# Hydroponic Top Dripper Question



## jasosebee (Feb 27, 2008)

Hello everyone im new to the forum and have a quick question i was wondering how long to let the dripper run? 

I know it suppose to be three times a day
but im not sure what to set the timer on.

I've been getting different answers some say one minute other say an hour.
any help is appreciated.

thanks


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## jjsunderground (Feb 27, 2008)

that sounds tricky...id say keep a vigilant eye on your plant and determine your intervals on how she looks. other wise id say it depends on of your drippin on a soil bed or your using rocks or hydro corals. im actuallyl trying to find out how to grow the simplest to use hydro unit right now so i dont have much knowledge in the hydro area. dont mean to waste your time..lol. :hitchair:​


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## jasosebee (Feb 27, 2008)

thanks for the recomendation
i'm planning on using the clay pellets.


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## shadetree (Feb 27, 2008)

Depending on your setup, I would say as long as you keep your solution oxygenated and had good drainage, you could leave them on 24/7.


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## the widowmaker (Feb 27, 2008)

what size water pump do you use and do you know what drippers your using.

A 4 inch rockwool cube will hold no more than a quart so you can feed it 24/7 if you like but your not going to get any extra water in that cube.  Personally I like to let my cubes dry out a little bit because by doing this the roots get all the oxygen they could ever want and the growth rate is good.

By over feeding and keeping your medium too wet your giving your plant less air to the roots than optimal.


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## Growdude (Feb 27, 2008)

I run mine one hour on one hour off.
Ive been told you cant over water in a drip system using hydroton (clay balls), your roots are constantly exposed to oxygen.

I know other that run drippers 24/7 in rockwool also, seems like that would be to soggy but it works for him.


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## the widowmaker (Feb 27, 2008)

Growdude said:
			
		

> I run mine one hour on one hour off.
> Ive been told you cant over water in a drip system using hydroton (clay balls), your roots are constantly exposed to oxygen.
> 
> I know other that run drippers 24/7 in rockwool also, seems like that would be to soggy but it works for him.



It will still just grow fine, overwatering in rockwool is virtually impossible, i'm just talking about a restriction on air that decreases growth rate.


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## octobong007 (Feb 27, 2008)

ok, i'll add to that question...how much rockwool should be used?  it comes in slabs and a couple different sizes.  for example, if i only use the rockwool that was used in my cloning (1x1 cube), can i just stick with that?  on system i dont know if i'm doing ebb, drip, or dwc...still in the air.  and the medium is hydrotron.


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## shadetree (Feb 27, 2008)

I don't think "soggy" rockwool will hurt anything, just as long as there is plenty of oxygen in the water...DWC's work very well and the roots are always in water...


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## the widowmaker (Feb 27, 2008)

oltomnoddy said:
			
		

> I run mine for 30 minutes every 4 hours. I've changed to that schedule. Seemed like they grew to tall on the 15 minutes every hour regime. Check my grow, I've outlined my setup in the first post.



Theres no set in stone way bro, everyones got their way, my drippers are limited and deliver no more than half a gallon an hour.  When i get it all hooked up i will be running for 2 hours per day.


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## umbra (Feb 27, 2008)

I will add that there is little point to run the pump when the lights are off


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## jasosebee (Feb 28, 2008)

Thanks Everyone for the help!!! 

I think im gonna go with the "one hour on, one hour off" method.

Just to let the rockwool to dry out slightly.

and not stay completely saturated all the time.


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## jasosebee (Feb 28, 2008)

One More Question? 

Would it be better after the seedlings have grown a good root structure in a 1x1 rockwool cube, to move them to a 4x4 cube then put them in the net pot and cover with hydroton?

OR

Just move them to a net pot in the 1x1 cube and cover with hydroton?

Would it make a difference either way?


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## octobong007 (Feb 28, 2008)

umbra said:
			
		

> I will add that there is little point to run the pump when the lights are off


why not?


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## umbra (Feb 28, 2008)

octobong007 said:
			
		

> why not?


 
the plants don't really consume nutes when the lights are out. im not saying that they dont grow when the lights are out. but no light, no photosynthesis  plants continue other processes during dark period, but not consumption of nutes


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## shadetree (Feb 28, 2008)

But, you wouldn't want your roots to dry out either...using rockwool, it may not be a problem, but hydroton will dry out pretty good in 12 hours...


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## octobong007 (Feb 28, 2008)

shadetree said:
			
		

> But, you wouldn't want your roots to dry out either...using rockwool, it may not be a problem, but hydroton will dry out pretty good in 12 hours...


exact reason i was asking.  i've gave my ladies "flushes" in past, put them to bed for the night and woke up to jungle sized bushes...it only turned them on.  now dont get me wrong, i aint argueing ANY facts...i'm taking alot of things, combining them, and only wanting to come out with a perfect system that will produce 100%...i dont think thats too much to shoot for, this site has put me at 100% soil grow quality...now i want the strength of the hydro:hubba:

EDITED:  when i say i gave my ladies flushes, i'm talking about my soil grows to clean out any salts and i think it gave them a WOOHOO...but that was soil.


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## Growdude (Feb 28, 2008)

shadetree said:
			
		

> But, you wouldn't want your roots to dry out either...using rockwool, it may not be a problem, but hydroton will dry out pretty good in 12 hours...


 
Hydroton holds more moistiure than you think, its very porous.


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## storzbickel (Feb 28, 2008)

octobong007 said:
			
		

> why not?


 
i would like to add to what Umbra said:

RH should be rising during the dark time as it is, lower temps-

If you feed during the dark time you are adding more humidity 

it is better to feed when the lights go on, so that by the time they turn off, alot of evaporation has already occurred and you can keep an optimal RH during dark periods.


