Starting seeds without Rockwool?

Hey all...

First time to the boards, been lurking for a while reading the wealth of knowledge available from you all fine people. I have grown once before, a simple WaterFarm setup that yielded a single plant. Nothing too special... Now, I'm ready to roll my sleeves up and get into something a touch more involved.

I have been researching on all aspects of hydro systems. DWC.. E&F.. Aero.. Initially, I was planning on an NFT setup, but ultimately decided on a long channel type of drip system. I have six lengths of 4" PVC, 5 feet each. Each length will accomodate five plants, in 3" net pots with 11" between, and will be grouped in sets of three with walking space in between them. Two 22 gallon totes will hold the nutes, one tote for each side (one side for MJ the other for vegetables, hence the seperate totes). I believe this will better allow me to adjust the two solutions to meet the unique needs of both crops. The totes' location at the end of the PVC runs will facilitate drainage as the drip system runs.

I am thinking of running a continuous drip from 180 degree adjustable stake sprayers fed to each plant, through a Hydroton medium.

However - a lot of you recommend starting seeds in rockwool plugs. These plugs are transferred into larger cubes, and then into Hydroton or whatever aggregate as the medium in a typical DWC or Ebb & Flow setup. Now, I have a problem with the water retention of rockwool - there's no way to run this continuously without waterlogging the root system. So I would like to know - is there another way of germinating seeds, at least until they are large enough to place in the Hydroton, other than RW? I have successfully germinated seeds in wet paper towels and allowed their radicle to extend a good 2"-3" before removing them for planting - are there any other ways to do this? I would like to do this without running timed cycles - something about the constant flow that I enjoy I guess.

Thanks in advance!

Try Rapid Rooter plugs, they work very well and i've been having a 100% germination rate since using them. Also i'd look into this thread, great info, this is how I germinate my seeds as well.

https://www.rollitup.org/subcools-o...g-subcool-redundant-explanation-pictures.html

I am less than new at this, but I was very pleased with just dropping them into a small cup with a little distilled water, placing them in a dark cool spot (68 or so degrees) and in less than 2 days, almost all cracked. As soon as they cracked, I placed them in 1.5" stg cubes (they don't hold water nowhere near what rockwool does) and so far, 9 outa 12 have sprouted in 4 days or less. I now have them under a light on a drip system, till they are ready to go to the veg room. Please note once again, this is my first attempt at this.

Peace and Good Luck M8

Asmallvoice

Thanks for the great info guys. I'm setting up a 30 gallon tote with 15 sites, recovery drip system for the seedlings til they are big enough to veg. I'm running out to the hydro store today, I'll keep my eyes peeled for those STG cubes!

ASMALLVOICE, what type of drippers are you running? For the seedlings I was thinking of pairing a 300GPH pump with 15 adjustable button drippers to feed them.

You don't HAVE to transfer the small rw cubes into the larger rw blocks.

When roots are first starting to poke out of your small 2" rw cube, transfer it into your hydroton system. Or even just put the rw cube in the system right away.

Lexicon said:

Thanks for the great info guys. I'm setting up a 30 gallon tote with 15 sites, recovery drip system for the seedlings til they are big enough to veg. I'm running out to the hydro store today, I'll keep my eyes peeled for those STG cubes!

ASMALLVOICE, what type of drippers are you running? For the seedlings I was thinking of pairing a 300GPH pump with 15 adjustable button drippers to feed them.

Click to expand...

I am running an octo bubbler and a 160gph pump and adjustble 2gph drippers from Home Depot. With that 300 and 15 drippers, should workout just right for you. I got the 1.5" and the 4" stg cubes from ebay(cheap)

Peace and Good Grows

Asmallvoice

You start the seeds in the rockwool cubes PRIOR to putting them into whatever system you are using. Once they get to a couple of nodes, then transplant them to the hydroton or whatever and they should be fine. Possibly you can start them directly in your system but I think a higher survival rate is insured by pre-starting them.