Drain to waste or flood and drain

I want to do something other than dwc. I am very interested in flood and drain and drain to waste systems. I plan on using rockwool for the entire grow.

What would be a smarter decision drain to waste or flood and drain. With flood and drain I don't like the fact the water stays in the tray under the overflow outlet. I don't like all the hoses and pieces for drain to waste lol.

Those of you that grow these ways let me know what your set up is like.

i like the ease of dtw coco. i can go away for 2 weeks without worry

Yea I'm definitely all but decided to go drain to waste. I need to start looking at pumps and dripcaps for cubes and stuff. Anyone in rockwool using dripcaps around? What is your set up like, what equipment do you use. What do you use to catch waste, what do you use for a res, what kind of pump and timer?

I did flood and drain with hydroton in 6 inch pots for over 10 years, as far as simple goes that is it. If you angle your tray slightly water won't sit under the plants, it flows to the drain. I left the whole set up multiple times for over a week with zero issues. The only moving part is a small cheap pump that in 10 years only went out once on me. I pulled great yields by any standards and it only required minimal maintenance.

If you are set on using rockwool maybe @lusidghost might have some input, he grows some nice rockwool plants.

Thundercat said:

If you are set on using rockwool maybe @lusidghost might have some input, he grows some nice rockwool plants.

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i tried to tag him a few weeks ago. did he leave?

I like the way rockwool holds a good feed but also let's the plant eat and drop the high ec quickly as it eats. Like coco it's about feeding frequently

rkymtnman said:

i tried to tag him a few weeks ago. did he leave?

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Honestly not sure its been a few weeks since he posted. The system wasn't pulling his name up when I tried to tag him, I had to go and make sure I spelled it right. Maybe he changed his settings to its harder for people to tag him?

Thundercat said:

Honestly not sure its been a few weeks since he posted. The system wasn't pulling his name up when I tried to tag him, I had to go and make sure I spelled it right. Maybe he changed his settings to its harder for people to tag him?

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there was another post about rockwool slabs that i tried to tag him but i couldn't find his user name.

ProPheT 216 said:

I like the way rockwool holds a good feed but also let's the plant eat and drop the high ec quickly as it eats. Like coco it's about feeding frequently

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You can feed hydroton way more often then rockwool. IMO rockwool stays wet too long and is much easier to over water. You can not over water hydroton or grow rocks(which I actually prefer). Everytime the water drains from the tray it literally pulls fresh air into the root system like a vacuum to provide a perfect balance of moisture, nutrients, and oxygen to the roots. Coco is also great at this, but I never liked how dusty and messy coco is.

Thundercat said:

You can feed hydroton way more often then rockwool. IMO rockwool stays wet too long and is much easier to over water. You can not over water hydroton or grow rocks(which I actually prefer). Everytime the water drains from the tray it literally pulls fresh air into the root system like a vacuum to provide a perfect balance of moisture, nutrients, and oxygen to the roots. Coco is also great at this, but I never liked how dusty and messy coco is.

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I agree and it furthers my thoughts

I use rockwool for rooting clones and employ DWC for flowering my plants. The nutrient formula remains consistent from vegetative growth to flowering. Interestingly, younger clones in rockwool display excellent health without burnt tips. However, when transitioning to DWC, the same plant sometimes exhibits slight signs of overfeeding. My hypothesis is that the plant's rapid consumption in rockwool leads to a balanced EC within the cube, preventing prolonged overfeeding. Conversely, the larger water volume in DWC permits a stronger nutrient concentration over an extended period, contributing to occasional overfeeding.

You can still use the rockwool for cloning FYI. I've used rockwool, peat pellets, hydro, and root riot plugs to clone. It all works and then can get put into the hydroton pots. I made sure I didn't put it to far down into the pot so the plug doesn't stay wet all the time, and the plant grows roots down into the pot. In the end of the day I usually used the root riot plugs, they were easily available to me locally, and work awesome.

rkymtnman said:

i like the ease of dtw coco. i can go away for 2 weeks without worry

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I agree completely, just spent a year trying Ebb &
Flow (flood & drain). I had many health issues this past year so can't blame my bad grows on the Ebb&Flow, but grew for many years in coco/Perlite with great success. I am going back to Coco/Perlite this grow. Once I get a stash built back up going to try the Ebb&Flow again. Just want to try growing with this method to show myself I can do it.

Drain to waste with an irrigation system is the best way to grow

DTW with 6x6x6 blocks with caps.
4 drip emitters per block, 2gph each.
simple pump (eco185) in a 40l/10g tank (igloo bev. cooler) with 1/2" pvc pipe to distribution head for 1/4" drip lines.
block is in a 10x20 nursery tray with drainage at one end running into a trough (made from 4" ABS pipe cut lengthwise) with a 1/2" pvc fitting to drain away.

its just that easy!

gr865 said:

I agree completely, just spent a year trying Ebb &
Flow (flood & drain). I had many health issues this past year so can't blame my bad grows on the Ebb&Flow, but grew for many years in coco/Perlite with great success. I am going back to Coco/Perlite this grow. Once I get a stash built back up going to try the Ebb&Flow again. Just want to try growing with this method to show myself I can do it.

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i'm using 1 part hydroton, 1 part sunshine mix 4 and 2 parts coco for my medium now. and a slightly modified H3AD's formula

Thundercat said:

You can feed hydroton way more often then rockwool. IMO rockwool stays wet too long and is much easier to over water. You can not over water hydroton or grow rocks(which I actually prefer). Everytime the water drains from the tray it literally pulls fresh air into the root system like a vacuum to provide a perfect balance of moisture, nutrients, and oxygen to the roots. Coco is also great at this, but I never liked how dusty and messy coco is.

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I just cleaned out some grow rocks I now use as orchid base. So, so superior to hydroton.

shnkrmn said:

I just cleaned out some grow rocks I now use as orchid base. So, so superior to hydroton.

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these? i bought a few bags many years ago. really good stuff. and made in new mexico too.

Yeah grow stones are awesome, they work great for hydration and airflow but don't roll around like hydroton.

I've never had any interest in dealing with all the drip emitters, manifolds, plastic lines, and everything else that goes with DTW. F+D is just so simple and produces equally awesome results.

If you don't have success using flood and drain its definitely something you are doing not the system.

Thundercat said:

Yeah grow stones are awesome, they work great for hydration and airflow but don't roll around like hydroton.

I've never had any interest in dealing with all the drip emitters, manifolds, plastic lines, and everything else that goes with DTW. F+D is just so simple and produces equally awesome results.

If you don't have success using flood and drain its definitely something you are doing not the system.

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I agree, I don't blame the system for my problems. Just was not able to give it the attention it needed. Four surgeries, three heart related, a heart attack and a blood pressure issue. Don't want to go through that again.