hydroton or mix

Oh great wise ones:

I would like to construct a top feed system using pots filled with hydroton or a mix using it and something else.

Is there a better medium to use besides hydroton by itself as far as, perhaps, PH buffering etc. Seems like I read something once about mixing the hydroton with coco noir (sp?). Or is there some other combo to use in the pots in a top feed system with which you have had good luck?

Or maybe I should forget the pots altogether and just stick with 4" -6" rockwool cubes as was suggested previously and just shutup.

Just trying to grow the best damn product I can.

Thanks,
probdune

For top feed, or drip, you want a dense media because of the water column.

Read about it in the stickied post above called "hydroponics."

HTH

Do you mean water column as in the water will go straight down? therefore not thinking hydroton is a good idea?

I am feeding via 4mm hose from top, about 6 feeders per pot, do you think there would be a goog enough dispersement of water? I was concerend the water would go straight down... even though hydro man told me 1 or 2 would be fine... I wasn't game.

I have the ladies in 4" rockwool sitting in hydroton though I don't feed rockwool at all, any thoughts

i use straight hydroton in my drip irrigation for my veg box. works great. i use a circular tube around the base of the plants supported with a stake and holes throughout the tubing. it disperses water perfectly.

I've found that the specific medium you grow with is less important than what you soak it with. In other words, you can grow just as well with hydroton, coco, rockwool, or whatever as long as you're using good quality nutrients.

When your nutrients are properly mixed, highly soluable, chelated and buffered you could practically grow in cotton balls. I'm exaggerating, but you get the point. A lot of the concerns with mediums comes from how much moisture and/or nutrients they retain and how succeptible they are to build-up.

Use a top quality nutrient program like Advanced Nutrients and you have a lot less problems with that and you can grow with hydroton or whatever you like.

That's absolutely correct. I grow with Advanced Nutrients and I use mostly hydroton and it works perfectly.

But I also grow with other mediums and the AN works just as well with them as it does with the hydroton, so if you're using good nutrients the medium isn't as important.

At least that's been my experience.

I actually did an experiment with hydroton once, where I germinated a seed untill the tap root was about 1 inch long. Then I placed that on top of the hydroton. ( did not use rock wool, or rooter plugs).I kept the hydroton moist with a spray bottle. After about a week, the roots had completly woven its self around the hydroton and through the netpot, and is still growing well today.

Interesting, atrumblood. Were you using plain water to mist the hydroton to get the seed started or were there some nutrients added?


Even though that worked for you I would think there'd bet a better chance for success if a more traditional method such as a rockwool plug were used. It would definitely be easier than babysitting the pot to make sure the hydroton didn't dry out too much.

Well, since then I have tested the same thing with other plants, and each one was a success. I figure that if you were to set up a drip line, or even start this in a DWC where you have the bubbles keeping the hydroton wet.

If you covered the top of the net pot with a some plastic to keep the humididy up you could end up with the same results with out the need for babysitting.

If you're doing a drip... I suggest coco.... 100% coco and nothing else. Rockwool is good for drip but you have to dispose of it and buy more. Coco is reusable and actually gets better with age. It's pretty well buffered by the end of the first grow (sooner if you do it right) and you can reuse it for a long time.