Aero + hydroton .. 24/7 pump?

My aeroponics setup is a tub with pvc pipes attached to a water pump. It's a small setup, 250 gph, 8 misters and 6 plant sites.

I have the pump on 24/7, some of the streams are directly spraying the middle of the netpots.

Netpots contain hydroton + plants (no rockwool/peat, the plant is suspended in the hydroton).

The plants look healthy but there has not been any new growth. They are seedlings. The roots are VERY fuzzy/hairy (feeder roots). It almost looks like a cotton ball in between the hydroton.

I assume this is because the pump is on 24/7 keeping the hydroton soaked. Am I correct? Should I do 1 min on, 4 min off .. ?

bump

On 1 minute off 4.

I always ran 1 on 4 off, i beleive another popular method is 2 on 3 off

you guys aren't using rockwool, peat or any other substrate between the plant and hydroton+net pot?

I'm running an Aeroflo 24/7 , plants in hydroton only.

I had no problems with roots forming , even though I was spraying the netpots.
Dont know if your are blasting your pots or not , if its just a stream , it should be fine.
I did however have slight problems with stem rot as the stem was getting too wet.
Dont know if running it on/off would have helped, think i just planted them too deep.

Farmer Rich, are you using a timer?

Right now I'm actually doing the same thing. Just enough hydroton to keep the plants upright, but I think I'll go with neoprene inserts because they hold up the plant + keep out light.

Use an art dne 1 on 4 off, like jblaze said. It'll keep your water temps from heating up too much

One on, four off. Some strains and water pressures/misters, you might try one on five off or "some other number". It's an art, not a science at that point. Cycle timers are a pain in the ass to have to buy, yes, but you really do need one for low pressure Aero.

Now, if its run flat 24/7 for the first while before the roots are visibly emerging from the hydroton to the air of your Aero grow chamber, I'm not so concerned. Hydroton isn't exactly "wick city" when it comes to transfering water to the roots inside of that hydroton mass. If it's a 5" or 6" net pot? I'm with you on the 24/7 until those roots emerge from the hydroton.

But once they are emerging out of that? Get your cycle timer on for sure. No question about it.

May I ask how big your net pots are and why you are using hydroton at all? If it's a clone - run em bare in a net pot with neoproene collar. If it's from seed, use rapid rooter plugs and run the rapid rooter in a 2" netpot. Either way, you can go straight to cycle timer from the get go. Being clay, hydroton does wick, but not like rockwool or rapid rooter, so it's not a great medium for low pressure aeroponics in either event. Bare clone stem in a neoprene collar is a far better bet - and cheaper, too.

They're in 3" diameter net pots and hydroton because that's what I had at the time. I'll get a new lid and use neoprene collars.

I'm more concerned with them NEVER going out the bottom of the net pot. They've been in the net pots for 2 weeks and the roots grew fuzzy and outward, but not down. It makes sense, since the stream is coming from the side of the net pot and not the bottom. I have since reduced the height of the sprayers.

Currently making a cycle timer. Let's see how it goes.

Since starting to grow aeroponicly I've switched from filling the net pots with hydroton pellets. What I do is take rooted clones from my clone bucket, move them to 3" pots in my veg system. I basically dangle the roots through the net pot, add only enough hydroton pellets to stabilize the base of the plant (maybe an inch) and place them in the system. I also put in a 3" neoprene collar and finally some black plastic (think of commercial strawberries in Cali) to prevent light from going in the top and overspray from hitting the leaves. This method seems to work and gives the plants plenty of moisture to the roots.

Peace, Farmer Rich