Hydroponics Question and Answer NewGrowth Style

Hi I am using a ebb and grow 12 plant sight how many times a day and for how long should i feed the plants? i was thinking 4 times a day in 15 min intervals while running the lights 18/7. Also should i drop a air pump in the rezzy to oxigenate the water??
 
I have my flood set up ready... 8k watts i can wait to flip the on switch.. now i have these clones i got from a shop and they are in soil cups ... have you ever rinsed roots from soil and replanted in hydro?
 
gr33ndude said:
hi NG. congrats on this thread bro, i think this is awesome. i read over half of it and it solved many of my questions. i still want to ask u something. im planning on running 2x600w hps, and im planning to make my own hidro sistem. so here goes the avalance of questions :P
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Guess I'm going to have to start doing this again to make sure I catch everything :eyesmoke:
I'm glad I could help, after April I'll be going outdoors for a bit so I will not be on as much soooo I'll let you guys take advantage of me now :hump:
1. im planning on using adjustawings medium with my lights. the site sais i could cover 1.25x 1.75 meters. thats about 2 square meters per light kit. Do u think the bucket sistem works good with this light coverage, or maybe i should make a pvc pipe sistem that would sustain more and smaller plants, rather than few large plants ? both sistems are drip based sistems
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Sounds about right, its up to you on the plant size you can get the same yield. I prefer fewer larger plants but that also requires proper canopy management.

2. on both sistems (pvc pipe and buckets) there will be a small ammount of water so the roots can stand in it. would that level of water be the same componence as the main nutrient solution in the tank ? i'm thinking maybe the nutrient level may increase as the water evaporates. my main concern is that when the roots stay in that bottom solution they wont get damaged or something.
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Don't leave roots in standing water if you can avoid it. Roots don't need to be constantly soaked, doing this only promotes rot. Unless your solution is constantly circulating or aerated. The plants generally take up more water than nutrients hence some of the reasoning behind topping with plain water between change outs. Look into ebb&grow systems or waterfarm buckets if you prefer the drip rings.


3. regarding the bucket sistem, does the size of the top bucket filled with expanded clay pellets make any difference ? i.m planning on vegging for 4-6 weeks. i mean can i grow the same plant and same yield with both 10liter top bucket as with a 20 liter ?
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Yes eventually the root mass will fill the top bucket and clog drainage holes, ect. So the answer is you can grow a bigger plant in a 20l bucket.

4. do clay pebbles retain water, because i dont know how the plants will get thru a power shortage(may happen, but not often).
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Some water through capillary action. Hand watering during an outage is not out of the question for hydroponics :wink:

5. regarding the bottom water level the roots stay in, should i run air lines to oxigenate that water, or will 2-3 airstones in the tank be sufficient ?
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Yes, unless your solution is being circulated enough to aerate it.

6. also could u aproximate the power the pump needs to have for this sistems(buckets & PVC) ?
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Depends on a lot of factors but ebb & grow buckets systems of this size use a 350GPH pump.

also if u have any sugestion on what should i choose or add in this hidro design would be greately apreciated. also the room im setting this up is at least 10 square meters, so im gonna put mylar on 2 walls that should take care of one side of the grow space, and for the other 2 sides i will be setting up easy to move mylar walls (cardboard with mylar on a vertical structure to act as walls for grow area) also how powerfull should a pump be to work for 13-15 bucket or the pvc pipe design. also is it posible to overwater in dripper sistems ? i dont think its possible but still worth a question. sorry about being unorganised at the end of message but the haze is starting to kick in lol. also i would like to thank you in behalf of the forum for helping inexperienced growers. peace bro.

LATER EDIT: what mediium should i use to start seeds or clones in this kind of sistem ? im asking because i dont know if i should drip around the rockwool or on it ? also if i drip around the rockwool cube, the roots in the rockwool wont become dry, causing problems for the plant ? sorry for bad spelling and bad english and poor exprimation skills, but english is not my native language. peace bro and tx again for helping the forum out.
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Not really possible to overwater hydroton unless there is a bunch of standing water. Starting clones is up to you use whatever medium you have most luck with.
 
anewhydrogrower said:
For a first time grow, they are starting to look pretty good at 3 weeks. My understanding is that when it is time, I initiate the final growth/harvest by cutting the lights back to 12/12 and turning off the 6500K and just using 3000K. Is that correct?
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I would use both light all the way through and just switch to 12/12
 
gamebreaker81 said:
Hi I am using a ebb and grow 12 plant sight how many times a day and for how long should i feed the plants? i was thinking 4 times a day in 15 min intervals while running the lights 18/7. Also should i drop a air pump in the rezzy to oxigenate the water??
Click to expand...

