Having trouble root growth in rockwool

So i sprouted 10 seeds in rockwool last week Monday. Within 72 hours, root shoots were showing through the bottom. Since then hardly any root growth as occoured.

Is there something I'm doing wrong?

How often should I be watering the cubes with nutrient solution? (using ff hydroponic grow schedule 1/2 concentration)

When can I transfer into hydroclay filled nets?

you need no nutrients at all, some people feed large plants 1/2 so stop that right now, also dont keep the RW soaked, this will deprive that young rootling oxygen, if you have it under a humidity dome then watering every couple days as it will dry out slower, let the cube get lighter in weight, this will let you knwo she needs water

You don't provide a great deal of detail about the future or what is going on right now. If you are going to move them to an aero, DWC or bubble system go ahead and do it now. I agree with Morris, just use Ph water for now, I then go to 1/4 strength on the nutes and build up from there. If you are using a HID light keep it pretty far away from the youngsters. You can always up the nutes and lower the light but, once the damage is done, it's done. Better safe than sorry, at least that is my approach. Just one mans opinion, good luck with your grow.

Ok, So i've finally transplanted these guys into the nets with hydroclay. Anyway, when can i start giving these babes nutes??? Its been over two weeks and they are sooo small (blueryder strain by the way).

Now that theyre are in their net baskets, how often should i water them? (right now once every two days).

How long should the roots be hanging out of the nets before I turn on my homemade aeroponic system?

Since my microsprayers aim slightly upward (even though they are mounted in the correct position), is it ok if the water hits the net baskets? If this is the case, can I turn on my system now even though my roots have popped through (over 50% of them are at the mesh border)?

Looking back on it, using an autoflowering strain probably was not the best idea.

And one more thing, how long on average (from seed) does it take for roots to penetrate to the bottom of the standard 3" net?

turn your system on, dont be afraid if its aero, along with all the water they will get they will get a major dose of oxygen, you can run your pump 24/7 or 15on/15off see what works best for you. for young seedlings you can (a) do nothing until it turns a little lighter (B) add small dose of some kind of nutrient supplement like liquid karma, thrive alive or superthrive, or any old vitamin B-1 (c) 100-200ppm worth of cal-mag 2-0-0...this depends on your water, doing hydro do you have a tds/ec meter?

morrisgreenberg said:

turn your system on, dont be afraid if its aero, along with all the water they will get they will get a major dose of oxygen, you can run your pump 24/7 or 15on/15off see what works best for you. for young seedlings you can (a) do nothing until it turns a little lighter (B) add small dose of some kind of nutrient supplement like liquid karma, thrive alive or superthrive, or any old vitamin B-1 (c) 100-200ppm worth of cal-mag 2-0-0...this depends on your water, doing hydro do you have a tds/ec meter?

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Hey I want to say thanks for all your help, especially morrisgreenberg. To answer your question, no I don't have an EC meter :/ . Unfortunately when I started this project I got ff line of hydroponics since I've used their products before. This was not a good idea since their line of nutrients use a conversion scale that is not as common (the guy in the store said it was based on a scale of 7, not 5 which is what most other companies use whatever that means). Because of this I would have had to buy a $250 EC meter which is out of my price range at this time. I am using reverse osmosis water so know that I am starting at a EC range closer to 0. Do you know of any EC meters that work with FF nutrient line (ps due to price, I probably won't keep using FF in the future so an EC meter that is compatible with other nutrients lines would be great?

But currently, I have done what have said so far by using a dilute form of liquid karma (1/2 to 1/3 of the recommend use during the vegetative stage). I have four plants that look like that they have 5 nodes on them. Most of the other plants have 3 nodes on them. I'm having some slight yellowing on my older leaves (I forget the name of them but it is the set of leaves that has the marijuana plant has when it germinates). My younger leaves are'nt looking so hot either. They aren't yellow, but they definitely have that yellowish tint to them. So far, still no root growth coming out the bottom.

Am i missing something here? Also, is it common for the rockwool to get soaked with water? (my sprayers aren't hitting the rockwool of course but they are hitting then nets)

Thanks ahead time for your responses.

check out ebay seller name is e*seasonsgear or eseasonsgear.com, i got the cheapest ppm meter for like $20 its an HM meter, look out for meters that read up to 9999 not 999

PPM meter isnt required as its not your first indicatior.

Going off the chart and watching your plants works very well usually (replace all your water every 1-2 weeks I recon more later in the grow when your using more nuts and they are growing more).

O yea and soaked is bad though they wont suffer to much.

Thanks for the info guys, yeah, my cubes are soaked but I just check today and three of my babes got about 3 inch roots out the bottom .

you should listen to morris and buy a ppm meter, the advice he gave about feeling the weight of rockwool is the only way to know how much water is in them, some even use a scale at first, there are alot of killer growers on here but if you listen to MG you will usally save yourself alot of trial and error, the guys info is as good as it gets, if you listen he can simplify some state of the art growing bro