Currently running a DWC setup in 5 gallon buckets, and want to also do some pheno hunting. With dirt/coco I used to just put them in 1gal pots (no sense in growing them to full size when some of the phenos are going to be ‘meh’), but my experience with small plants in pure hydro (like aeroponics) is that the roots get too big and clog the system. Any advice in growing a tiny hydro setup using the same reservoir as my DWC???
Best Tiny Hydro Setup for Pheno Hunts
- Thread starter poker909
- Start date
larrypizzimp93
Well-Known Member
Dwc isn’t going to be a good choice for pheno hunting. I would do drip coco or ebb&flow with a small table as with those you could put a bunch of babies on with minimal work
coreywebster
Well-Known Member
NFT in rockwool cubes, specifically if you want to use the same res
Thundercat
Well-Known Member
I ran SOG for 10+ years. Small plants in 6 inch square pots filled with grow rocks/hydroton. You can easily fit 45 plants in a 4x4 flood and drain tray.
HydroKid239
Well-Known Member
Check that out.
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HydroKid239
Well-Known Member
Here’s a pic I just ran into courtesy of the IG handle who posted it. This is a smaller system with actual plants from seed in it. (Just to give you a visual.) 
I’ve always blown out those tubes with roots - lol. So much that water can’t flow and they rot. I give props to the growers who can use them efficiently!!
My DWC is for the winners for sure! That’s why I don’t want to waste a good site on something that may not be that great. I decided to do ebb and flow in a small tray - thanks for the advice!!
That’s what I think I’m going to do - square pots or just rockwool cubes in a flood tray, I’m going to use a 2x3 which will fit perfectly in my space. Thank you for the suggestion!!!
Thundercat
Well-Known Member
IMO rocks work much better for flood and drain. They allow excellent oxygenation of the root zone and appropriate moisture retention to allow multiple flood cycles per day.
Rockwell can easily stay too wet in a flood system and works better with drip systems
I’ve started them in the 2” rockwool cubes - would you recommend putting them in the 4” cubes first - then into the hydroton or just dropping the 2” cubes straight in?
Tolerance Break
Well-Known Member
Been using rockwool ebb and flow for years, going to try rocks someday, but it's just too damn easy when you get to learn the dryback cycle in rockwool. I go from hand watering, to a timed watering every few days, to once a day, twice a day, three times a day by the time they hit flower, and I end with once every 6 hours.
These gals aren't the prettiest, but I'm getting good results with strains I haven't had the chance to dial in and optimize.
I'm probably irrationally defensive of rockwool lol
Thundercat
Well-Known Member
Nothing to be defensive about, use whatever works for you.
With rocks I hand watered them the first few days they were in the pots, and then they were on flood cycles the rest of their life. I wanna say it was usually a 15min cycle every 4 hours in veg, and usually every 3 hours in flower. I rarely changed them aside from a few experiments over the years with more or less cycles per day. Nice and simple.
I would just put the 2”cubes right in the rocks. I always tried to position the starter cubes near the top of the pot so that the bottom just barely got wet. That allowed the roots as much space to reach down into the pot possible, and helps keep the starter cube from getting water logged.
Drop That Sound
Well-Known Member
Did you guys ever try out the mini cubes? Looks like it would just make a big mess and clog up the lines all the time, but I always wondered how it would perform, being all diced up and loose. Seems like it would have more aeration than a solid cube would.. Maybe better for flooding than blocks?
Exactly I did a sog and had 48plants per 4x4 .. I made racks with 3 inch pvc pots 21 inches tall calculated to 1.6 gallon custom pots in wooden racks and the slid in and out easily.. cool to see ppl on the same extreme mind set ..but I agree..any hydro is not gonna be a good pheno hunting opp.
Thundercat
Well-Known Member
Not sure what you mean, or took from my post. my hydro SOG worked great for pheno hunting.
High plant count Ina 2x4 u had 45 I did 48 in2x4s x 11