cleaning hydroton

[wowdoughboy]

What is the best and most importantly EASIEST way to clean hydroton. I tried what Mr. Green did in his video(once root develop out of rockwool spread the hydroton all over the table). So now i just harvest and im havng problems cleaning this stuff because there are roots all over. HELP!

[JackdaWack]

wash them off with bleech and water like 1/3 bleach to 1 whole water. wash them off and or soak them keep repeating until they are clean, and then rinse them off with a lot of plain good water.

Is the hyrdoton stuck in the roots if so, just start shaking them out they should come out with out you having to pull each one individually. Its tricky and probably time consuming, you could cut them out in sections. Its gonna be messy i can see it already.

[Zandor]

You can hit up walley-world and pick up a sweater bag. It's in the laundry section and is a net bag you can put sweaters in when you wash them.

This same bag works great to wash and clean grow rocks in a dish washer. The large zipper makes it easy to use too.

If you have large amounts then a plastic barrel cement mixer with a whole bunch of holes drilled for drainage is perfect.

[bongerstonerd00d]

Oh wonderful, Zandor. Now I have to buy a cement mixer, drill holes in it, and convice the old lady its a must have item, huh ? You guys are really trying to get me divorced I think. Good to see ya back, Zandor.


b0nger

[Zandor]

Oh wonderful, Zandor. Now I have to buy a cement mixer, drill holes in it, and convice the old lady its a must have item, huh ? You guys are really trying to get me divorced I think. Good to see ya back, Zandor.


b0nger


When I got mine it was for doing work around the house.

(that story worked for me, I just did not say what type of work it was for. She is still waiting for the custom walk way too)

[bongerstonerd00d]

Custom sidewalk, huh? I like that idea. All I know is I have done my share of concrete work, and that was eons ago, but all I remember is its real work. So in no way shape or form can I buy a cement mix to actually mix cement. I'll do everything else around here, but if I need any concrete work, its getting hired out......LOL This old back aint made for that kinda labor anymore. If I woulda known I was going to live this long I woulda took better care of myself when I was young:thumbsup:


b0nger

[wowdoughboy]

thankyou for all your inputs, i dont think i'll ever want to use large amount of hydroton again :hippy: , i'll just save them for something else i was thinking about using it for my mommas i only have 2 mommas so that would be least work.

[latewood]

Just get a quart of flora kleen, use as directed and soak for 24 hours..It works for flush...It works for removing salts from your medium. Even my local hydro store changed to this method after I told them my take on it. They have used this method ever since.

I don't like bleach...bleach is chlorine, and chlorine is a salt. Peace

[Pay It Forward]

Here's a cheap method:
1. Use a large plastic garbage can (30 gal). & pour in rocks
2. fill with water & 1 qt. flushing agent (Flora Kleen, Final Flush, etc...), let sit 12 hours
3. buy a cheap water pond pump at Wally World or Home Depot ($15)
buy 8 feet of 3/4 in. plastic hose & clamp (check size output of pump, it maybe 5/8")
4. place pump in bottom of garbage can & pump out water & stuff
5. After emptying garbage can, I fill w/water hose & continue to pump out, but you need to control the water input so you don't over flow. Pump for 15 - 20 minutes. Works great.

Good Luck, PIF

[Zandor]

You know they do have a bucket style cement mixer too. You put the grow rocks in, add a little florakleen screw on the lid and roll it around on the ground for a while.

They cost less then 50 bucks I think from HD.

That is another option too but for small amounts the sweater bag and the dish washer is fine too.

[GodBud]

Hydroton is cheap! Chunk that shit and use fresh hydroton every grow!


Peace

[MVP]

Why throw useful shit away when we are already trashing the planet? The Mr Smith(s) was right in The Matrix. Humans are a fuckin Virus......

DON'T BE A DICK -- CLEAN YOUR HYDROTON!

[Ktrain]

throw that shit away!!

[the image reaper]

now that I know the environmentalists want me to wash and re-use my Hydroton, I'll be buying it in bulk ... (oh yeah, it'll 'trash' the planet, putting a soil substance, back into the soil) :chainsaw: :S2:

[MVP]

now that I know the environmentalists want me to wash and re-use my Hydroton, I'll be buying it in bulk ... (oh yeah, it'll 'trash' the planet, putting a soil substance, back into the soil) :chainsaw: :S2:

So next you are gonna tell me that rockwool is biodegradeable too? :wtf:

[GodBud]

So next you are gonna tell me that rockwool is biodegradeable too? :wtf:

Hes talking about hydroton waterhead!

LOL............

