Having access issues right now, let’s see if a pic will upload…
28 Likes
Sounds right to me, i remember in rockwool flood and drain systems they recommend top feeding once a week. Looking good!
3 Likes
Not quite sure what to do about this. It’s the only one doing this to such an extent. Seems to me like this can’t be a good thing long term, although it’s kind of amusing at the moment.
Ten days ago
Today
19 Likes
That’s pretty impressive.
Are you doing flood and drain, or hand watering?
2 Likes
Flood and drain. I’ve discovered how much I like it during the last year, but I’m still learning.
13 Likes
So much for air pruning. heh. You get a nice top health grade, though!
3 Likes
For the next run I’m going to level that tray better and put a 24" x 48" piece of plastic eggcrate under the pots to create an air gap underneath. That should help, I think.
4 Likes
I’m picking up some egg crate plastic for the very same reason!
Good ole drainage!
3 Likes
Roots gonna do what roots wanna do 
I dont see the problem unless your dry times are long enough to damage the roots? Or are they heading for/threatening to clog the drain?
One thing you could try if you dont want them heading for the drain - trim them back a little. In my grow, I found that trimming the tips of the roots stopped downward growth, and caused them to spread out sideways instead by sending out new side shoots. They seemed to stay ‘trained’ for several days before they started growing down again in my aero setup.
Another option, if you dont want to stunt the root growth by trimming them, is to add something that will hold some moisture during the dry times. Even a piece of fabric would work. Then you would have a hybrid system 
I bet if you put a ring of fabric, or perlite or almost anything that will hold moisture, around and/or under the pots, the roots would grow into it and love it. Ive seen several NFT style grows using just a layer of fabric for the roots to grow in.
This is vaguely similar to whats happening in my aero setup. Once the roots get down to the bottom of the chamber, they air prune when they try to get out of the fabric pots, but they also pile up in the bottom of the chamber and hold extra moisture. Thats also the wettest part of the system, so those roots down on the bottom get way more water/nutes than those in the upper section. Its closer to NFT than aero,
In any case, its obvious your not doing anything wrong. Your babies are just to beautiful
10 Likes
One concern is algae growth from them being exposed to the light in a nutrient rich environment. I feel like I can see it already starting in the photo, unless the water is reflecting the canopy maybe. But it’s not crazy to think that roots probably aren’t best served out in the open like they are now.
Interesting you should mention a ring of fabric though, as I had forgotten that I still have half a sheet of black wicking felt from a prior experiment that I could use for the purpose. Thanks for that.
7 Likes
Oh yeah. If the flood table isnt covered, algae is a concern.
On the other hand - in this situation at least, how big a problem would it really be?
Ive had nice bright green algae growing on the top of every single soil grow and on the top of the media every time I used perlite or hydroton in a net pot in my nydro grows, and on my mini-hempy buckets. I havent seen any issues I could say were the algaes fault.
The big exception would maybe be PH control. I Know algae inside the rez will cause the PH to climb rapidly, but would algae on top of some fabric or media cause the same issue? Its a different kind of algae for one thing. I kind of think it would be far less of a problem, but cant say for sure.
Covering the table would solve all that though.
5 Likes
The fabric Ive seen other guys use is very open, and not dense or tightly woven at all. Very light weight and easy to see light through it. I forget for sure, but I think is some sort of backing maybe? I got it at a local Michaels craft shop, but your felt stuff might work fine. As long as it only has NON-organic fibers, and is relatively open weave, it should work.
Be an interesting experiment anyway
2 Likes
I have this loose non-woven polyester - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01DJK6XSU/
It’s not particularly good at wicking, to be honest, but works fairly well for blocking light and slowing evaporation.
My concerns about algae are twofold:
- I don’t know what it will do when growing directly on roots. Maybe nothing?
- The stuff always adds a bio-load to a closed system as it goes through its short life cycle.
Having said that, I’m not actually especially worried at this point. Everything seems to be going well, as far as I can tell. So maybe I’m just giving my brain something to do since there are no real crises to address, I dunno
6 Likes
the girls are looking sexy bro - good growing !
8 Likes
Thanks, man. And thank you again for the seeds.
Hope I can do them justice 
6 Likes
Sounds like landscape cloth
1 Like
I wouldn’t worry too much, I’ve had it on the inside of my pots.
Didn’t do anything
2 Likes
All those dudes doing those solo cup grows just prune them off I think and it doesn’t hurt them. Maybe you can just prune them.
Algae will halt water uptake if it hardens on roots. When I’ve had algae on my soil in the greenhouse I just scraped it off. Maybe best to prune.
4 Likes
That fabric should keep the light out and hold moisture in, so I think it might work ok. Its nothing like the fabric batting I saw others using, or the stuff I used. The batting pulls apart easily and is a lot looser weave. I think your fabric would still protect the roots, but no telling if they will like growing into it like they do with the batting until you test it.
2 Likes
In fact my German should be better my grandmother was fluent after navigating the Berlin markets after ww2 while my grandfather was busy flying supplies into Berlin during the Berlin airlift.
1 Like