Moving from Coco to Rockwool bloks and Automatic irrigation

Hi there!!
First post. I am based in Spain and am looking for info on growing with rockwool bloks.Allthought there is a very serious growing culture in Spain rockwool have not taken off on the Cannabis scene yet,it is very used on other agricultural products.

I ve used Coco for many years with great success, but I am changing my setup so i can have 4 LED lamps in two floors in a shelf i am buiding for them.I need something lighter those 3 gallon Coco pots can be very heavy when watered properly

With the introduction of the second floor my setup needs now automatic irrigation.
Regarding irigation i have a doubt between Netafim and Floraflex,I will be using either 3 gallon or 2 gallon pots,if anyone could advise on those and or alternatives it will be helpful.
I have used auto irrigation before, back in the days with the Medusa Bubblers, they were crap, not suited for certain organic liquid ferts due to constant clogging,so i went back to hand watering,and yes last crop i handwatered 3 times a day at some point.

Also i am reading as many posts as I can trying to find info on the differences between growing in rockwool and Coco,if any of you guys have anyone in mindi will be helpful

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Are you going to be feeding organics in rockwool, or using hydroponic nutrients?

Growing in rockwool can be as simple as turning on the pump long enough to make water drip thorough the complete block 2 or 3 times during lights-on.

I would recommend buying a system that is the easiest for you. I have used both flora flex and netafim and use a mixture of them together right now.

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Hi there mate!Thanks for the reply
I am using AN ferts,Connoisseur base and many of the additives, so yes will be using organics and mineral based ferts
Looking at the rockwool bloks I can get the grodan ones in Spain,cannot get the floraflex ones yet.
I like the floraflex valve and manifolod system,looks very easy to mantain and clean,also the square Matrix system looks smart and able to distribute very well the liquid aplied , but Ive hear Netafim clogg a lot less?AN food can be very full of things that clog drippers.

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I would recommend using a hydro fertilizer made for rockwool. It’s like you’ve just switched from a diesel (coco) to a petrol (rockwool) car. The coco can take the organics and works well with hand watering. Rockwool needs pure hydroponics nutrients and automatic watering to keep things from getting dry.

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Such awesome info!!!

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Hi mate
You are touching adelicate subject there…lol
Being using AN nutes since 2004/2005,only swapped to Canna for a while when i moved to bubblers, but very quickly moved back to advanced.

In the US you have many alternatives, even in powder/granule form.
What would you recommend?see ifio can findalterantives overe here, so no organics what so ever? no funghi and bacteria, no carbo?

regarding drippers, if netafim what ones? what amount of gal X hour would you recommend?

thanks for your time guys

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