Adding the rockwool to the hydroton

[lysol]

So when the roots start breaking through the sides of the rockwool cube I should place that ontop of the hydroton and pour rez water thru the hydroton part daily until the roots hit the water?

Should I bury the rockwool cube or just set it on top? I'm concerned as to how you keep the roots from being air pruned without soaking your rockwool, do I just need to not worry or is there a trick?

 

[FreezerBoy]

Please forgive the cut and paste but I just went through this with another member

Once sprouted, bury Rockwool into the netpot, and surround with pellets. While Seedlings are new, maintain a res level that submerges half the netpot. When roots hang 3-4 inches below the pot, drop res level to 1 inch below the pot (I don't recommend it but, I've let the gap go as far as 6 inches)



Too soon ...



Ready. OK to lower rez ...



Time marches on (Scale: 5" netpots)...



Start with a nute solution of 1/4 strength your manufacturer's suggested strength. When roots can clear the gap and you've lowered the res, raise to 1/2 strength and start charting EC to determine corrections

 

[lysol]

Alrighty thanks, the part that answered my question was "bury the rockwool", already knew how to do the water levels but the pictures are very helpful now I wont lower the levels prematurely either. Good stuff.

 

[little wing]

Great answer I must say.

 

[lysol]

Bump. I have some small roots poking out kinda like your first pic. One of my pots started building up a small amount of what looks like brown fungus youd expect to see in a poorly maintained fish tank. I've had that bucket with a plant only 1 week, I think its cuz my first couple days I let temps soar as I was still building up a frozen water bottle queue in my freezer :-D I did a flush and scrubbed the net pot where there were no roots poking. I lowered my rez a little so the net cup is less then an inch above the water, do you think this will be ok, lowering it early? I'm just worried that slime is still in my medium, I dont have any hydroguard or anything like that... then again maybe it was just nutes and im paranoid

 

[FreezerBoy]

Sometimes there are small amounts of sediment that need a little time to rinse off by themselves. If they rinse off easily under tap water and lack a slimy feel I wouldn't worry.

I swore off summer growing because I hated the Ice Bottle Boogie but, I also hated not having a garden to play with. So I'm doing a low tech grow just to see what happens. I'm setting the nutes straight off pH readings. I'm about 6 weeks in and haven't measured EC yet. I used 1 ice bottle last week when res temps topped 85º. Average temps, mid to high 70s with no trace of slime or rot.

I'm NOT suggesting anyone else try this (except as an experiment for the curious) I just wanted to see if, where and when slime started. I'm beginning to think it's something we have to put in ourselves with Liquid Craptastic™ and other sorts of additives. All I'm running is GH Micro, Bloom and pH Down.

 

[lysol]

Damn, yeah I need a chiller... I want to jam out 2 runs before I move in like 5 months or so ( I control the move out date ), so low on space... also it seems the smaller rentals also entail smaller A/Cs, I need to come up with a formula for BTUs / Square feet or grow a pair and throw up a window A/C... we'll see.