Cleaning out clay pebbles

.......just done my first grow and it's time to clean out, ready for the next.

How can I clean out my pebbles to get rid of any old roots and use them again??

Is it best just to empty my pots to clean them out, or can u buy some kind of soluion to break everything down?

Cannazym will do the trick. I have heard that re-using clay pebbles will decrease yield but do not know this for sure.

Don't know if Cannazym will work, unless you have tryed it?

I can't see how it would make any differnce to yeild if you clean them properly.

I clean mine by, first taking a hand full, placing them in a paster strainer and running the shower over them. I then pic threw, taking off any dead roots, I then place them back in the shower and give them a second wash. I then place them into a pot of water mixed with H2o2 for 1 day to strilise them. I also strilise everything else, that is used in my growroom.

Yes it's quite a bit of work, I usly do it in the evening while watching TV, and it's a damn sight less work than dealing with root rot! Also I'm a big baliever in reusing things.

pain in the ass, innit? Now you know why I don't use pellets.

I was told in my local grow shop that re-useing clay pebbles decrease yeild. I do not know this for sure as I re-used pebbles and made some mistakes on my second grow so really couldn't tell what was to blame, but as a novice will take there word for it and see what happens.. But Cannazym is ment to desolve dead roots and I was told to use that if I couldn't be botherd to rinse out the roots but to be honest I think it best to dump the old lot and start with a fresh rinsed out new lot, doesn't cost a lot and saves on the old back ache and blocking up ur plug hole bla de bla.

I dissagree. Reuse every thing that you can. not good to wast shit.
I know it's not that pricy to buy a new bag. but it's no that difficult to spend the evening cleaning the old one.

I really can't see how it would make any diffence to yeaild. But If I was running a grow shop and was looking to take you $ I would tell that.

I don't know, just seems wastfull to me.

Pellets are re-usable but not infinitely so.

Pellets accumulate not just pathogens but nutrient salts. If you can be bothered to clean ALL the root material off and fully sterilise them (soak in water 24H with 50% grade H2O2 @10ml/L), they'll be good for a few re-uses.

However, it is unavoidable that nute salts will begin to accumulate on them after a few uses. This is concentrated fertiliser, Ca & Mg residue left when water evaporates from the pellets. Enough of these now poisoned recycled pellets buried in the rootmass could cause nute burns.

Intersting.

And what about if you are growing DWC and the cleay balls are only there to hold the plant up and don't actully get any water or nutes running threw them. I would Asoom that they would lasta lot longer?

If your pellets stay dry all the time, they're not going to collect anything. However, that's not the usual state of affairs in the life of an expanded clay pellet. I've never seen roots knit into dry pellets, only wet ones.

Handy for me so.

Note: the Clay pepebles I have been cleaning where from a hempy bucket experemnt that didn't work out.

Found some stuff called zym it! dead root dissolver by tree of life range £15 for 500ml.

How much pellet media will it clean? How much does new media cost?

Don't know how much it will clean never used it but 50 litre of pebbles costs £20.

Twistyman said:

but I'm a devote paranoid, everything wants a piece of me....Hee Hee

Click to expand...

I know how you feel.

Like I said, if you take the time to fully clean & sterilise them, you can re-use pellets a few times. Your grow shop's advice was right, though, despite that advice meaning they'll sell you more pellets.

I started off many years ago with pellets in a drip feed system. I tried recycling them but found that new pellets every time gave consistently higher yields. Since I was disposing of pellets with every crop, I switched to rockwool floc, which is cheaper and lighter in weight than pellets, but eventually found it holds too much water and can't tolerate frequent flooding. Reducing the number of watering cycles reduces the amount of oxygenated nute soln you can run through the roots, reducing growth rate and yield. I could only water floc 1x/day. I then got on to Fytocell, which is yet lighter than RW floc (you can carry 2x 100L bags with 1 hand), even cheaper than floc and can be flooded 2-3x/day, similar to pellets.

I only reuse if I didn't buy enough for the new round....usually just a buckets worth. With it I soak in a heavy bleach solution for a few hours followed by plain water soak, followed by serious rinsing....I'd rather skip the first two steps and just do the heavy rinsing with the new stuff. I'm probably going to buy the biggest bags next time.

AL B. That fytocell sounds great...are they any ph issues with it like RW has?

If I were you, I'd probably sterilise with H2O2 instead of bleach.

Yes, I forgot to mention that- Fytocell is about pH 5.5-6 (per mfr labelling). It does overcome the high pH problem of floc, which is caused by residual limestone (Ca) dust in the product.