Cleaning Hydroton

[GrowinGreen]

It's a pain in the ***.

The only reason I do it, is to get the old roots out from the previous grow, but is it really necessary? Also, all I use is water to rinse it.

Any tips on an easy way to clean it?

 

[LEFTHAND]

or you can make a screen for it.. dump the hydroton on a tarp.. let it dry... roots will dry out for you..and become crisp.. take tray with screen 1/4" sqaures.. and shake... all the roots and crap fall underneith.. then you can cook it in the oven... rest will burn off... or boil it.. in big basin out back over fire..... i have boiled mine on stove that took me 3 hrs to clean 9 5gallon pails full... rinse and let dry.. it is ready for next grow.. no need for bleach....
or you can sit and pick.. you choice.. but so far this is the easiest way i have found.. and i do beleive its Zem who throws his in the oven...
LH

 

[nouvellechef]

Here is the easiest way. Find a industrial kitchen supply place. Ask them to show you stainless or plastic "perf' pans. You will need one 2"-8" perf and one solid pan. Size depends on how much hydroton. Dump the hydroton into the perf, drop into the non-perf pan and submerge in water/bleach mix. Lift, dump dirty mix, refill, do it until it looks new.

Or lose the hydroton as it is kinda a pain, depending on quanity and roll with, Sure to Grow. Not reusable but works badazz

 

[LEFTHAND]

Here is the easiest way. Find a industrial kitchen supply place. Ask them to show you stainless or plastic "perf' pans. You will need one 2"-8" perf and one solid pan. Size depends on how much hydroton. Dump the hydroton into the perf, drop into the non-perf pan and submerge in water/bleach mix. Lift, dump dirty mix, refill, do it until it looks new.

Or lose the hydroton as it is kinda a pain, depending on quanity and roll with, Sure to Grow. Not reusable but works badazz

hydroton is a pain.. but then you cant run an Ebb n flow the way its ment to be ran.. 1-2 waterings a day on sure grow isnt the what ebb was designed...
LH

 

[nouvellechef]

Didnt see he said Ebb?

 

[LEFTHAND]

Didnt see he said Ebb?

dont think he mentioned ebb. but a few have .. and sure grow pops up right behind it...
that sure grow changes the grow totally.. to crap.. lol another marketing scam.. maybe for pots.. but i wouldnt even use it in dwc.. that shet would stay soaked... like a sponge..
LH

PS: just cuz something is a lil harder to do or takes time.. figure out a way to make it easier.. spending money on a non reuseable product is not the answer ..

 

[nouvellechef]

You were spot on about it. I bought 1. Stayed wet for wayyyyyy to long. Now I cant even think of a appliation it would work in.

 

[LEFTHAND]

You were spot on about it. I bought 1. Stayed wet for wayyyyyy to long. Now I cant even think of a appliation it would work in.

Cloning.. stay wet just like rockwool.. .. then when you go oh shet my babies and run down there it will still be moist..
LH

 

[nouvellechef]

For sure. Was thinking of those large ones.

 

[GrowinGreen]

Well I went with the advice of boiling the hydroton and man is it easy haha definitely will be doing it this way from now on.

I just used this real big stew pan we have.. I really don't know if it is called a stew pan, but if I were going to make some stew I would definitely use it haha ... boiled the water, used this nifty kitchen utensil to remove the roots from the top

Then just poured the hydroton into a strainer and gave it a rinse.

Cleaning it my old way KILLLED my back and I'm not even old

It seems like a lot of the roots actually dissolve in the water which is really cool

 

[DonJones]

As to the issues raised with Sure To Grow, it is designed to stay wet. Their recommendations are to flood it for less than 10 minutes at a time and then only about 4to 6 times a day.

In DWC IF you are keeping the solution highly oxygenated, then there is NO reason for the media to ever dry out.

Rafting actually floats the medium in the water at the surface so it always stays wet and if the solution is highly oxygenated, the plants seem to thrive.

Aeroponics keeps the roots wet constantly too.

The reason that you need the dry period is to get oxygen to the roots, not to dry them out.

Regardless of the medium, General Hydro recommends running the solution 24/7 because the air pump action in lifting the solution to the drip ring give a high dissolved oxygen content and there is no need for a dry period.

Now that you know how it is supposed to work, either use it or not as you see fit, but please don't bad mouth a product that you obviously didn't understand. IF you had problems with the product, it was mostly likely because you didn't have enough dissolved oxygen in the solution.

The STG cubes have given me the best results of any medium in cloning, even better than using either a bubble cloner or a spray/mist cloner and the best rooting and young plant growth that I've seen. They have also given me the best results in growing from seed of any medium that I've seen in use.

Yes, they are disposable and that might be a concern for some of us, but in comparison they use a lot of recycled plastic and are in the process in switching completely to recycled plastic so the environmental impact is minimal.

I don't see anyone complaining about Rockwool not being biodegradable or staying wet too long. That is what the STG is is a plastic based fibrous medium instead of a mineral based fibrous medium.