Depends on how big the plants are, its hard to say because it depends more on what the plant wants. You can oxygenate the reservoir but the circulating action of the pump flooding and draining the system should be adequate to oxygenate the solution.
 
tokenallthetime said:
I have my flood set up ready... 8k watts i can wait to flip the on switch.. now i have these clones i got from a shop and they are in soil cups ... have you ever rinsed roots from soil and replanted in hydro?
Click to expand...

Yeah it usually works fine just be gentle breaking up the rootball. Some plants just don't take though.
 
After cleaning out my grow tent and ebb and flow reservoirs I've placed my 4 babies back in to start flowering. I used the "transition" phase nutrient chart and set everything up for flowering.

However I did NOT Ph my reservoir's until after 1 watering cycle and noticed that they were Ph'd @ 4.6! I then added a bit more water and some Ph Up.

My question is: I've read that dramatically shifting the Ph is bad but I believed that this was info I'd read about for soil grows. Is this also true for Hydro?
 
NG i dont know how much of u hero u are in this thread bro. thank you for the best advices and responses. hope that ur outdoor will be very good plants. can u give me an idea how long to drip for small pots, and how long for the big bucket sistem? or really some experience if u grown with drip sistems...or just anything that u want to advice on ?also, if a power shortage does occur and lasts 2-3 hours, what sistem between those 2 sistems have the ability to pass the shortage ?and it would be a great help if you could tell me the spacing between plants u use or recomend, and also how much should i veg the clones for ur setup. this is my last post bugging you, i swear...peace bro . tx big time.

@ Encomium ... hope ur babies grow into outstanding women :D peace bro
 
Being a new user, I went with the "Recipe for success starter kit" by Technaflora. It calls for adding "Sugar Daddy" at every level, and more of that then any other ingredient. It is also the most expensive I notice at almost $50 a Gallon. If I got even a 10% better yield I would keep doing it, but not having grown before, I don't know.

What do you think?
 
Have a question for Newgrowth if you have the time. Growing in a 4ish gallon resevior bubbleponics system with 4 5-15 gallon air pumps and 4 bubble curtains. Hydroton medium. I adjust my Ph (Hanna digital calibrate once a day check PH atm 5-6 times a day) after all additives to 5.8 let it sit for a day or more and check PH again before I put it in. After a couple hours its back up to 7.1 or 7.2 I put a teaspoon of PH down in with some water to dilute it so it doesnt drop all my calcium out of my nutes when I put it in and the teaspoon will get me down to about 6.3 but in a couple hours its back to 7.1 I can do this all day. Been running the system for 5 weeks now. Plants are growing steady and bushy some of the huge bottom fan leaves are a bit droopy and the very top new growth comes out with a serious curl down that gets better as it gets bigger but the very tips stay pointing a bit down and a bit discolored throughout the grow. No leaves dying No serious distortion. But many of the leaves have a cupping going on they have the small curl down on the end and the sides are curling just a bit. I dont believe any of this is caused by nute burn because I started the nutes out very low and slowly worked them up and when I check PPms during the day the plant is using them as well as water im slowly catching up with the amount of nutes it uses but not in a hurry to increase because they are growing well. I moved the light (400w hps) 3 1/2 feet away just incase this cupping and curling was due to it but I haven't noticed a change in it. The hydroton says its PH balanced to 7. I messed up and didnt soak it in a 5.8 ph solution so my rookie assumption is that the hydroton is raising my ph. I guess my questions are: is the hydroton raising my PH? Is it going to keep doing it throughout the grow? Is 7.1 PH going to cause the curling and cupping I speak of? Is lowering it throughout the day good? bad? Should I start my Solution at a lower than desirable knowing in 2 hours it will go up like 5.5. I just started flowering and I believe flowering likes a tad higher PH should I just leave it like I been doing it and clean my hydroton better next grow?
 
Hey NewGrowth if i kept the reservoir out of the grow room for my aeroponic setup would that be fine heat wise or would i need a chiller am avoiding a chiller at all cost at the moment cause its damn expensive!!!
Also I was looking to put pump timer on 1on 4 off but will that kill my pump fast? If yes how long roughly?
 
Neumann said:
Do you prefer to measure EC, TDS or both?
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Does not matter, I use TDS because I'm in the US and that is the most common here.
Encomium said:
After cleaning out my grow tent and ebb and flow reservoirs I've placed my 4 babies back in to start flowering. I used the "transition" phase nutrient chart and set everything up for flowering.

