Flood and drain with smart pots and hydroton?

Hey guys, i am about to set up my first hyrdo set up and i think i am going to try flooding a 3x3 tray while using 2 gal smartpots filled with hydroton. Has anybody tried this or is there any reason why i should not do this?

why smart pots? use net pots or something that's like a waste IMO smart pots are for soil. U can take a 2 gallon pot and drill holes in it and it will be the same, smart pots are great for outdoors. I think if you use the smart pot design to train the roots the same way that a smart pot would, there would be barely any difference. Im not positive if there is a better reason for using smart pots but i think it may be unnecessary for hydro

I think it should work fine the only possible issue I could foresee would be algae growth on the pots.

Algae is a def. Check out Geo pots, there out of San Fran, http://www.geopot.com/ the have a 3 foot by 3 foot planter that i think is right up your ally.

Nizza said:

why smart pots? use net pots or something that's like a waste IMO smart pots are for soil. U can take a 2 gallon pot and drill holes in it and it will be the same

Click to expand...

Agreed. K.I.S.S. seems to apply here. Smart pots, etc... are cool, but may not allow the same airflow that you can get with net pots and loose hydroton.
I have seen that big square planter thing mentioned above as well. I have always like that thing. Never used it mind you, just liked it from what i've seen.

never tried but if you set it above a 4 foot flood table it could be done. not sure about the flood and drain idea. I would do a drip system so the fabric could get a chance to dry out a little. Im sure if filled hydroton would work. But i would do a coco and perlite mix with this system cuz the fabric would filter out the water and could be used recirc. just an idea. Also with smart pots on a flood table they will float during flood cycle the first few weeks.

Just fill the tray with (rinsed) hydroton drop your rooted clones in. Use rapid rooters or rockwool to start your seeds or clones. There are many vids on youtube showing how easy it is. The smart pots could work .....I've seen where they cut the bottom out to give more support for a tall plant , but you don't need it just the hydroton works great.

I have done this because I wanted to use CoCo. And yes I got a little algae but it really didnt affect my grow. I lined the bottom of the smart pots with hydroton for better drainage I also liked them because I used the 5 gallon ones which was bigger than the net pots i could find. I would probabaly do it again.

I considered smart pots until I found out that the roots grow through the fabric and out the sides, and that just seems messy and hard to clean. I'm using square pots filled with hydroton with a top feed system.