Disbuting growing method...

2Hearts

2Hearts

Well-Known Member
When i first stuck a seed in a 1.5" rockwool cube the words "Keep it moist not wet" resounded from every thread. The general practice seemed to be- Saturate the cube then flick it like your flicking the water out of a paint brush before planting seed.

I dispute this as that led to too much air and i think most like me would expel a large percentage of of that volume of water in fear of overwatering. Even worse still i was doing this for most waterings.

Ive not cloned in rockwool yet but ive tried many seeds and i think a more accurate approch would help others in my situation and show how rockwool is hard to overwater.

So i believe that rockwool is 80% water 15% air and 5% rockwool when saturated. Two flicks of my wrist and ive thrown out 15 to 20% of that water easily bringing the air levels in the cube upto about 35%. Thats more than enough for good growth and wont kill a seedling.

A few more flicks and were adding more air than water which is going to start hindering root growth. My cube gets lightish and a decent percentage of water has gone then its time to saturate, couple of shakes and all done.

I was flicking the cube till lightweight and moist, about ten times, and wondering why i wasnt getting roots at the bottom of each cube but after leaving more water in the cube roots exploding everywhere.

Tried giving measured amounts with syringe but this method beats it hands down. Sorry to bash on peeps advice but i say leave them cubes more wet than dry or moist as thats too much air.
 
brodietheconeking

brodietheconeking

Well-Known Member
Over wet cubes are never a straight killer, im a dwc grower and my first 4 weeks in the pots the cubes get super soaked and it used to worry me, however it doesnt bother me because within a few weeks the plants are adecent size and will eventually just suck most out
 
2Hearts

2Hearts

Well-Known Member
brodietheconeking said:
Over wet cubes are never a straight killer, im a dwc grower and my first 4 weeks in the pots the cubes get super soaked and it used to worry me, however it doesnt bother me because within a few weeks the plants are adecent size and will eventually just suck most out
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I plan on putting my cubes into an x-stream then amazon 16 plant system for flower but atm struggling with getting that far.

Any solid advice here is most welcome as im only getting half results. Im just dunking the cubes in ph water, flicking a little out and repeating every 24hours which is when cubes feel lighter and moist not wet.

This has given me much more initial roots but ive got one cracked and planted just about to germinate in a wettish cube to see if my assumptions are right.
 
W

wiethe20

Well-Known Member
You shouldn't even buy Rockwood do you know how bad it is for the environment? It would last longer then cock roaches with a nuclear bomb:idea:
 
2Hearts

2Hearts

Well-Known Member
wiethe20 said:
You shouldn't even buy Rockwood do you know how bad it is for the environment? It would last longer then cock roaches with a nuclear bomb:idea:
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Its a stone and dosent harm the environment, same as it dosent harm plants (unless your me).
 
2Hearts

2Hearts

Well-Known Member
brodietheconeking said:
Dunk them fully soak them then drain the majority out then just spray them daily depending
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Ive stayed away from spraying the cubes and hoping a daily dunk and flick will surfice. The seed in the wet cube showed movement today so hopefully reaults/answers tomorrow :-)


wiethe20 said:
http://www.epicgardening.com/rockwool-harmful/
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This is far from the issue sorry and i nay want to get into it when i only use a few 1.5" cubes a year, phosphorous in my ferts is more enviromentally damaging :-)
 
Richard Drysift

Richard Drysift

Well-Known Member
So tired of hearing MFers say "ewww...rockwool is bad for the environment"....well maybe it is but so is your car, the thousands of watts of electricity you use for your lights, those plastic bottles that hold your synthetic chelated chemical nutrients that you drain to waste into the local sewer system which eventually goes out to sea. So give a hoot & don't pollute but a few cubes to start your seeds in won't really hurt the earth much worse than anything else we do to increase our carbon footprint...like driving a hummer.
That being said here's some tips for success when germinating using rockwool:

1. Poke holes in all 6 sides with a toothpick for aeration and to help young tap roots emerge.

2. Saturate the cubes in ph-ed water & then spin em in a salad spinner to squeeze off the excess...holds the perfect mix of water/air this way

3. Place your seeded cube inside a ziplock baggie & blow in a breath of air & seal it up. Keep at room temp or slightly higher until it sprouts- then put under lights at 18/6

4. Mist your cubes as needed with a hand sprayer- once they sprout and are under lights put the cube into a solo cup half full of hydroton or starter mix & use the ziplok bag as a cover like a mini greenhouse for the first couple weeks to promote root development.
 
2Hearts

2Hearts

Well-Known Member
Richard Drysift said:
So tired of hearing MFers say "ewww...rockwool is bad for the environment"....well maybe it is but so is your car, the thousands of watts of electricity you use for your lights, those plastic bottles that hold your synthetic chelated chemical nutrients that you drain to waste into the local sewer system which eventually goes out to sea. So give a hoot & don't pollute but a few cubes to start your seeds in won't really hurt the earth much worse than anything else we do to increase our carbon footprint...like driving a hummer.
That being said here's some tips for success when germinating using rockwool:

1. Poke holes in all 6 sides with a toothpick for aeration and to help young tap roots emerge.

2. Saturate the cubes in ph-ed water & then spin em in a salad spinner to squeeze off the excess...holds the perfect mix of water/air this way

3. Place your seeded cube inside a ziplock baggie & blow in a breath of air & seal it up. Keep at room temp or slightly higher until it sprouts- then put under lights at 18/6

4. Mist your cubes as needed with a hand sprayer- once they sprout and are under lights put the cube into a solo cup half full of hydroton or starter mix & use the ziplok bag as a cover like a mini greenhouse for the first couple weeks to promote root development.
Click to expand...
 
