s Ebb &Flow as good as Aero or NFT or Drip?

Hi. what Iâ??m wondering is: is there really much advantage to using more complicated systems such as Aero, NFT, DWC or Drip, instead of just a simple ebb and flow?
I can think of the following advantages for E&F:


1) The use of a medium (rocks/coco) so the roots stay distributed evenly and not matted together, and to hold microorganisms.

2) It forces the stale air/plant gasses out of the medium with each flood, pulls in fresh oxygen.

3) NOTHING TO CLOG; no dozens of f***ing misters/sprayers or drippers to check and unclog.

4) Oxygen is oxygen. The water can only hold .09% oxygen, if I put lots of airlines in my flood area and reservoir, the waterâ??s probably maxxed already; sending it thru misters/sprayers wonâ??t add anymore. Misters seem like a damn complicated method for oxygenating water compared to airlines or venturis. Sorry, donâ??t mean to flame aero.

Supposedly Aero has really fast growth rates, but how much faster? Like 1 week less of veg time, 2 weeks less, or something like that? [in trade for the hassle]. And most importantly, do Aero, NFT or Drip systems have any larger yield than Ebb and Flow (in the same environment) at harvest time?

Has anyone compared E&F to other systems?

This sound like one for the big guy. My cousin used ebb and flow and said it was a full time job . A real pain in the ass but he got results that were fairly good. I have only used drip system and no problems since middle of last year. Two grows and no clogging or prob's. I find the drip a very easy system with low maintinance. I check PH and PPM's and top off with fresh distilled water. I check it daily but can let it go for 3 days with out any worries. But that's just my cousin and me. One of the big guy's should have a good answer. Maybe what your used to you like best.

Surely a bubbler is the purest form of hydro...a constant mix of O2 and drink! but lifting that lid and monitering the res level is a nause....NFT sounds the simplest to me but i'm a bit weary of trying it out ...I'm vegging in soil and have an Ebb/Flow set ready for my clones ..cometh the time! Zandor will no doubt cast his knowegable opinion

you should check out the waterfarms. I had one plant in one once that was topped 2x and wound up getting like 300 or so bud sites. I have also seen monster tomato plants growing in them at the hydro shop. They were up to the cieling in the front window.

My point of view is that aero is the best, but all the hydro systems have the same yield, i tried bubblers, drip, and ebb and flow and even some combinations of these systems, the key is how it's managed. Good temp, good humidity, good air, and good nute uptake system for me is PH. I want to try aero no to see the results.
Fhydro

Hi grow,

I've been using ebb-flow tables for quite a while. I've also used airoponics and wick type set-ups. I would have to totally agree with what fhydro says about management above. When well managed there really is not that much difference. The ebb and flow is the simplest and most dependable by far. By the way I call this type of system "flood and drain" so I hope we are talking apples and apples here. Aero is somewhat faster especially when it comes to rooting clones.

Here is a typical grow in my flood drain system first the system: 4'x4'x7" deep table on an aluminum frame about 24" off the floor. The system is flooded every six hours by a 35 gallon tank which is kept under the tray. The tray drains back to the tank in about 10 or so minutes. I use 10" netpots with course gravel. I find that the plants grow almost as fast as with aero. It takes about 7 days to root a clone ( I use fairly small pieces for clones) and then about 14 more days of vegg to get to a hieght of 17-20". I then induce flowering and it is finished in 5-6 weeks. With aero it takes about 3 days to root a clone and about 10 days to vegg to the same size I find that flowering takes the same amount of time -so youare really only picking up about a week with aero. I have found that yeilds are about the same with both type of systems.

To sum up I would need to see a system that offered much more benefits then the ones I've seen out there to stop using flood and drain tables.

I hope this helps,

Herbus

Herbus do you root clones in gravel in pots on your foold table or do you use rockwool cubes....i'm concerned about the possibillity of my cuttings drying if left in clay pellets on the flood table!... Rooting powder or gel?

cuttings stems must be kept in continual dampness but not too much. So they can dry in pellets if the frequency of waterings is too low. Good systems for cloning is waterfarm like systems in grow rocks, in rockwool with one watering every day till roots, and bubblers, stems staying above popping bubbles. But always with rooting gel or powder. In dirt it's good also.
Fhydro

I use these Sunleaves float and grow plugs 9The plugs are made out of woven together peat and soil). The plugs rest in this styrofoam block. I use a small greenhouse type thing which has bottom heat and the styrofoam block stays in a plastic tray within the greenhouse. The greenhouse is about 30" long x 18" wide x about 16" high. I water it by hand. Once rooted I move then to the trays. I have about a 98% success rate this way. I find that when rockwool drys out it tends to suck all the water out of the plants, these peat plugs are a bit better on that. You can of course root them on the table directly in gravel just flood the table every three hours until they root. The only reason I don't do this is I find that constant bottom heat really speeds up the rooting process and so my success rate is a bit better.

Herbus

Thanks for that ...I wonder...what is a good pH for a clone to root in..?

Ph 6.0-6.5 is good. I find that until they grow roots they are not as PH fussy as when they have roots. BTW they have the float and grow at Worm's Way.

Welcome,

Herbus

Thanks Herby I'll take that on board!

I should have mentioned that the float and grow in the instructions says to keep water in the tray so that the styrofoam floats. This is not a good idea just use it like a flood drain system empty the tray of water each time you've watered manually.

Herbus