Hydroton going out of business?!?!

Confirmed by 2 different hydroponics stores, by the owner of one of the stores. Apparently it's gonna be made by a different company, but it's gonna increase in price by 50%. The german company will no longer be producig it. Anyone else hear this? Just picked up a 50l bag, thinking about getting another.

Nobody has heard anything? I just went out to buy some today, and my favorite hydro store was out, and he told me he that the hydrofarm rep said it's no longer gonna be produced, and they're not gonna carry it anymore. So I freaked for a second, and drove to the next closest hydro store, where I bought a 50l bag, and the owner said "Hey, did you hear they're not gonna make this stuff anymore?" He told me only one producer has been making the stuff, from a plant in germany, and they're gonna stop making it. He also said someone else will start producing it for about 50% more cost.

Anyway, I sent an email to the company that produces it, hopefully they'll have a reply for me tomorrow.

Well this sucks for all you bucket heads. How does a successfull company without much competition go under?

If you search for this on Google, it seems this is just an unfounded rumor. The company that makes hydroton is Okotau Easy Green GmBH, they do not appear to be in any financial hard times.

EDIT: correction, seems they did go out of business, or at least stopped production of hydroton. Seems it really wasn't good for plants after all.

I don't think the company is in hard times, but I heard they're not going to produce nHydroton anymore. I sent an email to Okotau, so we'll see if they write me back tomorrow. But 2 different hydro stores told me. Could be they both got that info from the same Hydrofarm rep, but the email should clear this up.

Just jack up that hydroton and put a big ole block of rock wool under it.

Lava rocks work pretty damn good. Just break them down to the size you prefer. And its cheap-cheap compared to hydroton.....

check out a product called growstones

Metasynth said:

I don't think the company is in hard times, but I heard they're not going to produce nHydroton anymore. I sent an email to Okotau, so we'll see if they write me back tomorrow. But 2 different hydro stores told me. Could be they both got that info from the same Hydrofarm rep, but the email should clear this up.

Click to expand...

HydroBalls™ Expanded Clay Terrarium Substrate can be used as a base layer underneath Zoo Med’s Eco Earth® coconut fiber substrate or other substrates to create an underground water table in Naturalistic Terrariums. Add water to create a natural “aquifer” and increase humidity levels for all tropical species. Excellent substrate for live plant root growth in Naturalistic Terrariums. Use for filtration for a waterfall.


Price: $4.99

looks like this might work

Hydroton is out of business. I talked with a Growstone rep the other day, who had pictures of their german clay quarry. Rumor is they may have lost the land rights from the german government and/or ran a bad business.
I got free samples of the the Growstones, and I'm excited to give them a try. They're made from recycled glass. Lighter than perlite, but much harder to crush.

I picked up4-2lb bags of accent river rocks for a fkn $1/ea at the DOLLAR TREE and they work just damn fine...

Yeah, I never got an email back from the company in Germany, buy my hydro store stopped carrying it, and now carries something similar, packaged under a different name, and they're charging more for it.

Pretty sure I have all the hydroton I'm ever going to need so... not worried.

for the first year or so of growing, I was throwing out all of my used coco and hydroton (mixed at 60/40ish). Then a couple years back I decided to start recycling it. After harvesting, I dump the coco and hydroton onto a bed sheet... and let it bake in the sun, on the deck, for a week. Once all the roots have broken down, I throw it into a bin on the deck... where it sits until I'm near ready to start a new generation of plants. After packing the stuff into pots and flushing some boiling water through, it's ready for use again.

Sucks that they aren't going to be selling it anymore... and it now sucks even more to think about the year and a half I was throwing the stuff away... but I don't think I'll need to worry about... yet.

Consider pumice.

hotrodharley said:

Consider pumice.

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I have to agree with your sig and comment. I use the river rocks, and going to again this year for another dwc setup.