help on flood and drain

irishboy

irishboy

Well-Known Member
i am about to set up a 2'x4' flood tray. i will be using 3 gal air pots fill with Hydroton. this is my 1st time going full hydro and i was wondering how many times a day should i flood my clones? during the small veg stage and during flowering when they get their? i know their are allot of condition's but just a basic rule of thumb please?

ive been told to never flood at lights off is this true?

PH whats ideal for flood and drain with Hydroton? i was planing around 5.8-6.0

any advise would be great
 
SeedHo

SeedHo

Well-Known Member
few things to consider with your flood times.how fast will your pump fill to your desired level,then add 6-10mins depending on the growth stage,intervals of 4-6hrs depending on plants liking.ive done both lights on and off,but i just let my pump timer run 24/7,it makes me feel better knowing my roots stay damp and don`t dry out.adjusting your flood level can and will have an effect on your roots growth(i mean size).run your depth high for a few days till you and start to lower your at your lowest level and you will see explosive root growth.more root mean more nute up take and plant growth.
this is not an exact formula it is a general idea,so keep that in mind.you need to watch the plants they will give the answers.please understand if you ph your water before you do anything,you`ll be miles ahead.you`ll also know how much buffer it takes to adjust it.i start ph at 5.2-3 and let it drift to 5.8 before i get any concerns of changing it.remember adjust your ph before you add anything,very important.
 
Y

YaK

just some guy
why are you just running hydroton? just curious. Why are you opposed to moisture retaining media?
 
N

nicedreamz

Well-Known Member
SeedHo said:
few things to consider with your flood times.how fast will your pump fill to your desired level,then add 6-10mins depending on the growth stage,intervals of 4-6hrs depending on plants liking.ive done both lights on and off,but i just let my pump timer run 24/7,it makes me feel better knowing my roots stay damp and don`t dry out.adjusting your flood level can and will have an effect on your roots growth(i mean size).run your depth high for a few days till you and start to lower your at your lowest level and you will see explosive root growth.more root mean more nute up take and plant growth.
this is not an exact formula it is a general idea,so keep that in mind.you need to watch the plants they will give the answers.please understand if you ph your water before you do anything,you`ll be miles ahead.you`ll also know how much buffer it takes to adjust it.i start ph at 5.2-3 and let it drift to 5.8 before i get any concerns of changing it.remember adjust your ph before you add anything,very important.
Click to expand...
Not sure what nutes you're using but adjusting ph before adding with GH nutes is a NO NO atleast for me it would be. That would put me in the 4's and if using RO i never even really have to adjust at all. Again this is just for me personaly.
 
Dennis Rodman

Dennis Rodman

Active Member
your ph levels are fine.
dont flood at night.

you can flood for 15 minutes during lights on. do it every 3 or 4 hours.
 
Palmdiggidy

Palmdiggidy

Well-Known Member
just putting this out there cause i just ran into this my self, cover your tray with a white plastic. this will keep algae from growing.
 
reverof

reverof

Active Member
I use a flood & drain, with rockwool. I got most my info from homebrewer's grows.
I flood my table 2x a day for 15 minutes, I flood 1 hour after lights are on and 1 hour before lights go out (in veg state) and will flood 3x a day during flowering, again 1 hour after lights on, 1 hour before lights out and 1 time in the middle.

So far in veg state my plants all look very happy.

I use Dyna-Gro nutes. RO water with Protekt, then add DG Bloom, using these too with RO water seems to have my PH around 6 with very light changes through out the week.
 
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