how do I dial in a watering schedule in hydroton

Missouri Green

Missouri Green

Active Member
one plant in a 20"x30" cab. plant is 20 inches tall on at least 3 months old on day 11 of flower in about 5 gal of hydroton inside a growbag surrounded by more hydroton in a black 10 gal tote... i've cut almost all the coco this run, except the 5"x5x5 ball the seedling was grown in, and have slowed the water schedule way down, think i was overwatering the last run.. this run i've been doing 3 min on 1hr57min off. plant loves it, but now im wondering if i should up the schedule as roots should be well established and 2hr in hydroton seems a bit much. maybe not. how do i dial this in? and what am i looking for? first sign of leaf wilt? ph drop. unhappy look? anything else? I'm thinking maybe I should leave good enough alone because the only way to figure this out is to find the point of negative response.. not sure im in the mood, althought the more I think about it i should be able to run nearly continuous no? thoughts. i've got a camera on the plant and can see it jump when i 'get still' maybe i just crank it down to 3min 57min off and see if its still jumping? reservoir is NOT aerated. 10 gel res.
 
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93OG

Well-Known Member
I used to do flood and drain tables with 2 hour dry times. Plants in 3 gal pots with hydroton. How long was the interval on the last run? If you want to run it continuously you’ll need to aerate your res but I wouldn’t go the route. The advantage to a system like that is the dry times. You’re much less likely to get root rot. It gives the roots access to nutrients and moisture in the hydroton and what pools in the bottom of the tote and the humid air (oxygen) between the pebbles. I think 2 hours is about right.
Unfortunately fungal gnats love hydroton, you’ll want sticky traps around the plant base.
 
Missouri Green

Missouri Green

Active Member
93OG said:
I used to do flood and drain tables with 2 hour dry times. Plants in 3 gal pots with hydroton. How long was the interval on the last run? If you want to run it continuously you’ll need to aerate your res but I wouldn’t go the route. The advantage to a system like that is the dry times. You’re much less likely to get root rot. It gives the roots access to nutrients and moisture in the hydroton and what pools in the bottom of the tote and the humid air (oxygen) between the pebbles. I think 2 hours is about right.
Unfortunately fungal gnats love hydroton, you’ll want sticky traps around the plant base.
Click to expand...
ok. last run i went from seedling at 15 second on 5-15 min off.... once in bloom id hit is 30 seconds on 15 min off.out to 4 min 2 hours or whatever... but when i pulled that root ball up it was extremely loose/soft.. surprisingly so. not sure. plant turned out pretty great anyway. had lots more coco that run lots more. even ran it as a hempy towards the end.. sucked up about 2" of h2o every 3 hours. so it was drinking hard when provided excess. this run is ripping. its nuts . I'm abusing it now at 11 days.... crushing stems in the middle and bending them over. defoliating.. plant is robust. i can't believe the stretch in week 1. unreal. thank god its slowed down in week two. not sure... ? . been pruning pretty hard. crushed and bent 12 last night.. can't tell today. i hit refresh on the cams every 30 min and you can see it growing even on that time frame. haven't seen a single gnat. and if i do its a single gnat in the other cabinet.. . not a problem for me. super sterile for many years. am very careful with insects. thank you
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curious2garden

curious2garden

Well-Known Mod
Staff member
Missouri Green said:
one plant in a 20"x30" cab. plant is 20 inches tall on at least 3 months old on day 11 of flower in about 5 gal of hydroton inside a growbag surrounded by more hydroton in a black 10 gal tote... i've cut almost all the coco this run, except the 5"x5x5 ball the seedling was grown in, and have slowed the water schedule way down, think i was overwatering the last run.. this run i've been doing 3 min on 1hr57min off. plant loves it, but now im wondering if i should up the schedule as roots should be well established and 2hr in hydroton seems a bit much. maybe not. how do i dial this in? and what am i looking for? first sign of leaf wilt? ph drop. unhappy look? anything else? I'm thinking maybe I should leave good enough alone because the only way to figure this out is to find the point of negative response.. not sure im in the mood, althought the more I think about it i should be able to run nearly continuous no? thoughts. i've got a camera on the plant and can see it jump when i 'get still' maybe i just crank it down to 3min 57min off and see if its still jumping? reservoir is NOT aerated. 10 gel res.
Click to expand...
You can't really overwater a plant with established roots in hydroponics. When I ran in rails my pump was on 24/7 (keep a spare pump).
 
Missouri Green

Missouri Green

Active Member
i've taken it to 30 sceonds on 15 min off. here she is today.. nutes also cranked up from 1100 to 1400 .7 conversion. maybe 1.6 up to 2.0 ec? thought she needed it. just gunna see the response. Camera in the box=priceless.
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Thundercat

Thundercat

Well-Known Member
I ran hydroton for years in 6inch pots. I tried several watering times and never saw drastic differences, so I usually ran a water cycle every 3 hours. It lasted about 15 minutes to get my flood tray totally full and draining back to the res. The plants always did great.
 
bursto

bursto

Well-Known Member
i think they get used to whatever as long as your not pumping directly on the main stem, sometimes i forget to flip the analoge timer switch on my grow and the pump stays on full time for days in flower and they love it:weed:

when i first started growing, some dude said, on for two off for three segments, so that would mean on for 30 mins off for 45
i just do on for 2 segments and off for 2, so 30 on 30 off,

where i live it can get super hot, so in summer i found 45 mins to long a break with no water
 
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Missouri Green

Missouri Green

Active Member
not to be obnoxious, i've settled on 45 seconds on 30min off. looks good. and 3x at night ...
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Missouri Green

Missouri Green

Active Member
:hump:

1683003390479.png

30 min later.....
1683005266113.png

not sure i've seen growth like this EVER.

day 16 flower, this plant is off the charts... hydroton, RO water, Jacks RO formula.... wow.

power Si bloom
jakcs RO formula one part
epsom salt
yucca exctract
orca
mammoth p
cannazyme
hydroguard
ph up

(:
 
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