Hydroponics

oh also i use that same flood table, i have several 4x4's with the same pots and rocks... i keep my RW cubes about an inch above the waterline (props to Al B and VV) .... and flood for 15mins every 2 hours during the light cycle. I have a airstone in the reservoir as well. Its a $5 air pump from the aquarium store in a 40gal reservoir.

Remember, as long as you are giving oxygenating your nutes well... you can flood every hour if you want to... its not going to hurt, burn, drown anything.

I battled this for a LONG time... it seemed like no matter how many google searches i did for it, everyone had a different answer for how often to flood...

so i went to my guy at one of our 7 different hydro shops here in Seattle (yes hempfest fucking rocked!!) whos been at hydro since the 70's... hes got shit growing in there thats just fucking amazing!!! He said "bro... flood that fucking table every hour... as long as that RW cube isnt below the waterline and your pumping nutes from an oxygenated reservoir, youre not going to drown anything... theres just gotta be plenty of oxygen"

Although i only pop my head on these boards every now and again... ive been growing for a while... but hydro is ALWAYS NEW since its never ending learning... some of you may remember I had a Hydrofarm Habitat that was off gassing and killing my plants... so after 4 different batches i needed to save an entire crop ASAP!

so i got taller pots... filled them higher with more rocks and got that cube outta the waterline... and did what the guy said and im flooding every 2 hours for 15mins... and everythings coming back perfectly!!... oh and i got a shorter spill off drain to lower the waterline... what happens is that it really makes those roots reach/stretch out to get into that water... especially if you are having problems you can drop your PPM (I went from 1500ppm to 850ppm to save my crops) this makes those roots "dig" down for more potent nutes... if the nutes are potent and readily available what reason do the roots have to grow? They dont. anyways im gettin off topic now ... i tend to ramble...

and just for a little more confidence... this guy had a 10gal glass jar, basket hanging from the brim... waterline was ALL THE WAY TO THE TOP OF THE JAR... roots hung down about 18" to the bottom of the jar, CONSTANTLY SUBMERGED in water... and a huge air pump in the bottom bubbling away... ive seen DWC before but this was extreme!! The roots were submerged 24/7 with that air pump tickin away! He said.. "here is proof that you can flood your table as often as you want with a good air pump in your reservoir" nuff said.

xochi said:

Hola! I'll post pics if anyone can tell me how...

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Hola! Xochi...!!!

Como estas...??!??

You can post pictures by using the "Manage attachments" button below the reply window...

Then you can browse you computer and upload the photos...

I wan to see them pictures of yours, sounds like a neat set up...

Well, behave now...

Gypsy...

Youre absolutely right! A propagation heat pad is worth EVERY PENNY! I never thought id need to spend 30 bucks on one, so for the longest time i always cloned/propagated/rooted without one... one day i had 30 bones burnin a hole in my pocket and i picked one up for shits n giggles whatever... it literally cut my rooting/cloning time by a week and so ive used it ever since... i bought the hydrofarm one and never bought a rheostat/thermostat for it because it seems to be the perfect temp right outta the box. It really does work well!! they take about 2 hours to reach peak temperature and its funny how little heat they do give off... but they DO work and you DO get much better results!

Incognitto said:

and just for a little more confidence... this guy had a 10gal glass jar, basket hanging from the brim... waterline was ALL THE WAY TO THE TOP OF THE JAR... roots hung down about 18" to the bottom of the jar, CONSTANTLY SUBMERGED in water... and a huge air pump in the bottom bubbling away... ive seen DWC before but this was extreme!! The roots were submerged 24/7 with that air pump tickin away! He said.. "here is proof that you can flood your table as often as you want with a good air pump in your reservoir" nuff said.

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Sorry to butt in...

No rockwool... right?!?!

Do you know how he supported the plant?

I use foam, with the roots submerged 24/7...

But I do everything in miniature...

Just curious...

Gypsy...

