Going to try an Ebb - Flow, some quick questions....

M

mrrippey

Well-Known Member
Starting my third grow, first grow was with Miracle got 2oz from two girls. Second grow with better soil and nutes (fox farm) got me 4 boys and one plat to be determined (looking like a girl though).

I have a 4x4x6.5 tent with a 400MH+HPS digital ballast. Going to get feminized seeds (Northern lights, Aurora Inca) to make two mothers for cloning. If my AK48 is also a girl, she will be a mom so I will have all three moms in soil for cloning. I got a 24 site cloning tray. Moms will be under a 400 mh light (I have to buy this though).

I want to so a SOG setup, I do not want these things to get super big, maybe three feet total.

In an area 3x3 or 2x4 depending on the tray I can get, how many plants can I get in there? I was thinking in a SOG, I can get many more small plants in but I also read 1 plant per square foot. Should I just flower the clones from jump or veg for a couple of weeks (would require me to get another light or use my CFL's from my first grow).

Clones will be in rockwool 1.5" then put in netpots with hydron.

Am I missing anything? Any and all tips welcome. I eventually want to have a perpetual system, getting harvest every 2-4 weeks something like that from my plants.

any comments welcome

Rippey
 
NLXSK1

NLXSK1

Well-Known Member
mrrippey said:
Starting my third grow, first grow was with Miracle got 2oz from two girls. Second grow with better soil and nutes (fox farm) got me 4 boys and one plat to be determined (looking like a girl though).

I have a 4x4x6.5 tent with a 400MH+HPS digital ballast. Going to get feminized seeds (Northern lights, Aurora Inca) to make two mothers for cloning. If my AK48 is also a girl, she will be a mom so I will have all three moms in soil for cloning. I got a 24 site cloning tray. Moms will be under a 400 mh light (I have to buy this though).

I want to so a SOG setup, I do not want these things to get super big, maybe three feet total.

In an area 3x3 or 2x4 depending on the tray I can get, how many plants can I get in there? I was thinking in a SOG, I can get many more small plants in but I also read 1 plant per square foot. Should I just flower the clones from jump or veg for a couple of weeks (would require me to get another light or use my CFL's from my first grow).

Clones will be in rockwool 1.5" then put in netpots with hydron.

Am I missing anything? Any and all tips welcome. I eventually want to have a perpetual system, getting harvest every 2-4 weeks something like that from my plants.

any comments welcome

Rippey
Click to expand...
Rockwool is tricky to work with. If you are not familiar with it I would recommend rapid rooters. They are more forgiving in terms of watering and PH.

You are not going to want to have 3' high plants as they will have a really large footprint.

I recommend once you take clones that you allow them to get some roots in veg before transferring them to the hydroton flood tray.
 
M

mrrippey

Well-Known Member
Thanks NLXSKI1

I never used rockwool so maybe I will see if I can find / order rapid rooters. Is that some kind of plug? I have used peat plus when I did my soil grows but I do not that that will work in this configuration.

I really do not want the plants to get super big either but realistically, if I flower the clones once they get to say 8" or so, they can get to 2'-3' feet after 7-8 weeks of flowering. This is why I do not think I can get more than 9 plants on that tray. I am thinking maybe getting a 600 watt HPS and use the 400 for the mothers and the clone machine when they are vegging and rooting alittle bit. I can have the clone machine to get the roots, veg them in a tray for 2 weeks then move them to the hydron. something like that. Doable??

Rippey
 
M

mrrippey

Well-Known Member
actually I dont know what size netpots to get between 3", 3.75" and 6"......I am guessing the bigger the pot, the bigger the plant and yield. The roots cannot see light so if I do a tray, that would mean that entire tray has to be filled with hydron. If I do it like a dwc setup, then I technically do not but then the roots would be in 'air' most of the time (I guess) if the roots grow (which they will) longer than the pot.....hmmm
 
NLXSK1

NLXSK1

Well-Known Member
I have a similar setup with 3x3 trays. I cut clones, germinate them in a cloner that is similar to the aeroponic stink bud system and then when the roots are 2-8" long I put them in pots filled with hydroton. The pots are small, I could probably get 16-25 in a 3x3 tray. The small root mass does not allow the plants to get very big.

I am going to experiment with slightly larger pots to adjust for size but 9 medium or 16 small plants is all you want to try to do.
 
LT1RX7 Drifter

LT1RX7 Drifter

Active Member
flood every 4 hrs for 4-10 minutes with the lights on, once with the lights off, set the flood table up so it floods about 1/4-1/2 the total depth of the hydroton, i veg in a 3x3 are with 6-9 plants and use bushmaster to prevent stretching and stacks the nod sites closer the first wk of flower, i personally like using the whole flood table for the root systems, more root system more buds, if you are going the pots in a flood table method then get sqare pots they are better for spacing, if you grow scrog style like me with 9 plants and co2 i guess harvest to be in the area of a pound i pull about a 1.5lbs with 600watts every 50-60 days
 
drgreentm

drgreentm

Well-Known Member
mrrippey said:
Starting my third grow, first grow was with Miracle got 2oz from two girls. Second grow with better soil and nutes (fox farm) got me 4 boys and one plat to be determined (looking like a girl though).