[Opie Yutts]

I just use a plastic strainer and plain hot tap water. I put about 2 handfuls in the strainer and while I'm running water over them, I swirl them around like I'm panning for gold, and I rub them with my hand to help get any salts off. The vegetative mater collects nicely around the sides of the strainer. If I see anything stuck to the pellets, like roots, I either clean them individually or toss them in the trash. Then I have a bucket to pour them in. I do this slowly, and watch for any infected pellets as they near the edge of the strainer. It's not as bad as it sounds, and for most people, if you add up your hours and multiply them by what you get paid per hour at work, it is cheaper to wash them than it is to toss them. Don't forget that if you toss them, it also costs time and gas money to get some more. I just did this the other night, and it took about 1 1/2 hr. to clean 16, 6" net pots full of pellets.

Of course we all know how to clean them for the first time, right? We put a hole in the bottom of the bag, and run water through the bag until the water coming out is no longer reddish. Pretty darn easy if you've got a hose. You can even do this in a kitchen sink.

[Opie Yutts]

So next you are gonna tell me that rockwool is biodegradeable too? :wtf:

Absolutely, but only if you throw it away on some volcanic rock.

[Opie Yutts]

You know, when the good Lord told me to take picutes of the clay pellet washing, I had no idea why. Perhaps this thread was the reason.

[arbogast]

When growing in hydroton, do you find you need to increase your watering schedule, for an ebb and flow system I mean. I have eight plants in an ebb and flow and six are hydroton only, but two I put a little but of other medium around the roots and those plants are a little bigger, I guess it holds water a bit better, but I like the idea of more control with flushing and such, but first time I have used it.....do you water more with it?

Arbogast

[Opie Yutts]

What other medium did you put around the roots. It shouldn't matter what the medium is, since after a few weeks the roots are out of the medium anyway, and being kept moist by the nutrient solution itself. Rockwool sucks IMO because it holds way too much water. Hydroton (a brand name) holds just the right amount. No rotting.

[growfosho]

1. Go to Home Depot and but (2) 5 Gallon buckets.

2. Take one of your larger drill bits (not one larger than your pellets of course..) and drill about 20 holes in the bottom of the bucket. Make sure you drill enough holes that the water can drain quickly or you'll be standing their for quite some time, haha

3. Place the bucket with holes within the other bucket. Go in your back yard and spray the hydroton you placed in your new system with fresh water. Use logic on the amount.

4. Pull bucket 1 out and set aside. Dump bucket 2 with waste water.

5. Repeat steps 3 thru 4 until you feel your new, or old, hydroton is ready for use.

6. Have Fun! "Spread the love" - Stinkbud

[vonwolfen]

Hydroton washing is a pain the arse...I have an ebb and flo system with a 50 gallon res(CAP). I just throw the hydroton into the res with a little biofriendly dishsoap(seems to break down faster then normal dishsoap) and mix it around. Let it sit for a few hours...dump it in my bubble hash bag(the 220) 5 gallons at a time(spray it with a hose). most of the roots goto the bottom(70-80%)..dump the bubble bag into a 50 gallon garbage bag...and done..of course it is time consuming, and not perfect...But it cleans the res and hydroton at the same time...

[Daddynobucks]

makes it a lot easier to deal with the normally high Ph. the new stuff needs soaking forever

Daddy

[evil]

I know this post is old but for anyone who comes across it. A few people said to clean with a flushing agent but for the most part all that stuff is just empty chelates that help the plant eat up everything in the root zone then after that you would flush with just water to finish. That doesnt help clean hydroton unless maybe theres a soap added like in royal flush, and even then I wouldnt waste the product on it. Someone else said not to use bleech because its a salt. I have to say Im pretty sick of all these salt snobs. Bleech is awesome because it absolutely kills everything and not that I would compare bleech to nutes but what excactly is it you organic nuts think plants eat. They eat inorganic mineral salts. The only difference is how they get them. If your having trouble with large amounts of hydroton I would swich to smaller nets that hold less. The only problem with having more roots exposed to the water though is root infection unless you have a chiller, use mycorrhizae and zyme or dont use any organic stuff at all. As far as cleaning go's if you have alot of plant matter in the hydroton I would soak it in zyme and then clean with bleach after. If your not using mycorrhizae and zyme in your hydro system you want to make sure to get rid of as much organic matter from the hydroton as possible and than purify it good. Zyme and then bleech does that nicely. I have an ebb and flow but instead of using the full inserts that come with it I use smaller 6 inch ones and its amazing how much less hydroton you use. When cleaning I take the full size nets filled with dirty hydroton and put those in five gallon buckets filled with water and zyme. I let that sit untill the zyme breaks down anything left over and then I soak with bleech and rinse very very very well. One full insert of hydroton gets me six 6" small inserts so its alot less to deal with. If you go with the smaller inserts just remember that its easier to get root infections when more of the roots are completely exposed to the water like in a dwc system. Either just use base nutes and h2o2 with absolutly no organic additives or get rid of the h2o2 and use mycorrhizae and zyme. You could also get a chiller but they are realy expensive and as long as you keep clean and either use h2o2 with no organic additives or use mycorrhizae and zyme you should be ok.

Opie Yutts idea sounds good too if you dont have the money for zyme and can stand spending a little more time messing with the hydroton. I might try that method next time.