I am pretty new to growing about 3 years in and any help would be great. I was wondering what you guys and girls prefer to germinate your seeds in? And why do you prefer to do it that way. I am gonna run my first RDWC grow and kind of worried about it. I will have to germinate in either root riot cubes or rockwool. To be honest I have tried them two ways in the past and I had very bad luck and it was multiple times. Only way I have a success is glass of water then paper towel then into soil. I need help in a way that will work for RDWC. Thank you for any help you can provide.
Hello everyone does there own thing me personally i run dwc an i put a cup of light warrior seed starter right on top of my clay pebbles wet it down with ph water 5.7 put my seed in an 3 to 4 days shes up…i don’t like to transplant unless they are clones don’t like to cause the unneeded stress🤗
I lost $100 worth of seeds on my second grow and I was mad. The old cup of water and paper towel method had failed miserably. I created a thread called THE PERFECT GERMINATION METHOD IF YOU FOLLOW DIRECTIONS.
All I can say is a picture is worth a thousand words. Those seeds all grew to mature plants. That picture was taken 5 grows ago and I’ve not had a germination failure since.
Pepe
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I used the same germination method you did. Except instead of putting seed into dirt it goes into the little hole in a rockwool cube root down. I presoak the cubes into ph adjusted water and squeeze out most the water so it’s just heavy damp. Not dry not soaked. Then placed into a container with a clear dome. Keep warm and humid until the plants show roots at the bottom of rockwool. Then I placed into net pots with clay pebbles.
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Ask ten people…get ten diff answers.
I run DWC. Aerated 5 gallon buckets. The hydrogen water soak method is a good start.
Once tap root is 1/4"+ long…I move to clear cup of soil. Once roots cover the clear cup, I gently wash off the dirt in a bowl of ph’d water. Transplant to a 2" cage with a soft foam cloning collar to support the seedling. Once the leaves have 4 sets, I move to the final home, a 5" cage with clay pebbles. I leave the soft foam cloning collar as support for the plant…after two weeks the roots are solid and the cloning collar is removed.
Best to water from top till roots are out of cage and hanging to absorb nute solution. Dun let water level touch 5" cage…space it to about 2"+. Good aeration is essential.
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You are right everyone has their own way. If it was clones I would have no worries. So you have not had many issues with washing off the roots? I have thought of that and have seen it done but was worried about stress. You say to top feed your plants by hand watering until the roots reach the nutrient solution. Can you give me a idea on how often you would have to hand water them to keep them moist enough that they can feed. My concern is that since I work a 8hr shift everyday other than the weekends will they be ok or do you have to water much quicker than that? And I should have plenty of aeration it will be 2 big air stones per bucket as well as a pump that is going to dump water in above the water line and pull it back to the res and just keep recirculating the water to 4 bucket system.
I did 1 cup a day top fed. I tried to do it right when the lights came on. I poured it in a circle outside of the rockwool so that the clay got wet and any roots it has get the water. You don’t want the rockwool to stay wet. That can cause stem rot.
Well that’s not so bad easy enough. I just was not sure about how often to feed that way. I figured that it would be more than that but I wont complain that sounds great. I would like to ask a couple more questions if you don’t mind. You mentioned not to let the water to touch the bottom of the net cup so I assume the aeration will be good enough to keep the bottom of the hydroton wet. and how deep are you putting the seedling down in the hydroton in a 5’’ net pot? Are you putting it down pretty deep and backfilling till its above the net pot. Or are you just placing it into a 5" net pot that is full and placing the seedling up higher and relying on the hand watering only?
I tried to leave the rockwool towards the top. Just fill in around it. Others do differently. Yes you want a air gap between the water level and the pot. If your aeration is good the bottom of the pot will be wet from the bubbles. Mine if I get the water within 2 inches of the pot the bottom half is soaked. But for seedlings that’s not as bad. Just lower the water as the plants get roots into it.
Awesome thank you very much for your time and advice it is very helpful.
the only hydroponic system I have run in the past was aeroponics. that was a whole different deal though was not to hard to grow with. but I am new to DWC and trying new ways don’t set well with me. And the price for good beans is not cheap and I just want to up my chances to get them going. I just don’t know what to expect from DWC.
I hear ya on the bean prices. Just remember the most important things in hydro are water and air. As long as you got those two things covered the plant won’t die in a matter of hours. So there’s not much the great minds here can’t fix.
Thank you! And hopefully I have a smooth go at it and I will make sure that the much needed air is in check. And I will make sure it stays at a proper PH and PPM,s and hopefully it goes well. Thank you again.
read my long post…seedlings go to a 2" cage…after 3 or 4th set of leaves…goes to the 5" cage. Affordable 6" long aquarium air stone supplies constant aeration n water movement.
Aeration will keep interior moist. Keeps roots moist. Water from top twice a day until roots are grown past bottom of cage. Once that happens…it’s self feeding.