Flood and Drain set up... yay, or nay

First time posting... Thanks for all those who replay and give their opinions. I'm starting a flood and drain set up and was wondering if I should be concerned with using 3 gallon cloth pots filled with hydroton. I've only seen one other grower in my area using this set up and given that I'm trying it out for the first time, would like your thoughts on any problems I may run into. For instance, when I flood the tray table, will the nutrients be able to properly pass through the cloth pots and provide sufficient nutes to my plants? or will I have to increase the nute concentration ?

Anyway, any and all thoughts on the subject would be greatly appreciated...

haha.. I'll take your silence on the subject as nay.... I'm in another forum using a similar sign in name "anaujiram" and got a lot of hate cause everyone assumed I was a middle easterner... how can you call yourself a lover of bud when you cant even recognize the word "marijuana" spelled backward ? goddamn... anyway, I guess I'll just go ahead and try out this method and see if it works, must be that no one is or has attempted this technique... Later all...

I've never tried it with cloth pots before but seems like you would be restricting the root growth. I use 3 gallon pots with mesh bottoms. Fill the pots and the table with hydroton. I get great results that way. With hydroton I don't think you wanna limit the root growth like that.

First hand, smart pots really work as advertised. I have not used them in a flood and drain, only hand fed coco. I can't imagine they would be any different though. It's still a pot-o-medium and roots. The air prunning gives you a nice fiberous root ball with 0 swirling on the bottom. This can be a big plus if you ever get root aphids or other root munchers. the only downside I see is cleaning all of the roots out of the hydroton!

No need to worry about nutrients; if they are dissolved in your water, they are going to easily permeate the cloth. Keep in mind that as the cloth air dries, it will leave behind some of these salts and they will not redissolve back into solution. I haven't had any issues with it, just making an observation. The only limit of root growth you will get is with your choice of pot size. I actually moved back down to 2 gallon from 3 gallon to curb plant size a bit. Air pruning keeps the roots nice and healthy; no spinning or clumping at the bottom (though they don't always self prune at the bottom and tend to get quite long.)

My growing partner is doing the same thing and he got the idea from the hydro store, which does Hydroton in mesh pots. I see no issues at all.

Good luck and keep it green.

Yes it will work quite well & will not restrict anything. no different than using rockwool! You will get better results with the added O2 using the hydroton in the fabric pots. Just make sure your flooding enough times a day to keep the roots from drying out & your good to go. 3 - 4 times during lights on should be enough unless you have an extreme ventilation system that would make it require more. GL

ElSmokeyUno said:

Yes it will work quite well & will not restrict anything. no different than using rockwool! You will get better results with the added O2 using the hydroton in the fabric pots. Just make sure your flooding enough times a day to keep the roots from drying out & your good to go. 3 - 4 times during lights on should be enough unless you have an extreme ventilation system that would make it require more. GL

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Yeah that's what they guy at the hydro said too, 3-4 times ONLY when the lights are on. 15 minutes each time.

I figure I'd a few things now that I've thought about your situation for a little bit, really high, sorry...

#1 3 Gal? Why so large of pots in a flood table? Unless your planning on grow VERY large plants I would suggest slightly smaller size. I've grown several 6' ers in 1 Gal containers in flood systems with great results & no problems with the exception of having one fall over from being top heavy (in a good way though ) don't worry she made it! I'd try & find a happy medium & go with a 1.5 or 2 gal.

#2 Fabric pots in this application have 2 issues that come to mind. 1 is minor which is the plants (if growing medium-large ones) will have a tendancy to "fall" in a given direction especially towards the middle to end of flowering when all the weight is packing on & if not restrained & tied can end badly (see reference to my personal experience above) This is a lot less likely with flat bottom plastic pots although I've seen it happen in those too but again a lot less likely .

Now on to the "BIG" concern I see in your future with these. IMO it is very important to be able to move your plants around whether it be from table to table or simply rotating/moving for optimal canopy/lighting or for cleaning table or whatever etc... Because the fabric is so, well for lack of better terms "plyable" everytime you move it or pick it up all of the hydroton & the fabric pot & the entire root zone is going to be shifting & moving a lot more than it would if it were in a "solid" pot. Rocks rubbing against other rocks are a good way to damge fragile roots & slow growth (will it kill em?, NO. Can it slow them down, Stress the hell out of her & decrease production? YES.) Once the plants root mass has completely overtaken ALL the hydroton the problem is less of a issue since the roots hold everything pretty solid but during veg stage & early flower it can really cause a lot of harm.

