Ebb and flow water schedule

philbu

Well-Known Member
Hi,
Have a couple decent grows under the belt but first time for ebb and flow. Have 50 clones in one gallon pots in 4x6 tray under 2 1k's. 70/30 coco/perlite.
The first day I watered twice, early and late in the light period. Moisture content was still sky high on the second watering and I worry about over doing it. Today it's been almost 24 hrs since last watering and , checking with meter, moisture content is still very high, just not as bad as on yesterday's second watering. Sorry if I've lost you. : )
Questions are, (1) how often to water and
(2) how high should I let water get in the tray? I let water go a good 3/4 of the way to the tops of pots, but maybe too much with coco/perlite? Does that stuff just suck water up high enough to get to the clone roots and I don't have to drench them like that?

hey, thnx much : )
phil
 

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personal lux

Well-Known Member
most flood coco once daily. Try to make it right when the lights come on. I flood my hydroton every 3 hours. Plants are explosive.
 

philbu

Well-Known Member
most flood coco once daily. Try to make it right when the lights come on. I flood my hydroton every 3 hours. Plants are explosive.
thnx, pl.
yes, first flood occurs soon after lights come on. The second flood came on a couple hrs before lights out. I skipped flooding the second time this last 24hrs. I'm going to see how it goes flooding just once per day.
Hope I'm not losing opportunity to feed the plants better by cutting down to once per day. Perhaps it makes no diff, still trying to wrap my head around feeding schedule with coco in ebb&flow.
Perhaps it works like this?: Doesn't matter how many times you make nutrients available to a plant in a day, the plant can only use so much.
 

personal lux

Well-Known Member
thnx, pl.
yes, first flood occurs soon after lights come on. The second flood came on a couple hrs before lights out. I skipped flooding the second time this last 24hrs. I'm going to see how it goes flooding just once per day.
Hope I'm not losing opportunity to feed the plants better by cutting down to once per day. Perhaps it makes no diff, still trying to wrap my head around feeding schedule with coco in ebb&flow.
Perhaps it works like this?: Doesn't matter how many times you make nutrients available to a plant in a day, the plant can only use so much.
Im not really a coco guy as i have no experience with it. But ive heard that it is pretty hard to overwater coco, aslong as your ppms are correct you shouldnt have issues.
 

philbu

Well-Known Member
yes, hard to overwater, so i've read. Thinking about letting pots go to the dry side for 3-4 days, just give them less water and let the roots stretch and harden as they search for water. The I'll start bumping up the watering frequency until at least twice per day, keeping the medium fairly wet to keep excess salts soaked and flushed.
 

butler420

Member
I love coco coir—if you're using it in an ebb and flow situation you should add 30 - 50% perlite. This video was helpful.
 
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