Which do you prefer? I have had good results with rockwool but notice alot of people prefer the rapid rooters. Has anyone used both and noticed a clear difference in the rooting time? I usually soak the rockwool in distilled water for 24 hours prior to rooting the cuttings. Do you do the same with rapid rooters? I found a decent price for rapid rooters on ebay (50 for 10.00) and the rockwool for (48 for 6.30). I dont really like putting the rockwool cubes in soil because i think it takes too much space when transplanting... anyway... any thoughts?
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Rapid Rooters VS Rockwool?
- Thread starter Dan42nepa
- Start date
Pactivist
Active member
rooters vs. rockwool
rooters vs. rockwool
Hello Dan42nepa, I personally have used both. There was practically no difference in the rooting time between rockwool or rapid rooters, but there were more roots in the same amount of time with the rapid rooters. One word of caution though, rapid rooters dry out much faster than rockwool, and you must be dilligent keeping them moist or your clones can die overnight. these pics show 2 clones - same age - same strain, one in a rooter one in rockwool
as you can see - not a massive difference, and these clones budded out to almost equal weights. I guess it is just a matter of personal preference.
I currently have both in my clone room right now. I tend to use the rapid rooters on my harder to root moms it seems to help.
So I guess I'm still undecided
I know that I'm no help at all, but I did have pics.
peAce,
pacT
rooters vs. rockwool
Hello Dan42nepa, I personally have used both. There was practically no difference in the rooting time between rockwool or rapid rooters, but there were more roots in the same amount of time with the rapid rooters. One word of caution though, rapid rooters dry out much faster than rockwool, and you must be dilligent keeping them moist or your clones can die overnight. these pics show 2 clones - same age - same strain, one in a rooter one in rockwool
as you can see - not a massive difference, and these clones budded out to almost equal weights. I guess it is just a matter of personal preference.
I currently have both in my clone room right now. I tend to use the rapid rooters on my harder to root moms it seems to help.
So I guess I'm still undecided
I know that I'm no help at all, but I did have pics.
peAce,
pacT
Thanks Pact... still havent made your hash press. Ok, i ordered some rapid rooters. I have 4 hashberrys that I will need to make essential cuttings from in a few weeks and looking for the best method. I am still tweaking my cloning method. I have tried so many things, rockwool, soil, vermicuite in ice cube trays, perlite. This week i constructed aero cloner. I took a few cuttings to try it with but they are not doing so well. I have decided on a combo rockwool or rapid rooter grow within the aero cloner. I have 3 plastic shoe boxes. One is filled with water and an air stone, one nests inside and has holes 18 holes drilled, and the other plastic shoe box sits on top as a humidity dome. When I put my cuttings inside, i also stuck 3 cuttings in rockwool which had been growing for a week. They rooted within 2 days. I think the combo aero cloner wicking the moisture thru the holes should keep the rockwool or RR moistened nicely.
Excellent comparison pactivist! Thanks! I was looking for an alternative to oasis cubes and i think i'm going with RRs. Oasis cubes are way to coarse and it takes a pretty long time to root clones or seedlings. Only plus side is that Oasis cubes holds ALOT of water, but it still doesnt make up for the coarseness.
G
Guest
RRs are my personal fav. i seem to do about 50% better with them.
I like Rockwool cubes. Personal preference is all. I also use the 6" cubes on the E & F table so it's just a natural fit for me. Have used the RR and the only difference I have found is moisture retention. Nice medium for rooting tho if ya want to go that way.
The RW do ok for me.. its just transplanting them in small pots.. the cubes take up so much space in the pot. I use 4 inch pots and the cubes are 1.5. I tried once splitting one and ended up breaking the roots. Just seems less mass would better benefit from the soil it gets transplanted in. The RR seem more soil based and may coexist better in small pots when transplanted.
rickyjack9
Member
I thought rr hold more water than rw. wow ill have to test that, and I assumed rr held about same amout of water as peat-pod. coco holds less than rw. I wanna baby my roots.
There is a new unbranded (maybe called iClone?) that comes in 8 x 14 trays, similar size to the small 1" Grodan (so the tall thin ones, not the squarish ones) that is absolute magic... the roots are just so fat and healthy and so many .. no idea what is in it, but it works... Seems to root fine when saturated, yet can almost dry out without fucking the roots, magic, far ahead of Rockwool or Coco IME
I just tried the rapid rooters for the first time and was amazed on how the roots sprung out of the cubes. I transplanted to coco on day 10 and all survived. Didn't have any wilting and no yellowing of the leaves. Really impressed...I've been using coco in cell trays and had dampening off issue and lost a batch. tried Rockwool and for me the rooters seem to work the best. I keep the dome sealed until day 4 and slowly open vents, then leave open. Used a spray bottle to mist tops of cubes if drying out and just added water with clonex and mild flower nutes to tray, seemed to work!
GuerrillaRed
Member
Rapid Rooters have always been awesome for me. I've always had tremendous success with them. Just mist twice a day and you should be golden.
Shmavis
Being-in-the-world
Not sure how you’re setup to run Hydro, but I ran aeroponics for some time and placed my RR rooted clones directly into hydrotron with no issues.
It was always kinda cool to watch the stalk stretch out the RR.
Shmavis
Being-in-the-world
Nah. They're not dirt. No mud.
"Great for soil and Hydroponic applications! Excellent air to water ratio! Encourages root branching!"
^^^^From the packaging.
I suspect they have some kind of natural stimulants added to whatever makes up the rapid rooters, the roots that come out always seem super healthy and enthusiastic and there is a wide band of success, unlike coco or rockwool you don't seem to get better results when it is half saturated
The iClones I get here are like rapid rooters, I just tried their rooting liquid and have had poor results with it, Clonex works a treat
The iClones I get here are like rapid rooters, I just tried their rooting liquid and have had poor results with it, Clonex works a treat
Shmavis
Being-in-the-world
I don't have any point of comparison. My very first attempts at cloning were using Rapid Rooters and Clonex. With the success rate and 'super healthy and enthusiastic' results I've had, even as a total noob, there's never been any reason to go any other route.