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## octobong007 (Feb 28, 2008)

storzbickel said:
			
		

> i would like to add to what Umbra said:
> 
> RH should be rising during the dark time as it is, lower temps-
> 
> ...


ok, i'm not disputing anything, i want to understand...high humidity at night aint good sometimes?  after fog drops at night, how are the plants the next day?  there booming...  

now remember, i'm NOT argueing...just looking for reasoning...its the only way i know how to learn.  on your quote, you said "RH should be rising dueing the dark time"...if your giving nutes, your adding moisture...so the rh "would" be rising.  now i'm getting confused...


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## the widowmaker (Feb 28, 2008)

octobong007 said:
			
		

> ok, i'm not disputing anything, i want to understand...high humidity at night aint good sometimes?  after fog drops at night, how are the plants the next day?  there booming...
> 
> now remember, i'm NOT argueing...just looking for reasoning...its the only way i know how to learn.  on your quote, you said "RH should be rising dueing the dark time"...if your giving nutes, your adding moisture...so the rh "would" be rising.  now i'm getting confused...



humidity is increased when water temp is warmer than air temp, while the lights are on the bulbs are beaming and heating up the air but when you turn the lights off the air is still moving and cools quicker than the water in the res that has been gradually warmed up to room temp.  So really you want to cover your res so that when the night hours come humidity doesn't raise too much, if you were to feed then the water would quickly raise humidity.  The resulting factor could well be bud rot.

If you ahd a bucket of 85 deg water and had it in a room thats 100 deg then your not slowly evaporating water into the air and this is visual, theres no steam.  If you had the same bucket in 40 deg heat you would see the steam as moisture evaporates into air.


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## storzbickel (Feb 28, 2008)

octobong007 said:
			
		

> ok, i'm not disputing anything, i want to understand...high humidity at night aint good sometimes? after fog drops at night, how are the plants the next day? there booming...
> 
> now remember, i'm NOT argueing...just looking for reasoning...its the only way i know how to learn. on your quote, you said "RH should be rising dueing the dark time"...if your giving nutes, your adding moisture...so the rh "would" be rising. now i'm getting confused...


 
i hope widowmaker's post helps you understand the principal of the RH rising naturally at night...

So now we know RH is going up with lights off.

And we know why as well- the air/water temp diff. 

So feeding adds to moisture in the air, after the medium is soaked it then evaporates off (the RH has now risen even more)

all i really mean is that the RH is going up naturally, so its better ot keep that increase to a minimum and not add to it by feeding. 


that help? wm's post summed it up pretty well.


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## octobong007 (Feb 28, 2008)

got it..so i shouldn't feed for 12 hours...i was going to go with straight hydrotron, no rockwool or anything else, would i still be ok with going 12 without...?  thanx a million on this guys, i'm trying to learn anything/everything about hydro...


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## parkingjoe (Mar 5, 2008)

24/7 doode


if ya have a drop whereby your drained nutes go back into the resevoir then this in itself will oxygenate the water sufficientlly without an airstone or say oxy-plus which btw oxy-plus cannot be used with quite a lot or nutes/boost/additives etc.

as your using clay pebbles you cannot overwater as only wetting the roots on plant and the plants are not actually sat in a solution as such.

pkj


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## parkingjoe (Mar 5, 2008)

you could also leave pump off at lights out as clay pebbles retain certain amount of moisture to stop plants wilting during this time just do a 12 hours on 12 hours off and see what they look like at start of light on and if they are droopy then id place pump on 24/7 and keep extraction on 24/7 or timed interval during lights out to keep RH down say 15 mins on 15 mins off.

pkj


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## ShuttyMcShutShut (Mar 7, 2008)

Im going to say something contrary to most posts on this thread, but before doing that I will say that everyone has their own methods that they find to be most effective and its our job as MP constituents to voice experiences and opinions.  That having been said:
Ive grown many grows now in a DWC, a waterfarm to be exact.  ive always started my germinated seedlings in 1 x 1 rockwool.  I have placed the rockwool directly into the hydroton and placed a drip stake over the rockwool and watered on a 1 on /2 off.  Im using a 400w HPS light.  Im sure many people on here will argue that i could water much more frequently, cant over water, etc.  Ive found this method to be very effective and ive also found that even increasing water schedules there is a difference in how the plant reacts, there is such a thing as overwatering.  My advice to you is this, start out taking it slow but be very cautious of changes the plant makes, read up on signs of over and under watering and advance until you are satisfied that your plant is growing healthy and at a reasonable pace.  I assure you it is possible to overwater, but at least keep the rockwool wet.  Take it at your own pace...your personal experience will not be EXACTLY like any one elses. good luck!


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## Timmyjg6 (Mar 10, 2008)

Lots learned thanks.......


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## cdmharley (Oct 3, 2008)

I have a dripper and yes for cuttings i water them every 1 hour for 15 mins or you can do every two hours 25 mins/... my cuttings are 1 week and im doing them every two.. they look great.. you must see first how the lights dry them up.. best thing just keep checking them.. if they feel dryer (still moist) at the top then water, if you can still see damp patch leave it for another hour.. 
Hope this helps. 
CDM.


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## parkingjoe (Oct 3, 2008)

24/7 dude and if they start to wilt try at intervals or if underwatered try longer intervals.

pkj


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## happiehippie (Dec 24, 2008)

jasosebee said:
			
		

> thanks for the recomendation
> i'm planning on using the clay pellets.


 
whats up man.   I am running a home made 5 gal hydro bucket i made.  I have the clay pellets in the pot in the lid.  She gets a constant drip real slow and the clay pellets stay nice and shinny.  I had the same problem with a hundred diff. oppinions, I just pick the one I thought would work for me.   Hope this helps....good luck with her.    PEACE
    The HIPPIE


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