Grow Big Plants in Rockwool with Hydroponics!
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- čas přidán 11. 09. 2024
- We grow four big hydroponic plants under the same grow light. Three in 5 gallon fabric pots filled with coco coir and perlite, and one in a Grodan Unislab - stonewool. Now you can find out how they turned out!
This guy is the champ on how to grow stuff indoors no more questions needed he got u.
Hi Everest,
I am watching your videos religiously...
Right now I am searching everything I can find about Grodan cubes. I have built an E&F setup (like you described).
I used 6" Grodan cubes. My plants suffered tremendously from inability to absorb nutrients due to a very high pH. I battled high pH for the remainder of their lives.
I took some cuttings from my plants and rooted them. Meanwhile, I went on conditioning a few Grodan cubes hoping to condition them correctly this time to avoid pH issues.
I soaked them for a few hours in pH 5.5 then flushed one with 5.5 water all the way through. I had to flush multiple times, however, while adjusting pH to 5.5 again and again. Finally, the runoff was 5.6.
I left the cube to stand for a few hours, then decided to check the runoff again. To my despair the runoff was 6.2.
My working theory is that acidic pH water constantly reacts with the rockwool thus raising the pH inside the cube. The only way to battle it is to top feed the plants so that the high pH water flushes out with every single feed.
Am I correct in my assumption?
What hydroponic medium would you recommend for E&F? Even in this video you are saying that rockwool is not an ideal medium for E&F.
I hope you read my comments to other videos and respond.
Thanks a lot!
Hey Milton-thanks for your positivity and your idea about a video on pythium is pretty timely with the warm temperatures of summer approaching fast. Normally I use a chiller to keep my nutrient temperatures within a healthy range but it would be interesting to switch it off, let them rise, and see how the plants cope with and without preventative treatments. I'll put this video on my (ever-lengthening) list! Thanks!
Thanks,
I'll wait for the video, it will be a very interesting topic to discuss.
Thank you very much!!
which temperature is ideal for the nutrient solution? 18 ° C? Thank you
8 years later.. You are everyone else is giving completely different advice that is inferior to these techniques.
Great video! I have lots of questions, Your videos are very informative.
Another great post from Everest, great comparison between rockwool and soil-less mixes. Rockwool is my favorite medium for last 20 plus years, you hit all its best attributes in this very informative video.
Robbie Dang Thanks Robbie. Obviously I'm a big fan too. It's really amazing how such a small amount of media can support so large a plant! Thanks for your positivity! :)
+Everest Fernandez (Just4Growers) coco holds less water
+Rick Haynes got that right. id use coco over rw, but any way works if done correctly. not over/under watered.
Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge, your videos are awesome
Really appreciate you taking the time to comment and infuse my Saturday with some positivity! Thank you Leon.
Thank you 🙏 bud‼️🆓✅God bless you and we appreciate you kicking down all this knowledge and Great help yo
I appreciate that Caleb! Thanks for stopping by.
Wow, so impressive. i knew ur peppers were big but HOLY COW MANURE. maybe you could grow a 2ft tree in a 2" block lol. That rockwools mean stuff.
Another great vid! love your posts
The4thshodow Thank you! It's amazing to see such a small amount of rockwool support so large a plant! Thanks for your positive comments about my videos-much appreciated.
Fantastic as always Everest! Excellent video!
progrowuk Thanks guys!
i love your videos. they are all very helpful
Lovely consistent information. Solid
I like the A-ok to delta to slab
Thanks now im gonna go with grodan slabs great plants n video
Ah technically studies show Coco coir being more effective for plant biomass and nutrient concentration than Rock Wool.
The reason Rockwool is a growers favorite is Coco Coir is twice as expensive as Rock Wool.
Wow this might have changed my world
Just picked up six 6" hugo blocks for some E&F and this makes me feel pretty good about my decision. :)
+bryantubing I'm sure you'll have lots of fun with those Hugos Bryan and your plants will be very happy in their new homes! Lots of my friends rave about the Hugos.
