Am I Flooding Too Much Or Not Enough?

Bwpz

Well-Known Member
My plants are a couple weeks old and are around 6 inches tall. They have tons of roots covering the entire bottom of their 4" rockwool cubes. Everytime I look at them they're drooping. Yesterday I changed the flood cycle from 1 time a day to 3 times a day. Once at 6:15 AM, once at 1:15 PM and the last at 8:15 PM. It floods the table for 15 minutes. The lights are off from 2AM-6AM.

They're growing nicely but they won't stop dropping. Any suggestions?

Thanks :)
 

oceangreen

Well-Known Member
cooler water temps, higher room temp. try flooding twice.. ans see how that works.. an hour after lights are on.. and a few hours before off. like 7am and 6-7pm

are you using an HID? how many?
what medium are you using??

I ask about HID because of transpiration rate. drooping can sometimes mean over watering which it what i am feeling on this one..

By the way this is second hand experience from fellow friends at the shops here in den bosch who run flood and drain..

a pic of plant maturity would help.
 

Bwpz

Well-Known Member
My water temps are pretty cool, my res is on a cold floor. I'm using a cool tube so it's not hot in the room, it stays in the mid seventies. I noticed they looked good after watering and then started drooping so I increased the flood time to like 5 times a day to see how it'll work. I highly doubt that'd be overwatering because I picked up the cubes and they weren't too heavy, and the roots looked kinda dry. I'm flooding at 6AM, 11AM, 4PM, 9PM and then a shorter one at 12AM just because I watered them at 8PM tonight and by 1AM they were all drooping.

Does this sound like too much for these 4" cubes? I don't want to mistake overwatering for underwatering...

Soil was definitely less hassle xD
 

Chombo

Member
Im experiencing the same thing but they start drooping like 3hrs before the lights go out. When I had a saltwater fish tank my corals would start to sleep before the lights go out. Don't know if its the same thing or not... They say if the leaf feels heavy and kinda wrinkly then thats over watering if its light and fragile then its under watering.. One thing that I just found out my flood time and my drain time took to long in between so it was getting to much water.. Im getting a bigger pump today to ensure the drain is fast not 30min as its now. You getting root rot?
 

Clown Baby

Well-Known Member
This is why I use hydroton... Doesnt retain water like rockwool...

There's no real short answer without seeing your plants. You just have to weigh out how fast the plants are drinking (based on their size) and how much moisture the rockwool can hold onto. Check every hour or so after a flood, and see how long it takes for the rockwool to start feeling dryer.

Dadio runs a flood and drain with rockwool cubes, might want to check his thread out.
https://www.rollitup.org/grow-room-design-setup/372572-dadios-flood-drain-closet.html
 

gudkarma

New Member
i run ebb.flow.
i use rockwool curton in containers.
& that RIU dadio link is a real good journal.

no way you need to flood 3x a day with small plants & using rockwool.

do you have a fan on the medium?
maybe you're drying them out too fast?

small plants for me catch a water every 2 to 3 days.

flower 1x a day.

its important to let the rockwool dry out just like soil ...as it encourages root growth.
 
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