100% hydroton Drip to Waste
- Thread starter COS
- Start date
bigpeter
Active member
A lot of years ago when I first ventured into hydroponics my first setup was top fed recirculated hydroton. There was no internet then, all my knowledge came from a book entitled the cannabis grow bible by Jorge Cervantes. Top fed recirculated was one of my best grow methods ever. I didn't have any method of testing ph or ppm it was all guesswork but I had great results. IIRC I had a timer that came on evry 4 hours for 15 minutes and off through the dark period. container was an old ceramic sink that drained straight back into a bucket underneath, I suppose the sink was about 3 gallons.
skunk numba one
Member
If you do 4 pots (size doesn't matter) and octabubblers @ 2gph (lowest option) and feed 30minutes on and 1hour30minutes off during lights on only you will go through 36gallons a day during veg and 24gallons a day in flower.
I'm teetering on the edge of trying balls again. I actually stood in the grow shop looking at them yesterday. I know I want to flood/drain them, as that is where my record stands. A while back a guy recirculated by shoving his emitter in the pebbles near the roots. It was just a pipe iirc. The grow looked really good. Really good. But they vanished.
My concern is distribution, but a pipe shoved in really was working.
I feel certain that high frequency flood/drain is the better option, if you have the tank size to do so. Over wetting them isn't really possible, so it's infrequent irrigation that offers the greater risks. Coming from the rise in EC through dry-back, and the possibility of a full dry-back causing salt formation. The idea of hydro is also a bit muted, if you stop recirculating a thin film, as the plant will start rooting. A grow related action of elongation. Which is an unwanted hormonal shift, stuffing your bucket with roots. While some of that is reaching out of established fact and into the frontier, there is little reason to get involved. Keep your tank fresh as a dwc and the film over the roots changed regularly.
My concern is distribution, but a pipe shoved in really was working.
I feel certain that high frequency flood/drain is the better option, if you have the tank size to do so. Over wetting them isn't really possible, so it's infrequent irrigation that offers the greater risks. Coming from the rise in EC through dry-back, and the possibility of a full dry-back causing salt formation. The idea of hydro is also a bit muted, if you stop recirculating a thin film, as the plant will start rooting. A grow related action of elongation. Which is an unwanted hormonal shift, stuffing your bucket with roots. While some of that is reaching out of established fact and into the frontier, there is little reason to get involved. Keep your tank fresh as a dwc and the film over the roots changed regularly.
I like flood and drain with Hydroton.
Biggest tip: WASH THE HELL OUT OF NEW HYDROTON!!
Biggest tip: WASH THE HELL OUT OF NEW HYDROTON!!
