Watering schedule top feed clay pebbles?

I recently started my first indoor hydro in clay pebbles top feed in Dutch bucket/DWC recirculating. I've grown outdoor for close to a decade but this is very different I'm finding out. I cant seem to dial in how often I need to water. Some say let it run 24/7 and some say 15min every 2 hours, that's currently what i am doing right now but just want to know others opinions incase I'm missing something. I am seeing little deficiencys, nothing major but I thought maybe I'm not watering enough. Temps are usually around 79 or 80 degrees. 500 watt LEDs. Also what should I do for my dark cycle. Water or no water. Thanks

I am the same but a little different lol,my buckets 1 g live in a tote.Buckets sit on a net pot to lift them so there level with the tote.I run the pump 24/7 reason is the roots come out the bottom and live in the tote where i keep about 2"of water.I run extra feed hoses that just drip to the bottom sorta making waterfalls to aerate the water where roots are.
I tried just top feed in a tray i found it to not get enough DO.

Probably not helping you much but anyway you can add DO to the system will benefit big time.

myke said:

I am the same but a little different lol,my buckets 1 g live in a tote.Buckets sit on a net pot to lift them so there level with the tote.I run the pump 24/7 reason is the roots come out the bottom and live in the tote where i keep about 2"of water.I run extra feed hoses that just drip to the bottom sorta making waterfalls to aerate the water where roots are.
I tried just top feed in a tray i found it to not get enough DO.

Probably not helping you much but anyway you can add DO to the system will benefit big time.

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Definitely helps, thanks man. I've heard alot of people say 24/7 so it's just swaying me more towards that. Have you had any issues with stem rot or overwatering and also what is DO

Dissolved oxygen. No prob about stem rot. I had two 1/4” feeder lines per pot. I drilled a small hole on ea side of pot about 2” down from the top. Pushed them right into the Hydroton

If you run 24/7 I think you may find your roots living in your bulkhead/drain lines.

myke said:

Dissolved oxygen. No prob about stem rot. I had two 1/4” feeder lines per pot. I drilled a small hole on ea side of pot about 2” down from the top. Pushed them right into the Hydroton

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Awesome, I just found a DO product. Looks promising. Thanks for the advice. Much appreciated. Also I know the growth in hydro is much faster then soil. About when is a good time to flip them to 12/12. Hopeing for close to 2oz a plant. I have 5ft of room to play with between top of pots and light hung at max, so realistically 3ft if I leave lights 24in from canopy?

nor cal 999 said:

Awesome, I just found a DO product. Looks promising. Thanks for the advice. Much appreciated. Also I know the growth in hydro is much faster then soil. About when is a good time to flip them to 12/12. Hopeing for close to 2oz a plant. I have 5ft of room to play with between top of pots and light hung at max, so realistically 3ft if I leave lights 24in from canopy?

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bypassing some of the water from your pump to create a waterfall in your res is a good way to make some DO.

My experience with flood and drain using expanded clay pellets is a flood just long enough to get to full depth every 4 hours and not at all with lights off is what works for me. If I was doing a top feed I would likely run the pump for a couple minutes every 4 hours and none at all when the lights are off.

Renfro said:

My experience with flood and drain using expanded clay pellets is a flood just long enough to get to full depth every 4 hours and not at all with lights off is what works for me. If I was doing a top feed I would likely run the pump for a couple minutes every 4 hours and none at all when the lights are off.

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Thanks for the feedback man, appreciate it.

One thing I’ve noticed is the difference in trays mines 25 yr old. The new ones have much deeper channels. This no doubt helps create areas for roots and water to sit between floods.

Renfro said:

My experience with flood and drain using expanded clay pellets is a flood just long enough to get to full depth every 4 hours and not at all with lights off is what works for me. If I was doing a top feed I would likely run the pump for a couple minutes every 4 hours and none at all when the lights are off.

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Renfro got a question. I have heard that before, " no water with lights out." I am curious why not? Not trying to be a smart ass BUT, it rains at night. Sorry comes natural. LOL. You give good advice!

Phat J said:

Renfro got a question. I have heard that before, " no water with lights out." I am curious why not? Not trying to be a smart ass BUT, it rains at night. Sorry comes natural. LOL. You give good advice!

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Well when the lights are off the plants don't drink as fast. Evaporation of transpiration is reduced with the lights out. Temperatures drop. All of these factors are encouraging powdery mildew. So no water when the lights are out helps mitigate that. Also helps prevent root rot since the roots aren't saturated all night. Having a flood about an hour before lights out is good. If the plants are really big they may need a flood at night, but unless they are wilting at night I wouldn't recommend flooding at night.

Renfro said:

Well when the lights are off the plants don't drink as fast. Evaporation of transpiration is reduced with the lights out. Temperatures drop. All of these factors are encouraging powdery mildew. So no water when the lights are out helps mitigate that. Also helps prevent root rot since the roots aren't saturated all night. Having a flood about an hour before lights out is good. If the plants are really big they may need a flood at night, but unless they are wilting at night I wouldn't recommend flooding at night.

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Damn I was going to give my input but Renfro already nailed it.

Renfro said:

Well when the lights are off the plants don't drink as fast. Evaporation of transpiration is reduced with the lights out. Temperatures drop. All of these factors are encouraging powdery mildew. So no water when the lights are out helps mitigate that. Also helps prevent root rot since the roots aren't saturated all night. Having a flood about an hour before lights out is good. If the plants are really big they may need a flood at night, but unless they are wilting at night I wouldn't recommend flooding at night.

