Rockwool Germination Questions.

1st time using rockwool cubes and having difficulty getting past germination.
I don't have any problems getting seeds to sprout in paper towel. I presoak my cubes at 5.5-6 ph for at least 24 hours. Then plant sprout about 1/2" into top of rockwool. Thus far, I have been trying to get them to germ in a jiffey pellet tray with dome that sits on heat mat under P&A flourescent bulb. Should I be putting the cubes in a dixie cup to hold moisture better? Should I wait to use light until the sprout comes out of the cube or put them directly under light?
I have tried researching RIU for these answers and have learned a lot and thank you all for your great posts and pictures. i sure hope to be as successful because paying $120-130/qtr in NC is wrong in so many ways.

Sounds like you live to far east.Move back towards the mountains.You will get better pot at a better price!!!School towns Suck!!

Drifter126 said:

Sounds like you live to far east.Move back towards the mountains.You will get better pot at a better price!!!School towns Suck!!

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I'm sorry to do this to your thread chronic. But drifter did you notice you didn't answer any of his questions at all? Why would you bother posting on this thread if not to be helpful?

This seems to be common practice around here people just post what they want to say then offer no help at all

What does moving toward the mountains have to do with germinating a seed in rockwool?

Now chronic I personally don't geminate in rockwool I do a paper towel and put the germed seeds in the rockwool with a clean pair of tweezers.

You however could put the moist rockwool with the seed inside in a glass jar and screw the lid on half way. Put it somewhere dark and warm ( your heating pad could come in handy) I would do this simply over night then put them under the light and they should sprout out the rest of the way.

Hope I've been helpful.

Thanks Youngling (funny coincidence that my wifes maiden name is Young). i do agree that too many people post irrelevant answers.
How long do you keep them in humidity dome after they sprout from rockwool?

Oh I don't dome them. Usually if you take them out of the dome they can have problems because of the extreme changes in humidity.

Sounds like the same problem I've had ALL summer!! I germ fine using the paper towel method... transport to rockwool, sure-to-grow, soil, have tried them all. Place them under a dome with a heated mat, and that's where my problems seem to start. Do you get "damping off" disease chronic? Mine just turn brown @ the base and eventually fall over.
I’m gonna scribe to your post in hopes that someone wise will come along and provide you with an answer that may help me too.

A few things to check out:

-Is the heat pad too warm? Too much heat will kill the new sprouts off. Shoot for a temperature underneath of 78-80 degrees. If it's too hot, either use a thermostat with the pad, or place a layer of towel, cardboard etc. between the pad and the bottom of your tray.

-Is it too humid in there? I use a dome right after I've put the seeds in the dirt/rockwool, just to keep the top surface from drying out. As soon as any trace of a sprout breaks the soil, I take it off and just mist the medium if it starts to dry out. If the dome is dripping wet, it's too humid and fungus and disease can kill a baby pretty easily.

If your rockwool cubes have a hole in the top where you put your seed, you may want to flip them over and make your own smaller hole in the bottom of the cube. It can hold the seed more firmly, to keep it in contact with the moist rockwool, and keep it from heaving itself out of the cube when it tries to bore down with the taproot.

I might be too warm and too humid. My mat feels warmer than 80 degrees. I did buy it used so the calibration may be off. I'll try this new batch with a a cardboard underneath and only dome it till the sprout comes out. Thanks for the ides about poking hole. The plugs I bought have a slit all the way down the side. I'm sure these are much better for cloning.
Not sure what damping off disease is. My problems have been trying to get the sprout to even clear the rockwool before the cubes dry out.
I do appreciate everyones input. I am trying to grow Greenhouse Seeds Big Bang that I ordered through Gypsy Nirvana. Since I have limited grow space I am going to SCROG under a 600 HPS with a drip feed.

puff*2+pass said:

Sounds like the same problem I've had ALL summer!! I germ fine using the paper towel method... transport to rockwool, sure-to-grow, soil, have tried them all. Place them under a dome with a heated mat, and that's where my problems seem to start. Do you get "damping off" disease chronic? Mine just turn brown @ the base and eventually fall over.
I’m gonna scribe to your post in hopes that someone wise will come along and provide you with an answer that may help me too.

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Sounds like it's getting too hot and humid under your dome. You may have to do the same thing, cut back on the heat by putting an insulating layer over top of your mat, and removing the dome to air them out once in a while. Make sure it doesn't get soggy wherever you are germinating the seeds because damping off is a fungal problem. And make sure to take the dome off as soon as you see signs of life. Good Luck!

freddiemoney said:

A few things to check out:

-Is the heat pad too warm? Too much heat will kill the new sprouts off. Shoot for a temperature underneath of 78-80 degrees. If it's too hot, either use a thermostat with the pad, or place a layer of towel, cardboard etc. between the pad and the bottom of your tray.

-Is it too humid in there? I use a dome right after I've put the seeds in the dirt/rockwool, just to keep the top surface from drying out. As soon as any trace of a sprout breaks the soil, I take it off and just mist the medium if it starts to dry out. If the dome is dripping wet, it's too humid and fungus and disease can kill a baby pretty easily.

If your rockwool cubes have a hole in the top where you put your seed, you may want to flip them over and make your own smaller hole in the bottom of the cube. It can hold the seed more firmly, to keep it in contact with the moist rockwool, and keep it from heaving itself out of the cube when it tries to bore down with the taproot.