I have a 4x4x6.5 tent with a 400MH+HPS digital ballast. Going to get feminized seeds (Northern lights, Aurora Inca) to make two mothers for cloning. If my AK48 is also a girl, she will be a mom so I will have all three moms in soil for cloning. I got a 24 site cloning tray. Moms will be under a 400 mh light (I have to buy this though).

I want to so a SOG setup, I do not want these things to get super big, maybe three feet total.

In an area 3x3 or 2x4 depending on the tray I can get, how many plants can I get in there? I was thinking in a SOG, I can get many more small plants in but I also read 1 plant per square foot. Should I just flower the clones from jump or veg for a couple of weeks (would require me to get another light or use my CFL's from my first grow).

Clones will be in rockwool 1.5" then put in netpots with hydron.

Am I missing anything? Any and all tips welcome. I eventually want to have a perpetual system, getting harvest every 2-4 weeks something like that from my plants.

any comments welcome

Rippey
Click to expand...
whats up mrrippey so you pretty much got it right in veg i can veg as many as 4 plants to a square foot seeings how i only veg for a week or two max they obviously dont get huge usually around 8 to 10" by the time they are ready to go in the flower room. get your moms going take some cuttings in rapid rooters i wait till they have good roots then transplant to 3x3x3 rockwool and into a 6" square ebb pot then hand feed in veg for a couple weeks to got the roots a little longer this ensures roots are established enough to get to the water when flooded in the ebb. you could flower 4 plants per square foot but all you will be harvesting is main cola's all other branching is eliminated for the room i like 1 plant a square foot for some branching to come to the canopy.
 
M

mrrippey

Well-Known Member
I think doing it without the pots would be harder to manage since it would be my first time. without pots, do you just move the rapid rooter plug under the hydron. I guess for now, I will just get some 4" net pots (like 9 of them) for the table and see how that does. I have to get a good timer that lets me turn on and off that often so Ill check Home Depot for that. I will want to do a SOG and just bend the plants over so they can be bushy and no so tall. going to buy the parts tomorrow so I will take a picture of the set up when it is all complete..


Thanks for the advice +1 rep

Rippey
 
M

mrrippey

Well-Known Member
drgreentm, your setup is the shit. I really want to set it up very similar to that but only once tray for now. I thinking I can get 16 - 24 clones going at one time and take the best 9-12 and put them in the ebb-flow.

I have not used rockwool before so I think I will start with the rapid root plugs first and once the clones root, drop them into square pots. Going to have to flood the table high since the roots may be short. I am going to try to set it up as close to yours as possible since it looks exactly as I was imagining it to be.

Thanks

Rippey
 
legallyflying

legallyflying

Well-Known Member
rippy, for what its worth I'm running ebb and flood in hydroton as well. You can just put the plugs into the hydroton and gently fill around the roots with no problems. I actually clone using a clone bucket as it is much more trouble free because you don't have to mess with humidity domes and what not, just plug and go. I root about 24 cuttings then take the best 18 and place them in a home made aeroponic tub in hydroton filled 2" net pots. THe tub is just a rubbermaid with a pump and sprayer bar in the bottom. After 10 days or so there are LOTS of roots and I take the best 12 net pots and stick them in the table.

I would suggest the hydrofarm digital timer as you can set up to 8 on/off cycles a day at one minute intervals. The standard home depot timers are 15 minute intervals typically. You don't need to flood at night. Hardly anyone floods at night and its actually better to have the table dry out a little and then water them as the plants will send out more roots in search of moisture during the drier times.

Here are some pics of what I'm talking about....

9 days in clone bucket

bucket clone 9 days.jpg

aero tub

aero tub.jpg
roots after 10-14 days in aero tub
10 day roots.jpg
 

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sparkafire

sparkafire

Well-Known Member
legallyflying said:
rippy, for what its worth I'm running ebb and flood in hydroton as well. You can just put the plugs into the hydroton and gently fill around the roots with no problems. I actually clone using a clone bucket as it is much more trouble free because you don't have to mess with humidity domes and what not, just plug and go. I root about 24 cuttings then take the best 18 and place them in a home made aeroponic tub in hydroton filled 2" net pots. THe tub is just a rubbermaid with a pump and sprayer bar in the bottom. After 10 days or so there are LOTS of roots and I take the best 12 net pots and stick them in the table.

I would suggest the hydrofarm digital timer as you can set up to 8 on/off cycles a day at one minute intervals. The standard home depot timers are 15 minute intervals typically. You don't need to flood at night. Hardly anyone floods at night and its actually better to have the table dry out a little and then water them as the plants will send out more roots in search of moisture during the drier times.

Here are some pics of what I'm talking about....

