Roots shying away from water

i have a plant that is currently still in germination stage i guess, which i've already planted into my net cups. i'm using a system which i was told is aeroponics but from my understanding it's probably closer to bubbleponics. it's just using an airstone with an air pump with suspended net pots. so anyway, out of the 4 plants that have germinated, one of the roots is touching the bottom of the container, one of them just submerged, one of them is absolutely looking to dip in... but the last one is peculiarly shying away from water. it seems as if the roots are, if possible at all, exerting strength to avoid water. is that a bad sign? i mean, from the humidity and bubbles popping right underneath the plant, i figure it won't be dry so it's not a problem. also, this is the plant which is directly above the busiest part of the air stone. could this cause too much oxygen in that area and the roots are shying away from it for some reason?

Roots will seek water. The method you are using works perfectly if, as withall methods, it is done correctly. Read the link below.

yes i obviously understand that roots seek water, because if i didn't then i wouldn't be asking why it is shying away. yesterday i managed to somehow 'fix' the problem by covering the net pot with a white piece of paper to block the light, for some odd reason i thought it would help. strangely, it actually did - the roots dipped into water as per normal after that.

and then, somehow maybe i turned the pots around accidentally or something, the roots curled back up again. this time, i tried covering again and left it overnight. i just woke up to find that the roots have indeed grown away from the water and has formed a loop like a U! as in, the roots are actually moving BACK towards the net pot instead of towards the water.

is there a reason for this? i know maybe the plant has no reason to know which way has more water, but i doubt it's simply just 'confused' plants searching for moisture.

You definitely need netpot covers. You can make them easily from many materials, but you need to block as much light as possible from getting into the res and it does through the netpots. I've been getting those round, flat rubber covers to seal flat drains. Cut a slit to the center, cut a hole an inch in diameter and put one on every netpot.

As for your roots, raise your water level up to the very bottom of the netpots but not over for a few days until the roots drop. You could also use bubbles to keep that airspace between water and netpots wetter than it is. They benefit from a "trail of wetness" to lead them to the water.

thanks for your response. why do we need to hide the light? when is it okay to introduce light? currently, i have a 6-pot DWC setup. 2 of them are still trying to germinate but i suspect they're probably dead but i use a white piece of paper to cover both pots loosely, 2 of the other has germinated and are both now growing stems and leaves, while 2 of them have pretty long roots which are now both almost touching the water after i physically adjusted the roots straight downwards a few hours ago. so far the roots seems to not have shyed away yet, and in fact one of them is barely dipping its toes into the water already. the last four are all exposed to a 105W CFL lamp approximately 4 inches away. the reservoir has been topped with very very mild nutes, i used 1ml each of GH's FloraMicro,Gro and Bloom. so far the leaves that are growing are all healthily green and strong so the nute level should be okay.

The rootspace should be in total darkness. That's why we cover the res with foil tape or paint it white - because some light can penetrate. And it's why we use netpot covers. Much light at all in the res can lead to algae.

Try adding another air stone,I use two one under each row of net pots. I tied a lead weight to each end of them to keep them from floating around..just a thought..

Hi,
I just got my bubble ponics set up, seeds directly in the rockwool cubes and all the stuff going. My biggest question is to get the seed to properly germinate what temp should the water be at? I know from previous attempts where I tried germinating in a paper towel we kept it damp and warm, but in the bubbleponics the water seems to be quite cool to the touch like 65 degrees or so, will the seed still germinate? I've been reading and it seems anything warm will cause alge...

It's the room temp you should be concerned with. Mid to upper 70s is good for this stage. If your room is cooler than that try a small ceramic heater in the grow space on the low setting. Play with it till it keep the temp right. You also want high humidity now, over 50. If it isn't that high consider a cool air humidifier and read upon humidity domes.