Perlite in Recycling Satellite set up watering schedule?

[KingNZ]

As I am new to perlite could some one please help me with an optimal watering schedule. How often should I turn my pumps on? What hours Day/Night/Both? It would also be good to have the schedule cover cloning, vegging and flowering periods. If it helps I am using 15 litre pots.

 

TIA

[Roadblock]

It depends on temps and size of plants but Perlite drys out pretty quick , every 4 hrs to start with and probably every 2 hrs when they get going during the light cycle , once at night about 4hrs before lights on , be carefull if you use drippers that in the beginning that the the perlite gets uniformaly wet , I have 4 drippers per pot .

[jimbojones5678]

I run feeds at 10mins every 2hrs once they are developed - once every 3hrs when they are taking form.

 

That should work for vege and flower - clones will probably need hand watering as they take root.

 

If your plants look droopy all the time then they are likely getting too much water.

 

Make sure you rinse the perlite and set the ph before you use it.

 

Jimbo

[Gazza2001au]

it all depends you have pretty large pots that will require less watering these are the little things you'll need to work out on your own its all about tweeking your home made hydroponic setup personally i would water your plants twice a day but the magic number of how long to water is ganna be up to you to work out as u have the plants on hand they will tell u weather they want more water or there getting to much

[WantDaChronic]

for the first week of the plants life they might need watering every hour or 2 as the plants can dry out fairly quickly. after that though, you should only need to water the plants every 3-4 hours for 15mins

[Rosey]

I use expanded clay balls in a sattelite system and have had success watering for 15mins every 1.5 hours during the lights on and one 15 minute feed in the middle of the dark until the roots show through the holes in the bottom of the colanders then dropping it back to every 2 hours during lights on with one feed in the middle of the dark.

 

Perlite holds a little more moisture than expanded clay so probly 3 hours and 4 when the plant are established would be fine. suck it and see.