So confused!! Do I use rockwool or hydroton?

[Nyc_legend]

okay heres the deal. I hav a little grow space which i plan on growing plants in using a ebb & flow hydroponic system. I am using ebb & flow because a dripper system is too confusing for me & im not sure where to buy a dripper. Here's my question, I know I should use hydroton in the ebb & flow system, but should I also put the plants in rockwool? will the ebb & flow soak the rockwool too much?

[PurpWidow]

im pretty sure you use both, cause you stick the plants in the rockwhool, and you surround that by the hydroton stuff. the rockwool is kina like the "support", which also is great for holding moisture. and the hydroton keeps moisture.

please any1 correct me if im wrong but thats how i think of it.

[JohnnyWisdom]

im pretty sure you use both, cause you stick the plants in the rockwhool, and you surround that by the hydroton stuff. the rockwool is kina like the "support", which also is great for holding moisture. and the hydroton keeps moisture.

please any1 correct me if im wrong but thats how i think of it.

Correct.

Regardless if you're starting from seed or a cutting, you'll want to start with a 1 inch rockwool cube. Once you see the roots poppin' out of the bottom you can then transfer into a 4 inch cube OR bury directly into hydroton. When I say bury, you barely want the cube below the surface of the hydroton. If you transfer into a bigger 4 inch cube, you're simply prolonging the burying of the cube into the hydroton. Make sense?

Think about it, if you put the seed into the hydroton, it'll most likely never find the support it needs to grow. However, the rockwool will act as the artifical soil it gets to dig its roots into ... hope this helps :thumbsup:

[GrowHoHo]

can anyone explain the ebb and flow system? Do you think it is better than the easy resovour system? I read this great article on 420mag and am still a bit confused on all the diferent hydro options and the cost vs reward vs simplicity vs effectiveness of the options. This authur makes a strong case for using this resovour method. Would anyone dispute that for a first time small grower? :rasta:

Marijuana Hydroponics by Concept420.com (http://www.concept420.com/marijuana_hydroponics_growing.htm)

[stinkyattic]

You're always going to have a res in hydro. It's what you do with it that makes the difference in styles.
A tray-over-res system of ebb n flow is the easiest to build and maintain and is also cheap. You buy components at the grow shop that will fit your space and light, and assemble them into a working system for less than the cost of a pre-fab.
Read grow logs for all sorts of system designs, and see what is working for people running differnt styles of operation.

[SpaceNeedle]

can anyone explain the ebb and flow system? Do you think it is better than the easy resovour system? I read this great article on 420mag and am still a bit confused on all the diferent hydro options and the cost vs reward vs simplicity vs effectiveness of the options. This authur makes a strong case for using this resovour method. Would anyone dispute that for a first time small grower? :rasta:

Marijuana Hydroponics by Concept420.com (http://www.concept420.com/marijuana_hydroponics_growing.htm)

The ebb and flow consists of 2 trays sitting on top of each other, with say a couple of 2x4's between them. They can be the same size trays. The bottom one will be the reservoir while the plants sit in the top tray. The top tray has a drain hole that might have a 1" pvc sticking straight up in it, held by a grommet making the height of the pvc pipe the highest level you want your nutes to be pumped up to be. Another hole is a line going down into the reservoir, attached to a pond pump. The pond pump is on a timer, say 15 minutes at a time, maybe 6 times every 24 hrs. The pump fills the top tray with the plants in it up to the top of the 1" pvc that may be 4" high, after that, if the pump keeps pumping, the "overflow" created by the pvc pipe will act as a drain. After the 15 minutes of pumping, the remaining nutes in the tray will drain out through the pond pump via gravity.

