If your are using this combo then please help me ASAP. I have a 4x8 flood and drain with a coco mat on the bottom and the plants are in 4" rockwool cubes. You know that this setup retains alot of water so if you have this setup please tell me how often you flood the table and for how long. Thanks.

why RW on a coco mat? i say stay coco all the way thru! use coco pots or coco blocks:

BOSS COCOGRO CUBE 6" CASE OF 24 - Katalog - Grow Media-Coco, Rock, Soil, etc - BOSS COCOGRO CUBE 6" CASE OF 24 [720465] - HorticultureSource.com



anyways.... coco retains lots and lots of water. i would only flood maybe 1 to twice a day. The RW will dry out, but the coco mat (depending if you got the 1/4 inch thickness or the 1 inch thickness) will retain moisture. the RW cube will get moisture from the coco mat.

but IMO, if you are doing a SOG, you shouldnt be using a coco mat, as the roots will grow out and into the coco mat, making them nonmovable.

i would suggest pots next time, coco pots are great. I also know you want to stay and stay organic as possible, lose them RW cubes.

Ive used similar setups and have a 3x3 table with 4x4 rockwool cubes going now. I dont like the coco stuff and personally would avoid it and use rockwool slabs but I always use square pots with hydroton and 4x4 cubes then place those on the rockwool slabs as this way the roots dont dry and you get better drainage. Your gonna have a few variables.Is your table 6,8,10 inch deep?. Whats stage of growth are you in? I currently flood 10 minutes 4 times a day every 6 hours. I was floddoing once a day first week then 2 weeks went to 2 and now after 3 weeks have been going the usual 4 times once every 6 hours but since your not using hydroton or pots its alot more difficult as you have to figure evaporation and I assume you have a film stretch over the table to protect the roots since no pot or are you using the table filled with hydroton? Let me know which method your using and what stage and I can try to help more. Just make sure your using either the covering film or hydroton over te coco slabs and rockwool or your in for a troubled grow if its just cubes on top of mat and no root protection

The tray took approx 13 minutes to fill untill water started going back into the resevoir through the drain valve. Pump turned off. How long should it take for the table to drain back into the resevoir through the filler side..???

i dont think the draining part you should be worried about, although it can take a minute depending on how much and how big


if it takes 13 mins to flood the tray then you should flood for 13-15 mins.

where the pics at?

It took approx 13 minutes to flood and another 28 minutes to fully drain. Is that OK. That means there is standing water/nutes in the tray for a little while. 41 minutes to fully cycle.

its fine. as the medium drains the aeration starts. air pockets almost.

you should have your res aerated tho with air stones or bubble curtains, something.... if you havent already

i forgot my camera. i'm going back tomorrow.


it looks something like my lavender buddy's. he uses 6 inch rockwool and a cocoa mat........IMG_1054.jpg

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