The growth medium you choose for your plants is important. The hydroponic growing medium can determine the time settings you need to run for your drip emitters or ebb and flow system. Today I’ve written a little post about my experience with expanded clay pellets.
The expanded clay I used was Easy Green Hydroton. It comes in two sizes: 4/8 and 8/16. I used a mix of both and had great results. Expanded clay pellets mix well with other mediums for hybrid mixes as well. Make soil less mixes from grow mediums that are clean. New packaged growth mediums should be labeled sterile and most are PH balanced. In the picture you can see I have a rockwool cube attached to a thick hydroton root ball.
The hydroton drained well and could be watered many times a day. Expanded clay wicks moisture from rockwool so be sure to place a drip emitter on your rockwool cube. My rockwool cube had the main part of root system in it. If that part of the root system dries and dies the rest of the root system is useless.
You will have to play with the watering intervals for your plants in this growth medium. Hydroclay dries out fast so water often. To avoid over fertilization fill your reservoir with a weak soluble fertilizer. A weak nutrient solution can be fed to your plant many times a day without causing nutrient burn or salt lock up.
Read customer reviews of the popular Hydroton brand Clay Pebbles here.
Thank you for sharing this. We’re always looking for valuable resources to share with clients and my colleagues, and this article is absolutely worth sharing!