@Tony21
The Growpito sim has a lot of water retention and the first time I used it over waterered with a drip system. They recommended ebb and flow and after learning about ebb and flow, I came to conclusion that it uses less water and by allowing a dry back Rockwool allows more oxygen to the roots. From what I've read, the upper roots take in oxygen while the lower roots take in nutrients, so what you flood and drain it causes oxygen to be pulled into the Rockwool and as it dries more oxygen is pulled in.
I read about the mapito but from what I understand it is not reusable as the fibers will break down whereas I've let Growpito sit in water for 6 months and reclaimed over 98% of the medium and that is what I transplanted the clones into.
I am using around 20 gallons a week right now whereas with a recirculation system and depending on how much I feel I need to change my res, I could use less water and with microbes and beneficials added in to aid nutrient uptake and a lot more I could see my nutrient usage declining.
Commercial tomato growers pretty much only use Rockwool and as much as I like coco, I'm using a lot of water and nutrients whereas I believe Rockwool would lower my usage of both.
I'm not saying I have some growing truth but I'll see when I get my ebb and flow set up. These are just my observations from researching ebb and flow, Rockwool, and water conservation growing.
CobsCocoDTWMxPScrog Watch Me Mess Up
Fair enough, your reasoning makes sense, perhaps the capillary failing with Mapito was I used it in XL autopots, they are some 40 cm high, and its perfectly reusable, ran mine for 5-6 runs, still has it in a big bad in the shed lol. I look forward to see how the stuff you're using performs.
Personally I don't give my roots time to go look for water, think real hydro, those roots spend ALL their time growing, not looking for water and the results are considerable in experienced hands.
The netpots I use works like Airpots, I have every confidence in my oxygen levels and after having tried most pots and grow systems, filling a tray with 30-40 l of feed every few days or so seems to be the most high-tech and efficient system I've yet stumbled upon, at least with my grow setup and conditions of
I did like the Aqua/Water-Farm pots, very efficient, but their and airpump involved, hoses and cables, and that's rather low tech me thinks hahaha
I tried beneficial too, White Shark/Orca and stopped that too because it was expensive and there was not a difference to be seen between those with and without. I believe its a matter of faith rather than actually moving any mountains.
Plants looking good, spot on man
Btw the A5 Haze is back in stock, so there's 5 on the way that I'll be running as soon as they're in my mitts, plus some Malawi and Nepal Jam for laters lol
Here's a current vegging toddler tray with a goulash brewing, some mothers, some amnesia, some auto's, some NL x Haze, some will move to flowering soon, the 6 auto's will remain as is lol
