4" rockwool cubes on a 4x8 ebb n flow table...

Right now I have 4" Rockwool cubes with some girls badly in need of up planting... I'm thinking to go 4" cubes into a 1 gallon grow bag (those flimsy black bags w the holes) filled with %80 hydroton rocks and %20 grow dan micro cubes (those 1/4" grow dan mini cubes)... this is on a 4x8' ebb n flow table with a 55 gallon res.

Any opinions on wether that would work well?

Thanks in advance for the input

heyyy......I'm getting ready to pull the trigger on this transplant of 4" cubes into 1 gallon grow bags full of hydoton n a touch of 1/4" grow dan mini cubes....

I was just wondering if anyone has any thoughts on it...

Why aren't you using smart pots instead? that's time tested.....well, I just want to finish this grow out and I have a couple hundred plants so I don't want to invest in $1000 worth of smart pots when I plan on going straight 4-6" Rockwool cubes all the way through next time...

Aren't you concerned that the 1 gallon grow bag, with it's limited number of drainage holes, won't drain enough? Yes.....that's maybe a thing? I was thinking to use a hole punch to make a few more if I have to.

Aren't you worried about root rot transplanting from 4" into much larger 1 gallon grow bags? Of course...I guess I'd put about 2" of hydoton on the bottom of the grow bag, put the 4" cube on top of that and then fill in just to the height of the 4" grow cube with hydroton/grow dan mini cube mix...

can you throw up some photos ?

Im confused...you have 100's of plants but you only mention the 4x8 and a 50 gal res...if you are doing ebb and flood that is grossly undersized ...and will need to be changed out every week due to evaporation most likely.

If personally stick with all rockwool...Hydroton is great if you can reuse it...but to have to deal with it in between grows will be a huge time suck and pain in the ass...rockwool you can throw away in the garbage and start fresh. A bit more cost up front...but a shit ton of less work in the end.

Id also just go regular pots over grow bags...I hate grow bags and prefer pots that I can reuse. you pay once and dont have to buy them again.

Grodan grow chunks work the best and I have been using them for years without any problems. Root rot should not be an issue unless you dont have proper cooling or drainage.

Peace

TpM

Just grabbed a box of rockwool myself so I will

ThePizzaMan said:

Im confused...you have 100's of plants but you only mention the 4x8 and a 50 gal res...if you are doing ebb and flood that is grossly undersized ...and will need to be changed out every week due to evaporation most likely.

If personally stick with all rockwool...Hydroton is great if you can reuse it...but to have to deal with it in between grows will be a huge time suck and pain in the ass...rockwool you can throw away in the garbage and start fresh. A bit more cost up front...but a shit ton of less work in the end.

Id also just go regular pots over grow bags...I hate grow bags and prefer pots that I can reuse. you pay once and dont have to buy them again.

Grodan grow chunks work the best and I have been using them for years without any problems. Root rot should not be an issue unless you dont have proper cooling or drainage.

Peace

TpM

Click to expand...

100% with all of it. The chunks and the cubes (croutons) are superior in the final result, but not in terms of labor in the beginning vs blocks.

I wish bags worked, so convenient to not have to clean them but they suck packing and halfway through there’s always a lean.

I actually have 7 4x8 tables for all those plants so, not as undersized as that. so, when I didn't get any responses I moved ahead and tried transplanting the 3.5" grow dan cubes in the croutons into 1/2 gallon grow bags on one table and did the 3.5" grow dan cubes into 1/2 gallon grow bags with hydrocorn the other tables. I also used a shish kabob stick to poke extra drainage holes in the grow bags- which seemed essential given the relatively small number of drainage holes on the grow bags.

The results were mixed. the crouton transplanted initially sucked up a lot of water so the plants were showing signs of overwatering for the first week and then started to perk up nicely.

the hydro corn also worked OK but, I didn't like it because I was essentially mixing two different mediums, the hydocorn and the Rockwool cube in the same container -- and those mediums each absorb and retain different amounts of water. It might've worked after a while but, the results were lackluster after the first week and I foresaw problems arising from the combo of mediums later in the grow. so, .......

I scrapped the hydocorn idea and did a bit of a culling, kept my best plants, and transplanted from the 3.5" RW cubes into 6" Rockwool cubes (yes, I had to dig out a bit of extra space with a knife to fit the 3.5" RW cube). I kept one table with the croutons but, transplanted from the 1/2 grow bags into 2 gallon white hydro pots and added more croutons. This is already clearly working better.


