Rooting With Rockwol

[desertsquirrel]

Thought i would go ahead and post this in its own thread....

Im posting this because i havent seen anyone else doing it and it is a technique that has really improved my grow.

Any trays that i run i first line with cloning trays for the blocks to sit upon. I do this for two main reasons.

First, i do it for drainage, it helps break the water tension in the cube and they drain around twice as fast as sitting bare on the table.

Secondly, i do it for the ridiculous, fat, white, fur covered root growth.

 

[Crayonoreos]

damn that's sexy!

 

[Mob Barley420]

I really like that, what nutes rooting products do you like? Do you soak cubes for a while before planting... Ph? I use h&g with RW for my meds but haven't had root growth like that. Do you then slab em E&F or DTW?

 

[dune]

Saw it last night

Saw it last night

And there in by this morning, such a nice a cheap idea.

Still waiting for u to break down ur feed schedule that ur working on.

 

[desertsquirrel]

I wanted to go ahead and point out that the plants in the pics are all ready for transplant. This system is not designed to keep plants in for the rest of tier lives. (Though if you want to try it i recommend a coco mat between the plants and the clone trays.)

Its for veg. It grows plants fast and has them ready for transplants as you can see above.

From those pics they can go in soil, coco, rockwol slabs or RDWC with little to no transition.

 

[desertsquirrel]

Dune when you say feeding schedule what do you mean? i use lots of lines and profiles in the warehouses i run. did you want to know what i use for rooting? or how i use the profile i posted in the warehouse thread?

here is some of my profile work:

http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=209158

 

[dune]

More on how to use the spreadsheet posted from ur warehouse. Focusing on Spurrs 3 part GH formula. i assume its 5-5-7 plus amendments. I was just wondering is it like lucas and same formula strength all along, such as Lucas or Do u Change it up like Rez Dog?

 

[dune]

And as for the trays under the blocks. Then trays were the exact idea i had been throwing around. i had been experimenting with coco under the RW block but with 2 different mediums together i found oddities. With the trays now i flood once heavy and get the block started for the day. And Once i get some roots going im going to flood the small root chambers alot more often as if it was glass marbles or hydroton. i noticed RW really needs to get off the tables the roots just never like it.

 

[dune]

The science of growing or farming will get you in the ball park while the "art" of farming or growing will enable you to hit home runs. If you strive to follow the book or the charts, you may have good success, but will never have great success. Once again, IMO. -Grapeman

he says it so well, i guess im just looking for the answers we all strive to attain and guard when we do.

 

[desertsquirrel]

yep, its one monolithic profile. I used it at half strength until the roots were comming out of the 4 inch cube...

 

[Nedermed]

How would you recommend transplanting those to slabs?
Do you just tuck all of the roots underneath? I would imagine they wouldn't sit flat or be stable for a day or two.

Looks beautiful!

 

[desertsquirrel]

ill post pics of the slabs next time i slab them (a few days).

thanks.

 

[dgtm85]

dam desertsquirrel this is a great idea and i went out and bought enough of those trays to cover my 2x4 tray for my vegging clones, i stopped using RW for veg for this reason (the amount of water they hold) but now im back to them. one question for you, im using the same blocks (4x4x4) and was wondering how long you veg in those blocks and how big your plants can get as im starting to veg longer and just hoping i can get some decent sized plants out of these blocks.

 

[dune]

i know on mine the clones go into the blocks 1 week to punch good roots through the 4x4, and a week oo veg into flower.

so 3 days later root growth that looked shitty on my 4x4's is now bright white and getting some of the thickest roots ive seen out of my RW. i could kiss u DS <3.

Ill let u know how i do with the trays as my "coco" mats in flower O.O times are changing and so is my grow.

 

[desertsquirrel]

i know on mine the clones go into the blocks 1 week to punch good roots through the 4x4, and a week oo veg into flower.

so 3 days later root growth that looked shitty on my 4x4's is now bright white and getting some of the thickest roots ive seen out of my RW. i could kiss u DS <3.

Ill let u know how i do with the trays as my "coco" mats in flower O.O times are changing and so is my grow.

Thanks alot man im so glad it helped you.

dune when i first got way into this method i did the coco mat on top of the clone trays.

it works, but i get 2-3X the yield going to slabs.

If you liked my trays why not try and slab them too.

 

[dune]

Because i do a massive sog that runs on the 4x4 table-x4, and each table is on a 2 week light greater different areas. so 1-2 weeks directly under the light, 2-4 around the edges, 3-6 edge of the table, 6-8 special flush boxes in mid sides of table were light is weakest.of the table. and harvesting every 2 weeks. and this is all under 6-600's. so moving the plants with the trays has helped alot

and i use the smaller 4x4 cubes to flood more often and the trays now lets me get the roots wet every 15 min. so far they are loving it.

I would have to go for a drip system.

 

[takeiteazy]

Wow. I can get a few roots out of jiffys under dome. Wheres your dome/humidity ?

How are you watering them with those pieces covering the tops ? Why arent the exposesed roots dying/browning off ??

I also find RW gets soaked/keeps soaked.

What are those trays ? Loook like upturned standard trays.

I want to do this and go straight into RDWC net pots/pebbles.

Cheers

 

[dune]

Hey DS i was going to try out a few slabs under one table, Once i got the huge roots. What do i do next? Ive never worked with slabs
Is there a way i should cut the plastic. any special type?
How often do you water till you see roots coming out of the slabs. If u could just break down the process of how ur medium develops from veg-flower. It would give me an idea where to begin.

 

[desertsquirrel]

yeah the bottom needs cut off the slabs, you saw that in the pic right?

Water every 4 days until you see wilt, then 3 days, the 2 etc.

 

[desertsquirrel]

Wow. I can get a few roots out of jiffys under dome. Wheres your dome/humidity ?

How are you watering them with those pieces covering the tops ? Why arent the exposesed roots dying/browning off ??

I also find RW gets soaked/keeps soaked.

What are those trays ? Loook like upturned standard trays.

I want to do this and go straight into RDWC net pots/pebbles.

Cheers

Domes over the trays and trays under t8's; i dont know the humidity. The roots stay nice if they never dry out.

The trays under the 4X4 cubes are clone trays.

This system works well for pre dwc, but i would use smaller cubes, they become problematic in the rdwc system. We go from clone cubes into an aeroflo for preveg now.

Hope that helps.