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Thanks for the advice, makes perfect sense.

I have only been experimenting with this new top feel in clay pebbles and during lights on 15min every hour and lights out 15min every 4 hours. I haven't seen any negative effects so far.

Ive recently pulled out a small clone that was in hydroton,it was fed 24/7.The roots where no bigger then when it was planted.Ive since put it in a mini dwc system and the roots have grown 10 fold in a week.I also have a bigger plant that ive switched to one feed a day ,it also has improved.

nor cal 999 said:

I have only been experimenting with this new top feel in clay pebbles and during lights on 15min every hour and lights out 15min every 4 hours. I haven't seen any negative effects so far.

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How'd the grow come out? I'm doing something similar (perlite, Jack's 3-2-1 nutes in the reservoir, top "trickle-feed/water" pumped from & flowing back to the res). The trickle's on for 10 minutes every 4 hours, "day" and "night". I installed drains so only about 1" of water pools in the pot between trickles. The first clone seems to be doing well, too soon for the other 2.

Any wisdom?

J

GreenthumbUPMI said:

How'd the grow come out? I'm doing something similar (perlite, Jack's 3-2-1 nutes in the reservoir, top "trickle-feed/water" pumped from & flowing back to the res). The trickle's on for 10 minutes every 4 hours, "day" and "night". I installed drains so only about 1" of water pools in the pot between trickles. The first clone seems to be doing well, too soon for the other 2.

Any wisdom?

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I was actually quite impressed on how they turned out. I did 2 more runs with clay pebbles and stayed with 15min on 60min off until roots are more developed, then 15 on and anywhere from 2 to 3hrs off. Mainly because I didn't want to burn my $400 pump out. Every 4hrs when lights out as long as you keep humidity down, otherwise PM issues. I suggest running ucroots, plant grade bleach. Also, keep water temperature in res 68 to 72 if possible. Just my 2 cents.

nor cal 999 said:

J


I was actually quite impressed on how they turned out. I did 2 more runs with clay pebbles and stayed with 15min on 60min off until roots are more developed, then 15 on and anywhere from 2 to 3hrs off. Mainly because I didn't want to burn my $400 pump out. Every 4hrs when lights out as long as you keep humidity down, otherwise PM issues. I suggest running ucroots, plant grade bleach. Also, keep water temperature in res 68 to 72 if possible. Just my 2 cents.

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I'm attaching pics of my little science project, lol. 12-gallon cooler for the res, cat litter pails for pots, a $25 Vivosun water pump & $20 airpump, airstone inside res for DO, odds & ends for piping & attachments from Ace Hardware. About $125 all-in, including the nutes @$35.

The second picture shows the 2 other plants sharing the tent. One is in a 3-gallon smartpot, the other in a self-wicking arrangement of 2 Home Depot pails which is working FANTASTICALLY. I put in a homemade mixture of old compost, potting soil, and perlite - jazzed up with bat guano & vermiculite. Just add water (plan a bloom booster for flower). The only drawback is that they're SO DAMNED HEAVY, lol... Looking up ucroots - haven't ever seen that referenced anywhere.

As you can see - I'm TRYING to be frugal, and still succeed. Thanks for the info - HAPPY GROWING!!!

Awesome, I always love some ingenuity. I did run on test plant strictly in 100% perlite and seen little to know difference under exact same conditions as clay pebbles. I did notice lots of algae growing on top of perilite towards the end. Too my knowledge I assumed it was do to overwatering because the perilite seemed to stay more saturated due to the density vs clay pebbles let more oxygen in. I swear by ucroots if running sterile rez. It does wonders. I had a clone with extreme root rot once and did a root drench in 50% ucroots to water and it was cured in a week or 2. Happy growing. Any questions I'm here to help the best I can.

GreenthumbUPMI said:

I'm attaching pics of my little science project, lol. 12-gallon cooler for the res, cat litter pails for pots, a $25 Vivosun water pump & $20 airpump, airstone inside res for DO, odds & ends for piping & attachments from Ace Hardware. About $125 all-in, including the nutes @$35.

The second picture shows the 2 other plants sharing the tent. One is in a 3-gallon smartpot, the other in a self-wicking arrangement of 2 Home Depot pails which is working FANTASTICALLY. I put in a homemade mixture of old compost, potting soil, and perlite - jazzed up with bat guano & vermiculite. Just add water (plan a bloom booster for flower). The only drawback is that they're SO DAMNED HEAVY, lol... Looking up ucroots - haven't ever seen that referenced anywhere.

As you can see - I'm TRYING to be frugal, and still succeed. Thanks for the info - HAPPY GROWING!!!View attachment 4759043View attachment 4759044

Click to expand...

Awesome, I always love some ingenuity. I did run on test plant strictly in 100% perlite and seen little to know difference under exact same conditions as clay pebbles. I did notice lots of algae growing on top of perilite towards the end. Too my knowledge I assumed it was do to overwatering because the perilite seemed to stay more saturated due to the density vs clay pebbles let more oxygen in. I swear by ucroots if running sterile rez. It does wonders. I had a clone with extreme root rot once and did a root drench in 50% ucroots to water and it was cured in a week or 2. Happy growing. Any questions I'm here to help the best I can.