I was starting to have height issues too, so after a few days I topped everything. All the plants are taking well to their new homes and showing healthy new growth.

There are still many issues with the room itself.....and this, being my inaugural hydroponic grow, is going to be interesting to say the least as we move into all of the new transplants adjusting to their 6" cubes and hopefully, bushing out well from the topping.

I will post some photos and updates.

I appreciate everyones responses and interest.

Hey, is anyone else having issues with FloraNova 1 part veg formula slightly burning plants in Rockwool? I'm using it at like %50 strength to get my EC to .9 and it's still burning some of the plants. Anyone else?

I'm thinking of shifting down to .6 EC (all I'm using RN is the FloraNova 1 part) but, I'm a little worried about defs.

It seems strange because most people are recommending an EC of 1.0 minimum.

I guess .6 EC might work, I'm going to give it a try. Ph is at a steady 5.6 for every flood.

One thing is for sure, if I used these nutes at full recommended strength the EC would be 2.0 or something and would burn the living shit out of these girls.

Alright, things are coming along nicely. Pictures coming soon. A problem I'm facing right now is rotten roots are they grow out of the bottom of the 6" grow dan cubes and are stuck to the flat bottom of the table.

Its been suggested that I put a handful of hydro corn under each 6" cube to promote air pruning. I'm going to roll w that as well as adding 1ml %35 h202 to my res and Hygrozyme %50 strength for a week. If anyone has a better idea please post here on PM me.

I'm also to very pleased with the way the 4 by 8 Hydrofarm trays on my flat plywood tables seem to not drain the last 1-2 cups of water. Is that normal?


now that things are coming together I bit, I'll post pictures. I'm about to go 12/12 my intention is to post pics of the first day of 12/12.

Happy cultivating!

furrywall11 said:

Alright, things are coming along nicely. Pictures coming soon. A problem I'm facing right now is rotten roots are they grow out of the bottom of the 6" grow dan cubes and are stuck to the flat bottom of the table.

Its been suggested that I put a handful of hydro corn under each 6" cube to promote air pruning. I'm going to roll w that as well as adding 1ml %35 h202 to my res and Hygrozyme %50 strength for a week. If anyone has a better idea please post here on PM me.

I'm also to very pleased with the way the 4 by 8 Hydrofarm trays on my flat plywood tables seem to not drain the last 1-2 cups of water. Is that normal?


now that things are coming together I bit, I'll post pictures. I'm about to go 12/12 my intention is to post pics of the first day of 12/12.

Happy cultivating!

Click to expand...

Hope its all going well for you furrywall 11.. The roots what are sticking to the bottom of your tray are rotting you say.!! Maybes try a Aquarium divider on the bottom of your tray it will air your roots and keep them from sticking to the bottom of your tray thats what i use now.. Hope this helps a little,, look forward to any photos you may put up.

Came to this late but, personally I wouldn't use rockwool in a flood and drain. Hydroton is much easier in a flood and drain. It's nit even that much more cost even if you replace every grow.

My buddy uses those grow cubes (rockwool croutons) in a flood and drain bucket system with phenomenal results. He only waters once a day. It's a head-scratcher for me because rockwool does not allow for as much oxygen to the root system as hydroton, and it does not drain as well, and therefore you really can't water more than once a day with rockwool, but with hydroton you can.

Thinking about it more, it seems like rockwool is somewhere between a roots-in-water media and a air high drain medium like rockwool. Plants seem to like a properly designed roots-in-water system because (I think) the roots have continuous access to feeding, yet available oxygen is less than in hydroton. Rockwool might be an effective in-between hybrid. Just a thought.

The grow went great with both the 6" cubes and the 1 gallon white buckets filled with rock wool croutons. will still need to do some weighing out before I can say which works better.

I'd love to motivate here and post some pics... this grow as a Journey!@

hey, I thought I'd post a couple pics... man, this grow as such a journey..TBH these pics are are a little out of date it's at the end of the first week of flower. we learned A LOT.

this room is 6 tables, 4 with 3x600 watt hps and 2 with 1000 watt gavitas. we're drying the product right now so I'll be able to provide some experiential insight into 3x600watt HPS _*VS*_ 2x1000 Gavita Pro (set on 1150 watt boost) on 4x8 tables in rock wool. TBH, it looked really close......I'll let ya'll know, though!





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How’d it turn out?