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HYDRO CULTURE
Hydro Over Hand Watering: Part 2: Flood and Drain Technique Think hydro is too complicated? How about a hydro system that lets you grow in pots, using any growing medium – even your favourite compost – and cuts down on your hard work? Our campaign for the fastest growth and the biggest yields continues with By Little Lebowski a look at flood and drain... Last issue we took a good look at NFT (nutrient film technique) a hydroponic method that is classed as ‘pure hydroponics’. Although it is pretty simple to use, NFT and other ‘pure’ hydro styles of growing do tend to scare off a lot of you growers. It’s understandable that you do not want to give up the security of having a growing medium – be it compost, coco or clay – surrounding the roots of your precious plants; particularly when there are some tasty buds at risk! This issue we look at a hydroponic technique that offers the faster growth cycles and bigger yields of active hydro, but has the flexibility to be used with coco or compost. Ask yourself this question; when you first started growing, what technique did you first use? I am guessing that at least 90% of you out there started out by hand watering pots filled with compost. Fair enough, it is a great method for a beginner; compost is very forgiving and will buffer against pH fluctuations and over feeding. Plus, hand watering your plants every other day means you can concentrate on getting your environment right and – let’s not forget - you can achieve a shit hot yield using compost!
can use compost and pots, reduce the amount of time you spend mixing feeds and watering AND shorten your growth cycle AND achieve bigger yields than hand watering?? Less work + A quicker crop + More buds at the end! Maybe you should have taken a look at flood and drain. Maybe it’s time to take a look now. What is flood and drain? The principle of flood and drain is simple. A plant sit on a table or in a bucket and nutrient solution is pumped in from a reservoir and floods the table or bucket, when the pump turns off, the nutrient solution then drains away back into the reservoir. A timer is attached the pump and is used to set the frequency of the flood and drain periods.
Keeping a dedicated flood diary is the key to massive growth and yields when using flood and drain.
But, what if I told you that there is a hydroponic technique out there that would have been great for your first grow – and all the grows that follow - where you
A Large Table System
During the flood period the roots of the plants are submerged which allows them to take up all the water and nutrients they need. All stale air is expelled from the root zone then, as the solution drains away, fresh oxygen is pulled back into the root zone. As the plants grow larger, the number of floods per day is increased. The amount of nutrient solution used is easily measured and this allows experienced growers to tailor feeding schedules to get the optimum yields from their plants. Flood and drain really is one of the most flexible hydro methods ever, because
there is something for everyone. At its most simple, it can be a way to just keep your pots automatically watered, but for the more experienced grower it is the method that offers the most amount of choice as you can amend the number of flood periods per day and how long each period lasts. This way you can tailor the system to your own growing environment – because everyone’s grow room has a different humidity, temperature and airflow - and get the maximum yield from you plants. Who wouldn’t be happy with that?? Why Flood and Drain over hand watering pots? Plants grow faster and yield more plants take up more water and nutrients than they would with hand watering, feeding little and often throughout the day is healthier than giving one large feed every other day Root zone completely re-oxygenated several times a day - during the flood period, air is completely forced out of the root zone and fresh oxygen is pulled back in. Oxygenated roots mean a healthier plant that will grow quicker and yield much more than a hand watered plant Adjustability of the system - allows experienced growers to set the perfect feeding conditions for their specific growing environment, plus the ability to set variable feedings on a timer means you can set the optimum feeding schedule for specific strains No build up of nutrient salts - any nutrients not used by the plants just drains back into the reservoir, instead of building up at the bottom of the pot. A build up of nutrient salts will stunt growth as it causes certain nutrients to be ‘locked out’ Types of Flood and Drain System There are two styles of flood and drain system, the table system and the modular or bucket system, both of them use the same technique and both have their own sets of benefits;
1. The Flood and Drain Table System In a flood and drain system table plants sit on a table which is held above a nutrient solution reservoir. The table is usually flat with drainage running to the centre where there are two drainage fittings. One of the drainage fittings sits flush to the table – this is the inlet drain - the other will be around 10cm above the bottom of the table – this is the overflow drain. The inlet drain is attached to the pump and the overflow drain just runs back into the reservoir. When the pump is turned ON, the nutrient solution is pumped into the table through the inlet drain. Eventually the level of nutrient solution will reach the level of the overflow drain and flow back into the reservoir. The overflow drain prevents the table from overflowing... just like the overflow drain in your bath tub! When the pump is turned OFF, the nutrient solution in the table drains back down the inlet drain, through the pump and back into the reservoir. A timer is used to set the frequency at which, nutrient solution is pumped from the tank to flood the table and is then allowed to drain away. As the table floods, the plants take all the water and nutrients they need. All stale air is expelled from the root zone then, as the solution drains away, fresh oxygen is pulled back into root zone. The benefits of the flood and drain table system are that you can grow your plants in any growing medium – soil, clay, coco or mapito. You can grow in pots and move the pots around the table if you need to or you can fill the whole table full of clay pebbles and allow the roots of the plants to spread across the whole of table – this is the method to go for if you are looking for the fastest growing and maximum yield. Table systems are near enough leak proof, because the reservoir sits right underneath the table so there is nowhere for the nutrient solution to leak to – perfect if you
The Low Level Table System
