do i have to get all the root matter out of hydroton before reusing?

Dirty Harry

Well-Known Member
Here is what I do. I have some 5 gal buckets with lids that have a lot of holes drilled in (LID ONLY). I put in my pellets and fill with water and a good dose of H2O2. I put on the lid and let it soak over night. Then in a bathtub or out side, turn the bucket upside down to drain.
I then dump into a wheel barrow to dry in the sun. I turn the pellets from time to time to help dry.
Then when its a little windy, I use a small shovel and dump scoops of the pellets about 3 feet over the wheel barrow. Any dry root matter will blow away in the wind and the pellets fall back into the wheel barrel. Repeat until your happy and put it all back into the plastic buckets.
 

axl

Well-Known Member
I soaked the grotan in a strong water and h202 (29%) solution for about 24 hours. I would agitate the rocks with a broom stick to stir up the root matter. I susected that the rocks were too deep and some of the roots wouldnt make it to the top, but in the end they looked retty good. Then I just rinsed it off with a handheld strainer with a hose. Once back in my ebb and grow system, I ran Floraklean in it for about 18 hours, on and off every 15 min. Then I rinsed, ran one more time, rinsed again and transplanted my seedlings. After 24 hours they look good, but my ppms have increased from 130-170, so i will dump that tonight and replace with fresh phd water. Thanks for the help, be careful with the h202, your skin doent like it.
 

UrbanAerO

Active Member
I recently had to clean some rock with roots on it, best way was to pour rocks onto a window screen and roll them around. roots will stick together and fall off rock, at the same time I rinsed them in the shower.
 
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