I'm a hydro newb on my first grow and need some help.
I currently have 8 seedlings going in a home built drip system. I'm looking for any advice on how to best determine the amount of time I should run the drippers for.

I have .5gal/hr drippers, currently set to run 3x per day for 45min each time.

Room temp hovers around 72F and 35% humidity.

I noticed today that one of the plants roots are showing a bit out the bottom of the rockwool cube. They seem to be a bit fuzzy tho, so I'm worried that I'm overwatering the cubes.

I've attached 2 images - "08-20081117s.jpg" is the top of the plant while "08-Roots-20081117-4.jpg" shows its roots poking out the bottom of the cube.

Attached Images

	08-20081117s.jpg (44.1 KB, 21 views)
	08-Roots-20081117-4.jpg (71.6 KB, 26 views)

Fuzzy roots are healthy roots, the little hairs are feeder roots, LOOKS GOOD.

I am also doing a drip system. I have mine set to start running in two days. Mine will be in rockwool cubes set in hydroton. I will probabally go 1/2 hour on, 2 hours off for a week or two then 15 on 45 off when they start taking off.

What medium will you transplant them into once they get bigger?

Thanks for the info - can't tell ya how happy I am to hear my roots are good

Planning to do the rockwool cubes in hydroton once they get a bit bigger, and shortly after that it'll be time to do some sexing!!

im no weed guru or anything, but i would water for less time but more frequently. i would think 45 minutes is too long to saturate roots unless your solution is well oxygenated. i drip for 15 min 5x daily and when i get a new timer im gonna drip for 8-10 min 6x daily.

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I have an airstone in my res and use H2O2 so I should be well oxygenated.
Either way, I'm going to set my timer for 10min 6x per day and see how that goes.

What's the flow rate on your drippers?

its a ghetto homemade system out of a peristaltic pump i had laying around, it has a dial 1-10 for flow. i just adjust it till i have a pretty good drip goin, it only takes a few seconds for nutrient to flow out the bottom of my RW blocks. i just took updated pics of my system, im gonna put them in my signature journal right now. check in 15 minutes.

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Sounds like you are moving much more water per cycle than I am - I didn't really get much water draining through the rockwool cubes even after 45min as I had the system setup previously. My calculations say I was moving .375gal water per cycle on my previous schedule. Maybe I should get the 1 or 2gal/hr drippers instead of the .5gal/hr ones I currently have?

Do you have a guestimate on how much water you're moving over each plant during a cycle?

i bet i run around half a gallon, maybe more, over the three blocks i feed. its a very unprecise system so i make sure i water the hell out of them. my rez doesnt have an airstone, but it does have the waterfall airation when the tray drains. i only use a 1.2 gallon ice-cream bucket for a rez. what medium did you say you were using?

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okay, rockwool. its really hard to overwater RW. and its my opinion that when you feed you should always have 10-20% runnoff. this ensures that any mineral/salt buildups get rinsed away and you avoid lockout later on. are you set up for your runoff to riturn to the rez? if so feed 'em 4-5 times a day till plenty of solution washes through.

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