So what happened with those seedlings is that nutrient solution was 200ppm. On that specific sprout I actually pushed it down into the rockwool too far when the taproot was so small. Because I place the seedlings directly into my running system to soon, the nutrients actually got on the leafs as they opened causing burn. IF I took my 200ppm solution and sprayed it on the top of any new node, it would grow up like this all broken. The leafs can handle RO water without damage but not my solution. So my last time I did it, with these 6 plants I just allowed the taproots to become bigger before placing into cubes. When I place into cubes the shell or opening set will be about 1/4 inch above the rockwool. This way they cant get any of the nutrient solution on them.
My reasoning for doing it like this is it eliminates top feeding and faster growth in my opinion. Since im fallponics the surface level of my water is the most oxygenated. Rockwool works great for wicking up short term, it just tends to hold nutrients the plant wont use. So i wick up, i do not fully submerge it until the roots break the netpot. Once I know there are quite a bit of roots outside the rockwool, I raise my water levels so that the entire cube is submerged. I want every single root to be under water. I would say leaving a gap is more of an aeroponic addition. Meaning the bubbles mist up the roots and the rockwool, but if I were to leave a gap, I would just convert the entire system into aero. Not to mention my growth rates are substantial when compared to most.
Because im fallponics with airstones and a pump, i feel its very hard to compare the surface 02 levels to that of DWC. I have actually heard from a good source that keeping them fully submerged should help them pull up nutrients and water faster, as long as the water has enough o2.
As for my clones, I feel they will love the system as long as they have enough roots that say a seedling would have when it entered my system. So if I got a few inches of roots already, these clones should really take off in my system. Now if that rockwool was drying out and needing topped off like soil, I just dont see how the growth rates could compare to a medium that keeps the roots always saturated, like aero or rdwc.
Its a fun debate ive seen hashed out over and over on here, cant really know for sure unless theres a legit side by side done, which is near impossible to do, someone can always say well this wasnt actually the same. . Perhaps one day ill have some evidence to back up my claim, right now its just based upon personal preference.
