I am upgrading to a 3x3 flood and drain sog system from dwc. I will be growing in hydroton under a 600 watt HPS. I just wanted to get some opinions on feeding times that work well in this setup. I was planning 3 floods per day during lights on and 1 at night. If anyone out there has a similar system and would like to share any tips for flood timing, I would appreciate it very much.
I run the EXACT same setup for my last 5 cycles. I really like it except for the labor regarding cleaning the hydroten between cycles. Anyway to answer your question. I do a 20 minute flood at lights on, a 5 minute flood 2 hours later, (since they do most of their drinking in the first part of their day), another 5 minute flood 4 hours after that, and a quick one minute flood 2 hours before lights out. I do one other 5 minute flood 6 hours after lights off to keep leftover solution in the tray aerated. This schedule has proven to be plenty sufficient for me. Here it is on a time schedule: bloom* 10 pm lights on-20 min 12 am- 5 min 4 am- 5 min 8 am- 5 min 4 pm -5 min(halfway through lights out)
Depending on strain it tends to vary but I usually run 8-10 Hindu kush and my best was .56 lb dried. But they were beautiful lollipops. With a more sativa dominant hybrid like bubblegum I got about .31-.42 lb.
I'm gonna try 36 single cola style plants. All indica or indica dominant. Hoping for close to a pound.
each grow can be different but just watch your plants for over watering or underwatering and go by there. If the leaves are dimpled, cut down on watering. No need for watering at night. Plants dont drink at night and they use Oxygen, not water so youll be doing the plants a diservice if you do remember, plant roots are NOT meant to be sitting in water all the time. good luck
letting it just dry out is the best way IMO. nothing bad can live on the dry environment and no chemicals are left behind. Bake the hydroton for easy cleanup
I wash the hydroton to avoid salt and other build up that could potentially cause a nute lock out in future cycles. I take all my dirty hydroton in a couple 5 gallon buckets outside. Scoop a fair amount at a time into a collander and spray them thoroughly with a garden hose. Dump clean hydroton into a clean empty tote or another set of buckets. Once I have all of the pellets thoroughly rinsed and free of root material, and after cleaning my pump and res and table, I replace the hydroton into the table and fill my res with fresh water, and hygrozyme @10ml/gallon and ph to 5.5. I then turn the pump on and let it circulate for 24 hrs. Flush her out and you're ready to roll for the next cycle. You're looking at a good 2-3 hours. You obviously can do this in a bathtub if its cold out or you don't have have access to a hose ect.