot? -Is it a pot or a net pot?

Yeah - that is correct.

I only used ONE watering cycle during lights off.

Otherwise Once for 30 min every 4 hrs.

Hope it Helps

SYK

TF
The roots are only exposed at the very bottum were they have grown out the bottom of the container but the canopy of the plants keeps the light off of them.Have not had any problems.

I don't use full net pots because the roots had a tendency to grow all out the sides and go crazy. I use a 8" x 8" x 11" or so tall pots that have a net bottom, solid sides, and slits down each corner/edge for water/air flow. I can usually use these all the way through so I only transplant once after seedlings or clones have rooted. Less stress is key.

Texas Kid

-Thanks Texas Kid! -That cleared things up for me a bit! -Now I see it! -By using these "part" net pots your able to keep your roots wet enoughf. -When I replied to this post I was thinkin the threadstarter was using full net pots. -That kinda explanes how the plants being discused can stay alive with so much time between cycles. -I see now that ts posible threw the use of these "part" net pots. -Cool!

I used to use what look like ordinary gardening pots.

Special Size - had to special order them, but then again, when I needed 1000+ per purchase - why NOT special order them - tee hee.

Anyways - wernt a special pot by any means - found better results with SQUARE pots too!! - try em - you'll like em.

Contact a gardening wholesaler for the pots.

SYK

Square pots are a must to maximize space on the flood table. They have a decent selection at a nursery store or hydro store.

Texas Kid

Thank's for the reply's,T-fish,Texas kid,SYK,JLP,And for the excellent advice that'll be utilized on my current grow,I will keep you gent's posted on the project....bonbon