Clay pebbles watering schedules drips per second

Indoor Growing Climate
1

Hi Guys, I extremely need help.

I started a dripping system with clay pebbles only. Geopots of 7GAL full of clay pebbles only, one plant in each pot.

I made a dripping system by myself, looks ugly but delivers water to each pot (one plant per pot) independently.

I believe my problem is the watering schedule / amount of water I feed my plants with or any NUT feeding problems.

The water delivered to the pots drains continuously into the main reservoir (from where the same water is pumped to the plants). It is basically a closed loop. There is no water remaining on the bottom of the geopots I make sure the drainage gets rid of all the water at the bottom of the tray where the pots stand.

Every plant (fairly big now 30 cm high (indicas) has a ring with a few holes (3-4) from where the water drips, approximately each hole delivers 2-3 drops per second, (pretty high?). I was feeding 2 hours and 30 min sop, now I reduced to 45 min feeding and 30 min stop. I really need to know what is the best feeding time schedule, how many drops per second on each hole, and how many holes per plant please. Also do I need to stop the feeding, or I can feed for 18 hours of light continuously?

The plants were doing great for a while now a main issue seems to come up. Basically at the end of every light cycle (18 veg stage) I see leaves dropping, as curving down, really seems an over watering issue comparing the picture online. Also, The very last tip of the leaves is yellow (minor issue I think).

PH is reasonable, 5.8 and raise to 6.4 at the end of every cycle so I lower it down again.
EC increases as well, I add new water with CANNA nut (A+B VEGA) rizotonic and Cannazhym as per tables (I put a little less than 20ml/10liters for A - 20mil/10liters for B - 20mil/10liters for rizotonic and 25mil/10liters for cannazym).

The lights are placed 90cm / 1 meter above the tips of the plants, temp varies between 24 and 27 and humidity is a bit low between 40% and 65% (when lights are off increases).

2

You are running way too much water over the top of your plants to consistently… if I read right , you said they’re sitting in hydrotone but did you start them out in rock wool and then through them into hydroton or clay Pebbles as you call them because if that’s the case either way at some point you need a reservoir for them to sit in or are you doing an ebb and flow ? Need more info , from the sounds of what you are saying you need to run your pumps at a lower rate you’re pumping the water over the roots too much I would go 3 hours nothing half hour pumps run 3 hours nothing half hour pumps run and see how that goes but then again I’m just starting out in dwc and I’ve always been a soil guy so see what others have to say as well…

:v::sunglasses:

3

Hi there thank you for the reply. Yes they are expanded clay pebbles (did not know about "hydroton"name sorry.

I have a recirculating system which feeds by dripping water around the trunk of the plants, each plant has a ring around the base to feed. I run the pump from a reservoir which is placed outside the tray where the geopots are. Once the water runs through the plants and feed them the water goes back into the reservoir and so on.

I have reduced now to 10 min feed and 50 min off. They seem better but still overwatered on some plants. I made the system myself drawing holes and connections therefore there is no even distribution of water over the rings and some holes drip more some less.

I am about to turn them into flowering now and use BUD WISE and BITCH’N, any knowledge about these products? I have made another forum topic on this though.

The main problem that I cannot figure out of my dripping system is how many drops per second. I think to remember that 10 years ago I used a venturi pot system and fed them 18 hours non stop but the rings would have 5 holes - 4 plants inside each ring and each hole would drip 1 drop a second or two seconds. I am not sure why there is no information on this online, it should be one of the most important thing to know.

4

You might want to look at getting nozzles for watering system I hand water my self but I know I’ve seen them and might help you with regulating of water :sweat_drops:
Never use those products so no help there
Happy growing :blush:

5

With a set-up like you have, you want drip regulators, and these will be labled in liters or gallons per hour, I don’t think anyone makes anything in drips per second.

Maybe something like this, and it has adjustable drippers:

https://www.amazon.com/Koram-Distribution-Irrigation-Accessories-IR-F/dp/B014PF6KWC/?tag=greenrel-20

I used these in a continuous drip through hydroton/leca clay pebbles, and it worked very well for me. Be careful to not let the area right near the “trunk” of the plant to stay or get too wet, you could end up with stem/trunk rot.

happy growing,

MacG

1 Like
6

Do not count drops. Feed 15 minutes on and 45 off. Only water when lights are on.

15 on 45 off is a standard benchmark for drip systems. This value can be adjusted according to what cycle plant is in.

I have a commercial greenhouse. I use sprayers and spray every 40-45 minutes when heavy with fruit. I spray every 60 minutes at beginning of grow cycle.

How long you keep pump on during watering event has to be dialed in by you. No one can monitor your grow over the W3. :slight_smile:
Good Luck, and Happy growing, lw

7

Hi Guys, thanks for your replies. To start with I am really frustrated.
I have the perfect environment, water humidity and ph ec etc… and the plant leaves are dropping a lot.

I have installed drippers and I regulated them yesterday (not sure how many gals per hours they run for each plant) to give you an idea each plant has a ring with 4-5 drippers and each dripper is dripping 1 drop per second or a bit more / less than that depending on drippers.

I have watered the plants non stop yesterday as I though the drippers would work much better in dosing the water at this lower ratio but I found the plants super down as in Overwatered a lot.

Now I am pretty (damn) sure I will have to re-plan the watering period. I have also thought that because the clay pebbles are inside “Geopots” which are made by cloth, then maybe the watering is kept even longer on the plants roots, not allowing the substrate to dry fast enough ? I am thinking to try 10 min feeding and 3 hours off to allow the water to dry and the roots to breathe, any advise / suggestions? So far, Really really frustrated :frowning:

8

I agree with the 15 mins on 45 mins off
I run hydrofarm and thats what my timers are on
If your timer allows it you can try 5 mins on 15 mins off as well