Washing hydroton is a pita. Is there a way you can eliminate the need for hydroton, grow stones, rock wool and any other medium that just holds the plant in place for dwc grows. Maybe use a strong neoprene insert type of material that just holds the plant in place? Anyone ever done something like that.
Any way of eliminating need for hydro medium in dwc type setup?
- Thread starter Namo
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kippiogrowin
Member
While it's not conventional you will at least need some sort of medium for starting. Once there is any kind of root system, I guess you can hold the plant above the solution by tying it to all sides... My advice is to experiment, really. As long as the plant's roots stay in the solution and the plant can sit well.. you should be fine. If you do find a way make a post on it 
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majins
Well-Known Member
Use to use rock wool bit was getting issues or root rot inside the rockwool where it never dryed out.
So switched to using packing plastic/rubber stuff to starting clones.
Then once they get some decent roots sit them in a root basket and they grow though that enough to hold them selfs up.
So switched to using packing plastic/rubber stuff to starting clones.
Then once they get some decent roots sit them in a root basket and they grow though that enough to hold them selfs up.
farmasensist
Well-Known Member
I use 2" net cups with the foam collars and don't need anything else for clones. I usually use rock wool for seeds but I have also started seeds in paper towel and stuck them in the foam collars without any problems. I don't know why people use hydroton in DWC. It seems like a waste of time and takes up space making your res smaller.
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Alaric
Well-Known Member
blackforest
Well-Known Member
Cleaning hydroton is easy as pie. Just get a bucket with a bunch of small holes in the bottom (strainer) and rinse for a few minutes. I do it all the time, only takes a few minutes to do so.While it's not conventional you will at least need some sort of medium for starting. Once there is any kind of root system, I guess you can hold the plant above the solution by tying it to all sides... My advice is to experiment, really. As long as the plant's roots stay in the solution and the plant can sit well.. you should be fine. If you do find a way make a post on it
I have spent half a day washing hydroton complimented with a week of back aches before. Not cool. Theres too much for buckets so it went in a bath tub filled with water and scooped out.
I like your thoughts on hydroton. Do you think it would be a problem with larger plants, say a 1 lb plant? I am really wanting to go that route. Maybe these will work for larger plants? It might be prone to stem rot though so not sure.
Very nice.
Thanks for the advice. I clone in an aero cloner so its a piece of cake to start in. I usually dont pop seeds, if I do it will go in soil for pheno picking. If I were to tie them, a tomato cage of some sort would be a good idea.While it's not conventional you will at least need some sort of medium for starting. Once there is any kind of root system, I guess you can hold the plant above the solution by tying it to all sides... My advice is to experiment, really. As long as the plant's roots stay in the solution and the plant can sit well.. you should be fine. If you do find a way make a post on it
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Thats a cool set up you had going. Never seen anyone support plants like that and hang the aero tubes. First person to use duct tape
. FTW
farmasensist
Well-Known Member
You can still get really big plants. As long as the stem isn't bigger than 2" in diameter, it shouldn't be a problem and if it is, you can use 3" net cups. I've been getting over a qp each plant. They will fall over when they get big because those net cups are so small it's not a solid base for them so I use tomato cages to keep them up straight. I cut the legs off the cages and tape the lower ring to the bucket's lid so it's still easy to dump and fill the bucket and the plant stays within the rings instead of falling over.
If I use a scrog net or support net, would that have the same effect as using a tomato cage? Maybe some kind of silicone to hold the net cup to the lid and invent a piece that will keep the neoprene insert from coming out. These will be going in totes 10 gals or so.
rob333
Well-Known Member
research a floating tabel
Those are very nifty looking. May try that one day with other plants. I've seen people use those in the past growing vegetables.research a floating tabel
farmasensist
Well-Known Member
A scrog screen should help hold the plants up. I've never had a problem with the neoprene coming out and I've tried taping the net cups to the lid but there wasn't really any point to it, they were still top heavy and falling over so now I use the cages. Some times the net cups will shift around a bit but it doesn't ever cause any problems.
Do you have a link to where you got those foam sleeves? I'm about to piece together a 75+ plus vertical aero setup and I'm trying avoid using any medium. My plants will not produce more than 1 ounce a piece. What do yours generally yield and do you have problems with them falling over at weight?
farmasensist
Well-Known Member
Look for 2" neoprene collars on Amazon. I haven't really weighed any of my plants because I usually smoke or sell half of it before I finish trimming the rest, then they are way past ripe, so just make hash out of the rest but if I had to guess probably about a quarter pound each, they usually end up 3 or 4 feet tall. Some of them stand up on their own without any problems but now I put them all in tomato cages before they get too big. It's harder to do after get big.