New hydro set up..

[Znog]

Hi guys..
When my plants in cocos has flowered,I wanna start growing hydro.I just want a simple set up in my growbox tent,a big tray and something with a pump to the nutesolution,so a kind of flood and drain.
I would like to just use hydroton in the growtray,but I have heard I can get problems because they float?
Is it necesarry to use pots,and if,how big should they be?
Its just I know one of my late friends was growing that way(just hydroton),but I never heard the details how he was doing.
I will be growing clones only,so it would be great if I can just plant them in the hydroton.
Any help is greatly appreciated.

Best,
Nevi

 

[choking_victim]

I just use rockwool. they have rockwool plugs to start your clones in. They also fit perfectly into the rockwool cubes. be sure to get 6' cubes. I found out recently the 4-1/2 are too small.

pumps are cheap, don't pay anything over $35 for one
trays on the other hand are expensive. a large tray can run you from $150-$350, sometimes more, sometimes less, depending on where you go, or where you can find them.
check out my grow journal, I have everything I'm doing written down, so it might help.

 

[Bubby]

If you're going to veg them in canna coco for a while, you'll have to use pots. I use 4 inch pots. When you want to flower, move those onto to an ebb/flow tray of hydroton. First though, find some coco fiber (or coco strands) and layer a pot of the same size with an inch or two of it. This is so you don't have coco material floating into your reservoir. Having it in another pot means you can reuse it fairly easily. You need an inch of extra hydroton on the top if your tray so that hydroton doesn't float when it's flooded. You'll have to wiggle your pots down in the hydroton so that the bottom of the coco pots are sitting just above the water line.

This is basically the system I'm trying (for the first time). I have yet to move them into a flood/drain tray because coco retains a great amount of water, and my clones are small enough that hand watering isn't too regular (and I've been real slow at setting up my hydro ).

If you want to avoid using coco, you could start your clones in rockwool, and then just transfer directly into a hydroton filled ebb and flood tray. Here's an excellent system for that.

It's worth mentioning that SB's setup can be easily adapted to using coco pots. I have yet to see it done the way I described, so keeping it simple would be more of a fool-proof plan. I'm playing around with coco pots and the flood/drain system, because I'd like to eventually try the system described here (basically instead of coco in the pots, use a rich organic soil mix.. and flood with only water so the water roots are separated).

 

[Nevi]

Bubby->
No I dont wanna use coko,I would rather use hydroton straight from veg to flower?
But maybe the best is to use pots,I can do that too.Its just I think the idea of one big tray where you can set the clones where you want,sounds so nice.But I guess I get the problems sorted out when I start.I really want to go hydro now.Soil/coco has been great,but I know I will enjoy hydro even more.
Thanks for the help guys,its much appreciated.

Nevi

 

[Bubby]

You've been a member since sept 2006? You should start a journal or something.. :huh: