Attention Plant it clay pebbles are crap

Hello j420man here i am a medical grower here in denver. I am writing this as a warning to anyone who grows in expanded clay. I have purchased 2 bags of the plant it hydroton substitute and here is the sad news. The stuff is shit unfit to use. after having what looked like ph problems in my waterfarm, i decided to test the new grow media. I use gh waterfarms and my rez ph wouldnt stop crashing. I washed the pellets far more then i ever did hydroton , and then soaked it in 5.5 water like i always have. after 5 hours the ph crashed to 2.5 and the ppm's rose from 32 to 927 8(. i then replaced the water with new 5.5 ph 29 ppm water and again the ph crashed to 2.7 and the ppms rose to over 1000. I then re washed the expanded clay and soaked again in the same 5.5 ph 43 ppm water and again the same thing . I repeated this process for a week and the same results every time . So my conclusion is plant it clay pebbles are not ph balanced is secreting some sort of mineral that is toxic to the plants . after 2 weeks these pebbles are still unstable. So i hope this saves people from any problems. Gold label hydrocorn is a better substitute.

wow i have that same stuff and thank you, i thought i just couldn't transplant correctly because everytime i transplanted into it i had the WORST trouble getting shit to root into it. by the way how do you transplant your clones into the hydroton substitute? I like the idea of hydroton I just HATE the low success with that plant-it shit.

Nizza said:

wow i have that same stuff and thank you, i thought i just couldn't transplant correctly because everytime i transplanted into it i had the WORST trouble getting shit to root into it. by the way how do you transplant your clones into the hydroton substitute? I like the idea of hydroton I just HATE the low success with that plant-it shit.

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I root my clones in rockwool cubes then put directly into the hydrocorn. If your using plant it it doesnt matter what transplant method you use it will have problems. i have transplanted soil into old school hydroton before with no problems. Have 1 waterfarm that i'm testing a rockwool block and its doing great. i'm thinking about switching to that . I use food grade peroxide 5 ml per gallon so no over watering problems with a constant drip when lights are on . The one plant i still have in plant it improved after the roots grew into the res but not nearly as healthy as the rest. Bottom line if you use plant it your plants will die or not do well. there is something secreted from the pebbles that the plants don't like 8( Like i said i have found gold label hydro corn to be a suitable replacement for old school hydroton. but After just soaking the rockwool Block for 24 hrs adjusting to 5.5 and not washing that red dust i'm considering a switch to rockwool, but waiting to finish the test plant and seeing what happens i Just wanted to warn people about plant it .

j420man...
Thanks for the heads up. I've had great luck with Hydroton, so I guess I better stick with it. Was the stuff cheaper? Oh and I clone in Rockwool and stick it right in the rocks also...works good.
Cheers,
JD

Ive been using those and have no problem, my ph will swing a little has the res goes down but thats normal. I do use rockwool cubes then set them in the plant it pebbles though.

Nizza (and anyone else looking for great medium) visit my threads to see my results using a combination of lava rock + polished ornamental rock

Nizza said:

wow i have that same stuff and thank you, i thought i just couldn't transplant correctly because everytime i transplanted into it i had the WORST trouble getting shit to root into it. by the way how do you transplant your clones into the hydroton substitute? I like the idea of hydroton I just HATE the low success with that plant-it shit.

Click to expand...