I am used to growing in a tent where I have more control over my boundaries and what gets into my grow space. I am trying a flood-drain system for the first time, completely exposed in my kitchen. What is everything I can and should do to keep excellent hygiene and limit pests, bacteria, algae, smell, etc?
by MrBabyDave
4 Comments
HOCL is the best when coming to grow sterile, people use it in DWC for example with high success, i would maybe create my own with an electrolysis process machine but the cost vary from one to another manufacturer
Otherwise you still can purchase H202, it will work great but make sure you got the food grade quality in it, also don’t get too high concentration as you can burn even roots and the plant itself, don’t mix it with nutes too as it create if i can well remember precipitations of salts
Forget about Bennies when growing into pure Hydro or Aero, make all the times things even more complicated than original base only, it create life, so it would build up more easily quickly and more chance to stuck the lines the worst is when you do Aero…
Bennies always for a medium, you can still make fantastic grow with it with Rockwool or Coco because it is considered and work like a bio filter in this way it can bring life to fungies and microbes and i talked about the good ones, in this way okay Bennies in this Hydro methods but definitely a sterile way is best when growing with water, the pebbles don’t have the same porosity than pozzolan it will help a lilttle bit but not at all the same efficiency as the coco buffering power and microbiome capacity.
Trust me by my many years in growing the best quality, i lost my times with tons of products trying to figure how to have the best in the smallest space, and the roots are hugely important when coming quality and quantity
I wash my balls every couple of days. If you’re running a tank I’d go with beneficials rather than sterile.
The same kind of things you would do even inside of a tent.
Keep an eye out for pests that try to make your garden space a new home. Even inside a tent a lot of insects and diseases can happen.
Air circulation is still important even if not inside a tent. Get a tower fan or something to circulate the air. This will help prevent mold/mildew issues that can happen. I say this because I see your spray bottle and assume that water droplets will kinda just go wherever they want. You don’t want your kitchen walls to grow mold or mildew.
A kitchen really isn’t the best spot. Second highest level of horrible humidity in a house, save the bathroom. Probably gonna have constant algae issues to deal with. Personally, I would move it…. but if it is what it is….invest in algae prevention it won’t hurt the plant but it is a heavy feeder and will deplete your nutes pretty quickly and keep your ph fluctuating wildly. Ball washing/perioxide/algeacide lots of ways to maintain it just too much work for me I guess.