Ya its a HUGE glass jar... about 2' tall and 1.5' wide at the base. He used a standard bucket top lid with a 8" basket cut in and installed. The plant had a 1" rw cube it was originally propagated in, nested in the 8" basket filled with hydroton. He had standard adjustable light hangars hanging from the ceiling down to a structure made from 1/2 pvc pipe. This way he could always adjust up or down the support system. He was growing tomatoes in Fox Farms nutes inside a Darkroom. (I made the switch from habitats to darkrooms as well and they are a far superior tent!) Considering the habitats were killing my plants, i guess anything is far superior haha

It was just crazy to see roots dangling in a jar full of nutes bubbling away. The whole time i was looking at it i just thought "jeez man.. that doesnt drown the plant?" The proof was right there... he has some pretty far out hydro setups ... stuff that you cant buy.... and some configurations youd think would never work... but they are!

and the jar was clear...?

Yep clear glass jar... just like an over size Mason Jar

Incognitto said:

Yep clear glass jar... just like an over size Mason Jar

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THAT is AMAZING!!!!

People say that you need complete dark for the roots to grow and stay healthy...

And you saw it all in a CLEAR jar...

Cool Man!

Thanks for the reply...

Gypsy...

That's an easy one, Man.

Just hold your nose.

when starting from seed, when do you start adding nutrients to the plant. becuase it sems like i fuch up bad.my babies been veg for 5 days and they seem to be a bit small. i added some nutrients earlier in the veg then i stop after reading ome article's . my babies leaves are a little yellow but mostly green. i just redirected back to just plan tap water, until there roots system is strong unuff, is it too late to save them from the earlier half strength nutrients i added ? my lights are 6in above my babies and i am using 125w florecent from hydrofarm. what am i doing wrong. i have 4x4 flood and drain ,using 1 inch rockwool cubes for my 5 day old yougins. help i need help.

Hey Potroast, I was wondering what are your thoughts on continuous meters. The kind you leave in the res. to give continuous reading of the TDS, PH, temp. Iam getting some things for my next grow and have been thinking about these. I have RA and it would help to not have to wrestle around with getting readings everyday. Thanks in advance!

I am starting a flood and drain setup.

I have only 1 question:

how much root space do flood and drain plants need? I am using pebbles and starter plugs doing SOG.

Currently I have 25 small 2.75L buckets. Top Diameter is 6.5" and bottom is 5.5". WILL THIS WORK?!?!

gvega187 said:

how much root space do flood and drain plants need? I am using pebbles and starter plugs doing SOG.

Currently I have 25 small 2.75L buckets. Top Diameter is 6.5" and bottom is 5.5". WILL THIS WORK?!?!

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I have something similar, and the same question. I'm using earth plugs at 4 weeks. roots should be over an inch long out of the plugs by now. would flood and drain get the plugs to wet?

no, only flood up to the bottom of the plug. DO NOT let water level reach the plug. I believe this applies for RW AND rapid rooters.

c'mon u guys we gotta all pitch in 2 cents while AL b. is trimming...LOL potroast put down that bowl and help me out.

gvega187 said:

no, only flood up to the bottom of the plug. DO NOT let water level reach the plug. I believe this applies for RW AND rapid rooters.

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for real? the earth plugs I have are a good 2 inches tall. that only leaves about 1 or 2 inches of flood height in the bottom of the pots. is that only for a few weeks or for the life of the plant?

give me the dimensions of your pot. i am currently trying to determine perfect container size also. Your size seems to be far to small. My rapid rooter plugs (probably similar) are 1.5 inches tall and may extend 1/2" above the pots when a dome of pebbles is mounded.

It seems from my research so far that anything upwards of 3 liters is acceptable.

gvega187 said:

give me the dimensions of your pot. i am currently trying to determine perfect container size also. Your size seems to be far to small. My rapid rooter plugs (probably similar) are 1.5 inches tall and may extend 1/2" above the pots when a dome of pebbles is mounded.

It seems from my research so far that anything upwards of 3 liters is acceptable.

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I think my pots are about 2 liters. they are gallon milk jugs cut down to about the height of the bottom of the handle. they are about 4 inches tall. works great for my pepper plants. they stayed pretty short and have been doing well. one pepper plant I didn't have a gallon jug for it at the time, so I put it in a half gallon jug cut the same way. that one's doing well too, but it did go root bound. are my pots big enough if I keep the plants small?

yes if doing small SOG plants and flowering them immediately you should need around 3L it seems minimum.

In flood and drain roots are allowed to come out of the bottom and get flooded also.

I recommend going to lowes and getting some larger containers that you can drill holes in.