Anyone growing in 100% Hydroton?

[Hundred Gram Oz]

Hi guys, I am starting a large SOG grow and swapping out the coco for hydroton for ease of mind as I can easily reuse the hydroton plus I like some of the results that friends are getting from it.

Currently I feed drain to waste in my coco setup with multiple feeds per day. I would like to continue to feed like this with the hydroton rather than have a recirculating system. Are any of you guys running DTW hydroton? How often do you feed, I was thinking 15 minutes of slow drip every hour? Recirculating guys chime in too because if I have to run recirc I will but I preferably I would like to go DTW if that would be viable/efficient.

Thanks,
HGO

 

[Nifty_PoT]

Hydroton is an awesome medium to grow in , usually in recirculating systems as it doesnt retain water at all really, so dtw would be a big nute waste imo.
the problem with hydroton is : the price,but more also the most major hassle would be washing out roots after a crop ,, especially if you grow a strain like cheese with crazy roots ,,, it will be a real bitch to get your hydroton out of a white ball of roots ,, ive tried hehe . So yea i would strongly suggest to stick to coco as u can grow exact same quality in both if dialled in ;D
I like the cost of coco as well as being able to compost the coco after a crop, just soo much easier , wont go back to hydroton ever unless its like a closet grow

 

[Andyo]

ebb/flow best yeilds

ebb/flow best yeilds

Only thing id watch out for is properly ph,ing hydroton before use and use RO it does not work well with hard/high bicarbonates in water get to much ph rise in pot.ebb/flow higher yeilds .A

 

[toppin]

What system you running 100goz?

Should'nt be any problem at all mate, iv used 50% coco 50% clay pebbles all the way to 5% coco 95% clay pebbles in a wilma system.

After havest i pull the root ball out and run the clay pebbles through a gardening sieve to remove any roots, coco or small clay pebbles and only keep the bigger pebbles that stay in the sieve. Dont try to reuse 100% of the cp's just minimise the amount you waste. Then i wash all the old nutes off the cp's with hot water.

Personally i dont see the point in risking fly tipping any medium that can be reused + you dont have to keep going back to the grow shop buying cp's when you can reuse 90% of them again next time.

 

[hempfield]

Hydroton is an awesome medium to grow in , usually in recirculating systems as it doesnt retain water at all really, so dtw would be a big nute waste imo.
the problem with hydroton is : the price,but more also the most major hassle would be washing out roots after a crop ,, especially if you grow a strain like cheese with crazy roots ,,, it will be a real bitch to get your hydroton out of a white ball of roots ,, ive tried hehe . So yea i would strongly suggest to stick to coco as u can grow exact same quality in both if dialled in ;D
I like the cost of coco as well as being able to compost the coco after a crop, just soo much easier , wont go back to hydroton ever unless its like a closet grow

It's easy to remove the roots from hydroton if you soak it in enzyme solution for a few days and after that 30 minutes of continuous bouncing in a small concrete mixer (or even an old cloth dryer).

 

[toppin]

I wouldnt go 100% hydroton, i would put a little something in the mix to retain a small amount of water ie. +5% of coco or perlite just incase of any dripper problems. 100% hydroton isnt a very forgiving medium if a dripper blocks up and go's unnoticed.

 

[Nifty_PoT]

^^ yep i did soak in h202 ect but yea after years of hydroton washing especially if u do more than 200 liters at a time ,, it sucks ass, what worked best for me was using a garden pressure cleaner with plastic strainers ! didint have any concrete mixers around lol

 

[Snype]

I ran hydroton in E&F for many years. My flood times varied from every 1 - 6 hours in 10" net pots depending on size of plants. Within 21 days of flower I would flood every hour. Before that I'd flood less often until roots were right.

 

[Morcheeba*]

let me find a the user I saw running hydroton on e/f tables.

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=283218

 

[marinemansf]

Im using bio buckets with all hydroton, and its working great! I love me some bio buckets son! Hardly any work at all, just topping off with nutes each week and maybe add a little water every month, thats it! Current grow in signature.

