Hydro Medium questions

[cdamarco]

Im wondering, does expanded clay texture make much difference? is fine better than medium?
When you place the plant in the hydro pot, do u you work the roots the through growth medium or do you just dump the growth medium on top of the roots? and how much of the roots needs to be in the medium/resting in the reservoir/dangling in the air?

[blarney]

Im wondering, does expanded clay texture make much difference? is fine better than medium?
When you place the plant in the hydro pot, do u you work the roots the through growth medium or do you just dump the growth medium on top of the roots? and how much of the roots needs to be in the medium/resting in the reservoir/dangling in the air?

I don't know if there's much difference in clay texture, maybe fine granularity is better since there is more surface area for roots to absorb moisture from the clay. When the plant is placed in the hydropot, it grows its roots to the reservoir after a while, so you cannot really control that. It doesn't matter how you plant your chili in the pot as long as the roots get exposed to the nutrient solution.

[bluesman]

Referring to my last season experiences with bucket hydro there is no difference in clay texture but size must be larger than the pot mesh. Otherwise you find a lot of clay in the water. If you use ebb/flow (flood),you have a small pump in the reservoir that has a propeller to give speed to water. With small size clay it often stucks with the propeller and stops the plant getting watered. 8mm or more should be the size but which clay? The more expensive hydro clay or from the hardware store? I´ve used mostly the cheap (=small)clay, the real hydro clay is larger granulated but 4 times the price. So I have had pump problems.

[cdamarco]

Alright well i got the hydroton in medium size but I dont have any rockwool but i do have peat pellets, can those be used instead since the peat it encased in net fabric that prevents the peat from escaping and jamming them pump? or can a semi developed plant be simply transplanted directly into the hydroton with completely naked roots?

[bluesman]

Alright well i got the hydroton in medium size but I dont have any rockwool but i do have peat pellets, can those be used instead since the peat it encased in net fabric that prevents the peat from escaping and jamming them pump? or can a semi developed plant be simply transplanted directly into the hydroton with completely naked roots?

I think it´s better with naked roots. The roots the plant uses in water grow quite fast. They just got to be immersed partly in the liquid to avoid drying out. This is just my experience on the subject.

[cdamarco]

well i constructed a drip irrigation system a couple days ago so the roots wont be sitting directly in the reservoir and im hoping the drip rate is high enough, i think it is tho, il upload some pics tomorrow of what i made, im using general hydros dry nutrient maxi series, i hope it will perform as well as the flora series everyone else uses...

[AlexChupetinho]

   bluesman said:
   With small size clay it often stucks with the propeller and stops

   hi bluesman,
   why don't you place your pump in a mesh bag with small meshes, like those for mosquitos? 
   --
   

[bluesman]

   bluesman said:
   With small size clay it often stucks with the propeller and stops

   hi bluesman,
   why don't you place your pump in a mesh bag with small meshes, like those for mosquitos? 
   --
   

Yes I have done that but my attachments were poor and they leaked claypebbles into the pump propeller. And if the mesh is too small, it prevents the flow a lot. That is because small organic particles get caught and pile up and finally it´s stuck.

[cdamarco]

only planted a couple varieties so far, mostly because im still waiting for my ph down to arrive in the mail and my nutrient water ph is barely below 7, the tds without nutrient is already at 240 which cant be helped, all i can do is add a gallon of distilled water to every batch, dont mind the plants sitting on top, theyl be planted soon

10 hole drip irrigation system with 66 gph water pump($6 USD at harbor freight), 1/4 ID clear tubing attached to 3/16 ID black vinyl tubing irrigation system($6 USD at harbor freight)  in 30 gallon blue plastic tote($9 USD at lowe's)

90 watt led, 7:1:1 630 460 600nm ($100 USD on ebay)

ground circuit interrupter and pump timer set to 15 minutes of every hour

3 inch net pots w/ hydroton and either peat pellets or bare roots


General Hydroponics dry hydro maxi series, 5 lbs($32 USD) should last 2-3 years in this system
comments or suggestions?

[bluesman]

 Then what when your chilis grow larger? I started with germinating the seeds in rockwool, then put them in small pots with peatand let them grow a bit bigger. Next step is the bucket hydro. The cost is 2 euros/bucket, 20c for the mesh pot and 35 euros for the air pump. I have one ufo but mainl lights are 2x400W HPS and one cooltube 600W HPS.


When the Greenhouse is ready, I will put the in ebbs. Hopefully late March or so.

[cdamarco]

hopefully they wont grow too big by april/may, by then il move them to the garden or a temporary pot then garden, most of the chilies iv chosen are more compact, the ones that are not i will move, i figured i would keep half in the system and half out to avoid crowding, i might make some bucket hydros who knows, but i would keep 4-5(7 pod, bhut j., tepin and something else) in the system longer term if they dont grow too big but idk how big theyl get as i have never grown with hydroponics before

[bluesman]

  how big theyl get as i have never grown with hydroponics before

Last season I had one Starfish 3,5m and Habanero brown large about 2,2m tall and 1,5m wide in ebb. Don´t worry, they dont grow well in hydro.

[cdamarco]

well hopefully they wont get 2-3 meters tall in a few months

[bluesman]

Yes and there is one invention called scissors (which I didn´t use).

[cdamarco]

well if it gets to that i guess id have to cut off any excessive peripheral stem growth, im not really looking for monster pepper bushes and baskets full of chilis here, i may just fill half the pots with quick maturing herbs and veggies just to see what hydro can do without having to allocate space

[AlexChupetinho]

hi cdamarco,

I've got a UFO exactly like yours, from ebay too, with 96 EUR.
I've measured the wattage of it and it takes only 54 watt, not 90, as the seller said.
Anyway, as I payed with PayPal, I sent the UFO back today and will get my money back, since PayPal also protect buyers against fraud like this.

Did you measure the wattage of your lamp? That would interest me very much.
--

[cdamarco]

havent measured the wattage, dont really know how, i didnt buy it from a chinese supplier either, bought it from an american hardware supplier over ebay, might be worth checking but its gotten great results...

[AlexChupetinho]

    it's easy to measure the wattage of any electrical consumer.

All you need ist an energy&power meter. I've bougt this one in a superstore with about 10 euro. It shows you power consumption (wattage) and energy. I'm really curious about other lamps, since local dealers buy in Taiwan or Hong Kong, too, I suppose.

[calm]

    it's easy to measure the wattage of any electrical consumer.

On the screen it shows VA. Is this equipment of yours also able to measure/show VAr and W? If not, readings might be quite incorrect (according to power used/billed) when measuring discharge lamps depending on cosfii on those..

[AlexChupetinho]

On the screen it shows VA. Is this equipment of yours also able to measure/show VAr and W? If not, readings might be quite incorrect (according to power used/billed) when measuring discharge lamps depending on cosfii on those..

Right! 

My equipment shows no W. But it shows kWh with the next button press.
I'm not sure if it is kVAh (aparent energy) or really kWh (active energy). If they write kWh in display, I think this ist the billed energy.

Anyway, the active-power (W) of a LED lamp equals the apparent-power (VA) since LED lamps don't consume
reactive power (so cos.fi equals 1)
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