Best Tiny Hydro Setup for Pheno Hunts

poker909

Well-Known Member
Currently running a DWC setup in 5 gallon buckets, and want to also do some pheno hunting. With dirt/coco I used to just put them in 1gal pots (no sense in growing them to full size when some of the phenos are going to be ‘meh’), but my experience with small plants in pure hydro (like aeroponics) is that the roots get too big and clog the system. Any advice in growing a tiny hydro setup using the same reservoir as my DWC???
 

poker909

Well-Known Member
Dwc isn’t going to be a good choice for pheno hunting. I would do drip coco or ebb&flow with a small table as with those you could put a bunch of babies on with minimal work
My DWC is for the winners for sure! That’s why I don’t want to waste a good site on something that may not be that great. I decided to do ebb and flow in a small tray - thanks for the advice!!
 

poker909

Well-Known Member
I ran SOG for 10+ years. Small plants in 6 inch square pots filled with grow rocks/hydroton. You can easily fit 45 plants in a 4x4 flood and drain tray.
That’s what I think I’m going to do - square pots or just rockwool cubes in a flood tray, I’m going to use a 2x3 which will fit perfectly in my space. Thank you for the suggestion!!!
 

Thundercat

Well-Known Member
That’s what I think I’m going to do - square pots or just rockwool cubes in a flood tray, I’m going to use a 2x3 which will fit perfectly in my space. Thank you for the suggestion!!!
IMO rocks work much better for flood and drain. They allow excellent oxygenation of the root zone and appropriate moisture retention to allow multiple flood cycles per day.

Rockwell can easily stay too wet in a flood system and works better with drip systems
 

poker909

Well-Known Member
IMO rocks work much better for flood and drain. They allow excellent oxygenation of the root zone and appropriate moisture retention to allow multiple flood cycles per day.

Rockwell can easily stay too wet in a flood system and works better with drip systems
I’ve started them in the 2” rockwool cubes - would you recommend putting them in the 4” cubes first - then into the hydroton or just dropping the 2” cubes straight in?
 

Tolerance Break

Well-Known Member
IMO rocks work much better for flood and drain. They allow excellent oxygenation of the root zone and appropriate moisture retention to allow multiple flood cycles per day.

Rockwell can easily stay too wet in a flood system and works better with drip systems
Been using rockwool ebb and flow for years, going to try rocks someday, but it's just too damn easy when you get to learn the dryback cycle in rockwool. I go from hand watering, to a timed watering every few days, to once a day, twice a day, three times a day by the time they hit flower, and I end with once every 6 hours.

These gals aren't the prettiest, but I'm getting good results with strains I haven't had the chance to dial in and optimize.

I'm probably irrationally defensive of rockwool lol
20240504_095349.jpg
 

Thundercat

Well-Known Member
Been using rockwool ebb and flow for years, going to try rocks someday, but it's just too damn easy when you get to learn the dryback cycle in rockwool. I go from hand watering, to a timed watering every few days, to once a day, twice a day, three times a day by the time they hit flower, and I end with once every 6 hours.

These gals aren't the prettiest, but I'm getting good results with strains I haven't had the chance to dial in and optimize.

I'm probably irrationally defensive of rockwool lol
View attachment 5390952
Nothing to be defensive about, use whatever works for you.

With rocks I hand watered them the first few days they were in the pots, and then they were on flood cycles the rest of their life. I wanna say it was usually a 15min cycle every 4 hours in veg, and usually every 3 hours in flower. I rarely changed them aside from a few experiments over the years with more or less cycles per day. Nice and simple.


I’ve started them in the 2” rockwool cubes - would you recommend putting them in the 4” cubes first - then into the hydroton or just dropping the 2” cubes straight in?
I would just put the 2”cubes right in the rocks. I always tried to position the starter cubes near the top of the pot so that the bottom just barely got wet. That allowed the roots as much space to reach down into the pot possible, and helps keep the starter cube from getting water logged.
 

Drop That Sound

Well-Known Member
Did you guys ever try out the mini cubes? Looks like it would just make a big mess and clog up the lines all the time, but I always wondered how it would perform, being all diced up and loose. Seems like it would have more aeration than a solid cube would.. Maybe better for flooding than blocks?

1714929109006.png
 

Fano_man

Well-Known Member
I ran SOG for 10+ years. Small plants in 6 inch square pots filled with grow rocks/hydroton. You can easily fit 45 plants in a 4x4 flood and drain tray.
Exactly I did a sog and had 48plants per 4x4 .. I made racks with 3 inch pvc pots 21 inches tall calculated to 1.6 gallon custom pots in wooden racks and the slid in and out easily.. cool to see ppl on the same extreme mind set ..but I agree..any hydro is not gonna be a good pheno hunting opp.
 

Thundercat

Well-Known Member
Exactly I did a sog and had 48plants per 4x4 .. I made racks with 3 inch pvc pots 21 inches tall calculated to 1.6 gallon custom pots in wooden racks and the slid in and out easily.. cool to see ppl on the same extreme mind set ..but I agree..any hydro is not gonna be a good pheno hunting opp.
Not sure what you mean, or took from my post. my hydro SOG worked great for pheno hunting.
 
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