Personally I obviously think the STG is a great product, but in my case the shipping costs are approximately 1/3 of the price of the product which makes them much more expensive than buying clay balls locally without freight. The price of the Hail that is supposed to replace clay balls is very nearly the same as clay balls on a volume basis and if I could buy the locally, I would not hesitate to use it instead of the clay balls.

I'm getting ready to make a side by side Waterfarm grow using clay balls in half of the pots and the STG hail in the other have, using the recommended 24/7 drip cycle in both sets and the same nutrients and additives to directly compare the results in my environment and operation.

Great smoking.

 

[LEFTHAND]

whats witht the sure to grow Don??.. you seem to be pushing it.. i think shes a bad choice of medium for Ebb... why on earth would one wont to cut back on feedin in hydro?? come on now. just to beable to use the product lol. i flood my tubs 1hr on 2 off 24/7 till i chop em.. good luck to you don.. im a gonna keep me hydroton
LH

 

[pcduck]

Now that you know how it is supposed to work, either use it or not as you see fit, but please don't bad mouth a product that you obviously didn't understand.

well Don they have an opinion just like you. They bought the said product and was not satisfied with it. I would imagine they have growing experience just like you. Now why would you have to go and spout off about something you have no idea what you are talking about. Maybe there system is/was set up just like you said was that the optimal levels should be? You just assumed they did it wrong.

 

[tintala]

I use SIMPLE GREEN PRO 3, its 15$ a gal at HD and is way better than bleach , no toxic, can go down the drain, do not need gloves (I use me anyway) and kills viruses, bacteria, and fungus, they use this in Hospitals... Iwouldnt use anything else.

 

[PieRsquare]

In DWC IF you are keeping the solution highly oxygenated, then there is NO reason for the media to ever dry out.

The media really isn't intended to "dry out" in any system. The drain cycle of ebb and flow and off time used in other types of hydro are done to provide the roots with as much available oxygen as possible. By draining the water away from the roots, in ebb and flow, it causes a vacuum that pulls ambient oxygen into the root zone and accomplishes oxygen saturation in the root zone. Other type of hydro do this with less saturation, but more than if the water was left on at all times.

Rafting actually floats the medium in the water at the surface so it always stays wet and if the solution is highly oxygenated, the plants seem to thrive.

The water in any rafting system, (which is really nothing more than DWC), has to be oxygenated somehow. If the needed oxygenation isn't available, the plants die. Most raft systems use air pumps in their reservoirs to accomplish this.

Aeroponics keeps the roots wet constantly too.

I understand what you meant, but your wording isn't really correct. The roots in an aeroponic system aren't wet all the time. In the micro process, the stream of water/oxygen that is directed at the roots is highly saturated with oxygen. During any given time, the flow striking the roots has a constant flow of both oxygen molecules and water molecules touching the roots. If the oxygen saturation of the solution is at 30%, it means that in essence, 30% of each root is actually in oxygen at any time. To the human eye, it 'looks' like it's wet constantly, but in actuality, it's not wet 30% of the time. This is what makes aeroponics work better than any other form of hydro in terms of plant health. Depending on the type of delivery nozzles (spray heads), used, the oxygen levels can be brought up to the 50/50 level or even higher, which is the best that can be achieved in any form of hydro.

 

[LEFTHAND]

ive explained this many times.. but doesnt seem to sink in... glad to see someone who understands Ebb..
LH

 

[nouvellechef]

I got it

With all the hydroton I have to use. I decided to use my own thought on cleaning the hydroton as stated earlier. I got a used 8cf industrial steamer with 6" mesh stainless pans. I will do a trial and report back on how well a full blown steam on the hydroton works. The unit is plumbed and all that, I know it sounds like alot, but if I can just load the hydroton into pans, steam it off and wash and dry. It would save me many hours of boiling hydroton and dealing with the water, etc.

Will report back.

 

[PieRsquare]

I got it

With all the hydroton I have to use. I decided to use my own thought on cleaning the hydroton as stated earlier. I got a used 8cf industrial steamer with 6" mesh stainless pans. I will do a trial and report back on how well a full blown steam on the hydroton works. The unit is plumbed and all that, I know it sounds like a lot, but if I can just load the hydroton into pans, steam it off and wash and dry. It would save me many hours of boiling hydroton and dealing with the water, etc.

Will report back.

I tried steam once. It sterilizes of course, but the thing I like about using boiling water is the stems all float to the top and I can skim them off. When I steamed it, I had to pick the stems out still. It was about the same amount of labor/time.

 

[LEFTHAND]

I tried steam once. It sterilizes of course, but the thing I like about using boiling water is the stems all float to the top and I can skim them off. When I steamed it, I had to pick the stems out still. It was about the same amount of labor/time.

as well with not boiling it your not breaking down the salt build up within the hydroton itself. which may cause a problem down the road.. vs the boilding kinda does all in one..
LH

 

[PieRsquare]

as well with not boiling it your not breaking down the salt build up within the hydroton itself. which may cause a problem down the road.. vs the boiling kinda does all in one..
LH

Well, I can only imagine that the steam does get up into the pores of the hydroton and condense, thus flushing a little of the salt out, but like you, I think the boiling probably does it more effectively.