+bryantubing same here I've been a big coco/ soil mix type of guy but I'm tired of the mess with that form of medium. I've just stated a "tomatoes" run with 100% rockwool we'll see how things go. the plan is to go from a 1.5 once sprout and rooted transplant to a 3" inch and to big mama. I have about 3 years experience with coco. any can tell me what Ph I should run. some told me 5.5 I usually run 6.0 seems to be in my opinion the perfect balance for no matter what style of grow.
Your videos are great! Good job.
Starving Emo Kid Thanks S.E.K.
Everest! Thanks so much for all your hard work. I'm new to this, and have successfully popped my first tomato seeds in Rockwool and am eagerly awaiting the opportunity to see them thrive in larger Rockwool media.
Here's my question, when growing indoors, don't plants need pollination in order to bear fruit? I've grown vegetables outside for years and always assumed the local bees were helping me out, but how does this work for indoor tomatoes?
+Stuart Moncrieff Thanks Stuart -- air movement via oscillating fans and a little help from an electric toothbrush do the trick. :)
Keep up the great work,im greatful
Thank you my spooky friend :)
I know you gave a disclaimer on everything here being anecdotal in terms of results, but your enhanced yield seems to be more of a result of your rock-wool plant being in the front, your video shows the rock-wool plant receiving more light from the side and air-flow as well (and you subconsciously fawning over it more during the growing process). Your logic that the smaller root-ball indicates more yield because it doesn't need to look for nutrients sounds like a classic case of correlation is not necessarily causation. My understanding that the larger the root-mass the bigger the straw to draw up nutrients, commercial industry prefers rockwool not for yield but efficiency and ease-of-transplant and square footage utilization.
Hi Zach-thanks for your comments. I certainly appreciate such intelligent and thoughtful feedback. The plant nearest the camera (the one in rockwool) certainly would have benefitted form a little extra light but then, so did the one's further back from the light in the corner. (You can see it at the top left of this video thumbnail). As for subconscious fawning-hah-it's hard to dispute anything of a subconscious nature :) but I can at least be sure that they received the same amount of irrigations in the flood and drain tray. I did not start this experiment seeking to prove or disprove any particular hypothesis-just to give a few different medias a try. Now, the smaller root mass in the UniSlab may have been more prone to drying in between irrigations and this can steer the plant more into generative production. I did not mean to imply that a smaller root ball correlates or causes larger yields-I was referring to the fact that the plant may have been steered into generative production more quickly. Finally, rockwool is the choice of commercial hydroponicists for several reasons I think: cleanliness, uniformity, ease of use, cost, ease of transplants (as you say) and-last but not least-YIELD. Yes, yield. Commercial hydroponicists know all about how rockwool promotes fine root hairs unlike any other media and these are the point of nutrient uptake, not the large branching, searcher roots. I hope you're subbed Zach as it would be a pleasure to discuss my upcoming experiments too.
Depends on your grow strategy though ime Rockwool is always better.
Hey Everest - Subscriber Mike here again- This video was especially interesting, as a compliment to your other rockwool videos of course, as I have just transferred my 5 varieties of superhots from starters to Hugos on a recirculating drip system. I noticed the canopy's and fruit development on your Tokyo's are amazing! I know you use mesh netting to expand the canopy's, but do you "top" your peppers at all? If so, would you consider making a video detailing pepper plant topping, including my main question: At what stage in plant development is best for this? There seems to be many conflicting opinions.
Another question, How did you like your bulgarian carrots? I am eagerly awaiting mine, currently in early veg. "Pepper Joe" online said the skin is tough and had no flesh to it. Curious about your opinion.
