Four Simple Questions about Rockwool

[Frosty.McDanknugs]

Hey all. I've never used rockwool and I'm about to take some clones and use it for the first time.

1. I don't have an RO machine. Is it okay to soak the cubes in bottled water, or should I use filtered water, or should I just use tap water that I've aerated for 48 hours? Or are all 3 okay?

2. After soaking them for 15 minutes in the water and a little clone-x solution should I "shake" the cubes to get rid of any excess water or should I put the clone in an absolutely soaked cube? I assume "squeezing" the cube to dry it a little will destroy it.

3. I should PH the water BEFORE putting the cubes in as opposed to after correct?

4. and maybe most importantly, My vegging and flowering ladies will be fed with a PH of about 6.3. But should the cubes be PH'd to 5.5 or something like that? Or to 6.3 and why?

Any other tips or tricks with rockwool would be tremendous!

Thanks!

 

[tobh]

1. Depending on your tap water, it should be fine. I consider tap under 200ppm fine to use. No need to aearate since municipalities are using chloramine now instead of chlorine and chloramine doesn't evaporate like chlorine does.

2. a few swift downward shakes to get the excess water out is absolutely required. you don't want the cubes soaking wet, but you don't want them bone dry. DO NOT SQUEEZE THEM. squeezing will destroy the structures that make rockwool so great.

3. pH the water down to 5.5, then put the cubes in for their soak.

4. Rockwool is hydro -- treat it accordingly. 5.5 - 6.0 pH, can swing a little under 5.5 but try not to exceed 6.0, ever. This has entirely to do with nutrient availability and water uptake of the plant. Clones it doesn't really matter but it's better to start out doing things correctly than to have to correct bad habits later.

Good luck! Cloning in rockwool is a special kind of hell. Many of us prefer rapid rooters, cups of coco, or bubble/aero cloners simply because getting the moisture content just right in rockwool is challenging and they require a lot more maintenance than other cloning methods.

 

[Frosty.McDanknugs]

Thanks! Great reply! What sucks is I just tried Rapid Rooters and murdered 2 trays of clones. Now, even though it probably wasn't the rapid rooters fault, I have Rapid Rooter PTSD and went to rockwool because so many people said it's easy. Now I have anxiety about rockwool. This sucks. If I go back to rapid rooters do I PH them to 5.5ish as well or 6.3 which is where I'll feed my ladies in veg and flower? Thanks again! Great info.

 

[tobh]

i pH any soilless media to 5.8ish, rockwool i go lower just because it's more soilless than peat or coco. if you can get the moisture content right in the cubes, you won't have any issues. it took me several runs of clones to finally get some to root in wool, and even then none of them rooted at the same time. it was a pain in the ass, honestly.