Troubles with my Flo-n-Gro system, brown roots and slow growth

THCfingers

Active Member
I started a 32 Flo-n-Gro site and i am having some issues. My plants are growing really slow and the ones that i take out have brown roots. I started them on the 27th of december and most have not grown. About 8 of them are doing ok, they are about 7 inches tall but all the leafs are tips curling down. I think this was because my water got up to 80 degrees. It was like that for a couple days but after i caught that all the new water temps have been 74 degrees and below. It is staying between 68-74 degrees. The room temp is great, its high/low is 74/68, and the humidity is low. I started of watering every 2 hours for 30 min. I then switched it to 6 times in 24hrs for 30, but now i am switching it to water 4 times a day for only 15 min. That should give enough time for the buckets to fill and feed the roots. I am using the Canna aqua line. Aqua a&b, rhizotonic, and cannazyme. the ph is between 5.7-6.3.

I just replaced 9 of the really bad ones and put fresh clones in and added H2O2 to my res incase of root rot. I fill up the buckets to see the water level and i put the bottom 3rd of the rockwool 1" cube into the water and then cover it up with hydroton, i am pretty sure no light is getting down there. They seem to be doing not bad, not really growing fast. One of them was not doing good and took it out and saw that it had brown roots. I dont know if the first ones got root rot and and have been passing it to everyone, or that first week of hot water just really messed with them and they are struggling to recover, but then why would these new ones get brown roots. Any advice from someone that knows the system would be great appreciated.
 

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babsasf

Active Member
I'm still a bit of a newbie myself but it sounds like they were getting too much water. Let the medium dry out a bit so the roots are thirsty when water gets to them. 4 times a day with lights on is pretty common.
 

kevbro

Member
get more air in there and speed up circulation try adding canazyme , i know the liquid oxygen products start to breakdown after 24 hours but have some steralizing benifits so my guess is low oxygen in the water
 

Warlock1369

Well-Known Member
I'm going to say 2 things. 1 you need more air. I added a stone in the brain bucket. And 2 in the res. 2 would be to much water. 4 times a day gir 15 min is good for hydroton. But I know it takes 30 min to fill and drain my system of 15. I use the maxi jet on the fill line. But the other one is in the res just moving the water. I needed to find a pump that would drain the system in 15 min or less. So your fill times should be like this. Timer on. 10 min to fill. 5 min soak. 15 min drain. 3-4 times with lights on. And when in 12/12 I do 1 in the dark. Just to get O2 in the standing water. Hope that helps. Also h2o2 is good. But I've switch to teas and loving it. And since you already have the fabric liners i would go with gold liable 80/20 mix. The coco gives the plants so much more stability over just hydrogen.
 

hellraizer30

Rebel From The North
First thing that stands out for me is your using cannazyme with h202 :( if you want a sterile res use h202!
like warlock i use teas and would never go back to h202. Canna line is great! But whats your ppm?
 

Krondizzel

New Member
I always have a slow start in the 5 gallon buckets. They need to make a root mass before they take off and do the foliage thing.
 

thecoolman

New Member
Switch from rockwool to root riot or rapid rooter cubes for clones . Use as many outlets as possible on the controll bucket even if it makes plumbing harder
the increased speed of fill and drain is worth it. I have ran 30-40 in flow and grows (2). I have had problems with rockwool clones as the top of the hydroton dries fast
you must water more often causing way to much for the rockwool this causes root rot. This system rocks FAST GROWTH! Best of luck
Comletly ignor anyone who recomends coco in it. hydroton good grow stones great.
 

rarebreed619

Active Member
Your brown roots may be due to too much water, let them dry out a bit in between floods. currently just started a flo n gro my self and am using 4x2 inch rockwool blocks with seedlings with gold label hydrocorn. I flood 7 times a day for 15 mins, may have to bring floods down also.
 

THCfingers

Active Member
Thanks for the input everyone. Warlock I have a pump in my res. that comes on for 15 min before each watering, I do it like this so it keeps the water temp down but gives it a good mix before watering. Do you water at night during 18/6? what are these teas, where can i find the recipes? And you say 80/20 is that 80% gold and 20%coco? if you use coco how does watering that much effect it? Has anyone tried pure coco in the liners and watering i would guess 1 time a day? I am keeping my EC around 1.3 for the moment thats what canna suggests.

Coolman does it matter if the cubes are only 1" thats pretty small, do you think it can affect the plant that much?

Using this system what is the best nutrient line anyone has found to use?

