Hydroponic
Systems
110w fluorescent hydroponic systems
250w hydroponics systems
400w hydroponics systems
600w hydroponics systems
1000w hydroponics systems
Constant Harvest Hydroponic Systems
Hydroponic
Growing Info
Hydroponics Beginners Guide
Build a Grow-room
Hydroponics Essential Tips
Hydroponics System Comparison
Electricity Consumption Guide
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Hydroponics
Beginners Guide
How
to Grow plants using Flo-gro System
How plants grow in hydroponics
Plants will need to start either from seedling
or cutting.
Soak some papertowel in LUKE WARM tap water
(you may wish to let this sit for a while to let
the chlorine evaporate off ), fold over the towel
and pat so that excess moisture is removed but
the towels are fairly damp. Place your seed(s)
inside, fold over towel and put in dark place
such as cupboard. Keep the towel nicely moist at
all times, not soaking but nice damp.
Germination will take place within 12-72 hours
typically, a small white root will break out of
the shell. As soon as the root starts to show,
get it in a 1" rockwool cube fast! |
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Mix up rooting stimulator in bucket of water
(let this water sit overnite for chlorine to
evaporate) and let sit for 20 minutes as
instructed on bottle. Soak rockwool cube(s) in
solution for at least 12 hours if possible,
although after 1 hour soak it will still work OK
in most instances. 12 hours is good if you want
to do it properly!
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| Once you have a seed that has a root breaking
out of it's casing, it's time to insert into a
1" rockwool cube. Squeeze the 1" block
so excess moisture is removed, the block should
be nicely damp but not soaking wet (heavy
feeling). It should be wet without too much
excess weight. For purists, we have weighed a
perfectly soaked and squeezed 1" block with
solution the weight was XXg. |
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18 hours light on, 6 hours light off. fluorescent
light at 18" or 250w sodium at 36".
Plants vegetate on an 18/6 light cycle (18 hours of
light, 6 hours of darkness). Plants can vegetate almost
indefinitely, growing to absolute epic proportions.
However, we recommend you vegetate plants no more than 3'
indoors unless you have very high ceilings.
Typically most plants must be vegetated a minimum of 2
weeks in hydroponics. The length of time of vegetation
will determine the strength and yield of the plant when
it goes into flowering (12/12 light cycle). Longer
vegetation essentially means bigger yield and stronger
plant.
Recommendations for optimum results :
1 plant per Flo-gro, 6 weeks vegetation time min.
2 plants per Flo-gro, 4 weeks vegetation time min.
4 plants per Flo-gro, 3 weeks vegetation time min.
Flo-gro installation and maintenance
Once you have your Flo-gro pebbles washed and setup ready
to go, you should have a seedling or cutting rooted thru
to a 3" or 4" rockwool block. Roots should be
showing out of the bottom of the rockwool, as soon as the
first root appears it is time to put it in the Flo-gro.
Remove any paper surrounding the rockwool and place in
centre of Flo-gro ensuring pebbles completely cover the
rockwool block.
We recommend leaving your water to sit overnite for the
chlorine to evaporate off (which can kill your plants).
Starting young plants in Flo-gro, we recommend 12 litres
@ pH 4.0 and eC 600-700ppM (eC meters can be used
to get this reading) using a gentle nutrient such as Formulex. Also
recommended is OxyPlus
to sterlise the tank, oxygenate the water and keep
patheogens (nasty things that slow plant growth) away. 4
or 5 drops every few days. This formula is maybe OK until
the plants reach around 12" and they may start to
want more nutrient, if the stalks go a little purpley/red
instead of lovely green, then it may be time to up the eC
to around 900 ppM.
pH should be 6.0 normally but for the first few days pH
will rise dramatically in the Flo-gro due to the
alkanlity of the pebbles, so pH 4.0 is ideal. Subsequent
pH adjustment should be made to pH 5.0 as again the pH
will rise quickly initially.
12 litres is enough fluid to keep the tank full but not
too full so it is easy to empty. For those of you with
the dedication, we recommend emptying and re-filling your
Flo-gro tank once a week with fresh solution.
Distance plants should be from your light
110W fluoerescent - 18" away from seedlings or small
plants
250W sodium - 36" away for seedlings or small plants
400W sodium - 36" away for plants up to 2', once in
flowering 24".
600W sodium - 45" away from plants up to 2', once in
flowering 36"
110W fluoerescent + propagator - 10"
Air-cooled lights will allow you to move plants closer to
light, as much as 12" depending on how efficent your
cool shade is working.
It should be noted that plants respond better to powerful
strong light such as 600W if they too are strong also,
this means a long vegetate would be recommended. Again,
our recommendations for maximum results :
Vegetate 3-4 weeks, flower using 400W, then 600W later
Vegetate 5-6 weeks, flower using 600W
Positioning of your light
We recommend you never position small infant
plants directly under high power sodium bulbs in
case of any stress. Positioning slightly off the direct
beam of light will benefit the plants more than being
directly under the bulb. Once the plants are larger and
more established, they can then be positioned directly
under the light (they will tell you by leaning towards
the light if there is a shortage of illumens).
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