Hi Michael. Thanks for your question. Topping techniques differ between species. Because the Tokyo hots were so trainable (stems could be easily bent without snapping) I didn't start pruning until late on, just to keep the foliage away from the light. I removed lower shoots all time in order to develop those nice clean trunks and concentrate the leaves at the canopy. I'll definitely make a follow up videos with some other varieties but yes, topping can help. The Bulgarian carrots were ok. Not my fav either. They are super hot and a little unusable for my tastes because of that inferno like heat! Ha ha. Thanks for watching and subbing. Peace and happy growing, Everest.
Would you rather use a Soil Mix Root pouch easy2grow gravity feed system, or a top feed system. Both with a organic nutrient mix. I cant decide, what to try next.
Hi, that was amazing! How do you schedule the water fill? How many hours a day? How many minutes every hour?
Would it be possible to put a few big mama blocks together, press them “tight” with a foil and grow taller and bigger plant/trees ? Just to get a bigger root area ?
How big do you want to grow JC? An 8” Big Mama block can already support a huge plant! Sure you can do as you say but I would suggest looking at Grodan’s loose fill media products like mini cubes or granulate and fill a big of a pot as you dare! :)
Right on
Hi I am just beginning my journey into hydroponics, did you have to do anything to get the chillies to grow? Pollinate?
thanks for your sharing
Do you have any issues with your peppers being sweet? I know the ones I grew in soil this year had too much water so they turned out sweet. How does that work with hydroponics?
great vid!
Thanks my friend. Appreciate the +vity! Hope you're subbed!
awesome video. i was thinking whether or not i was gonna switch to different media but i think i am just gonna switch from loose rockwool to the giant 8x8 cubes. Have you ever tried blumats? i am going to experiment with blumats and rockwool but i think that would be an awesome video. check them out if you havent already.
Was wondering, can I just top feed by hand without a dripper. I have time on my hands just hand water with general hydroponics nutrients whenever it goes dry?
Its a nice sales pitch but i start in 2” and move straight to Big Mama 8x8 cubes and dont need a slab.
I lurve those Big Mamas.
very nice vid
just wondering if your sponsored by gro dan lol
its cool either way i enjoyed
+tamedelement Thanks amigo. Grodan are a great company and I bother their wonderful and highly knowledgeable technical staff on a regular basis. The information they willingly share with me would be sufficient for me! I'm glad that my enthusiasm for rockwool / stonewool comes through in the vids at least! Thanks for your support.
of-course u r on right path,n u already fined its meaning,that y we r getting light from u to knw whats our lifes meanings
awesome info n tutorian,
Thank you :)
hey, I seem to be having some issues... things were perfect 3 weeks into flower, like amazing! then I raised the ppm to 900/1000 on 500 scale... seeing deficiencies, ph is dropping and ppm runoff is higher. I'm dripping 4x per day, will note the res smells like fish tank but had since day 1... can I email you some pics? you inspired me to give rockwool a try! thanks!
+Jim Hamilton Hi Jim, sorry to hear about your issues three weeks into flower. What's your run-off measuring? What sort of rockwool products are you using (slabs, blocks, loose fill?), what is your irrigation method and how often do you irrigate? If using drippers- how long are your drip cycles? What sort of run off volume do you usually see compared with your input volume? Finally, what is your water source please? Feel free to email me any time amigo. I'm sure we can get to the bottom of this! Peace and happy growing, Everest.
The correct pronunciation of 'cation' is cat-ion, meaning cathodic ion. This is according to the Chemistry Master at Hendra Secondary College in Brisbane (pronounced Bris-bin). Thought u would like to know. Regards Ian.
Thanks so much Ian. I appreciate it - especially the bonus guidance on Brisbane. Very hot place. I remember it well. The women eyed me up covetously as a bringer of novel genetics. ✊
if you top feed rockwool, there is never a need to flush...because every fertigation rebalances the cube...five times daily.
also, why a mini slab instead of putting the plug directly into a hugo? it may have performed better in the ebb and flow with the other pots.