[the image reaper]

I prefer Rapid-Rooter plugs over rockwool :thumbsup: ... rockwool has pH problems, that have to be overcome ... not difficult, but why not eliminate a potential situation ? ... the plugs can go directly from germination to either soil or hydro, with zero effort ... I love 'em :jointsmile:

[d4twamp]

I have no experience with RR but I have grown in RW in hydroton as well as Oasis cubes in hydroton...
I agree with TIR don't care much for the RW but some people swear by it...to each, their own...
Ebb n Flow is so easy you can build a setup comparable in effectiveness to the store bought systems, but no where in comparison when it comes to the price...

I've built a few so if you need a nudge in the right direction give me a holler bro...

later D:jointsmile:

[GrowHoHo]

I seems that an ideal solution would be to use these rapid rooter cubes over rockwool and then transfer into hydroton. I would rather avoid using rockwool due to the PH factor and the fact that is it a haz material. Sticking with the whole organic symplicity thing.

Also i am still trying to figure out the best hydro system. I want to avoid using the wicks and pumps and all that. The article i linked earlier doesnt give me a lot of detail but explains the resorvior system not usuing either of these. He said it just involves a resorvior pan, a pot and a medium. Unfortunatly he doesnt diagram how these pieces fit together. I assume you put the seed/clone in the starter rockwool or other medium like rapid rooter in the pot and then place the pot with holes in the bottom in the resorvior pan with about 1.5 - 3 in of water. I think he said to use a 1 gal pot. Does that sound right or do i have it all backwards?

[d4twamp]

Sorry NYC for any jackin
What equipment do you already have GRO HO,maybe you should start your own thread for your grow so we aren't thread jackin NYC

[Nyc_legend]

alright, so what i got from all this, is that i should use rapid rooters and transfer to hydroton. thats good to know. but I'm concerned that if i dont make my system a dripper system, the ebb & flow system would soak the rockwool (or rapid rooters) too much, and it'll hold all that water for way too long, and drown the plant. is that likely?

[tinytoon]

only way you would drown them would be if you water to much. couple of replies ago someone mentioned a 15 min flood time, 6 times in a 24 hour period. that should work very well :thumbsup:

[nycfunguy]

I've been experimenting with placing seeds directly in hydroton with a bubbler below the 3 inch net pot bottoms and so far every single seed has germinated within 3 days... no need for paper towel, no need for rockwool... just put seeds in below one layer of hydroton and believe me, it'll have plenty of support as the taproot works it's way through all the bends and turns it needs to make in order to find the water below.

The bubbles pop and pretty much soak the bottom 2/3rds of the hydroton and if you cover the top with one of those premade foam black inserts it keeps hydroton moist all the way to the top... perfect conditions to germinate... no extra warming pads needed either for some reason. I couldn't believe every one has popped. It may help to make sure seeds first sink in a small container of water but I bet even that is not needed.

this method really works. better than having your rockwool over soak.... just let all that moist air do the trick...peace to all

[Big len]

rapid rooters and hydroton for me in ebb and flow system.

[Italiano715]

I prefer Rapid-Rooter plugs over rockwool :thumbsup: ... rockwool has pH problems, that have to be overcome ... not difficult, but why not eliminate a potential situation ? ... the plugs can go directly from germination to either soil or hydro, with zero effort ... I love 'em :jointsmile:

Well I'll be damned...After reading this I don't even want to use RW that I planned on originally. Where can I purchase these RR plugs? Hardware store maybe?

S**t, I'll just google them suckers. Thanks for the tip!

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to the image reaper again. :thumbsup:

[help420me]

Use coconut coir. It's organic, retains moisture and nutes, blocks light, and it's cheap as hell. Before you use it, expand it with pHed water suitable for either a clone or seed. It expands greatly. Cut a chunk off a brick, stick it in the net pot, and expand it, it'll seal the net pot, but still allow water and nutes. Seed or clone, you're good to go.

I prefer fogponics, btw.

[khyberkitsune]

I second rapid rooters, though I use both those and rockwool.

I've done ebb and flow without any hydroton, just large 4-inch rockwool cubes. But you have to watch out for algae buildup in that sort of setup.