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All sounds like solid advice freddiemoney! The point you make about the pre-poked holes in the cubes is something I've been trying to figure a way around for some time now. I mean I know the seed should be nice and snug in the cube... but how to get that done without squeezing the cube??? "Flip it over and make another hole ya idiot"!! It all seems so simple now! Got bogged down in the details... and the bong. Probably should have given it some thought BEFORE lighting up ya think? The fact that all of these rather simple suggestions seem like they came from the mind of a frickin' genius should tell me something about the order in which things should flow... "think first, smoke last"!

I do have one question though. When you have multiple cubes under the dome, and one of your babies pops the surface, do you still remove the dome? And if so, how do you keep the environment humid enough to ensure that the other babies will be happy enough to eventually come up for air? Inquiring minds wanna know!!

Not sure what damping off disease is. My problems have been trying to get the sprout to even clear the rockwool before the cubes dry out.

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"Damping off disease" is another name for Pythium which is a fungal disease that commonly effect youngins'... that's "seedlings" for the rest of y'all. I only mentioned it because it seemed from your original post, that you were getting stuck @ the same place as I have been in your grow. I've gone thru at least a grand this summer in seeds alone with nothing to show for it. Funny thing is, it's not my first or second grow... just in a new location. Anyway, thanks for bringing up the subject and allowing me to rant on your dime.

puff*2+pass said:

I do have one question though. When you have multiple cubes under the dome, and one of your babies pops the surface, do you still remove the dome? And if so, how do you keep the environment humid enough to ensure that the other babies will be happy enough to eventually come up for air? Inquiring minds wanna know!!

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Yeah, I pop the dome right off at that point and rely on the spray bottle if the surface starts drying out. It's not so much that seedlings need a ton of humidity to start, just that you have to keep the surface of the medium moist, and the dome keeps all the moisture from evaporating too quickly. The seed is sitting right at the top of your cube/jiffy puck/dixie cup or whatever you use to germinate, so if you let the top surface dry out, it'll start sucking moisture away from the taproot you're trying to grow under there and kill it. It's all just a balance between too wet and too dry.

No seeds cracked yet, but its only been about 30 hours. Hope to put in soaked rockwool tonight or tomorrow morning. How can I tell when I've shaken enough moisture out ?

It's just experience to tell where the sweet spot is, if they start getting dry on you just give them a mist.

Youngling said:

I'm sorry to do this to your thread chronic. But drifter did you notice you didn't answer any of his questions at all? Why would you bother posting on this thread if not to be helpful?

This seems to be common practice around here people just post what they want to say then offer no help at all

What does moving toward the mountains have to do with germinating a seed in rockwool?

Now chronic I personally don't geminate in rockwool I do a paper towel and put the germed seeds in the rockwool with a clean pair of tweezers.

You however could put the moist rockwool with the seed inside in a glass jar and screw the lid on half way. Put it somewhere dark and warm ( your heating pad could come in handy) I would do this simply over night then put them under the light and they should sprout out the rest of the way.

Hope I've been helpful.

Click to expand...

First of all .He was sayin about the Price of weed.Admiting I didn`t address his issue on germin.I don`t appreciate gettin slammed .That`s all we need is another thread COP dissin me for what I said.DON`T BE SO CRITICAL to jump in with your remarks.Especially when there not needed!!

Drifter126 said:

First of all .He was sayin about the Price of weed.Admiting I didn`t address his issue on germin.I don`t appreciate gettin slammed .That`s all we need is another thread COP dissin me for what I said.DON`T BE SO CRITICAL to jump in with your remarks.Especially when there not needed!!

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Take your own quotes advice. "It`s alot better to look stupid than to open your mouth and prove it"

Btw chronic did this work out for you better?

I was finally able to get my very last Big Bang seed to sprout in a bit of soil and I will just move it to my hydroton (deal with the debris in the resevoir later) and hoping to fire up the 600 HPS by the end of the week. Guess I will save my rockwool for cloning.

I don't know why some of you always seem to argue. Smoke some of that sweet cheeba and cool out. I know most of you are starting to enjoy the summer harvest about now.

I use rockwool cubes to germinate my seeds and have had a 100% success rate on 20 plants so far. I soak my cubes and then place them in a germination tray with a clear dome. I then add about a 1/2" of mild nute solution (1/3 reccommended strength) to the bottom of the tray. Add my seeds and place it in a warm, dark closet. 36-48 hours later, I always have sprouts. The rockwool stays moist because of the solution in the bottom and I have had no need to mist them. I remove the dome when the first leaf unfurls and keep the water level in the tray at 1/2" until I see the taproot penetrate the side or bottom of the cube. From there, right into hygroton and DWC. I have never had to mess with heating pads, or use any special techinques. Maybe you are just trying too hard.

I had exactly the same problem, no trouble getting the seeds to pop in tissue, then once transferred half of them died, I now have it pretty much sorted. Here is what I changed, firstly my rockwool cubes were way to wet, so I started squeezing out a quite a bit of water before transplanting the seeds in to them, which got my average rate up quite a bit but didn't completely fix my issue.

The next thing I changed was instead of letting the seed split then transplanting, I now wait until I have at least 3 to 4mm of root in the tissue before transplanting, putting the seed in the block root down about a seed width below the surface now I occasionally get one out ten planted fail, but majority of the time 100% success.... I am using a heated propogator by the way and I stick the blocks in it for an hour to warm up before transplanting.