Thanks for your insights Crysmatic-and you're right, rockwool is great for flushing (did you see my video on it?). I love the Hugo blocks but wanted to give the mini slabs a try too as my local store had them in.
I've seen quite a few of your videos now...thanks for the great content.
Hi There,
Thanks for the excellent and informative videos Everest Fernandez. Btw I would like to know more about ** ROOT ROT** ( pythium) and the remedies for it. Could you please make a video? ? What about hydrogen peroxide,is that any good for the plants?
Thanks for your excellent work, keep it up! !
hydrogen peroxide works excellent for root rot! Just make sure it's properly diluted!
What do you suggest for covers for 1.5 in blocks?
How long did this project take?
where do you get your rockwool?
On more than one occasion i have struggled keeping small seedlings alive with small cubes. Sometimes I get them 3 or so inches tall and they die. I'm sure its way to broad of an issue, but do you have a video on seed starting? particularly in rockwool. Thank you.
I literally see the link for the seed starting in rockwool. oops... haha
Is it possible to use a slab or 8 inch cue and hand feed it every day? Sounds like a pain but soil is annoying, and I cant afford hydro or drippers yet.
+Elliott Couture Hi Elliot, its perfectly possible / feasible to hand feed any growing medium - as long as you have the time and dedication! :) just be sure to evenly moisten it and achieve some run-off each time you apply, ideally 20-30% of what you put in should leach out.
Thank you for the reply! I have learned the most usefull growing tips I currently know from your channel :) papabless
where are the roots? I see people growing huge plants producing heavy buds in 6x6x6 rockwool. How is this possible if there is not much for root growth?
+Niko Russo Great question Niko and this really gets to the heart of why rockwool and hydroponics in general are so uniquely awesome. When irrigated adequately with a hydroponic nutrient solution containing all the mineral elements they need, hydroponic plants can flourish with a much smaller root system compared with their soil grown counterparts which have to expend a lot of energy into creating a large root system in order to profit from the nutrients available. Rockwool deserves a special mention because of its unique micropore structure which provides the ideal home for root hairs, the site of nutrient uptake. The only caveat I would add is that your margin for error with a large plant surviving on a small root system is markedly reduced and proper / regular irrigation is crucial.
What's the point of the net when those plants are not climbers?
+komalthecoolk Great question Komal thanks for asking. I use the net (arranged nice and taut) to help spread the canopy of my plants out as wide as possible, or at least to maximize 'reception' of light according to my lamp's footprint. The importance of manipulating your plants' form like this in small, hobby style indoor grows for light-loving flowering / fruiting annuals cannot be overstated.
That makes sense! Thanks for answering! If someone is not able to provide deep penetrating light source as yours, will reflectors on the side help or will they make the plants bend/grow to the sides more rather than straight up?
Yes, side-lighting is sometimes used by indoor growers. Sure there will be some positive phototropism but your goal as an indoor gardener is to manipulate your plants' overall form to maximize the benefit from the light sources you have available. Obviously, adding more light/s will increase the need for ventilation and / or cooling to ensure that your growing environment remains optimal.
I use grow cubes
Hi Everest, Were did you find the Tokyo hot chili pepper seeds?
www.simplyseed.co.uk/chilli-pepper-seeds/tokyo-hot.html
Everest! How are you doing today? I'm building another grow room. I want to use 4 1000w DE lights in a 13x9.5x7ft tall flower room. I want to run a sea of green grow because of the short ceilings. I was thinking a top feed system to 4 4foot flood trays.
What would you do?!
+Eric Jensen that's a little too tight Eric. Have you considered the 600/750 DEs? I reckon they will make your life a lot easier.
+Everest Fernandez (Just4Growers) yes I agree the smaller lights would be perfect but I plan on expanding out of this room next summer when I have the $ to build a permanent structure on my property or find one to buy. Here is my current grow journal 😃.
www.420magazine.com/forums/journals-in-progress/271070-2000-watt-69-plants.html
5:05 mushroom growing there?
how many times a day do you water in hydroponics,flood and drain please help
phil morehead Hi Phil! Thanks for your question. Are you growing in rockwool? If so, what size blocks / slabs / pots?
