Newbie needs help with a hydroponic system

Okay. I wasn’t sure if my rockwool cubes were moist because I haven’t opened the pack. I believe I have 2inch cubes as well, but I have a 6 inch hydroponic basket. I’ll use your advice. The hydroponic kit I bought came with soil grow stuff to start and I had to address that along with other issues with the owner. Incompetent stuff nonetheless. So I am working with soil kit stuff even though I am using a hydroponic kit. But I’ve digressed…

Thanks for the input.

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@TommyRuxpin take your seed out of the water and wrap it in a damp paper towel. Your seed should be split, typically you will soak the seed for 24 hours then wrap in the paper towel. Keep the paper towel damp, dark and warm. After 24 hours or so your seed should have a white tail sprouted. From that point you will go tail down into your wet rock wool cube. Poke a hole in the rock wool deep enough for the seedling and tail to drop in. You want the top of the seed just below the surface of the rock wool.

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Not true- once your seedling is in the cube sprouted put it in your tent under the light. Move your light all the way up to the top of the tent. Turn your light down to 50%
Keep the cube damp but not saturated. I don’t use rock wool but I put my root cups in a Pyrex dish and put the water in the dish not on the top of the root cup. Seedlings will not get enough light in a window sill, your plants will end up stretching which is a byproduct of not enough light. You can see a post of mine from back in November to see what a stretching seedling looks like :joy::joy::man_facepalming:t3:

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@Flyinbrian78

When I put my seed in the damp paper towel which I will do now, in a dark place (a drawer), is my room temperature of 75 degrees, warm enough?

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@Flyinbrian78

My seed has been germinating for 48 hours and has not split yet. I placed it in a damp paper towel.

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Good solid advise above. I would leave it in the paper towel for no more than 15-24 hr. If still no tail, place it in your medium, pete pellet, rapid rooters or rockwell cube. Put that in your netpot however you choose to grow and set in the grow pot.

Set that under dome like mentioned above under your lights. Keep warm and slightly moist.
Once your seedling has hatched, the cotyledon leaves will feed off the seed roots and the moisture inside the dome area for the first two weeks.
Good luck! :+1:t2::v::sunglasses:

@HappyHydroGrower

Thanks, boyz! Appreciate the advice. I have 19 additional seeds.

If it doesn’t sprout by tomorrow, should I still place it in my rockwool cube or try to germinate another seed?

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I’d give that seed at least 4-6 days to break ground. Some can take up to a week and some in a day or two. They’re like kids. They’re all different. :+1:t2::v::sunglasses:

You don’t want to put it in your drawer, it needs air. I put mine on top of my cable tv box. Anything like that will work, main thing is you want to avoid temperature fluctuations. It doesn’t need to be in total dark just keep it out of direct light, keep it damp but not saturated and keep it warm.

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Sprouting is hit or miss. I recently wet a white widow and a gelato seeds. In two days the white widow cracked open. In the third day, the white widow went into rock wool. The gelato had not cracked so I added a second seed. On day five both gelato seeds had tails and went into rock wool. Three days later I have two gelato sprouts and the white widow may or may not pop.
Be sure you have a good bubbler to “boil” under the basket. I prefer one with suction cups as the little lady will want to move it around.
I’ve been using general hydroponics nutes. I think the initial mix is 1/4 tsp per gal of each (plus cal/mag) I usually “baste” the rock wool and basket for the first couple days right out of the bucket just to be sure they don’t dry out before the roots find their way out of the net pot.
In a 6 inch net pot you could conceivably plant two on opposite sides. But they will adapt and share what resources are available. You will soon see that one plant’s root ball will fill that bucket.

@omeyer @HappyHydroGrower @Retiredoldguy @Flyinbrian78

Gentlemen, seed didn’t sprout in my paper towel method last night, so I placed it in a moist rockwool cube, lights at the roof of my tent are 50%, temperature is 82F and humidity is 30%.

Do I wait 5 days or so and hope the seed sprouts or should I try germinating another seed?

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@TommyRuxpin as @HappyHydroGrower said sometimes they don’t pop a tail but they start growing eventually. If you have extra seeds I would get another one soaking, nothing to lose. I germinate extra seeds to make sure I get 3 good sprouts, I have 3 buckets in my set up and try to keep them in synch with each other.

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@Flyinbrian78

Okay, will do. I like when things go smoothly and according to plan. This must be the grow gods initiating me…

One of the toughest questions in the grow cycle. I would rather have an extra ready to plant than the waiting and wondering.

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