Cleaning Hydroton 101

Alaric

Well-Known Member
i was looking through it and i saw the tubes you use and i was trying to find it in the last 3 or 4 pages but couldn't find anything that answers those questions. I've actually seen your thread before and i get what you do with the tubes and the binder clips but that does really pertain to what I'm trying to do... all that was on the last few pages was you and the other growers talking about was court issues and that contraption you made with the 27 gallon tote and the pvc but maybe i did a bad job trying to explain what I'm trying to do? sorry about the confusion
Lets try again-----process running with clones-----no medium, no net cups from cuttings all the way till harvest.

1) take cuttings from veg plants put in neoprene collars in aero cloner

2) move veg plants into flower room ( 8 weeks from cutting till 12/12 start).

100 % medium less process.

(perhaps I'm not understanding your question/s?

A~~~
 

jronnn

Well-Known Member
(perhaps I'm not understanding your question/s?

A~~~
yes i understand what you do in your system (which is very impressive btw) but my original question was about flowering in the flood & drain botanicare tables with 5" netcups in the table covers so the netcups are suspended in the air and the roots can just grow freely in the table (no medium in the table, just in the net cups)... the question is... if i wanted to clone/veg in the aerocloner for 2 weeks total, when would you add hydroton to the net pots in the aerocloner? would you just keep hydroton in the netcup from the start of the clone or is it bad to start a clone in hydroton?... would it be too much shock to add hydroton to the netcup a week before flower (only plan on rooting/veg for 2weeks total) or should i just not add any hydroton when rooting/veg in the aerocloner and just add hydroton to the plants when i put them in the flowering table/netcups? but idk if you have the answers because you have a different set up, although alpha helped me out id be curious to your advice if you have any? thanks!
 

AlphaPhase

Well-Known Member
thanks dude!!! you the man!!
No problem bro. You could also not use a medium if you'd like, like Alaric does. Just cut the bottoms of the net pots off like I do I'm my cloner, use the pucks for support and not have to worry about planting into hydroton before flower. Just pop them in the flood table for flower and be done. Something to think about, I've not done this but it would work just as well imo
 

AlphaPhase

Well-Known Member
Yeah I am going to try the chunky perlite this next run I think

Here's a prototype I put together, I'm thinking against the pvc for now, this should work way better, I can use small 3" pots and have way more root space in these mesh bottom pots than 4" pvc. I'm going to give it a test run once I get a clone for it.

Standard 1 gallon mesh bottom pot. Some foam pads cut to size to fit snug in the pot and cut a hole for whatever net pot size you want. Just remember to call it the Alpha veg pot :)

rps20151024_170251.jpg
 

fuzzyl

Well-Known Member
Just throw it out after each cycle, buy new hydroton or even better get some bags of SG1, again toss it out after each cycle it's cheap enough
 

jronnn

Well-Known Member
No problem bro. You could also not use a medium if you'd like, like Alaric does. Just cut the bottoms of the net pots off like I do I'm my cloner, use the pucks for support and not have to worry about planting into hydroton before flower. Just pop them in the flood table for flower and be done. Something to think about, I've not done this but it would work just as well imo
thats what i would like to do but I'm just afraid the plants would dry out to fast, although the moisture caught in the root mat and the moisture caught on the cover would probably be enough... id also like a medium for plant support but i guess the root mat could fix that problem too... idk it would just make me feel better to have some sort of medium for almost like a back-up, ya know? I'm kind of in the middle of trting to decide between some sort of lava rock or hydroton for this particular system, any thoughts?
 

jronnn

Well-Known Member
No problem bro. You could also not use a medium if you'd like, like Alaric does. Just cut the bottoms of the net pots off like I do I'm my cloner, use the pucks for support and not have to worry about planting into hydroton before flower. Just pop them in the flood table for flower and be done. Something to think about, I've not done this but it would work just as well imo
actually I'm pretty sure the moderator pinhead that i originally stole the idea (suspended netcups) from used to use hydro rock but now just uses pieces of sponges in the netcups to hold the plant up, what do you think about that?
 

AlphaPhase

Well-Known Member
actually I'm pretty sure the moderator pinhead that i originally stole the idea (suspended netcups) from used to use hydro rock but now just uses pieces of sponges in the netcups to hold the plant up, what do you think about that?
Hydroton will anchor the plant better I think, but both will work
 
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