What the hell....I'll ask

Opinions please.

I am 22 days into flower on my first grow and learning ALOT. I am prepping for the next grow already.
I have been growing in a 3x3 ebb & flow, using rockwool in nursery pots topped with hydroton. I am, suffering small plants, and I wager it is from the roots being bound up in the nursery pot. I am going to just ride this outm, yield a bit and move on to next grow.
SO....opinions on a few things please.......
1) Should I continue to use my ebb & flow with the nursery pots, or should I switch containers. If I should switch containers, what is the best to use in flood & drain.....or should I use plain hydroton placed right in the table? I like to clean my table every week...so I prefer being able to move/remove my plants, but my roots are getting bound up in the nursery pots..I am fairly sure, so I want to free them for better growth. OPINIONS AND ADVICE PLEASE!
2) if I do use net pots, what to do with exposed roots.
3) Would I be better served to switch to a DWC from ebb & flow. I coul deasily do that.
4) I am currently growing in a plywood box that I made to cheaply save a hydrohut grow that was dying. I am going to move the grow to an interior closet lined with mylar. HOWEVER..the walls will be about 4' away from the sides of the table/recervoir on two sides. Will this distance adversely affect light reflection on those two sides, with walls lined with mylar.
Hope this all makes sense and thanks to everyone who aids me.
Just a fellow grower trying to learn, so help is muy appreciated.....and I promise if it ever is legal I will send any of my online amigos samples...I am a kind and giving hippie phreak.

yeah do a bubbleponics/DWC, its freakin easy and works awesome!!! Mine are like little bushes. Just keep your ph correct and let the plant grow on its own. I use AN Sensi A B nutes and it automatically corrects and keeps ph PERFECT at all times. I just watch the water level cuz the drink a lot after they get big. Message me if ya need some more help, my time is short right now. Best of luck bro!

Do straight beds of hydroton in the E&F.

What the hell, I'll answer.

I would just stick with what you have, those pots of roots are what you typically get with flood and drain, and changing in the 4th week of flowering will hurt the plant more than help. As long as the roots are well-fed, they don't have to do anything. Harvest what you can, and then make improvements. Making changes mid-stream usually doesn't help.

HTH

I'd say go DWC, too. My plants are beyond bushes, bushes are like my plants. If my plants were any more dense, they'd be in 2 places at once!

platypusmann said:

using rockwool in nursery pots topped with hydroton. I am, suffering small plants, and I wager it is from the roots being bound up in the nursery pot. I am going to just ride this outm, yield a bit and move on to next grow.

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why the pellets on top? No use for them there.

if plants in pots of rockwool show slow growth, yellow leaves, dropping leaves etc you are most likely overwatering the rockwool. It is very absorbent. In a flood system, flood pots of RW to about 50mm deep 1x day only.

If your roots were in pots of pellets, you could water 3x per day. They don't hold much water, have lots of airspaces and can be flooded very often compared to rockwool.

And I'll stick my two cents in. For the setup you are describing you just put the rockwool in the wrong spot, it should have been on top of the hydroton in the net pots if that is what you are going to use. If you really want to have them in pots so you can move them around, Al B Fuct has a hundred page thread on how he uses flood and drain to grow a few pounds a month, might want to check that out. VV

I am looking after Al's op while he's away.

Al uses Fytocell as a pot filler and a little bit of rockwool packed tight in the bottom of each pot to keep the Fytocell crumbs falling out. He used to use just rockwool in the pots but could only flood 1x/day.

The pumps now run 1x/day for plants in tray1 for small plants in weeks 1-2, 2x/day for plants in weeks 2-8. I bet his week 2-4 and 4-6 plants could go 3x day, they suck up a lot of water.

I use pots of pellets in my op but mine is a lot smaller than Al's. I have about 1/4 the size of Al's. I know he hates pellets but I don't mind them so much because I don't use a lot of media, 20 plants in total across all my crops.

bongjockey said:

I am looking after Al's op while he's away.

Al uses Fytocell as a pot filler and a little bit of rockwool packed tight in the bottom of each pot to keep the Fytocell crumbs falling out. He used to use just rockwool in the pots but could only flood 1x/day.

The pumps now run 1x/day for plants in tray1 for small plants in weeks 1-2, 2x/day for plants in weeks 2-8. I bet his week 2-4 and 4-6 plants could go 3x day, they suck up a lot of water.

I use pots of pellets in my op but mine is a lot smaller than Al's. I have about 1/4 the size of Al's. I know he hates pellets but I don't mind them so much because I don't use a lot of media, 20 plants in total across all my crops.

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I hope this wasn't meant to instruct me on Al's op. Glad to hear you are taking over for Al. If you go back through the journal you might see my name in there a time or two, starting about page 14. That was a couple of days ago. He has threatened to show up at my house and force me at bongpoint to buy some hid lights. I knew his tables were not 4' by 4' because I built mine based on his information and I knew his pots were not 8" because I bought 8" pots based on his information. That was a year ago or more. VV

VictorVIcious said:

I hope this wasn't meant to instruct me on Al's op. Glad to hear you are taking over for Al. If you go back through the journal you might see my name in there a time or two, starting about page 14. That was a couple of days ago. He has threatened to show up at my house and force me at bongpoint to buy some hid lights. I knew his tables were not 4' by 4' because I built mine based on his information and I knew his pots were not 8" because I bought 8" pots based on his information. That was a year ago or more. VV

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heh Al's like that.

I've known Al for about 12 years. He got his first Aussie bonghits off me. That's why I'm the babysitter. Wasn't intending to instruct you on anything, tho. My comments were intended more for the thread starter.

At least things will be done right for a few weeks around here in Al's place.

I'll be visiting Aussie land soon. VV