UnderBelly
Active Member
Using "Earthstones Growstones" in a small Ebb and Flow system. This is a closet grow, just for propagation and getting through early veg. Small T5, 23" square Botanicaire tray in an otherwise homemade setup. I went with Growstones because my hydro store owner gave them to me as freebies.
The roots do a great job of finding their way around the stones.
Advantages over Hydroton:
Disadvantages:
Just though I'd put this quick note out there for anyone considering using growstones over hydroton. Because of some of the disadvantages I listed, when I upcan these girls, they are going into hydroton.
The roots do a great job of finding their way around the stones.
Advantages over Hydroton:
- Less expensive, at least for me, nevermind that they are free in this case.
- Lighter weight.
- Green - they are made from recycled bottles, which is pretty neat.
- Require much less washing before they pH-neutralize.
- Can be discarded in a garden bed without your savvy neighbors, lawn crews and landladies making the connection between 60 pounds of Hydroton and your grow. Even us legal growers are wise to be discreet!
Disadvantages:
- It tends to float. When washing it, some of it floats and gets everywhere, making a bit of a mess to clean up. Hydroton does this too, but not as much. It's not as bad as using coco coir in an ebb-and-flow, but it's a similar problem.
- The smaller stones leak through the holes in your pots. This stops being a problem once the pots are established, but at first it's annoying because the little stones get into the drain, and I worry that they might find their way into my pump.
- It capillaries similar to hydroton, but a bit more slowly.
- It dries out much faster than hydroton, but this might be a benefit. One thing that alarmed me with hydroton was when I had a rootbuilder pot filled with it, sitting in my garage (in AZ mind you), that was still moist almost a month after it had been removed from the tray. I'm just counting my blessings that I never got powdery mildew that way.
- It's quite gritty to work with, and I'm not very excited about that considering the "grit" is tiny shards of glass.
Just though I'd put this quick note out there for anyone considering using growstones over hydroton. Because of some of the disadvantages I listed, when I upcan these girls, they are going into hydroton.
