Best way to use 6" grodan cubes?

[casualtoker]

I'm starting my next grow with the 6x6 grodan cubes, they are lovely. The way I've seen them used is sitting right on top a flood and drain table, nothing else. I just cant wrap my head around that this cube is large enough to hold an entire root structure (I like to grow trees). I'm thinking of placing them on a bed of hydroton, maybe 4" deep. Thoughts?

 

[cashmunny]

I'm starting my next grow with the 6x6 grodan cubes, they are lovely. The way I've seen them used is sitting right on top a flood and drain table, nothing else. I just cant wrap my head around that this cube is large enough to hold an entire root structure (I like to grow trees). I'm thinking of placing them on a bed of hydroton, maybe 4" deep. Thoughts?

I'm using six inch cubes in pots. The plants are about a foot tall and the roots are busting out of the rockwool and filling a one gallon container. I've got perlite in the bottom of the pots but pretty soon that'll get filled up also. I would think for a tree you'll want to put the cubes on a rockwool slab or something like what your doing with the hydroton.

If the flood and drain table is protected from light and always moist it won't matter. You could probably let the roots go wherever they want as long as they are kept moist but not wet and protected from light. More like a NFT approach.

But yeah those suckers are going to bust out of that rockwool in short order.

 

[FreezerBoy]

Plants will grow in cubes alone just fine. They will, however, be smaller than those allowed more root space. If you're going to use a hydroton base, where the mass of the roots are outside the cube, I'd consider smaller cubes. If growing in cubes alone, the bigger the cube the bigger the plant.

FWIW I cut my own starter cubes from a 6 inch block. Drops starter cube price from $.50 down to $.03 a cube.

 

[globel]

they stay very wet. unless used on top of slabs. the slabs wick out the moisture.

 

[FreezerBoy]

They only stay wet when submerged in water. Everything stays wet when submerged. Drinking, gravity, drainage and evaporation will see cubes bone dry in a couple of days and that when sitting on non-porous surfaces such as a plastic tray. Wet is only trouble in the absense of oxygen. Whether you water once every 3 days or six times a day, the flood and drain will deliver fresh oxygen to the roots.

 

[Hydrosun]

I would just ad, that my trees to much better with a Rapid Rooter plug, then put the rooted clone into Rock Wool. I've had a bitch of a time with clones and babies in the 1" RW, but my Rapid Rooters transfered into RW work great.

I think the size of your trees will depend on the size of the grow container (the size of their root mass), veg time, and total watts per square foot in flower. 6" cubes in hydroton my work great, but I am trying some of my next round in rapid rooter only then straight into the 8" net pots with Hydroton.

My thoughts are running away from Rock Wool and towards the RR. Lock at this tree after cut. The stalk is bigger than the RR and the root mass scream out of the rock wool through all the hydroton and into the full measure of the 5 gal bucket.

 

[Oldmac]

I have found that stacking one 6" hugo block on top of another in a rose bucket works great for larger plants, like my mothers, works great. And the plants are happy for many many months. Just my .

 

[ogatec]

6" blocks are good for SOG size plants only, u will need more media for bigger plants, or they will fall over or get rootbound.

 

[Taokali]

I start my seedlings or clones in rockwool 2 inch round ones
then when they rooted into 6 inch net pots with hydroton

using ebb & flow

 

[Todd P]

ive seen the cube used alot of different ways. if you want trees just start with the six then get grodan slabs. i go 6" stacked onto a 12"x12"x3" then onto a 18"x18"x3" it works great! its called the GSR method from dave gold. 1000w for four trees! go 4 it

 

[BillFarthing]

I use 6" blocks in my waterfarms so I don't have to transport, clean, lift or pick up a ton of hydroton at the end of the grow. That stuff is a hassle.

 

[ItsAllOver]

I flowered 24 plants in a 2x2 tray under 600w in 4" rockwool cubes once. The yield left a little something to be desired, (other issues too, like excessive heat) but I find myself doing it again. This time I am root pruning them, then once they have filled out in the cubes, I'm setting them on top of 3 inch thick RW slabs. The hydro store guy and my boy who has done that just said make sure you slope your tray enough to get the right drainage, otherwise the slabs are not so hot.

I'm also going to be running the 6" cubes this time.
Doing two 2'x3' trays in a 4'x4' hydrohut under 1000w... Maybe a diary is in order...

I'm curious to see what happens with the slabs.

Peace

 

[Todd P]

I flowered 24 plants in a 2x2 tray under 600w in 4" rockwool cubes once. The yield left a little something to be desired, (other issues too, like excessive heat) but I find myself doing it again. This time I am root pruning them, then once they have filled out in the cubes, I'm setting them on top of 3 inch thick RW slabs. The hydro store guy and my boy who has done that just said make sure you slope your tray enough to get the right drainage, otherwise the slabs are not so hot.

I'm also going to be running the 6" cubes this time.
Doing two 2'x3' trays in a 4'x4' hydrohut under 1000w... Maybe a diary is in order...

I'm curious to see what happens with the slabs.

Peace

heres a pointer for you, we use 6" cube on a 8"x3" slab on a 12"x12"slab and we grow BIG trees! 60 day veg. use skewers (you know like for bbq) and stick through the coners of the 6 all the way to the bottom and they will stay 2gether for the grow!! good luck

 

[Cheeb]

6" blocks are good for SOG size plants only, u will need more media for bigger plants, or they will fall over or get rootbound.

I know people who put around 9 plants per 1000w light and easily hit 2lbs per light every time. Not even close to being a SOG garden.

Plants get vegged in root riot plugs - vegged in 6x6 blocks and flowered in the same 6x6 blocks. The blocks are flooded via ebb and flow style 4 times a day.

End of the grow the cubes get stacked so they can dry out - then pitched.

The garden does get trellis and has poly stretched over the flood table with only Xs cut where the 6" cubes get dropped in so plant support isnt a problem.

Large plants get be grown in 6x6 blocks no problem.

 

[toohighmf]

top drip on a table or in dutch leach trays. some lay a coco mat on the table for roots to grow into. hugos stay wet for days under the right environment, but slabs work well to help wick the hugo dry for more frequent feedings.

 

[rickyjack9]

coco holds more air than rw