How to water clones in 6 inch rockwool cubes please?

Overgrowtho

Overgrowtho

Well-Known Member
How often and how much should I water clones transplanted into 6 inch cubes?
How much runoff?
How often to flush with r.o. (needed)?
Dry back should be until moist how often?
What PPM schedule should I use?
Any recommended additives such as h202?

Any other tips greatly appreciated!

Note: During my first attempt at 6 inch cubes, my mother plants unfortunately got root rot and browning/decaying lower leaves after 6 weeks or so.... This was not nice. However I was able to salvage 250-300 clones from the 5 mother plants, to fill a new project.... advice much needed!

Thanks
 
Overgrowtho

Overgrowtho

Well-Known Member

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I dont see which one applies to rockwool in veg.

Also for the Athena website, it didnt seem to have the details I was looking for (or I couldnt find it because the part of the website with "procedures" had a 404 error)!
 
ProPheT 216

ProPheT 216

Well-Known Member
Water at least once a day. No need 2 flush. Rw is hydroponic. As the plant gets older you will need to water 3 times a day. Water more often don't go turning up feed strength when she looks hungry

I would recommend Jacks or Athena
 
Overgrowtho

Overgrowtho

Well-Known Member
Did you mean hyroponic or hydrophobic? Both?

How much runoff should there be? 10%?

Once a day seems like much for tiny clones that dont drink much in 6 inch cubes?
 
T

Triplefastaction

Well-Known Member
If your clones went into the 6” block with a strong root system, you need to water a little bit each day to drive oxygen into the block. Yet you still want the block to dry back more than you water, if that makes sense. Keep your water content % going down overall while watering a bit each day.

Once you see roots out the bottom, bring your block up to full saturation and begin your normal program.
 
Billy the Mountain

Billy the Mountain

Well-Known Member
In the future, try the 2" cubes for clones and seedlings. It's much easier to maintain the proper air/water ratio in a smaller volume.
You set them on the 6" cubes once the roots emerge.
 
Overgrowtho

Overgrowtho

Well-Known Member
I already started then in 2 inch and already transplanted them into 6 inch. My questions concern this second phase.
 
T

TheWholeTruth

Well-Known Member
Read the growdan rockwool watering recommendations, directions and tips a lot of things that will help and answer your questions there. High quality blocks are made to hold a good amount of water and good amount of air at maximum saturation if the block hasn't been squeezed or structure altered in anyway. You cant over water them. However personally I always found using h2o2 in the feeding tanks added twice a week kept things good and keeping your water airated as much as possible too. With the better quality blocks I found they would never go completely soggy and would have many air pocket and some damper rather than saturated parts in the block. Some of the bigger blocks when full after afew minutes would naturally get a bit less water in the upper half compared to the lower part. Hope that helps.
Ps if you found that your roots rotted before maybe the blocks were sitting in water flat or the water was too warm, or conditions around the blocks to warm. The good quality blocks will have ridges in the bottom so that they arnt completely flat sitting in run off and air can circulate underneath. If you feel the ridges arnt big enough just cut them out a bit deeper with a box cutting sharp blade.
 
Modern Selections

Modern Selections

Well-Known Member
Hygrozyme is your best friend in Rockwool. 6ml per gallon works great which is less than the bottle says.

Keep your water under 72 degrees if possible.

Water 3 times a day with a pump for 30sec to 1min depending on flow.

If hand watering you will have to experiment.

With clones going from 2"-6" cubes ppm should be in the 500-600 range.
 
calvin.m16

calvin.m16

Well-Known Member
TheWholeTruth said:
Read the growdan rockwool watering recommendations, directions and tips a lot of things that will help and answer your questions there. High quality blocks are made to hold a good amount of water and good amount of air at maximum saturation if the block hasn't been squeezed or structure altered in anyway. You cant over water them. However personally I always found using h2o2 in the feeding tanks added twice a week kept things good and keeping your water airated as much as possible too. With the better quality blocks I found they would never go completely soggy and would have many air pocket and some damper rather than saturated parts in the block. Some of the bigger blocks when full after afew minutes would naturally get a bit less water in the upper half compared to the lower part. Hope that helps.
Ps if you found that your roots rotted before maybe the blocks were sitting in water flat or the water was too warm, or conditions around the blocks to warm. The good quality blocks will have ridges in the bottom so that they arnt completely flat sitting in run off and air can circulate underneath. If you feel the ridges arnt big enough just cut them out a bit deeper with a box cutting sharp blade.
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^^ keep wet at all times, let the plants dictate what ppm to feed, if they look light green, deficient, feed slightly more until things are dialed in. Don't use feed charts it's a bad crutch, use the plants as your feed chart. That is the only way to get optimal results. pH is the only thing you really need to regularly check. I grow 36 15 gal plants at a time and I can't remember the last time I measured EC/PPM. I do measure my pH regularly, I try to stay around 6.0 in Coco both in VEG & Bloom.
 
Modern Selections

Modern Selections

Well-Known Member
Seasoned growers eyeball nutrients just fine I would guess but people just starting out or care about the details (me) will want to measure ppm/ec and ph everytime.

It's like race car tires, the guy running mid pack says well pressure is between 6-13 lbs close enough..and the guy who just won the race by making sure his tire pressure is exactly 11.38 lbs says good enough ain't for me..
 
T

Triplefastaction

Well-Known Member
Overgrowtho said:
I was aiming to keep the blocks at a moisture level of 5 out of 10 to begin with. Does that sound okay?
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Do you have a good moisture probe, or is that just a “close” kind of thing?

I grow in rockwool and use probes But I use 4” blocks. Field capacity (I.e full of water, just starting to get a runoff drip) is usually about 65%. It takes about 5 days for me to see roots out the bottom of the 4” block and at that point my water content is about 40%. But I water - just a bit - every day to pull o2 into the block.

once roots are out the bottom I feed multiple times per day, depending on size of plant. The first cycle of 65% down to 40% water content takes 5 days because no roots yet. But once you get running, you want that % water content drop (at least 15% hopefully) to happen every 24 hours. If it takes longer than that, you’ve got root or watering or environmental issues.
 
Overgrowtho

Overgrowtho

Well-Known Member
Triplefastaction said:
Do you have a good moisture probe, or is that just a “close” kind of thing?
Click to expand...
I am not using a probe, just lifting each block to see how heavy. 5 out of 10 meaning a medium weight.



Modern Selections said:
With clones going from 2"-6" cubes ppm should be in the 500-600 range.
Click to expand...
OKay I had my ppm at 300 so I will bring it up now then. This might be why I am seeing some deficiency!
 
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