rockwool holding too much water. substitute needed?

[TREE KING]

maybe you should give Pargro quick drain rockwool a try first.
http://www.grodan101.com/products/pargro-stonewool

thanks skunk420. i didnt even know these existed and im definitely keeping it open as an option. can anyone attest to these draining quicker than the grodan cubes? one thing i do like about rockwool cubes though is there really easy and quick to work with. you dont have to waste time filling up and emptying pots and stuff

 

[Scrogerman]

never had a problem with RW in NFT, plants go fkin mental, would be pretty easy to switch an E&F table over to NFT, might be worth a try for ya! RW Rocks, & ime grodan cubes drain just fine. G'Luck

 

[Scrogerman]

these 4" grodans work great-NFT

 

[TREE KING]

these 4" grodans work great-NFT

damn! nice job

 

[Scrogerman]

Thanks mate, Always loved grodan RW & NFT, thats on a 2 on 2 off minute timer iirc 24/7, ive even done 24/7 for the whole grow with great results. The RW is constantly sitting on/over a 2mm running solution & is always wet/damp. As long as RW can free drain it holds the perfect water to air ratio, one of the beauties of the substate & why its soo popular in hydro horticulture. Must be something else wrong from what your saying, doesnt sound like the RW itself to me. Scratches Head?mmm

Krunchbubble use's RW in E&F tables(4" over a 6" cube), have you seen his grows? he runs bleach in his dead res's, i run H2o2 myself.

rot sounds like your issue reading back, thats gonna fk everything up for sure bro! i think NFT is more forgiving than E&F anyday(with RW).
with NFT I can pump solution under a cube 24/7 & never get rot or any problems, but better on a 2 on 2 off 'Minute' timer, leave it on through the dark period too, not a botha! the root mats i get are huge!

Notice how clean my cubes are using the vented covers! flush through with mild ec solution(EC0.2/4) every 2 weeks at change out(i change out every week btw) to keep RW free of any salt build up, good maintenance practices.

G'Luck mate!

 

[budshoteyes]

I've gone 12 days with wet cubes before adding water with no problems....it took twelve days for roots to show and immediately they go into the buckets! My cubes never dry out ever!

 

[growshopfrank]

ROTFLMAO!

Tried that once. Couldn't find the egg crate after harvest. It was so overgrown with roots, it looked like someone put a horse hair door mat down there.

It definitely works. Whether it's worth the cost of throwing it out or the effort of reclaiming it... only TK can say.

so you did it once and it worked congratulations

 

[TREE KING]

I've gone 12 days with wet cubes before adding water with no problems....it took twelve days for roots to show and immediately they go into the buckets! My cubes never dry out ever!

no doubt Scrogerman im definitely about to be done with ebb n flow in a couple months after i get some more cash.instead of nft though im switching to aero using neoprenes only with nothing below and water spraying 24 hours a day so theres no chance for any problems. il save alot of time with the transplanting too. i wish there was more info on these pargro quick drain cubes but i cant find anything? if they really drain quicker there definitely an option and il make sure i run h202 from day 1 this time

 

[the med man]

im wondering why you dont use 3 inch rockwool?

they can :

hold more units per tray/bed etc

hold less moisture (1/4 less then 4 inch)

u get more for your money.

doing flood and drain with bigger cubes has never worked well for me either. u can get away with hand watering rw cubes, mm

 

[jungliedunglies]

This is second hand info from the Grodan site, and I am just in the throws of my first experience with RW, but I found it interesting that they say DO NOT SQUEEZE THE CUBE AFTER SOAKING TO REMOVE "EXCESS" WATER.

Makes sense when you think about it, as you would be compressing a structure (RW fiber matrix) which must be just the opposite in order to deliver oxygen to the roots. Made me take notice because I'm sure my instinctive, unthinking reaction would be to give them a sqeeze to lessen the soakiness if you will.

