watering and medium questions

1st grow fill and drian ebb and flow 6x6x8 room 1000 watt hps 440 cfm can fan carbon filter 6x4 tray 50 gal res
im about to switch to 12/12 plants are about 10 inches 3 in rockwool cubes in baskets filled with clay pellets tray is also filled with clay pellets was watering every 4 hours 24 hours of light not sure what i should do now set the timer for once in the middle of the off period 6 pm to 6 am then every 2 hrs in light period any suggestions dont want to fuck this up

peanut81 said:

1st grow fill and drian ebb and flow 6x6x8 room 1000 watt hps 440 cfm can fan carbon filter 6x4 tray 50 gal res
im about to switch to 12/12 plants are about 10 inches 3 in rockwool cubes in baskets filled with clay pellets tray is also filled with clay pellets was watering every 4 hours 24 hours of light not sure what i should do now set the timer for once in the middle of the off period 6 pm to 6 am then every 2 hrs in light period any suggestions dont want to fuck this up

Click to expand...

dont water when the lights are off...and you can water as often as you like provided the rw cubes are about a 1/2 inch above the flood line in the tray....man you did it right the first time, you'll get a hell of a yield

peanut81 said:

1st grow fill and drian ebb and flow 6x6x8 room 1000 watt hps 440 cfm can fan carbon filter 6x4 tray 50 gal res
im about to switch to 12/12 plants are about 10 inches 3 in rockwool cubes in baskets filled with clay pellets tray is also filled with clay pellets was watering every 4 hours 24 hours of light not sure what i should do now set the timer for once in the middle of the off period 6 pm to 6 am then every 2 hrs in light period any suggestions dont want to fuck this up

Click to expand...

Peanut,

I used RW out of the gate and for me it did not work as great as it has for some. Your set up with the RW and clay pellets will work but a word of advise, if you put pellets in your tray you will not be able to move your plants without tearing the roots. I know this because i have had to move my mothers twice and they are set in RW and pellets. I would keep the baskets and lose the tray pellets.

Just something to think about.

Oh and thank you for all of your information and forming your questions in a readable manner.

Keep us updated .

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so the water line shouldnt even touch the rock wool its about a half inch to an inch in the nutrients is that schedule right how would you do it (every 2 hours)
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Zoints

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nope...you want to flood your plants as often as possible with an oxygenated nutrient solution and if you wanna flood 5-6 x's per lights on then your rockwool would stay too wet for too long and could lead to stem rot and overwatering symptoms.
the every 2 hrs thing could be ....

you set your light to come on at 7:00p.m and go off at 7:00a.m so you will water at 7,9,11,1,3,5 for 4 minutes each flood. or however long it takes you to fill to the overflow in your table.

hope i've helped you somehow and good luck

hey man i tried to mesage you back but it said you had no priveleges so i copied it here.

because the roots have already formed how would you recomend remove the pellets from the tray?

and to keep the rockwool out of the nutes should i lower the fill level or try to lift them and put more pellets under?

some of the roots are more developed than others some coming out of the bottom of the basket some not even in the pellets in the bottom of the basket i am using penetrator and root boost as well as treating spider mites so the plants might be a little stressed already thank you guys for helping me i should be able to figure it out on my own but i have not found any material that deals with my specific situation

peanut81 said:

because the roots have already formed how would you recomend remove the pellets from the tray?

and to keep the rockwool out of the nutes should i lower the fill level or try to lift them and put more pellets under?

some of the roots are more developed than others some coming out of the bottom of the basket some not even in the pellets in the bottom of the basket i am using penetrator and root boost as well as treating spider mites so the plants might be a little stressed already thank you guys for helping me i should be able to figure it out on my own but i have not found any material that deals with my specific situation

Click to expand...

It all depends. How long have they been where they are at? I have moved mine twice and i think i got lucky both times with no root shock. If it hasn't been too long and you are going to want to move them. DO it now. If you decide to do it make sure you pull out all the roots from the pellets its a mess when you do this by the way . If you don't care leave them. As far as the RW pellet issue same thing. Flood your tray pull up the root mass and add some pellets to get it to the desired height. Now i have my mothers in 6 in RW and flood 2 times daily and i have one of my clones that i started in RW and planted it in pellets and it floods 5 times with no problems.

Thats my story and i am sticking to it.

Good luck

Sorry for butting in,
Peanut you could do with a larger rez tank, i'm sure you're finding it difficult keeping your pH stable. Or do you change your rez tank frequently?

sorry, i read that wrong, i thought it was 50 litres.

