Humble Growth Hydroponics presents:

Simple guide to Hydroponic

Substrates

1. Net Cups

2. Expanded Clay Pebbles

3. Rock wool

4. Using all 3

5. Using Cloning Cuffs

Net Cups:
Net cups are the house for substrates that I will go over in this guide. Without a net cup,
the only method mentioned here would be a plant collar. You will need to know the
diameter of the hole in your garden. The most popular
sizes are 2 inch, 3 inch, 4 inch, 5 inch, and 6 inch as
pictured.

Hydroponic clay pebbles: Expanded clay

pebbles are a great option as a

hydroponic substrate.
● Porus
● Absorbent
● In expensive
● Re-usable
The advantages of clay pebbles
are great, however, I find that
they can be really tough to nail
down for beginners. Moving
plants to clay pebbles exclusively
can be difficult. Ensuring the roots in the net cup receive enough water can be tricky if
you are not also using RockWool cubes.
RockWool Cubes (or cylinders)
These mineral cubes are the ideal
way to move a plant from seed to
harvest in and out of your garden. I
always prefer to start my plants
from seed, and the best way to do it
is by planting directly into the rock
wool. Your plant will be growing in
the perfect environment to thrive as
roots shoot through the rock wool
and out into your garden. The
rockwool is tucked down into the
net cup for the duration of the growth. The
spongy nature of the rockwool allows the top of
the roots to thrive in the moist nutrient water
absorbed by the rock wool. The only downfall to
rock wool is that the top is a perfect surface for
algae to thrive. Worry not, I have a solution.
Using All 3 Together
I believe the best technique for planting and preventing algae is;
to plant from seed in rock wool, Move rock wool to a net cup, push it down into the cup,
fill the area on top of the rockwool around the plant with hydroponic clay. This prevents
sunlight from ever reaching the rockwool. Therefore algae can never grow.

Using Cloning cuffs

Cloning cuffs are a great alternative to using a
growth median at all. The cuff gently pinches
the stem and holds the plant in the garden.
That would replace the net cup so sizing is
crucial. I use these a lot when transplanting, or
cloning. They work best in applications where
the roots may be too big to fit right into the net
cup, therefore suspending them solo works
best. They also create a seal around the cuff,
so they are crucial in Fogponic applications.
Otherwise the fog would simply leak out.