Let's Talk Hydroton / Grow Stones / Expanded Clay

[adower]

2 or 3 years is pretty new to me lol. We use the same system, I have the 2 gallon flood buckets too and flood about the same. In flower I like to flood 4x. I don't use rockwool though so that's why I'm really really curious as to the root zone issue. I'm going to have to chalk it up to just the strain I guess, or maybe a bad batch of plantit pebbles if some people use them with no issues and others have issues with them.. Maybe they did have some quality control issues with plantit brand because I noticed some are discontinued by manufacturer now.

II set the flood schedule on the problematic batch of clonesto flood in flower when lights come on at 8pm and another flood at 4am. I've never flooded only 2 times with hydroton under 1000w hps, if they aren't dead today then there's definitely an issue somewhere between the hydroton I have I'd have to assume.

They've been around more than 2-3 years. That's just when I started to use them.

i don't think you can get away with flooding just twice in a 18 hour span. I only pull that off cause the rock wool holds a ton of moisture. It could be the strain or pebbles. Hard to say.

Did any of the other plants get the same pebbles that the plants that are having issues? If so are they okay?

 

[adower]

This is the reason why I'm stumped.

These are the clones I planted into the plantit brand pebbles. They were huge and had 18" roots.
View attachment 3525180

I flooded them every 4 hrs. Within a week they were looking like this
View attachment 3525181

Those clones should easily handle a flood every 4 hrs in veg. But they didn't. All of the other plants are fine though, but all 22 of these are not. It's a head scratcher. I'm pretty sure I used a brand new bag of plantit to transplant them as well, I don't think I used old hydroton. So I'm stumped still

I don't see anything wrong with the plants. Maybe they're still trying to establish roots in the pots.

 

[AlphaPhase]

They've been around more than 2-3 years. That's just when I started to use them.

i don't think you can get away with flooding just twice in a 18 hour span. I only pull that off cause the rock wool holds a ton of moisture. It could be the strain or pebbles. Hard to say.

Did any of the other plants get the same pebbles that the plants that are having issues? If so are they okay?

It appears the problem plants that only got the 2 floods in 24 hrs are still alive! Wtf. The pots weren't sopping wet this time like they were with the 3 floods at 8pm 2am and 8am. So that's a huge bonus. The roots in the pots keep getting brown and soggy, but when I started flooding 3x in 24hr period they perked back up and new white roots were growing. Then I put them in flower for 2 days with a flood 3 floods in 12 hrs and those white roots turned brown within those 2 days. So today I check after setting the floods to 8pm and 4am, and new white roots are growing again already and they look OK except for a couple dud looking plants.

I still don't understand, if it's the strain, I still don't see how I can just flood them 2x a day and have them live.. Unless these pebbles are holding ungodly amounts of water which would sort of make sense that they can go much longer between floods.. But I've never had hydroton hold water that long.

There's other plants that are completely fine and I think they are in the same plantit pebbles, but just a different batch I believe. I'm flooding those every 4 hrs and they are in beast mode.

Which can only mean it had to be the strain, right? But 18 hrs between floods?!

 

[AlphaPhase]

This is the problem plants with the 8pm and 4am flood cycle, not a bit droopy, but God the roots are so messed up except for the new ones it grew

 

[adower]

Keep flooding for 2x daily for a week or so. Wait till you see the roots come through the bottom of the buckets. After that switch to 4x daily.

The plants look healthy so I'd just give them some more time. It could just be that plant is more sensitive or the pebbles holding more water.

If the roots are brown and mushy and it's not root rot it sounds like over watering

 

[rkymtnman]

are you using anything to prevent root rot?

 

[AlphaPhase]

Keep flooding for 2x daily for a week or so. Wait till you see the roots come through the bottom of the buckets. After that switch to 4x daily.

The plants look healthy so I'd just give them some more time. It could just be that plant is more sensitive or the pebbles holding more water.

If the roots are brown and mushy and it's not root rot it sounds like over watering

I'll do that. I'll keep the 2x a day floods and see if the roots take hold, hoping that they aren't too far gone, I know they look OK up top, not great, just looks like typical over water stress, but the new growth does seem to be OK. I wish I could give this cut to someone that runs the same flood system to see what happens, it's just too bizarre

are you using anything to prevent root rot?

I use dm zone and pool shock to keep a sterile res. It's definitely not root rot, but the roots are rotting, if that makes sense lol. I use the same res for all plants and it's interchangeable, I just swap different plants around in the trays as needed and change the res every 3 weeks or so in veg, I've not had root rot in a flood tray before though

 

[toaster struedel]

Just did a lil test 8oz cups filled with plantit and the others filled with hydrocorn. The plantit does in fact soak up more water. The hydrocorn cups are light as hell. Both had cuttings in em and were soaked for 15 min and left to drip dry about an hour. Tomorrow I will do it again and measure the water absorbed.

