Being a hobby I am always looking for new ways to fuck up i mean grow our fave plant. I love rock wool but my ocd has me grumpy that i must cut or stack my three inch cube up to hugos i like neither so i am trying to go straight into double stacked hugo’s. The idea let the wicking and gravity take care of the dead block 1 gal of feed with nowhere to go so awhile back somebody told me to stack the hugos to drain the upper ones so i wasn’t starting with a dead block. So this is what I’m going to try with the idea that if i cycle frequently enough the wet dead block will be below and the top cube stays mostly dry with frequent enough drip cycles the roots will go exploring down below. I wait and watch.
6 Likes
Interesting. This is the first time Ive heard of hugos.
Good luck!!
3 Likes
That’s pretty cool, i’m totally following along!
Funny enough, today i was at my local hydro store, and one of the customers whom i’ve met before was trying to buy some of those big blocks of rockwool. Apparently, western Canada is now in short supply. No 6-by, no slab, nothing… just the clone-sized grodan in abundance… Which sucked for him because he is one of those 20-light guys, with only a week or so until the cuts have to go in…
3 Likes
After filling the res and playing with the timer the blocks are gonna work great i have it set for every 6 hrs 1 min top top cube goes from med wet to dry and the bottoms are holding a gallon plus i was wondering where all the res water went so i added another 7 gal to the twenty res. we are cooking with gas if i dont kill em some other way 
5 Likes
So a ‘Hugo’ is essentially drip fed Rockwood that runs too waste? Am I correct? Never heard of that term before.
Everyday is a school day.
4 Likes
Nice idea ! I was almost doing something simillar but ended with mapito and then cowardly came back to dwc. 
Sub’ed !! 
3 Likes
hugo is the commercial name for a 6x6x6 inch rockwool block I am running them on recirculating drip, the hugos are a little big to wick up from the bottom (flood and drain) so they are normally top fed. when i got up this morning the cubes were too lite for my liking but the plants were alive so i bumped the drip to every two hours now. a 6x6x6 block can hold like a gal plus so normally the cube this size stall plants out from being too wet when the plants roots get into the bottom cube the time between feedings will be measured in days not hours until the plants roots get established and the plant can take up that kind of moisture/feed.
5 Likes
Update after day one i am scared how dry the cubes get so we upped the frequency to once an hour and for 45 sec uncharted territory.
5 Likes
Ah cool.
Pretty similar to the PPK method, utilizing wicking. I’m amazed at the growing methods the community is coming up with, seems like new ones every day.
3 Likes
I think you’ll find the bottom block will wick the top block at a extremely fast rate till things adjust I’ve used this method when I needed to flush due to a screw up and you can pour gallons in the top and wick it dry-enough to water in a few hrs by adding a dry bottom block or 2
2 Likes
Hi Guys,
Ya Grodan likes to name the blocks. The 8"x8" ones are called Big Mommas.
Argo…nice neat op so far. I’m curious about it’s functioning as well. I got a little swept up by the moment at a Grow shop liquidation auction and bought 4 cases of Rockwool. I’ve been toying with the idea of vegging in rockwool…then plopping the cube direct on top of coco or hydroton.
The idea is similar to what you’re doing. Drip ring would be on top of coco and rockwool would have to wick. That way no over wet cubes. Have yet to try it…but soon.
Cheers,
JD
1 Like
that will work just fine.
1 Like
i am already up to once an hour drips and have taken the hose off the drip cap and are dumping right on the seedlings cube.
Thanks fre reply Argo. I didn’t want to bury the rockwool because I’ve seen that cause root issues.
Cheers,
JD
i dont know why on top wouldn’t work with the aid of a 'T fitting and a drip stake for a couple of days. I have never had a issue with burying a block???
2 Likes
Argo,
I’ve buried rockwool w/o issue, but I’ve seen guys at least claim that a buried cube can cause root rot if it remains to wet. I like the idea because the roots should have access to more of the media in the main pot. It was suggested to me that that would diminish side rooting. But hell…the plant will know where it’s food is and send the roots there.
So the reason for 2 feed tubers per plant is redundancy?
I’m enjoying your thread and appreciate the the creative ideas.
Cheers,
JD
1 Like
3 Likes
I really like this set-up… In the above picture…
2 Likes
great results, long wait, trees are fun
1 Like