 

[gonzo`]

if you decide to recirculating why go with drippers when you could do E&F? no drippers to worry about, huge amounts of oxygen being pulled into the medium, complete coverage of roots when you flood (you would need multiple drippers per pot to get a good watering)... Just curious as I also want to move away from coco...

 

[catalina3899]

Used the same Hydroton in a recirculating flood and drain table for 4 years straight and loved ease of use. Down side, salt build up and washing before and between grows. Recommendations, if going with a recirculating reservoir, run clearex or like and RO water (rinse and repeat) for an hour before every reservoir change. Also, I wash Hydroton in a spare washing machine on gentle cycle.

Oh and lets not forget sliding on those little balls.

 

[AshitMyself]

i have used hydroton many times its all i use in waterfarms and my ebb and flood table in the waterfarm i drip 15mins every 1hr but my biggest yield was from ebb and flow 8ins pots 8 plants so your sog is gonna rock in clay hgo cant wait too see how your sog yields

 

[HUGE]

A friendly word of advise. I ran strait hydroton for many years. I have since switched to coco/perlite. Everything about it is better. Less nutes, bigger yeild, better quality flowers, no more chiller, no more washing this god damn balls. No more stepping on those god damn balls. Better use of organic amendment's, no more worrying that my plants will be dead when I get home cuz the pump didn't work. Coco is super reusable. There is as far as I can tell 0 bennafit to hydroton over coco/perlite. If anyone has an area where hydroton trump s coco please chime in.

 

[mojave green]

clay pebbles & perlite, flood & drain

clay pebbles & perlite, flood & drain

 

[meltybubble]

Its much cleaner, can be reused more than coco, affords better root growth, better yields, on trays, tables.
I began growing on tray's with str8 hydroton and still find this style to be best, over the years ive tryed it all but still have hydroton.
It is so easy to use again and again if you use your head not much work at all.
They retain mositure, keeping the root zone healthy between cycles.
Things can be as hard as you make em, washing hydroton is easy compared to buying in more, it takes years to break down also.
Im not here for debate, just telling my expierence and believe str8 hydroton is best on trays.

peace.

 

[gonzo`]

why do you have to wash the hydroton between runs and why do you have to remove the root ball?

lets say you're growing in pots or tables with rockwool cubes on top or buried in the hydroton... after harvest can't you just replant and use some enzyme product to disolve the old rootmass?

 

[meltybubble]

why do you have to wash the hydroton between runs and why do you have to remove the root ball?

lets say you're growing in pots or tables with rockwool cubes on top or buried in the hydroton... after harvest can't you just replant and use some enzyme product to disolve the old rootmass?

Washing is preventative maintenance, I also use spreader matting.
Spreader matting or capillary matting helps the roots grow round the tray, from the outside in, it ends up in one piece, easily lifted away, the hydroton rolls off.
The hydroton can hold salts, which will stunt growth if not cleaned. This is also easy to do.
Enzymes helps break roots down over time, if you did plant on top it would not be long before the system is clogged or a disease begins.


peace.

 

[Hundred Gram Oz]

Hey guys, thanks to everyone that has contributed to this thread. Sorry that I haven't replied until now, I've been trimming for hours on end all week lol my allergies are through the roof.

I would like to go with ebb and flow but my trays are low profile, they just raise a few inches and I'm not going out to buy another 7 trays so that isn't viable. Right now I'm thinking about a recirculating system with drip rings / manifolds feeding at a high flow rate every 6 hours, what are your thoughts on this? It's tricky for me because I will be growing 25 plants per tray and I'll have 7 flowering trays, one of the other reasons for me growing in hydroton is for speedy root growth, I will be growing in 7Ltr pots and having very little veg, 5 days max then straight into flower. I can't see me being able to fill the 7Ltr pots with roots if I'm growing in coco but hydroton should help me grow some fast roots with the extra root zone oxygenation.

Here are the drip manifolds that I will be building for the setup if I go with hydroton....

Let me know what you guys think.

Thanks again,
HGO

 

[Snype]

Don't get stuck on flood / drip times. The roots will tell you how often to flood/drip. As the roots grow they will require more frequent floods.