How Does Everyone Start Seeds For Hydro?

[slimjimham]

Hey guys, just seeing how you all start seeds since mine take off fairly slow at the beginning.

What I do is use rapid rooters, place in a solo cup with a ziplock over it. I get almost 100% germination this way

I leave them go till they have outgrown the tops of the cups, then transplant into the system ... At this point the roots ate barely popping out of the rapid rooters.

I put a layer of grow stores at the bottom of the net pot, then full around the seedlings, from this point on I topfeed my hand daily... I just put a cup of the res water over each basket.

I seems to take 2-3weeks till the roots drop out of the net pot... Once roots hit I get good growth, but the root growth at first is very slow.

Any suggestions? Should I set up s pump on a timed drip or something.

I dug one of the rapid rooters out around 2 weeks after transplant and there was almost no root growth on it...

I mean it always works but very slow going

Thanks for the help!

 

[DrMcSkunkins]

Take the ziplock off every day and give it a fanning with a folder or folded newspaper, they like high humidity at first but they also like fresh co2 and the drying of the rapid rooter will make the roots grow in search of water. Also putting them on a warming mat or in a room that is around 80F helps.

 

[slimjimham]

It's just when I put them in the system that things take a while to get going...

 

[DrMcSkunkins]

Heating mat for cloning
http://www.hydrogalaxy.com/propagat...-mat-437001/?gclid=CIfR2eOO6s0CFQeraQod1IcGQg

 

[slimjimham]

I appreciate the help but I'm having no problem with cloning or germination. I'm just seeing my seedlings (3-4" or so tall) that I'm transplanting into the net pots, stall out for a few weeks till their roots hit the water.

I just didn't know if maybe people were setting up another pump with drippers or something and if they ran it all the time or on a timer till the roots hit the water in the res.

Or any other technique, like put greatwhite on the outside of the rapid rooter... I haven't done this, would imagine it would make roots explode but don't know if there would be any interference in the 'steril' systems I run... If I topfed with greatwhite it would obviously get in the systems where I run ucroots. Don't know if that would be a problem and can't really afford to find out

 

[UCMENOW]

Slim. I would not recommend putting smaller seedlings into the UC but rather growing until larger in a rockwool cube, indepedent of the system.

Don't modify/complicate your system to accomadate the seedlings, but instead create a small preveg area to get them well under way before transplant into the system.

 

[slimjimham]

Current culture just told me about side ez clone coco starters. I'm trying to figure out what's up but it sounds like you place the coco plugs in your cloner and that lets you get longer roots that way. Like the coco instead of rubber collar

 

[UCMENOW]

If the seedlings are started already I'd consider putting them in a substrate and grow on for a while. Rockwool is a productive and easy choice.

 

[slimjimham]

Yeah, I'll have to figure this out. I've already run tons of the seeds through the system as described but I know that's a better way. Just ordered the ez clone coco seed starters... I'm gonna start a random seed I'm not too fond of to see how they work before I drop the cherished bodhi stock into it.

 

[DrMcSkunkins]

Temperature

Cannabis seeds grow best at 78F (25C). Low temperatures delay germination. High temperatures upset seed chemistry causing poor germination. Seeds germinate best under the native conditions where they were grown. Once germinated, move seedlings to a slightly cooler growing area, and increase light levels. Avoid high temperatures and low light levels, which cause lanky growth.

Air (oxygen)

Seeds need air to germinate. Moist, soggy growing mediums will cut off oxygen supplies and the seed will literally drown. Planting seeds too deeply also causes poor germination. Seedlings do not have enough stored energy to force through too much soil before sprouting. Plant seeds twice as deep as the width of the seed. For example, plant a 0.125-inch (0.3 mm) seed 0.25-inch (6 mm) deep. Household water contains enough dissolved solids (food) to nourish seeds through their first few weeks of life. Although seeds need only 30-50 ppm of nitrates before they germinate, any more will disrupt internal chemistry. Some growers prefer to use distilled water that contains virtually no dissolved solids to germinate seeds.
-jorge cervantes

The clone mat will heat up to between 80 and 90f the perfect temp for seedlings to develop roots. Putting a humidity bag on them is not necessary and may be stunting them from lack of fresh air.

 

[slimjimham]

I use rapid rooters to start seeds and have almost 100% success rates but they stall out hard when transplanted to baskets and their roots aren't touching water...

... Recently tried the.ezclone seed starters, new product for clone machines... First try didn't work...

Started another round in rapid rooters, and things stalled once the roots became exposed... So I tried something new to me, broke the rapid rooters open leaving me with the seedling only

I then took the seedling (3-6" tall) and put them in the clone machine which I only use water in w/ some uc roots, no nutrients

So it's just the foam collar around the seedling... With the root exposed to the sprayer... We'll see how they do but I'm betting well, sketchy part is breaking open the rapid rooter without damaging seedling but I was 4 for 4 no issue.

I figure if I can get a longer root rail to feed through the net baskets the plants won't experience the major stall at transplant

How do you guys do it?

 

[Stumpy420]

Wet napkin and zip-lock. After it pops, I put it root down in a root plug, and place it in a solo cup with no more than a quarter inch depth of water. Then after roots are lengthy enough and healthy enough to my satisfaction I place in final pot and bucket.

 

[Midwestjay]

Yea I'm a paper towel guy. 80℉, dark and just damp. Then roclwool strait into clay pebbles and netpot. And that strait into bucket. Bring the water level about 1" above the bottom of the net and hand water once a day till roots are hanging from bottom of basket. Then set water level 1" below net and your off to the races

 

[Stumpy420]

Their roots need to be in oxygenated water or be splashed and stay wet from the bubbling water. Raise your water level. When I x plant to the net and lava rocks I make sure part of the root reaches the bottom of the basket. Then set my water level above the bottom of the basket. My root plug sits about the middle of the net in all directions.

 

[slimjimham]

Jay, what do you dip after the papertowel?

Don't get me wrong I'm all set getting them going but figure there might be a better way and I have high hopes putting the seedling in the clone machine

 

[Midwestjay]

Jay, what do you dip after the papertowel?

Don't get me wrong I'm all set getting them going but figure there might be a better way and I have high hopes putting the seedling in the clone machine

I realized I kept that too short lol. I elaborated for ya homie

 

[UCMENOW]

Grow the plants learger in rockwool to no less than 4 sets of true leaves before putting into the UC. Should be as vigous and stable as a strongly rooted cutting.

 

[slimjimham]

How do you do the rockwool, in a tray with dippers? @UCMENOW

 

[UCMENOW]

Rockwool can be irrigated a variety of ways including by hand, ebb n flow and by drip. For simplicity sake consider the hand method given you don't need too many plants. You should be able to get good insight form your local hydro store on these irrigation methods.

 

[singularity]

Prune the tap root. Air prune or snap it off when you see it. It won't get damp off.

This seedling is ready to be submerged and will not exhibit slowed growth from it. The explosive lateral root growth helps them emerge and break surface even sooner, so snip it the second you see it or set it up for air pruning.. constant air circulation helps, just keep them moist.

You can grow them for the first few sets of leaves with air pruning too. Just don't let them dry out. You can start watering them like in passive hydro once they have a set of leaves. Just soak them every few hours if it's too hot and they dry too fast but otherwise just keep them moist. No need for cubes of anything or complex watering rituals. Real easy with real results real fast.

The air pruned base will turn into a super thick stump that supports the base in the netpot very well and you can expect it to throw roots out of the rooter within hours of being submerged. Otherwise root growth in a submerged rooter can be slow from a lack of flow around them. This is the right way to do it, and should be one of those "duh" moments.

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