New to Hydro

[ginoberde]

Hello,
I live in the caribbean, and over here we do not have access to rockwool.Right now I wish to start a Hydro setup, I could get everything except the grow media.
So I have a few questions
1. If anyone knows this stuff named Oase's it's a foam like block that is airy and retains water very good.But I never heard or read about it anywhere.
2. If I cannot use that, can I use coconut fiber with regular hydro nutes or do I have to get special coco nutes.
Please I need some help a.s.a.p. I have gotten a lot of help from this board so far, but I have never heard of hydro with this Oase's stuff.
I am growing in soil right now, but i want to switch to Hydro.
Here are some pics, of my baby
Hope someone can help me out!
I will place pics as I start the project.

ginoberde Reviewed by ginoberde on 03-03-2006. New to Hydro Hello, I live in the caribbean, and over here we do not have access to rockwool.Right now I wish to start a Hydro setup, I could get everything except the grow media. So I have a few questions 1. If anyone knows this stuff named Oase's it's a foam like block that is airy and retains water very good.But I never heard or read about it anywhere. 2. If I cannot use that, can I use coconut fiber with regular hydro nutes or do I have to get special coco nutes. Please I need some help a.s.a.p. I Rating: 5

[LOC NAR1958]

Never heard of it but I have the coco peat. Can you get hydrotron clay rocks ? Or lava racks like for a gas grill ? I use hydrotron expanded clay balls that can be cleaned and reused. Lava rocks can be broken up a bit and used the same way. Try to stay away from rockwool or coco peat unless you know someone using it, to show you. It holds too much water. Go with a drip system and rocks. OH, sweeeeeeet buds man.

[ginoberde]

At the garden center here we can get perlite, vermaculite,oase's or coco.
The coco is a brick that you have to put in water for it to expand.
I was planing on a drip system with a 400mh

[ginoberde]

But I will look for the hydroton tomorrow.
I'll be there first thing in the morning.
Thanx

[latewood]

the coco is good...you just have to figure out how to grow with it. I hear it works well...if you want to drip, the perlite is perfect for that...most commercial taomato growers use perlite in hydro buckets...hope this helps

[karmaxul]

Coco is high in calcium and a growth hormone called zeaton which is also found in corn. its a good for organic hydro as is sawdust and pine chips. Coco is best and it is a great source of carbon to help with the nitrogen to carbon ratio which should be under 20 to 1 for proper growth.(R:S ratio) Grow organically if ya can it is so much better and earth freindly. You could just get rockwool shipped in. It is so light that it would not be that much. I bet you could get it shipped to the grow shop if you dont want it shipped to you. I would use coco if you can with organic hydro nutes. O soooo good.
One love
c

[turtle420]

Hey ginoberde,

Welcome!

That looks like two plants in the second pic...

Wow... nice plants. Was that with sunlight?

[Gen]

Try perlite, alot of people have problems with rockwool. It holds too much moisture and has ph. So you have to soak them overnight. I tried coc peat in soil, 50/50 perlite and coco and it was way too wet. The plant didn't dry out for 3 days, so I repotted in soil and the plant started to grow. Coco is so small it will clog your pump in no time if you are recirculating. I've heard alot of good things about perlite. I want to try that next. Perlite floats, so does hydroton.

Are you talking about Oasis cubes? The stuff florists use to make flower arrangements? Your plants look good man. Keep up the good work. Make sure you have a ph meter and ppm meter. You will need to adjust the ph of the nutrient solution and check nutrient strength.

[ginoberde]

What you see in the pics is one Aurora indica, grown with sunlight, in soil.
Over here wegrow in soil, but these last few days rainfall has destroyed a lot of plants. Once rain catches them , mold will eat them up quick.
Thats why I wanna switch to interior

[ginoberde]

Thanx for the info,yes Gen they told me at the store florists use it but I never read about it being used for Hydro, they recomended it because I was explaining them the rockwool properties, but I think I got some good help with what I can buy here on the island. I am starting with a cloner.
Monday I bought a 950gph pump and some other stuff to start with the project. I could not find EZ clone misters, but I found some other ones made by Gardena. Got some of them and a 15 Gallon tub.
You guys will find more info and pics soon.
Once I am done with that one I will move to the (ebb/flo or drip) main system.
I allready got a 350gph pump for it.
Thanx for all the advise
Just one more ???? if I use a 950gph aquarium pump do I have to make a release valve to ease the pressure on the pump?