9 days in clone bucket

View attachment 1327064

aero tub

View attachment 1327063
roots after 10-14 days in aero tub
View attachment 1327065
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Do not flood with the lights off. #1 You could start a root rot issue #2 plants cannot absorb nutes in the dark. My 2 cents Use an areo cloner its cleaner and I have way better results. Keep it simple brother. :)
 
M

mrrippey

Well-Known Member
This just came in today for my clones....

The plugs are like sponges so I will put the clones in thees things and once rooted put into the pots of hydron. I am going to get all of the parts tomorrow at the local hydro store.

Rippey
 

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Clown Baby

Clown Baby

Well-Known Member
If you are running a flood table, you should use solid pots instead of netpots.

Then the pot can contain the roots and they wont be exposed to light.
 
drgreentm

drgreentm

Well-Known Member
mrrippey said:
drgreentm, your setup is the shit. I really want to set it up very similar to that but only once tray for now. I thinking I can get 16 - 24 clones going at one time and take the best 9-12 and put them in the ebb-flow.

I have not used rockwool before so I think I will start with the rapid root plugs first and once the clones root, drop them into square pots. Going to have to flood the table high since the roots may be short. I am going to try to set it up as close to yours as possible since it looks exactly as I was imagining it to be.

Thanks

Rippey
Click to expand...
thank you for the compliment Rippey i actually use rapid rooters and put them into rockwools this may not be 100% necessary but it works good for me to give them a little more stance in the early stages when roots are not very established. 9 to 12 is perfect im trying 11 in my trays now seeing how it works out had 8 and it wasnt quite as full as i wanted it and what you say is perfect clone allot and weed out the bad genetics only use the good genetics if you actually have a single mom plant that can put out good enough cuttings you will have a much more even canopy.
 

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bird mcbride

bird mcbride

Well-Known Member
I operate a 3' x 3' x 8"h flood and drain table; have for about 23 years now. I can see that these humidity domes that they sell have the airholes on top. The drain/air hole(s) have to be in the lowest part of the bin. I use a clear plastic garbage bag to create my mini-greenhouse and I keep it high on a shelf next to my moms. I clone in rockwool and I keep 25 clones happening all the time in it. I fill my table with a 50/50 mix of lava rock and pea gravel. I water every eight hour, 15 minutes from start to finish. I flood the table to the top of the rock and the top of the rockwool is placed about 1/2" below the surface of the rock. I place a 6" x 6" piece of reflective plastic over the rockwool under the plant. I run a five day watering cycle where the first day it goes at ph 7 and balanced and fertilized on the second day. I run my ferts at 1/6 of what the label says for dirt per gallon. I use scales and a ph tester to balance and fert my water. I keep my res between 65-69 degrees F. etc
 
M

mrrippey

Well-Known Member
drgreentm, thanks for the pictures. My greenhouse thing came with 24 rapid rooters so I have a good place to start. I am trying to find a nice tray at Walmart / Home Depot which will be deep enough. I am thinking it should be about 6" deep or so so I can get 5" square pots which I have seen at the hydro spot in the next town. I think I may get a small box of rockwool and see if I can do it like your picture, seems elegant but I know I have to be careful with watering as the rockwool holds alot of water.

bird mcbride, thanks for the additional info. This has been super helpful and I am hoping to get all of my parts today and build the whole system this weekend. ordering some seeds from Nirvana (Aurora and Northern Lights, feminized) this weekend but I have an AK48 (hopefully female) flowering now which I will use for a mother. I still have to order another lamp for the mothers for now, I will use my CFL's I have on stash, the HPS is being used right now.

Thanks all, I will post pics as soon as I get all my supplies.

Rippey
 
bird mcbride

bird mcbride

Well-Known Member
mrrippey said:
ordering some seeds from Nirvana (Aurora and Northern Lights, feminized) this weekend but I have an AK48 (hopefully female) flowering now which I will use for a mother. I still have to order another lamp for the mothers for now, I will use my CFL's I have on stash, the HPS is being used right now.

Thanks all, I will post pics as soon as I get all my supplies.

Rippey
Click to expand...
Remember, if anyone has any extra cash be sure to donate to your favourite seed bank to ensure the species. I never thought about it before but this cloning thing is really going to cut into their biz.
 
drgreentm

drgreentm

Well-Known Member
mrrippey said:
drgreentm, thanks for the pictures. My greenhouse thing came with 24 rapid rooters so I have a good place to start. I am trying to find a nice tray at Walmart / Home Depot which will be deep enough. I am thinking it should be about 6" deep or so so I can get 5" square pots which I have seen at the hydro spot in the next town. I think I may get a small box of rockwool and see if I can do it like your picture, seems elegant but I know I have to be careful with watering as the rockwool holds alot of water.
Click to expand...
no problem man it sounds like you got it all in order think i might try a few rapid rooters straight to the pots with my next batch of clones and see how it goes not like the rockwools are that expensive but still might save a few bucks lol are you on a pretty tight budget with this grow???
 
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