100% Organic Hydro GH Jack Herer

Hi i'm currently experimenting with the Bio Canna line in a hybrid flood and drain system, I was wondering if anyone else has had any success with this kind of system.
I have been growing hydro for a while but was highly disappointed with the taste compared to soil, but i liked the weight with hydro, I then found out about the toxicity of salt based fertilizers and the fact that most are slightly radioactive due to the rock they use for phosphorus I think.
So I started checking out organic hydro and found this link http://www.cannabisculture.com/articles/1534.html

I am basically using 25l pots containing clay pebbles at the bottom 2 inches then a layer of coco to act as a barrier then a mix of canna bio terra 70% then 20% vermiculite and 10% clay pebbles.
the pots sit in a wilma flood and drain system filled with clay pebbles the pots sit 1" under the top drain line the flood tray is then covered so its light proof.

My plants have only been in this system for 1 day and before this they was in 25l pots with the canna terra, vermiculite, they developed slowly and got ill due to the fact that I had them sat in water with the bottoms of the pots half full of clay pebbles what i didn't realise is the clay pebbles suck water up into the medium, hence why a flood and drain system was needed. This locked out mag n, k. They are recovering but they don't look great, poor lady's they almost went yellow at 1 point. I also had an issue with fertilizing My jacks are very nutrient hungry i have been feeding full strength Bio vegga then half strength two days later and water from the bottom, as I was trying to encourage them to adopt a dual part root system the lower roots suck water and the upper roots take nutrients they need through the fine top roots as happens in the wild.


Ideally i should have used the white corrugated plastic that comes with the system but im saving it as next time im using 4 15l pots.

This is my first ever true living organics soil plant its a auto g13 pineapple express and is 12 days of chop.

The plant on the far left is the control plant which is being grown in soil without the clay pebbles.


I would love for your input maybe i can help you live the dream of organic hydro the easy way the only thing that has to be done to the res water is ph'd to 6.8,
Im going to setup the drippers tomorrow so its easier to feed them, does anyone no if brewing the bio canna nutes for 24-46hrs will increase microbacteria levels.

Hope you enjoy this thread,
Peace,
Ben

So you have to water the top soil separately and then you have hydro (flood and drain) for the lower roots. Is that right?

You're control plant, is it just in soil with no attachment to the hydro portion of your setup?

Yeah thats correctim just using ph'd water in the flood and drain. All though its not working how i wanted it to its hard to balance this system up the soil draws the water out of the flood and drain a little bit too much which is making the soil over wet. Im flooding twice a day for 5 mins. My control plant is very lush and green although its smaller than the hydro plants.

Does any one have any ideas what it could be other than overwatering its driving me mad as hydro's what im used to i don't understand whats going on i will upload a picture later they look like they have nearly starved to death.

Thanks,
Ben.

not trying to be a ass,

organic and hydro dont mix well together, i would argue that the words shouldnt even be in the same sentence. now having said that, my two cents are

judging by your pics, ur probley doing a mixture of too much ferts with ph going off balance due to your mix and water. bio terra is soil if im not mistaken, mix that with the line your using and that equals problems.

run the line in a more traditional hydo set up like DWC ,
or dump the line and use the terra line to go with the terra mix.

your current set up will keep failing if you keep doing what your doing.
much lov3

I see what your saying but i think they are recovering from nutrient lockout because they were too wet from the soil sucking the water up out of the tray I shortened the flood times and the new growth has really started coming back green again. I also noticed there has been a big difference in ph every day so i have been ph downing the water everyday.

The bio canna soil is fine with the bio line my control plant is super healthy I really do believe its working i have just yet to dial it n jacks isn't a novice strain there heavy feeders its clear to see miss 1 feeding and they go yellow within days.

Why do people recommend using the canna terra pro + instead of the soil designed to work with the bio line surely the bio soil is the best one to use.

Im very determined to make this work i would'nt even call this system hydro in a normal sense as no nutrients are in the resivour all the nutrients are fed by hand every other day as they need it.
As you can see the control plant is a dark green how this strain is ment to look. They look as though they have been bleached by the light but i dont think they have.

Peace,
Ben

Here's an update the plants where being burnt by my cool tube reflector, the pots where sat too deep in the tray and wasn't drying out sufficiently so the plants where a little too wet also had a problem with my table drain i had to modify it so a puddle wasn't let behind in the drain channel the roots where rotten and it was full of fungus gnat larvae. i have rectified all the problems and they are now 12 days flowering.
The color and vigor is slowly coming back im now confident they will finish okay but the control plant is bigger due to it not been over watered so the comparison between the methods aint going to be accurate this time.

Here's some pics

Here's an update everything seems to be going okay and on track here's the latest pictures at week 4 they are currently 5 weeks and will be beggining the flush in two weeks.


Oh well there's one pic untill my camera is charged.

Here's some up to date pictures i have topped the pots off with fresh compost moved them about so there's better light coverage now the control plant is a hell of a lot behind the hydro about a week i would say.

Here's the pics: The smaller budded plant is the control plant i have been feeding them and watering them the same amount and time to try keep the grow a good comparison between liquid nutrient organics / organic hydro.