However I did NOT Ph my reservoir's until after 1 watering cycle and noticed that they were Ph'd @ 4.6! I then added a bit more water and some Ph Up.

My question is: I've read that dramatically shifting the Ph is bad but I believed that this was info I'd read about for soil grows. Is this also true for Hydro?
Click to expand...
Yes Ph shift can cause a lot of damage. Make sure you are using the correct nutrient concentration and your roots are not diseased both can cause Ph Flux.

gr33ndude said:
NG i dont know how much of u hero u are in this thread bro. thank you for the best advices and responses. hope that ur outdoor will be very good plants. can u give me an idea how long to drip for small pots, and how long for the big bucket sistem? or really some experience if u grown with drip sistems...or just anything that u want to advice on ?also, if a power shortage does occur and lasts 2-3 hours, what sistem between those 2 sistems have the ability to pass the shortage ?and it would be a great help if you could tell me the spacing between plants u use or recomend, and also how much should i veg the clones for ur setup. this is my last post bugging you, i swear...peace bro . tx big time.

@ Encomium ... hope ur babies grow into outstanding women :D peace bro
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Thanks bro, drip timing is variable and also dependent on the medium you are using. If its drain to waste I prefer a more absorbant media that requires less water. If it is recirculating then hydroton is an excellent media that can't really be over watered. Power outages can be solved by battery backups on pumps or hand watering.

anewhydrogrower said:
Being a new user, I went with the "Recipe for success starter kit" by Technaflora. It calls for adding "Sugar Daddy" at every level, and more of that then any other ingredient. It is also the most expensive I notice at almost $50 a Gallon. If I got even a 10% better yield I would keep doing it, but not having grown before, I don't know.

What do you think?
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I think its another marketing ploy ;)

CHUCKTYLAH said:
Have a question for Newgrowth if you have the time. Growing in a 4ish gallon resevior bubbleponics system with 4 5-15 gallon air pumps and 4 bubble curtains. Hydroton medium. I adjust my Ph (Hanna digital calibrate once a day check PH atm 5-6 times a day) after all additives to 5.8 let it sit for a day or more and check PH again before I put it in. After a couple hours its back up to 7.1 or 7.2 I put a teaspoon of PH down in with some water to dilute it so it doesnt drop all my calcium out of my nutes when I put it in and the teaspoon will get me down to about 6.3 but in a couple hours its back to 7.1 I can do this all day. Been running the system for 5 weeks now. Plants are growing steady and bushy some of the huge bottom fan leaves are a bit droopy and the very top new growth comes out with a serious curl down that gets better as it gets bigger but the very tips stay pointing a bit down and a bit discolored throughout the grow. No leaves dying No serious distortion. But many of the leaves have a cupping going on they have the small curl down on the end and the sides are curling just a bit. I dont believe any of this is caused by nute burn because I started the nutes out very low and slowly worked them up and when I check PPms during the day the plant is using them as well as water im slowly catching up with the amount of nutes it uses but not in a hurry to increase because they are growing well. I moved the light (400w hps) 3 1/2 feet away just incase this cupping and curling was due to it but I haven't noticed a change in it. The hydroton says its PH balanced to 7. I messed up and didnt soak it in a 5.8 ph solution so my rookie assumption is that the hydroton is raising my ph. I guess my questions are: is the hydroton raising my PH? Is it going to keep doing it throughout the grow? Is 7.1 PH going to cause the curling and cupping I speak of? Is lowering it throughout the day good? bad? Should I start my Solution at a lower than desirable knowing in 2 hours it will go up like 5.5. I just started flowering and I believe flowering likes a tad higher PH should I just leave it like I been doing it and clean my hydroton better next grow?
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Do you have any pictures? Your Ph shift is no the hydroton. Do you have any root disease?

smok3y1 said:
Hey NewGrowth if i kept the reservoir out of the grow room for my aeroponic setup would that be fine heat wise or would i need a chiller am avoiding a chiller at all cost at the moment cause its damn expensive!!!
Also I was looking to put pump timer on 1on 4 off but will that kill my pump fast? If yes how long roughly?
Click to expand...
Probably would not need a chiller either way as long as the reservoir is properly aerated you should be fine.
 
Do you have any pictures? Your Ph shift is no the hydroton. Do you have any root disease?
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Tank is clean roots are white as snow. The PH drops are slowing down alot. PH doesn't go above 6.3 anymore. The curling isn't affecting the new growth (haha) anymore. I think I have a jealous botany ghost that has now givin up messin with my girls. Thanks for the reply and thanks for all the information you have provided on these forums it is of great help even to a rather experienced grower.
 
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