1 1/2 transplant to 4in. lava rock,and plants in directly to lava with out cubes,stunted growth drooped leaves,turns yellow then drooped leaves then dies
phil morehead Phil, sorry to hear about your plant problems. Have you considered starting your plants off in 1" rockwool cubes (e.g. Grodan A-OK starter plugs) and then transplanting into 3" or 4" rockwool blocks before moving them on to a tray full of lava rocks?
I've been busting my head trying to figure out how to flood a table from the top. Please help
Thanks!
Have it fill with a u siphon when the pump stops it will automatically start a back flow and siphon it's self out I'll it gets a gulp of air to break siphon once all the water is gone
its CAT Ion Exchange capacity not cation FYI
+Kyle LOUD Thanks Kyle :)
can large trees been hydroponic cultivated
Yes, I guess I should ask you to qualify what "large" means - along as it has sufficient stability, you're all good.
@@Just4Growers sorry i ment huge trees like pawlonia or ocalyptus even if that for the first year
@@Just4Growers the heavy ones
Where is the video on flushing?
+Jason Livingston Whoa Jason, do you have a microphone in my office? :) I've just been talking about how overdue that video is! As always, I want to go deeper-so that's involved speaking to some chemist bods and making use of some very powerful microscopes so that I can physically / visually show the effects of flushing and talk in depth about how mature plants react to being 'starved' of nutrients for a week or so. It's a lot of work but I'm sure you'll appreciate the detail. One thing's for sure, it's on my radar and I haven't forgotten about it! :)
What would a person do with all these peppers man?
Good neighborly relations.
awe. how....adolescent
Can you reuse a rockwool grodan unislab for another plant or just rockwool in general?
p.s. grodan used your video on their product page! a.co/65gvdFC
+Heardphin wow! A little blown away to see my video on Grodan's website!!! Heheheh. And re-using / re-purposing rockwool is on my video list so stay tuned as they say ;).
Having a hard time justifying using rockwell because of the amount of garbage it creates... so, finding a way to re-use or re-purpose it would be awesome!
if you have the space put the plant in a pot then outside
Lols you have a dirty res for hyroponica 😢
And if it gets any dirtier, CZcams will Age Restrict my videos. :)
@@Just4Growers ha better watch out man
grodan rep
Try grodan101.com - they are usually pretty good at responding.
Holy Shite u talk waaayyy too fast bro.. but good info.
Dude... White people dont even sound that geeky
why are you not growing cannabis?
Because I have stopped beating my wife.
+Everest Fernandez (Just4Growers) that had me cracking up
u adjusted your trey to fit and feed rockwool not pots.....hence the yield .....plus i would give u a speeding ticket for that fast (much mistake making) mouth if this was real nit phone
+Çocan Pom I can only apologize for the much mistake making.
Cat-ion, not "cayshun" as in vacation. As a professional, it makes you sound less knowledgeable. Whereas with a hobbyist without chemistry experience there's no need to quibble.
"People who mispronounce words because they learned them from reading deserve admiration not scorn." - I read somewhere once auto-didactically. :) Fair point though! Thanks.
+Everest Fernandez (Just4Growers) It wasn't meant to be scornful, only informative. I realize the original comment could definitely be worded in a less patronizing manner instead of aiming for brevity. I've held onto some of my autodidactic pronunciations, but a few times certain workplace relevant ones became a problem, so I've since gotten past how they sound weird to me. Sorry for the confusion :)
sounds like your reading from a book ,and u talk to fast and not teaching us anything that way.
These vids are a learning curve. Thanks for the feedback. I'll slow up the presentation and take it easy on the bookishness. Thanks again. Everest.
your listening to slow