I grow in nursery pots, filled to about 3/4" over the water line with hydroton...then I place my plants in 3" rockwool cubes on top of the pots and cover with hydroton.......I flood 2xday for 15 mins during lights on in veg, and then I will ususally go to 3xday for 15mins during flower when they start to need more.....I have not had any troubles doing this.....and have 3 grows going right now like this, with all past yields favorable (average .6gr per watt) and no troubles.
When I first started using ebb&flow I put the rockwool too low (under the water line) and it stayed soaked and I had alot of ram's horning. I corrected this by moving the rockwool further up above the water line, so that it is more of a stabilizer than a medium. I also went for 3xday at 15 mins to 2xday....becasue at 3xday I was getting mild ram's horning.
Bottom line...it is better to underwater and increase slowly to find the place your babies are happiest. They will survive a few days of less water than they need as you increase to adjust, but they will not like too much water as you decrease. We tend to want to flood our plasnts with water in hope they'll acclerate their growth, but the truth is, this will hinder. Less is better.
NO...shampoo is better! Hey...wrong story...get out!!!!
Sorry...it's those damn voices again.

PM me any time and I will help if I can.

My timer only works in 15 min incrments...otherwise I would feed more frequently....but my plants don't seem to be lacking anything. They are purdy.
ppm

sparkafire said:

It all depends. How long have they been where they are at? I have moved mine twice and i think i got lucky both times with no root shock. If it hasn't been too long and you are going to want to move them. DO it now. If you decide to do it make sure you pull out all the roots from the pellets its a mess when you do this by the way . If you don't care leave them. As far as the RW pellet issue same thing. Flood your tray pull up the root mass and add some pellets to get it to the desired height. Now i have my mothers in 6 in RW and flood 2 times daily and i have one of my clones that i started in RW and planted it in pellets and it floods 5 times with no problems.

Thats my story and i am sticking to it.

Good luck

Click to expand...

i just pulled all the plant out of the baskets and added more pellets to raise the rockwool above the water line i also removed all the pellets from the tray (some left in the grooves at the bottom) i think it went pretty well should be ok i hope

also i have three books and they all say that i should keep my plants at a different ph cannabis cultivation by mel thomas pg 46 says ph should be at 5.5 the best of ask ed by ed rosenthal pg 119 says 6.1 to 6.3 the cannabis grow bible by greg green says 5.2 to 6.3

Does anybody have a real answer or are they all correct?

ive been trying for 6.1 to 6.3 having to constantly bring it down would be easier if i could lower it more and had a larger range

reason i went with ask ed was cannabis cultivation said ph of 7 for soil and i thought that was wrong and the other had bible in the title

peanut81 said:

i just pulled all the plant out of the baskets and added more pellets to raise the rockwool above the water line i also removed all the pellets from the tray (some left in the grooves at the bottom) i think it went pretty well should be ok i hope

Click to expand...

That's what I would have done.

also i have three books and they all say that i should keep my plants at a different ph cannabis cultivation by mel thomas pg 46 says ph should be at 5.5 the best of ask ed by ed rosenthal pg 119 says 6.1 to 6.3 the cannabis grow bible by greg green says 5.2 to 6.3

Does anybody have a real answer or are they all correct?

Click to expand...

5.8 is the magic number.



Mn appears to be locked out in this chart at 5.8. I don't know how nute mfrs get around this. I don't see Mn defs in my plants but I have seen ppl on here who are seeing Mn def-like symptoms at the moment at 5.8 at 1400ppm. Foliar feeding weekly with an Mn supplement might be a solution.

I keep mine at 5.6~5.8 and have never had any nute deficiencies, other than nitrogen in weeks 8 & 9. Just my 2 Abes.
Al....thanks for the chart. I am adding it to my "charts" folder....thanks much!!! I will share it often and freely!
Peace!
ppm

sparkafire said:

if you put pellets in your tray you will not be able to move your plants without tearing the roots. I know this because i have had to move my mothers twice and they are set in RW and pellets. I would keep the baskets and lose the tray pellets.

Click to expand...

I had to take my plants out of their pots and replant them. they're about 3 inches tall above ground, but their roots have grown to cover the entire bottom of the pots. most of these roots got broken off, but I'm hoping they will recover. amazing, I love seeing such long white roots. yummy

if you need to remove a plant from pellets, sink the plant and pot of pellets in a bucket of weak nute solution. This will make it easy to separate roots from medium for repotting, without tearing off a lot of roots. Tearing up a developed rootmass will lead to transplant shock (wilting, slow growth).

Don't know how to find folks here sry to keep hijacking-sorta
https://www.rollitup.org/hydroponics-aeroponics/107567-first-hydro-grow-white-russian.html