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Thread: How to wash your balls (clay pebbles) POST grow mess & clean up.

  1. #1

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    Question How to wash your balls (clay pebbles) POST grow mess & clean up.

    I've two Wilma systems running, 8 x 11liter pots absolutely filled with clay balls. This is the biggest grow I have ever undertaken.
    When my grow is done and I've chopped and hung my plants, I will be left with 8 pots full of balls and root mass.


    Question: How to wash away all the root mass, should I be concerned about little bits of root material left clinging to the balls?


    In the past I've just picked them out by hand, but I only had two plants at the time, now I've got 8....
    I wont be running the system for a few weeks after this grow is done, will dehydration be enough to kill them off?
    Would rehydration from the next run cause issues with mould or bacteria or something just as unpleasant ?

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  3. #2

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    its cheaper and more convenient to just replace. then all you gota do is the initial wash.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Krofam View Post
    its cheaper and more convenient to just replace. then all you gota do is the initial wash.
    You cant seriously be suggesting I buy in 40kg more clay pebbles rather than figure out a way to clean them after a grow!
    Also, initial wash my ass, it takes two or three washes to get these balls clean for first use and it uses a huge amount of water.

    Surely there's a greener way to handle this.

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    Quote Originally Posted by TotalPlantPot View Post
    You cant seriously be suggesting I buy in 40kg more clay pebbles rather than figure out a way to clean them after a grow!
    Also, initial wash my ass, it takes two or three washes to get these balls clean for first use and it uses a huge amount of water.

    Surely there's a greener way to handle this.
    one way ive read is to leave them in boiling water and rinse. do this a few times and then you got let them dry. usually takes 24 hours or so.
    hot tap water should be enough.

    what concerns me is any roots that might of found their way inside the pebbles. these can rot if left and cause problems in your next grow.
    only thing i can think of to remedy this is to soak them in something to break down the roots and then doing the clean.

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    You can soak them in a cannazym solution, this should breakdown the leftover roots after cleaning. I would put them in a bag and blast my shower through them till the water started coming through clear. Takes a lot of water.

    Sent from my SM-G981B using Tapatalk

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    I wouldn't be concerned about roots inside the pebbles. ime, the clay balls are either fully intact or lumps of dust.

    You could buy an extra 40kg of pebbles as a one off and use the 2 lots of pebbles turn about. 1 lot of pebbles used in the grow and while that grow is happening, the other lot of pebbles is cleaned a few kg at a time to be ready for the next grow. Same amount of work but spread out over the length of the grow.

    Maybe 2 household buckets, 1 with drainage holes drilled in the bottom. Half fill with pebbles, then fill with water to soak them for a day or 2.

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    like that you can have them soak longer in the cannazyme which will ensure it breaks them all down.

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    empty as much of the hydroton out of the pot as you can.. there will always be some entangled with roots, but this is just to be binned.
    the rest? stick it in the bath, when the missus is out obvs, and add a good squirt of bleach. stir it all around for a bit and drain bath.
    fil bath with clean water, another quick stir and drain it too. now your hydroton is ready to use.

    ive been doing rdwc for years and ive only bought like 3 bags of hydroton in my life.
    im not made of feckin money you know !!!

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    Fantastic feedback, i've got a game plan.

    Chuck the huge root mass with the 10 to 20 individual balls deeply attached and consider them losses and set aside the 99.9% of loose balls in one of my old DWC buckets.
    Soak them for a day or so in cannazym or a bleach type (silver bullet?) mixture for a day.
    Rinse a few times and leave them to air dry, while my next run will be using all new 40kg pebbles.
    This should allow me to rotate the balls between grows.

    It does mean a little more storage space is required, but should mean i'll only lose a kg here or there over the space of three grows a year.
    As for the water usage, leaving an entire run of balls to soak and then a couple of rinses will still work out as less water usage(wastage) over having to pre-wash brand new balls each time.

    Feels like the way to go.

    Will update this post with failure/success later.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Loki View Post
    You can soak them in a cannazym solution, this should breakdown the leftover roots after cleaning. I would put them in a bag and blast my shower through them till the water started coming through clear. Takes a lot of water.

    Sent from my SM-G981B using Tapatalk
    As above ^^^^^^^^^^
    Any left over roots will rot and in turn feed the plants


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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