Flood & Drain Issues

[rustydutch]

Let me start by telling you my setup. It's a cabinet with a 4 foot wide by 2 foot deep by 4 foot high area. There is a 2'x2' tray on one side and a aeroponic cloner next to it. Lighting is provided by an Advanced LED DS100 and a couple of cfl's. It keeps a constant 81 degrees F with 20-30% humidity and has plenty of circulation using fans. It uses a greenhouse controller which seems to work fine. I use Advanced Nutrients Sensi Grow 2 part (please keep on topic here) and Advanced Nutrients B-52.

I germinated seeds and moved to the cloner to finish. The PH is kept between 5.5 and 6.3 and gave 1/4 nutrients using RO water. They grew fine. Everything seemed fine. Then when they got about 4 inches tall and had nice roots (about 2 weeks later), I moved them to 6 inch pots filled with cleaned Hydroton. By this time PPM was at about 700. I mixed the same formula I did with the cloner (same PH and PPM). I set the flood and drain to 3 times a day for 15 minutes each. This is plenty of time to flood the tray completely and have it run for some minutes after. They did well for the first day but after showed signs of over watering. They were drooping and every forum I looked at said probably over watering. So I cut the feeding down to 2 times a day for 15 minutes each. 2 days later they are still drooping. I have used these same techniques in the past with great success but it's been a while.

I now have the drooping flood & drain plants with they very happy aeroponic plants right next to them in the cloner. I have another area above this one that is the same size with a 2'x3' tray and an Advanced LED DS200 that I mixed a new batch of solution for with the same results. I even tried lowering the nutrient level with no luck. They seem to stop growing when I move them too.

I hope I gave enough info here. Maybe Hydroton isn't the best choice? Thank you all for the help!! Peace

 

[2001vettez06]

heard hydroton needs to be washed very very well and then soaked in ph similar solution as to what you will end up going with. Maybe you did that, but it's an idea. Newbie to hydro here

 

[rustydutch]

Thank you for the reply. It's funny how the newbie guy is the only one to respond. That's cool! I figured out the issue. When I built the system I went from the memory of my last cabinet. I forgot to put a circulating pump into the res. Some guy at a hyrdro shop mentioned it and I remembered. After putting one in the plants are all happy. Everything is good and THANK YOU for your time. Peace!!

 

[rustydutch]

And as for the PH balancing of the hydroton, I have never done that and have had excellent results. I'm not sure if it's necessary or not but I would say it's a waste of time. They soak in the solution anyway and I have stuck a PH meter into the hydroton when filled and the PH is the same as the liquid. It's hard to get info on growing because everyone's grow is different. Use the info here as a guide NOT a bible. These people are always willing to help.