2Hearts

2Hearts

Well-Known Member
Richard Drysift said:
So tired of hearing MFers say "ewww...rockwool is bad for the environment"....well maybe it is but so is your car, the thousands of watts of electricity you use for your lights, those plastic bottles that hold your synthetic chelated chemical nutrients that you drain to waste into the local sewer system which eventually goes out to sea. So give a hoot & don't pollute but a few cubes to start your seeds in won't really hurt the earth much worse than anything else we do to increase our carbon footprint...like driving a hummer.



2. Saturate the cubes in ph-ed water & then spin em in a salad spinner to squeeze off the excess...holds the perfect mix of water/air this way
Click to expand...

Well said, everyones a cross burning wannabe environmentalist these days, ill give two hoots about the earth the day we stop destroying it not all this recycling, carbon footprint crap that just makes us think were making a difference whilst all around us rainforests diminish, seas nitrofy and a new species gets extinct'ed every other day.

I did say i didnt want to get into it as most people beating that drum are meat eating, carbon burning, acidic twats GREENPEACE FOREVER!

Now that ive got that offa me chest i would like to agree to disagree on point number two. A salad spinner expels too much water making too many air pockets. Im shooting for just shakinga little bit of water out bumping the available oxygen upto 30/35% from its initial 15% when fully saturated leaving most of the water in the cube.

I am presently trying this method after doing the salad spinner way and getting poor results. My seeds root quicker with good water levels atm :-)
 
Cobnobuler

Cobnobuler

Well-Known Member
I think there must be something slightly off with the 2 flicks of the wrist thing.
Should this be done with an overhand motion or is underhanded more reliable.
Should any time be taken between the first and second flick of the wrist?
I would like to see that done and uploaded to Utube for educational purposes.
 
2Hearts

2Hearts

Well-Known Member
The main point is that im trying to keep the cube quite wet as oppose to trying to flick or spin most of the water out. Saturating the cube and removing a small amount say 20% of the water still leaves the cube wet (not moist) and 35% air. This is oppose to what im reading which is basically flick/spin most of the water out leaving it moist not wet.

Rockwool seems to be about the percentage of air to water and most advice leads to way to much air and rooting problems.

My seed in the wet cube has just broke the surface and i plan on watering it like ive suggested to see if i hit overwatering or lots and lots of roots.

I hope you see what im saying and i am putting my money where my mouth is by trying it out hopefully post some pics and results if it works out.

:-)
 
2Hearts

2Hearts

Well-Known Member
Day 1 and 5 days since seed touched water. So far my best sprout in rockwool ever with a nice healthy green colour as oppose to dull and purple.

Fingers crossed mor me :-)2015-07-30 12.36.44.jpg
 
skunkd0c

skunkd0c

Well-Known Member
seedlings only need a tiny amount of water/air, don't over think it, or make it too complex in your mind
just don't let the cube dry out, if you lightly squeeze it and see water come to the surface its wet enough

peace
 
2Hearts

2Hearts

Well-Known Member
skunkd0c said:
seedlings only need a tiny amount of water/air, don't over think it, or make it too complex in your mind
just don't let the cube dry out, if you lightly squeeze it and see water come to the surface its wet enough

peace
Click to expand...

I think a lot of advice left me leaving the cube to dry, like a well squeezed sponge whereby its moist to the touch but you couldnt squeeze much more water out of it. I was achieving this with 10/15 good hard flicks of the cube gently held between my fingers. Now i dunk the whole cube and leave most of the water in it, just shaking a small amount out, the next time i water will be when the cube feels two thirds lighter (approximatley). This means two thirds water loss fron %60 initial watering volume makes the cube 20% water 75% air and 5% rockwool.

Believe me i tried underthinking it and led to instant fail, barely get a seed to root. Now everytime i pop one it gets better and almost fully saturating at water plus the right environment so they need saturating every 24hours has brought me to the point where im not pulling my FREAKING hair out all the time.

Its early days and had a lot of dissapointment following advice so im not saying even this is right as seedling could just decide to die at any time!

:-(
 
2Hearts

2Hearts

Well-Known Member
skunkd0c said:
When i got to this part ^^ ocd alarm bells started ringing
stick to whatever works for you
it helps me to keep things as simple as possible

peace
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Dude im with you but initially the advice was not translating into anything meaningfull, i mean people were saying put the cube in salad spinners, shake it till no more water comes out, light, moist etc etc...

You can see where ive been getting that from and i need to give it a few days plus repeat before i even start thinking im right but looks way better than that OCD stuff i was doing :-)
 
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skunkd0c

skunkd0c

Well-Known Member
2Hearts said:
Dude im with you but initially the advice was not translating into anything meaningfull, i mean people were saying put the cube in salad spinners, shake it till no more water comes out, light, moist etc etc...

You can see where ive been getting that from and i need to give it a few days plus repeat before i even start thinking im right but looks way better than that OCD stuff i was doing :-)
Click to expand...
People often try to make things more complex than they need to be when growing
the salad spinner person is a good example

when you have things all dialed in, you can start relaxing your regime
and see how the system functions, you may find there were things you were doing that isn't necessary

peace
 
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