24 hour drip or timed

I was wondering if someone with some experience and testing could help me out with my drip system for my veg room. Theres obviously tons of combinations of time on and off for watering but what do most of you guys do?

24 hours on seems to work with purlite, it seems that there is always area's for the roots to get at oxygen. Im wondering though that if i start playing around with the timing can give them less water then maybe with more exposer to oxygen the plant will grow faster? I'm no expert and plan to mess play around a little but i don't want to damage a good thing so i was hoping i could get any advice.

oh and one other thing is there any advantage to setting your veg room to 18/6 hour light, besides the fact you'll save the 6 hours of energy use. Does the plant grow any better in the dark hours or will you get the best growth just leaving the light on all the time as well?

I been at drip / dwc combos for a cpl. years n let em drip 24/7 .
I veg w/ 20/4 btw . I believe the bulbs n ballasts last longer when given a break . I have used 24/0 , 18/6 , 20/4 over the years and saw no great dif. in growth myself .
Peace
Crispi :jointsmile:

When you give them 6 hours of rest the root system is suppose to do better. However I have seen little dif in them. I was told to turn drip off during dark but my plants droop so I drip 24/ 7 too.

I just started experimenting with this, we have had the dripper on 24 hours a day but I too started to think like you guys in that a little oxygen during the dark cycle couldn't be the worst thing by any means. My roomate seems to think otherwise now that roots are dropping down into the Deep Water Culture that the air stone needs to be on 24 hours a day as well so the roots don't get brown. I am on the fence.

With my waterfarm I run the drippers 15 minutes on/15 minutes off during lights on. During lights off it's 15 on/45 off. I figure the roots are sitting in water all the time anyway.

You can run drippers 24/7 or you can turn it back in the dark.

If you want to save power and the heat pumps cause you can run them full on with the lights and then 15 on 45 off after the first hour of dark.

Not that it will offer anymore oxygen to the root system or that it needs a rest...unless you are doing ebb & flow. You can save on electricity and heat is about all. There should be no change in the plants with the dark cycle watering schedule. They will droop a bit on you that is normal as there is no light.

A lot of the cycle timing has to do w/ the medium being used also.
Ppl. using hydroton can get away w/ 24/7 easier than ppl. using mediums that dont drain as well like rockwool cubes for instance . Strain of given plant and it's tolerences can hinder your cycle as well .
Peace
Crispi :jointsmile:

in my n.f.t tanks i run 15minutes on 15 off 24/7 they are a little droopy in the morning but they pick up as normal:thumbsup:

interesting, some really good advice here. I just switched my DWC bubbler grow to on during the day and off when the lights go out. Like Zandor said it doesn't seem to be affecting them that much to worry about. Droopy in the morning, even with the watering off at night.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by xcrispi

A lot of the cycle timing has to do w/ the medium being used also.
Ppl. using hydroton can get away w/ 24/7 easier than ppl. using mediums that dont drain as well like rockwool cubes for instance . Strain of given plant and it's tolerences can hinder your cycle as well .
Peace
Crispi :jointsmile:

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Question???

I'm using Hydroton and a drip system...not really a "drip"... comes out pretty constantly to be called that. I water every 4 hours for 5 minutes. Are you saying I can leave the pump on 24/7?

I'm only 1 week in, starting from seeds, seedlings are about 1 1/2 inches tall. All have they're 2nd set of true leaves, one of them (a different strain) is about 2 1/2 inches tall and is starting its 3rd set.

Also, I have the lights on 24/7 right now, when should I switch?

Any advice will be helpful.

PS...be easy, its my first time.