noob question:rockwool on aeroponics

[medusa22]

hello, i recently started some seedlings in rockwool, i was told by the hydroshop guys to germinate them there, and to put them later on, (when the roots sprout on the bottom of the cube), to place them in the clay balls.
(its a aero system so the clay balls are wet due to the rainforest motor)

I have just a minor doubt, do i put the entire rockwool cube on the system letting it get wet just like the clayballs, or i remove the rockwool cube and place the roots directly in the clay balls?

And btw do i place the rockwool cube in the middle of the clay balls, or on the top of the clay balls(but deep, enough for the light not to pass to the roots)?

PS:i would like to know the less traumatic method for the seedlings as i dont have any more seeds than these ones

PS2:the doubt is mostly about having heard bad things about the water retention on rockwool concerning root rot.

thanks a lot.

 

[nUt_jOb]

1st - do not try to remove the rockwool from around the roots of the seedling.. its now a part of the plant till the bitter end.. hopefully you just used the little 1.5" squares.

Some people like to bury the rockwool under the clay balls to keep mold from growing.. others put it level with the balls and cover everything with a light proof barrier to prevent the mold/mildew forming. I would not reccomend elevating the rockwool too far out of the balls.. it can dry out that way.

Big slabs of rockwool retain too much water for *certain plants. Tomato plants love the extra water for example.. thats why huge slabs of rockwool exist. as far as the little squares of it.. its not a big deal once the roots establish in the flowering medium.

IMHO

 

[medusa22]

this is really to grow cannabis in lol, power skunk from flying dutch man

its a tiny cube, im making this post at this time, cause i planted my seeds about 4 or 5 days ago, and the damn roots already hit the bottom of the cube lol...and some even got out about 2cm :S

so i just set up the system, right now the ph is beeing regulated and in about 10 hours i hope to have them on the system...

ill just put it the highest i can get but inside the clay balls, and cover it all with clayballs as well, that would be the best right?

so there is no chance of root rot by doing so right?

thanks

 

[nUt_jOb]

There is ALWAYS chance for root rot and I would not reccomend putting them the highest you can inside the balls.. the rockwool needs to get wet.. just not TOO wet.. and I would highly reccomend light top watering of the rockwool (manually.. with a cup full of whatever is in the res or RO water) daily until the plants establish a root system which reaches into the wet area of your system. If the rockwool dries at this point your plants will die.

To reduce chance of root rot greatly.. cover the rockwool with a lightproof material and use Hydrogen Peroxide in the nutrient solution. FWIW.. I typically would do neither unless there is a visible problem with the plants.. Most strains are far too vigorous to be slowed down by petty stuff like root rot if they are given the correct environment to thrive.

 

[medusa22]

ok i got it, ill just do as you say thanks a lot for the info

 

[nUt_jOb]

Cool deal.. I think you will be fine but I wont be offended if someone else chimes in with a second opinion. Your plants are troopers if they are growing legs in only a few days time. Let me know if issues arise.

 

[Green Force]

what i do is cover the bottom of my netpot with like 3/4" of balls then put my rockwoll ontop of it and fill the rest of the netpot up then i just throw them into dwc and the bubbles off of the air rocks wet the balls enough to keep the rockwoll mosit and get the roots to come down much faster i think

 

[chosen]

hello, i recently started some seedlings in rockwool, i was told by the hydroshop guys to germinate them there, and to put them later on, (when the roots sprout on the bottom of the cube), to place them in the clay balls.
(its a aero system so the clay balls are wet due to the rainforest motor)

I have just a minor doubt, do i put the entire rockwool cube on the system letting it get wet just like the clayballs, or i remove the rockwool cube and place the roots directly in the clay balls?

thanks a lot.

Nut Job has got you covered. YOu shouldn't have any problems. Just cover them and move along. You are in an oxygen rich environment. Remember in hydro there is no such thing as over watering, only under oxygenating. And since it's a rainforest, They are merely getting sprayed with water like a sprinkler system. You should be fine.

 

[medusa22]

thanks a lot for the info guys, ill post pics of what i did in a bit thanks

 

[medusa22]

ok here is how it looks like, on of the cubes got screwed up and ended up looking like a sausage, but the roots are fine lol.



they under 2 clf tubes with 18 watts each, is it enough for them not to strech?
i got a 250mh light, but im using the balast atm to flower other plants i have :s
thanks


everything looking fine?thanks a lot to all for the help.

 

[nUt_jOb]

You should be fine.. just make sure the rockwool stays moist until there are roots growing down out of the net pots. Next time.. or sometime.. try burying the rockwool under a layer of hydroton and see if you like that method better.. though I would recommend letting the seedlings get a little bigger before trying that.

I would not worry about stretching at this point.. just use the cfls and keep um close. As long as you are using daylight cfls you should be fine.

 

[medusa22]

anyone knows how long until the seedling start showing deficiencies if they only getting the distiled water i use to keep the cubes moist?

im not sure the system will leave the cubes wet, so i guess the best way to know is if i see any deficiencies showing up

thanks

 

[medusa22]

can i also know how to move a plant that was germinated in soil to my system??

thanks

 

[Harry Gypsna]

To move a soil germinated plant to hydro-you nedd to very very gently and carefully wash and break all the soil from the roots-as much as you cn get without ruining the root system. then take ur net pot and put clay pebbles in half way, then gently hod yr plant up in the pot and place-not dump-place the remaining pebbles in around and over the roots...pour some nutrient water through it.. the rainforest should keep the pebbles plenty wet enough..
I Usualy start giving hydroponic plants 1/4 strength nutrient or a specific young plant nutrient like formulex as soon as the the round baby leaves start yellowing... usually a couple of days after the 1st true leaves show... some people use weak nutrient immediately, some even use 1/4 or 1/5th strength when they 1st soak the cube to drop a seed into it....
just start real low, go steady with it and theyll be fine...

 

[medusa22]

since i only inserted the rockwool cubes after the roots sprouted off the cube, im using nutirent solution since the beggining, about EC5:540 with regulated ph.
(i use ghe flora series)

i know it should be about 400, but since they appear to be fine, and i dont want to ruin the balance of things im letting them rest as it is.

the thing is , when do i put the plant i have in soil in the system?at the moment she just got her first pair of leaves, but no fan leafs yet...should i place it in the system when the first fan leafs appear?
or right now would be fine as well, as the root system atm, is easier to separate from the soil?

 

[medusa22]

anyone knows the best point to insert the plant in the system?

with or without fanleafs? thnkz

 

[Harry Gypsna]

thats a tough one, because if shes still only on the round leaves she wont have made much of a root system yet, but it will be extrememly delicateI would let the plant get 3 sets of real serrated leaves then move it.... you have to be super gentle...

 

[Londinium]

Sound advice you getting here from Harry et al so I'll leave u to it! We do a small system thats aero that uses 4" RW cubes in the nets and its never rotted,in fact we would use Hydroton,RW cubes,Mapito/PU foam,Cellmax loose rockwool or anything else in a sprayer system as if they are working properly they can't easily over water IMHO.

 

[medusa22]

transfered her to the system, she is the smallest plant in it atm, but when she was in soil, she was like all the others, probably the transplant shock right?

she was transpplanted 2 days ago though...i left some soil in the roots cause i would break them to take that soil off...

leaving a bit of soil in the roots can make my plant die??

thanks a lot