Thanks again for the input
 

rarebreed619

Active Member
Hello THCfingers,

I've ran the house and garden line and it's worked pretty well for me in past grows. I'm going to be running the aqua flakes in my flo n gro, anyways good luck
 

Warlock1369

Well-Known Member
The 80/20. Is gold labels custom mix. It is 80% hydocorn and 20% coco. It has mycos mixed in so a very healthy mix. I water 3 times a day with it. In 18/6 I have it split even. But set so when I change lights to 12/12 it feeds twice with lights on. And once lights off. That way I don't need to change settings on system. I haven't done pure coco. Not sure if I will. I like how the mix drains.

The teas are compost teas. There are a lot of ways to make your own. Look in the organic section. Or you can buy it from a hydro store. You just need a air stone and 5gallon bucket. Brew it for 24 hours and done. I use xtream gardening's tea. The teas are great beenies. You can use them with your zyme but not really needed. But do not use h2o2 or bleach.
Everyone will have a different nute line for you. I was using heavy16 2part base with other supplements. But just resided to run heavy 16 full line only. Its working really well for me.
Also to help you get past the slow growth that happens at first till root ball forms. You can rig up a veg station. Something like this.

That's a 4x4 table with 15 pots. All set with the 80/20. And on a top feed drip setup. I have that watering 45min on 15min off lights on only. And all my plants are in 4" RW cubes before placed in this system. Never had a problem.
 

Warlock1369

Well-Known Member
Switch from rockwool to root riot or rapid rooter cubes for clones . Use as many outlets as possible on the controll bucket even if it makes plumbing harder
the increased speed of fill and drain is worth it. I have ran 30-40 in flow and grows (2). I have had problems with rockwool clones as the top of the hydroton dries fast
you must water more often causing way to much for the rockwool this causes root rot. This system rocks FAST GROWTH! Best of luck
Comletly ignor anyone who recomends coco in it. hydroton good grow stones great.
Good example of a person passing on bad info. I run exactly what your saying not to. Maybe if you know how to grow you would know the difference.
 

thecoolman

New Member
Thanks for the input everyone. Warlock I have a pump in my res. that comes on for 15 min before each watering, I do it like this so it keeps the water temp down but gives it a good mix before watering. Do you water at night during 18/6? what are these teas, where can i find the recipes? And you say 80/20 is that 80% gold and 20%coco? if you use coco how does watering that much effect it? Has anyone tried pure coco in the liners and watering i would guess 1 time a day? I am keeping my EC around 1.3 for the moment thats what canna suggests.

Coolman does it matter if the cubes are only 1" thats pretty small, do you think it can affect the plant that much?

Using this system what is the best nutrient line anyone has found to use?

Thanks again for the input
I ran a 4000 watt dual flow and grow set up for awhile and yes the rockwool does matter it caused me alot of problems with clones and root rot.
Unlike some others I have actually used the flow and grow. I have found 3 floods a day in hydroton about right I never used the liners and always noticed that the
plants would absolutely explode when the roots hit the water on the bottom! I think coco in this system would be stupid. I like flora nova one part with a constant
nutrient monitor from controll wizard or nutridip (makes growing easy). I dont like the canna as its spendy but is lower on cal mag ect than the flora nova and yes I have used Cana nutes in a Flow N Grow.. I dont like the residue from the flora nova
but it is humic acid that many pay extra for.

Try a couple clones in root riot cubes and report back on who here is full of shit...
 

thecoolman

New Member
While coco will work why use it in a Flow and grow. It is not inert it has a high cation exchange rate. It
has a lower air filled porosity it is famous for causing imbalances of cal mag ect. The beauty of the flow and grow is a huge
air filled porosity (fastest growth) in a inert and steerable medium while still having plenty of moisture (controllable buy flood times).
If you want more moisture go with grow rocks ect you don't need the wicking of coco which is helpful in a drip system.
Also notice in the above jackoffs pic of his system the drippers are not on the rockwool or the roots would be saturated and probably cause rot if watered as often as he is
and if they were young clones once a day with direct drip more than a minute on them would cause rot.
 

Warlock1369

Well-Known Member
Hey Fucktard been doing it (and hydro) since the early 80s. I gave good advise so go back to smoking your fucking Shwag
with your pathetic little drip setup! The man is doing flood and drain in a Flow N grow.
Your a fucken moron. If you look it us the flo n gro pots I have in the drip system. That is for veg. Then into the glo n gro system. And no the drips arnt on the rw. I get even watering where there at. And no rot. And who cares how long you have been doing it? I've been doing it for 20 years. I just showed I do it the way you said won't work. So who is the fucktard?
 

hellraizer30

Rebel From The North
Haters will be haters lol! Warlock we got nnothing to gain by feeding
trolls, the real growers here know what's up!
 
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