In an Ebb& Flow system, once the roots have grown into clay pellets, past the 1" rockwool cubes, would it be okay to never have any moisture on the rockwool? flooding 3 times a day would hold too much moisture in the cube I would think...

would the roots in the rockwool cube become stems or something? hah

Not that I'm an expert on this by any means but I think, in a 1" cube, just wetting the roots and not the RW might be the best idea anyway. If the RW gets soaked even once a day it will stay wet all day and never allow the roots to dry out. But then the roots in the hydroton would dry out ...but you might get root rot in the RW.

Yeah im worried about root rot with the rockwool. I know if I flood 3 times a day, the hydroton won't dry out the roots.

I'm just worried that when the rockwool dries out completely, the roots inside will die off and kill the roots BELOW the rockwool

(kind of like human hair falling out at the base)

I'm flowering plants in rockwool/rockwool slabs at the moment and couldn't be happier. You can dump gallons of water in the rockwool and it will drain to a nice level of moisture, my plants have never once looked like some of these people's using soil. I also water every day and saturate the rockwool a lot since I use drain to waste. (~20% leeched)

I don't use ebb and flow but I'm pretty certain that, if you aren't dealing with seedlings it doesn't really matter how that cube is once your plants have a lot of root mass into the hydroton. That 1 inch cube is nothing more than a tiny spec your plant grows through at that point.

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I wouldnt worry about anything you just mentioned. All of which is natural for ebb & flow systems.

Okay, so i am taking it that once there are roots in hydroton, You need only worry about watering the roots in hydroton, and forget about the cube, let it be 100% dry throughout the rest of the grow.

Yeah once the roots grow down dont worry about wetting the rockwool. Letting the roots in the rockwool dry out wont kill the roots below, it doesnt work like that. After you get a nice stem, you can actually pull away the rockwool and dont have to worry about it.

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The rockwool cube should be surrounded by growrocks, including a layer on top, and that keeps the cube wet and algae from growing on top. Rockwool should never be allowed to dry out. You can flood rockwool completely several times a day with no worries, as long as it doesn't sit in pooled water. If it is allowed to drain, it will hold a lot of water, while providing ample air.

That's why we use it.

HTH

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soo pot you are sold on the hydroton as the best for flood and drain?? VV

Hydroton just seems so dependent on the flooding never failing. That shit dries out so fast! ;o

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