I wonder if this action might be some of the cause of peoples problems with RW. Maybe it's a crap postulate, but I just never hear it discussed at all so I figured I'd throw it into the skeet launcher. Fire away>

 

[jungliedunglies]

Any Pat Benetar jokes are more than welcome.

 

[CaptainTrips]

This is second hand info from the Grodan site, and I am just in the throws of my first experience with RW, but I found it interesting that they say DO NOT SQUEEZE THE CUBE AFTER SOAKING TO REMOVE "EXCESS" WATER.

Makes sense when you think about it, as you would be compressing a structure (RW fiber matrix) which must be just the opposite in order to deliver oxygen to the roots. Made me take notice because I'm sure my instinctive, unthinking reaction would be to give them a sqeeze to lessen the soakiness if you will.

I wonder if this action might be some of the cause of peoples problems with RW. Maybe it's a crap postulate, but I just never hear it discussed at all so I figured I'd throw it into the skeet launcher. Fire away>

If you want to rid rockwool of excess water, its better to shake them... wont destroy the integrity of the cube... shouldn't be neccessary, even when completely wet they still hold plenty of air.

 

[Scrogerman]

Tbh, ive always gently squeezed my Cubes to rid them of a lil excess, never had an issue! RW is spongy & doesnt seem to lose its properties at all ime. i only do it once mind!

 

[jungliedunglies]

Ah well, there was bound to be one of you ...........there goes my latest theory on life's little secrets.....right down the drain. Thanks a lot Scrogerman! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr....

 

[Scrogerman]

Sorry Junglie, but had to share my obs/practices, Ill emphasize gently squeezed mind.

 

[budshoteyes]

Tree king
The roots show through 4 inch cubes in 12 days! Only one watering the whole time!

Medman
I like how the roots hold strongly to larger rock wool cubes.

To others....you can't ever over water cubes as long as the water is well oxygenated! If your getting rot and or fungus it's from something else!

 

[Scrogerman]

...

 

[TREE KING]

Tree king
The roots show through 4 inch cubes in 12 days! Only one watering the whole time!

Medman
I like how the roots hold strongly to larger rock wool cubes.

To others....you can't ever over water cubes as long as the water is well oxygenated! If your getting rot and or fungus it's from something else!

i dont know what to tell you, i was using a water chiller at 65 f with 3 stones in my 70 gal res and i still got root rot

someone on another forum just told me about b'cuzz rockwool cubes, has anyone used these before? he said that they get almost bone dry in 24 hours with no plant in it. they sound like they dry out alot quicker than grodan cubes because i know those take days to get the water out

 

[Scrogerman]

root rot at 65f, highly unlikey bro, have you smelt this? rootrot smellls bad once it get ahold, smells like cheesy rotton feet ime! first thing i do id use my nose, thanks to my ol mentor MC!

I can tell ya straight, its not the cubes bro, get some liquid ox H2o2!:http://www.growthtechnology.com/liquidoxygen.asp

i run RW NFT @ 70-74f easy! in fact i have heaters to make sure no dropping under 70f with rw!

 

[TREE KING]

root rot at 65f, highly unlikey bro, have you smelt this? rootrot smellls bad once it get ahold, smells like cheesy rotton feet ime! first thing i do id use my nose, thanks to my ol mentor MC!

I can tell ya straight, its not the cubes bro, get some liquid ox H2o2!:http://www.growthtechnology.com/liquidoxygen.asp

i run RW NFT @ 70-74f easy! in fact i have heaters to make sure no dropping under 70f with rw!

Scrogerman let me be clear, if the water was constantly moving on the roots i would never get root rot at that temp. the problem is after the water goes in the cube it then heats up and sits there for days so you cant control the temp anymore. this is why im switching to aero. ive never run h202 before so when i start next crop il see how it goes. i still dont like how i cant flood the cubes that much though, they hold too much water in my opinion, at least the grodan ones do.