rockwool and Hydroton Clay Pebbles

Ive got 1 plant in waterfarm,in a rockwool block then into hydroton.Ihad a with overwatering,the rock wool is soaking wet and plant dropping.Roots not reached water yet.Can i stop watering and let r/w dry out?If i do will the roots growing out the r/w dry out?

dambusters said:

Ive got 1 plant in waterfarm,in a rockwool block then into hydroton.Ihad a with overwatering,the rock wool is soaking wet and plant dropping.Roots not reached water yet.Can i stop watering and let r/w dry out?If i do will the roots growing out the r/w dry out?

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anyone please.

How about just extending periods between waterings?

Hydroton said:

How about just extending periods between waterings?

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I have,im only watering once a day but its soaking wet.

Cut it back more. If the cube is still soaking just don't water it. It's pretty simple water it when it needs it. If the humidity is pretty high as it should be in the root zone then the rockwool should be able to get pretty close to dry and that will make the roots reach down for water so they will get to it. You're over watering is causing the roots to not grow as much as they would if you let them dry out a bit.

dambusters said:

I have,im only watering once a day but its soaking wet.

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my buddy uses a drip system and he runs his pump constantly and his plants look beautiful. How can this be? The rockwool has to completley saturated with water.

Well there are a few differences. A drip system gives a very small measured amount of nutrients over a constant time frame. I am assuming here; that his system was a pump style system or was watering by hand. He is adding waaaaay to much at once as like the drip system it is like a slow looong drink that plants love in hydro. If you run a pump up to water try only water three to six times a day running your pump from 3 to 10 minutes respectively. Once your roots hit water your plant will EXPLODE IN A WEEK.

I just harvested a Purple Kush that I started from a clone in a rockwool cube in my GH Water Garden. I ran the airpump 24/7 so that the drip ring kept the hydroton clay moist all of the time. The first week, I just made sure that the rockwool wasn't too dry. once the roots got into the moist pellets It took off and never stopped growing. I couldn't move the lights up fast enough. Good Luck.

420Chef said:

I just harvested a Purple Kush that I started from a clone in a rockwool cube in my GH Water Garden. I ran the airpump 24/7 so that the drip ring kept the hydroton clay moist all of the time. The first week, I just made sure that the rockwool wasn't too dry. once the roots got into the moist pellets It took off and never stopped growing. I couldn't move the lights up fast enough. Good Luck.

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I havent watered for 2 days rockwool still wet.But good news some small roots have imerged from the top basket(water farm) and are heading for the water.Do i have the water level with the bottom of the basket and lower it bit by bit ?THANX EVERYONE FOR YOUR HELP

dambusters said:

I havent watered for 2 days rockwool still wet.But good news some small roots have imerged from the top basket(water farm) and are heading for the water.Do i have the water level with the bottom of the basket and lower it bit by bit ?THANX EVERYONE FOR YOUR HELP

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Just fill your water level to the line in the tube on the side. I think mine was right around 2 1/2 gallons. There is plenty of humidity for your roots to grow until they hit the water. If you have roots coming out of the holes in the bottom, you have A LOT more roots in the hydroton.

What Nutes are you feeding her?

420Chef said:

Just fill your water level to the line in the tube on the side. I think mine was right around 2 1/2 gallons. There is plenty of humidity for your roots to grow until they hit the water. If you have roots coming out of the holes in the bottom, you have A LOT more roots in the hydroton.

What Nutes are you feeding her?

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chef.This is my 1st go at hydro i got the waterfarm from a mate,the line on the tube is missing,thats why i asked if there should be a gap between water and the basket.Im useing vitalink a and b for nutes and 250w hps,rooms only 1.5 foot by 2foot.

I found that when the hydroton level was too low - the drip ring sat too high and it splashed quite a bit - constantly saturating the rockwool. Fill the hydroton to the top and set the drip ring on top of the hydroton - you can even bury it a bit. The water level should always be at the bottom of the grow chamber. When my roots hit the res I eliminate the drip ring altogether and put an airstone in the reservoir like DWC. Works for me.

dambusters said:

chef.This is my 1st go at hydro i got the waterfarm from a mate,the line on the tube is missing,thats why i asked if there should be a gap between water and the basket.Im useing vitalink a and b for nutes and 250w hps,rooms only 1.5 foot by 2foot.

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The line keeps the water level just below the top pot. So, yes, there should be a gap of maybe an inch or so. The top pot has to be able to drain in the bottom pot.

Try adding another air stone into your res. You can run the airline down through the tube on the side. I think it made a huge difference, although I don't have any scientific proof that it did.

MickFoster said:

I found that when the hydroton level was too low - the drip ring sat too high and it splashed quite a bit - constantly saturating the rockwool. Fill the hydroton to the top and set the drip ring on top of the hydroton - you can even bury it a bit. The water level should always be at the bottom of the grow chamber. When my roots hit the res I eliminate the drip ring altogether and put an airstone in the reservoir like DWC. Works for me.

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Yea DWC is my plan,just dont know how much water to put bottom res.What size air stone is best?

MickFoster said:

I found that when the hydroton level was too low - the drip ring sat too high and it splashed quite a bit - constantly saturating the rockwool. Fill the hydroton to the top and set the drip ring on top of the hydroton - you can even bury it a bit. The water level should always be at the bottom of the grow chamber. When my roots hit the res I eliminate the drip ring altogether and put an airstone in the reservoir like DWC. Works for me.

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I would not eliminate the drip ring. You still want the root ball to get water and nutes. I would use a bubble disk if you can find one. Otherwise, you can only get like a six inch stone to fit in the bottom.

420Chef said:

I would not eliminate the drip ring. You still want the root ball to get water and nutes. I would use a bubble disk if you can find one. Otherwise, you can only get like a six inch stone to fit in the bottom.

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If you drill out the holes in the upper chamber to make them larger most of the root system will be in the res allowing them to get plenty of nutes and water. Been doing this for years and it works perfect.

MickFoster said:

If you drill out the holes in the upper chamber to make them larger most of the root system will be in the res allowing them to get plenty of nutes and water. Been doing this for years and it works perfect.

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I couldn't agree more. The holes need to be larger and there needs to be more of them.