[PetFlora]

with over 42K visitors to my Hail Hydro thread, which covered a lot of ground for those interested in hydro, I felt it was time to start this new thread to explore some new ideas and to follow up on some recent ideas, all in the name of potentially better, more consistent grows. As with anything new, some failure can be expected, and I've had my share

While I have had very good success germinating seeds (drop in pure water + a drop or 2 of sea minerals), getting them to the seedling stage has been challenging with new concepts. The newest being water beads, which are probably better suited for clones, but could well serve as the ideal method to bring seedlings along; the biggest problems being over/under watering and how to support the long man stem in the early stages

Not being a fan of Rapid Rooter Started Cubes (the seed holes are too wide making it hard for root hairs to anchor= death)

My best success came when using coco + coco net pot cups, but I don't need a whole bag of coco, and it tends to harbor gnat eggs, so I went back to Rapid Rooters, and lost 4/6 seeds.

My go to hydro store had no alternatives, but another in the area had perhaps the perfect seed starter Planters Pride Pellets, which consist of compressed coco inside 20 individual bags, which expands to ~ a 3" x 1.5" cylinder when soaked in warm water. The seed is than inserted and easily covered with coco; 2/4 new seeds are in them now. Note I surrounded them with water beads (another experiment)

The next problem is weak main stems and how to support them. I have tried many things (see coco clone plug): enter water beads. I tried WBs for germinating, which might be excellent now that I have the PPPs, but they are excellent for supporting weak young main stems. The key being to use a tall enough jar to surround them and keep them straight (see picture)

My other issue has been how to keep nutes cool without an expensive chiller (and to keep mosquitoes at bay), plus eliminate air stones. Since I only grow 1- 2 plants per tent, the rezes need to be individual as the plants may be in various stages and so cannot be fed from a single source. In the middle of last grow I started using an igloo cooler, ad switched from air stones to flooming. Flooming required a second pump, but it must be on a timer or it will quickly overheat the nutes, which fried my primary leafs last grow.

Almost anything can be used on the flooming pump to circulate/aerate the nutes, but I had a couple Hydro Halo drip rings which works well. A deep cycle timer is needed as a 15 minute timer would overheat the nutes. I run it 3/20

I do need to move the 2 older seedlings into my DIY bubbler, but will stick with 4 air stones as that is where I have had best results

OK here's a few photos

[starke]

Looking forward to the show continuing. I have followed your hydro and lighting experiments/adventures with interest. Respect.

[PetFlora]

Put 2 more seeds into the pucks. These 2 barely cracked the husk, so curious to see what being wrapped in coco love will do

All have been moved under my Amare Tech SE 250.

The 2 older wispy taller ones are embracing the veg spectrums

[PetFlora]

The 2 older seedlings are developing more leafs but still require support to stay up. The small one in the front is the first seed to crack and placed into thee coco pouches.

Under the humid dome: one of the seeds has popped through, should see cotyledons by days end

[PetFlora]

I have been using only the enhanced mono rings surrounding the CoBs in my Amare 250. I think it's too high above the plants: the main stems need more umoles in order to thicken, but instead of repositioning it to be lower...

I also have 2 BML supplemental light bars in this tent that are on ratchet hangers (easy to lower) so I plugged them in this morning- both of them plus the enhanced rings

2 /3 new seeds have cotyledons, I fluffed the coco in the 3rd but did not locate that seed WTF?

[Ganjagrower1]

Pulling up a chair and following this to the end. Always like to see new things.

[PetFlora]

I am going to play musical chairs with the plants, moving the 2 currently under the led tubes to the tent with the Amare 250 + BML supplemental bars. Just waiting a few days for the young plants main stems to firm up

This will provide optimal enhanced lighting and more umoles to max bud and trich production

[PetFlora]

Made up fresh nutes using NPK Grow, which mixes well (only 1 tsp/g!). Will be replacing previous EH nutes in seedling bubbler (very dilute as starter ppms) and growing these out with NPK

[PetFlora]

Here's a tip on supercharging your young plants. I have been using Aptus, but not too happy with it/them. Total lack of communication to questions I have asked

NPK:

Silicon aids in the uptake of water and nutrients, improving the plants resistance to heat and water stress. Some of the silicon can be taken up by the plant in the soil water solution, but much of the silicon becomes embedded in the root cells. With added silicon, the permeability of the roots is substantially increased. As a result, the flow of water into the roots is enhanced, and the drought tolerance of the plant is improved.

https://www.npk-university.com/plant_...on_silica.html

[PetFlora]

Just completed the musical chair plant/tent swap

The babies are now near my computer, so I can keep a much closer eye on them