Growing In A New Medium

skunkushybrid

skunkushybrid

New Member
I'm moving out of soil, and starting to grow in rockwool and perlite.

I'm using 2 6" cubes standing on top of each other in 10 litre buckets. The very bottom of the bucket is layered with perlite, so too the edges and the top of the rockwool.

I'm also hand watering.

I've only got one plant growing like this at the mo', as I'm waiting to see if it dies. It's into it's second day now and I've fed it with about a litre of feed, which quite literally seems to fall straight out the bottom.

How often will I need to water? I've read that in hydro' systems you can water up to 6 times a day. If this is the case I'm going to need to build a proper system.
 
Yeah i dont think your grow medium has much water retention. You will have to water frequently.. how often i'm not sure. Are you gonna set up a dripper system?
 
Ya Hydro systems are ment to recycle the water/ferts. You cant realy hand water cause they get the nurtiants as the solution runs over the roots. unless you rig up a bottle that slow drips, collect it at the bottom, and fill it back up 4 or more times a day it will probably not go to smooth.
 
What about if I were to put each bucket into a tray, let the tray fill slightly, then wait for it to empty... giving the plants a dry period before watering again?

It's doing okay so far, and I've left it over night twice. The rockwool cubes are 6" by 6". One on top of the other. I assumed that they would be as good as soil at retaining water.

I have no idea how to set up a drip system.
 
I've been doing a little reading and if rockwool is as good as vermiculite at holding water I should be fine to water every day or two... hopefully.
 
Hi Skunk...

A lot of people that grow using your current technique have the cubes in a tray... th tray will either fill up and drain once of twice a day... or it will have water continuously drippinginto the cubes or running along the bottom of the tray...

Moving water is always a good idea... helps keeps 02 in the water and seems to help reduce algae build up...

PLease kkep us posted. i am curius how it tunrs out..

BTW - rockwool will retain lots of water and lots of 02.... perlite WILL NOT.. perlite will dry out much faster than rockwool... But if your rockwwool is sitting within the perlite, it will keep the perlite moist and root friendly..

cheers
 
Thanks knowm. I think my only problem is keeping the 5.5 ph. I like the idea of filling the tray and then letting it empty... it somehow feels more normal.

My next step will be to build a proper hydro' system. It still seems a little complicated at the mo', so I'm going one step at a time.
 
"Eb-flow/fill up and drain" with rockwool is a very eazy way to feed alot of plants at once and is my prefered Hydro method. Some may argue that drip is better but, well to me, its too much of a pain in the ass to set up and maintain for more than 4 plants.

The drip bottle I sugested was only because its only 1 plant and wouldnt cost much if anything. 1 gallon jug pice of tube and a tube pincher. If you do try this the jug may last a whole day if regulated slow enough.
 
I was going to say, The perlite probobly isnt allowing the rockwool enough time to absorb the water, but rockwool does hold assloads of water. if you could somehow slow water it or dunk it as they are saying, i think that would work great.
 
The rockwool cubes are sitting on top of each other straight down the middle of the pot. They're 6" so they fill quite a bit of the pot. There is perlite only on the bottom (a thin layer), a thin layer also seperating the cubes, around the sides of the rockwool, and a layer over the top. I'm going to be vegging 9 at a time this way (I just tried the 1 to make sure it wasn't just going to die on me), with eventually 18 flowering. Two sets of nine, both at different stages of flower. So, eventually I should be harvesting 9 plants every 5 weeks.

It's scary moving out of soil. Soil is a very forgiving medium.
 
I like the sound of your set up.. It is probably a good idea to have .5 - 1 inch of perlite below the rockwool.. this will allow for GREAT drainage and a place roots can go to get plenty of O2... you could prbably use HYDRPTON CLAY STONES as well.

keep us posted!!
 
I've just bought a tray... holds up to 18 litres of water. I'm going to need another five of these, but this one will do for now.

Will pushing the water around this reservoir still feed the plants while they are in pots?
 
While the pots are standing in the tray. I feed them (hand water), the excess water lands in the tray around the pots. If I were to get an air pump and a couple of airstones to oxygenate and push the water around, will the plants take UP the water?
 
What I mean is... As the bottom of my pots will be lined with an inch or two of perlite... perlite is unable to absorb water...

I've done another 2 like this now... so for these 3 (well 2, the first one I didn't do very well), I'm going to have to continue watering from the top.

I've been doing a lot of reading, and the only way forward is to have the rockwool sitting on the bottom of the pot to act as a wick. I may well break up one of the 6" cubes and mix it with the perlite, with a layer of rockwool on the very bottom of the pot.

It's a good job I've figured out a system, as the big one kicks off tomorrow. We're going to make do with buckets at first until we can get hold of a couple of kiddie pools, pumps and air stones.
 
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