So my 2 cents would be to use plastic pots. but the Fabric pots will work & surely produce satisfactory results but if I had to choose well you know already.

I don't know where you live but if you have a difficult time finding plastic with drainage holes small enough to not let the hydroton fall out try finding solid ones & make your own holes or use pantyhose over the pot to hold everything in. Hope this helped!

Thanks Guys for all the responses ! Been preoccupied with school and exams I didnt get the chance to check in and see what you all thought... I did the grow using cloth pots and they seem to be doing well... was a little touch and go the first week and half... had to hand feed them for a bit... but now dialed the system in where I just peek in once or twice a day. I have a 4 X 4 tent and have nine plants in the fourth week of veg... I consider them 3 weeks given their poor start that first week... Using the Lucas method for my nutes and feed them 4 to 5 times a day since I have a decent sized exaust fan going and 3 fans blowing on them 24/7... seems this setup dries out the hydroton a little faster so 5 feeds sometimes becomes necessary. Using a dual bulb hood with a metal halide and HPS bulb inside... once fully in flowering I plan to replace the metal halide with my other HPS and have a total of 1200 watts... dialed down to 75% intensity in both bulbs...

Anyway, I just wanted to thank you all again for hittin me up with your opinions... after all the positive responses, the decision to go with the cloth pots isnt buggin me no mo. This being my third grow I havent yet figured out a fool proof grow but I'd like to think with the help from members of this forum, and my NEED to have good bud, my grows will be just fine.

Why put Hydroton in the pots? Why not just put Coco?

I am kinda doing this same thing... im using ebb an flow BUT the 5gal pots have fabric pots as inserts. Im using the "rocks that dont roll" for medium cause hydroten cause cancer or some crap an cant sell in my state.

There is not much space between fabric pot and the 5gal plastics pot but light deffinetly gets in there. Although, mine does NOT air prune. I have roots galor out of the fabric after 5 week veg time. Right now theyre at 8 week veg and i have huge pile of roots under the fabric inside bucket... all white and healthy even though light gets in there.

To sum it up, roots are bright white and growth is excellent. Fabric post fill up just fine without issue. My fabric pots have handles so i can move around. There is some white residue on fabric when they dry between watering but havent seen any downside to it. I water every 3.5 hours when lights on... yours may air prune if fabric pots sitting in a big tray rather than inside individual pots like mine so light will hit roots directly on yours.

ricky6991 said:

I am kinda doing this same thing... im using ebb an flow BUT the 5gal pots have fabric pots as inserts. Im using the "rocks that dont roll" for medium cause hydroten cause cancer or some crap an cant sell in my state.

There is not much space between fabric pot and the 5gal plastics pot but light deffinetly gets in there. Although, mine does NOT air prune. I have roots galor out of the fabric after 5 week veg time. Right now theyre at 8 week veg and i have huge pile of roots under the fabric inside bucket... all white and healthy even though light gets in there.

To sum it up, roots are bright white and growth is excellent. Fabric post fill up just fine without issue. My fabric pots have handles so i can move around. There is some white residue on fabric when they dry between watering but havent seen any downside to it. I water every 3.5 hours when lights on... yours may air prune if fabric pots sitting in a big tray rather than inside individual pots like mine so light will hit roots directly on yours.

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That was mildly confusing. Pics?

Lol yeah i guess could be. Im on phone so cannot link pics i already uploaded. (Cannot drag photos on phone) ill have to take new ones tmr for you.

https://www.rollitup.org/general-marijuana-growing/589936-hydro-growth-crazy.html#post8320827

Plants are wayyy bigger but that how i got them and they still vegging now due to me waitin last minute changes to the flower room. You can see fabric insert that plants go into and then insert goes into the bucket which fills up... the gap between fabric and the buckets being green allow light to get to roots easily