 

[AlphaPhase]

Just did a lil test 8oz cups filled with plantit and the others filled with hydrocorn. The plantit does in fact soak up more water. The hydrocorn cups are light as hell. Both had cuttings in em and were soaked for 15 min and left to drip dry about an hour. Tomorrow I will do it again and measure the water absorbed.

I knew it! Thank you for doing this test, I was going to do the same thing next time I picked up a different type if hydroton. Aren't the plantit brand heavy as hell after watering? The 1 gallon mesh pots I'm using feel as heavy as a water logged soil.

Thought I was starting to go crazy for a minute. Most of the time I use a generic hydroton, looks just like the old school kind I used to get but every now and again I get the plantit brand and every once in a while I have this same root issue with 1 or 2 strains.

Definitely leaning toward the plantit being too water logged now, it just seems some plants can handle it better than others.

 

[adower]

While we are on the topic. What is the cheapest place online to get hydrocorn?

 

[toaster struedel]

Amazon free shipping, if u can't buy it local. Shipping charges suck on hydroton. Local=25$ Amazon = $37

 

[toaster struedel]

I used plantit twice I was done after the first time I baked it off after use. Stunk my house up for days!

 

[AlphaPhase]

Damn that's cheap for the hydrocorn. My local shop sells the plantit for 35$ a bag. Smh.

I'm going to try something different with the other batch of clones in a tray. They've been flooded every 8 hrs on a 24 hr light schedule so far. There's 3 different strains, 2 have some issues but the roots are white and nice at least. I just switched to flooding every 12 hrs, 2x a day. If they aren't drooping by midnight, I'll keep the schedule and see how the growth is and health compared to other grows.

If 2 floods a day helps these plants in anyway, well I guess I found the problem. It's been 7 hrs since a flood and the pots are still wicked heavy and some drops of water drip out when picked up. 12 hr between floods. Crazy shit, makes it not even hydro almost lol

 

[adower]

Damn that's cheap for the hydrocorn. My local shop sells the plantit for 35$ a bag. Smh.

I'm going to try something different with the other batch of clones in a tray. They've been flooded every 8 hrs on a 24 hr light schedule so far. There's 3 different strains, 2 have some issues but the roots are white and nice at least. I just switched to flooding every 12 hrs, 2x a day. If they aren't drooping by midnight, I'll keep the schedule and see how the growth is and health compared to other grows.

If 2 floods a day helps these plants in anyway, well I guess I found the problem. It's been 7 hrs since a flood and the pots are still wicked heavy and some drops of water drip out when picked up. 12 hr between floods. Crazy shit, makes it not even hydro almost lol

Well it's only for the first week or so that you flood 2x. After that I go 4x.

 

[AlphaPhase]

For sure, I'm hoping I can

I just pulled this out because I'm culling the strain, but not a speck of root issues with this one, it honestly might not be the stones but I'm not sure. This has more roots then the problem plants and it's 2 weeks younger lol. I just planted this like 5 days ago

But just in case I'm gonna stick with 2 floods this week then 3 or 4 and call it a day and cull the problem strain after the next run. There must be a disease in the problem plants because all my other gear, same tray, water etc, but have roots like this (and this is the worst looking clone lol)

 

[adower]

For sure, I'm hoping I can

I just pulled this out because I'm culling the strain, but not a speck of root issues with this one, it honestly might not be the stones but I'm not sure. This has more roots then the problem plants and it's 2 weeks younger lol. I just planted this like 5 days ago

But just in case I'm gonna stick with 2 floods this week then 3 or 4 and call it a day and cull the problem strain after the next run. There must be a disease in the problem plants because all my other gear, same tray, water etc, but have roots like this (and this is the worst looking clone lol)

View attachment 3525425

Sounds like it may just be the strain.

 

[toaster struedel]

well heres the results filled two 8 oz cups one with hydrocorn the other with plantit, added 140ml of water to each,soaked for 15 minutes and measured the runoff. the hydrocorn absorbed 20ml the plantit absorbed 37ml. I think more than likely its the strain, ive had strains that just dont do well in hydro. But one thing is certain you can definately flood less with the plantit.

 

[adower]

Amazon free shipping, if u can't buy it local. Shipping charges suck on hydroton. Local=25$ Amazon = $37

Where is hydrocorn for 37? I see 60$ for a 40l bag.

 

[toaster struedel]

Where is hydrocorn for 37? I see 60$ for a 40l bag.

Top of the page is 36l bag for 40 bux with free shipping.

 

[AlphaPhase]

Yeah, I'll chalk it up to the strain.

But that is crazy the plantit do hold almost 100% more water, I wonder if that's a little excessive or not. Hard to say, but like you said, less floods can definitely be accomplished with the plantit brand.

Very good to know, thank you for the results.