Capn I have read and reread your posts I'm an old guy with grey hair switching to hydro to increase yields and your ebb and flo looks like something I could do. I have 5 gal air pots and two 400 watt LEDs and a grow space of 6'X6'. I would like to use the bucket system my questions to you are this
What is the minimum water level need to soak the root zone? With reduced temps how often and for how long do I need to flood the root zone?
Plus reps+
>>>I'm an old guy with grey hair switching to hydro to increase yields
Now THAT is funny! I hope you all know I'm kidding about the old guy thing... mostly.
This is a good question, Harley. First of all I would like to say that since I wrote this article, I have done MUCH comparing, and have found
I can get the exact same results by top feeding, instead of flooding. I've been top feeding since, with the exception of recently I went back to ebb and flow in a side by side comparison. There's no difference. Top feeding completely saturates the cubes, and allows you to use a lesser volume of nutrients in your reservoir (saves money and hassle). It also simplifies things and gives you more flexibility in your pot selection. Here are some pictures demonstrating the power to top feeding:
Check my "simple hydroponics" article in my signature for more ideas on top feeding.
To answer your question, whether you are top feeding or flooding, you can irrigate for with a cheap 15 minute timer. So 15 minutes, times X per day. Typically you will do once a day in veg, then twice a day in veg once the plant gets really big (2 ft tall, 2 ft diameter). Then when you go to flower, 3x a day for the first few weeks, then twice a day for a month, then once a day in last few weeks of flower. You can lift up on your pot an hour after irrigating and note the weight. Then wait 5 hours. If you notice it's lighter, you can irrigate again.
It does depend on your pot size too. The larger your pot, the less you need to water. But don't stress about it. Unlike dirt, it's almost impossible to water too much with the cubes. As AG found out... when the plant gets large, it really sucks the water up out of the cubes, and one time a day is just not enough.
Almost forgot. If you're flooding.... flood at least 1/2 way up the cubes, preferably 3/4. Also, when flooding, it is necessary to manually top feed (pour a pitcher of water over the top of the cubes) in order to flush out the salts that build up at the flood line.
Good luck to you and let us know how it goes. I would encourage you to root two clones, and stick one in rockwool cubes and one in dirt, under the same light. S1ingblade did this and the cube plant was at least 50% bigger after a month. Remember you'll need to keep the PH around 5.8-6.1, and PPM will be less than you've fed in dirt. The good news is you don't have to worry about measuring the run off ph or ppm any longer!
I'm not sure what your plans are for plant count, but with your 6x6 tent, you could do a couple big ones in totes like I showed above, or even better, you could buy a 4x4 tray like sling did, and put 1- 4 air pots on it, with one tote underneath.
