Little round things packed around rockwool?

[superdanks]

This is my first time with hydro. I was just wondering.... ive seen a lot of pics with little reddish round things packed around rockwool... they almost look like tea nuts. what are they? and whats the purpose?

[LolaGal]

They are clay balls, made of ceramic clay. They are used to soak up water and hold the plant upright without using soil.:jointsmile:

[the image reaper]

yup ... Hydroton, by brand name ... :jointsmile:

[KingSloth]

cmon dude, u coulda figured that out...
BTW; Higromite is much better than Hydroton. Its pH neutral and has a high silica content:pimp:

[tinytoon]

Viastone grow rocks is another newer one that is same basic principal as Hydrotron but claims to be better with ph balance and such. found at Hydrowholesale.com

[stinkyattic]

There's nothing inherently wrong with hydroton. It is a wonderful medium if you treat it right; it MUST be pre-soaked to pH 6 before use, just like RW. Silica content is interesting but I just get around that by running a foliar of Silica Blast up to about week 4-5 of flower.
Also, if you are using RW plugs in a HT bed, they should be sunk only partially, and set ABOVE the flood level in your table, because they hold so much more water than HT that the bed will be dry but the cubes will be soaked and you can get stem rot. FYI.