Should I move to DWC yet?

[Sykemfs]

I have two seeds in rockwool. One popped yesterday and the tap root is already coming straight out of the bottom of the Rockwool. Maybe 1/8 to 1/4 inch. Should I keep it in the RW for a bit or put it into the dwc? It seems like it is too early, but want to see what everyone else thinks. Thank you!!!

 

[MHOGSMI]

Depends how far down in your net you're willing to plant it. What size net pot ya got? You plan on watering by hand and using a dome until it can reach adequate moisture/water? I use the 6in net pot that have the cone in the middle specifically for this reason. I can plant what you have right ontop of the cone and bubbles/moisture can get to the roots right away where as if I planted that ontop/in first 2in of hydroton. The water might not wick up 4in of hydroton. Which then I'd water by hand and use a dome for 3-4days until the roots have made it far enough down to hault hand watering and dome use. Just my 2cents....Also. your question about keeping it in RW or moving it dwc system, you don't plant on removing the plant from the RW do you? You should be planting RW and all into you net pot/system.

 

[Sykemfs]

I have 3 inch net pots and 4 air stones. 17 gallon reservoir. No, I'm not taking them out of the Rockwool. I misworded the question. I was wondering if I should keep them in the seedling containers they are currently in or if I should move them to the net pots. I was going to put a layer of hydroton and then the rockwool

 

[MHOGSMI]

That's how I've done it and have been told. The faster it gets acclimated to it's net pot, the roots take hold, the faster your lady takes off. Plus less handling and chance of damaging the taproot. I'd go 1.5in layer on bottom. Fill around and cover RW to prevent mold...

 

[MHOGSMI]

I'd first set everything up the way you see it in your head. Get your system up and running, make sure water is ph'd 5.8-6.0. Put your layer of hydroton in. Let the bubbles run for 15min. See how wet your layer of hydroton is. This will give you and idea of how much water will be making it to your taproot. Adjust water level from there. Waters your water ppm look like no nutes/from the tap?

 

[Sykemfs]

I'd first set everything up the way you see it in your head. Get your system up and running, make sure water is ph'd 5.8-6.0. Put your layer of hydroton in. Let the bubbles run for 15min. See how wet your layer of hydroton is. This will give you and idea of how much water will be making it to your taproot. Adjust water level from there. Waters your water ppm look like no nutes/from the tap?

I did not even see your reply, sorry. I have 3 inch net pots. I got it into the hydroton, about 2 layers below the RW. It seems like it was getting too wet. A small piece of the root tip turned darker and broke off. It has grown a bit, but not much. No roots poking through anywhere. And the leaves are turned down, which I assume is over watering?I realized that the reservoir hadn't been changed in a while. I have only used straight water in there and didn't think to change it. I did notice a slight slime, so I sanitized the reservoir, and then put her back under the lights, but on top of the hydroton to let it dry out. I hope I can salvage it. What do you think? Also, with mostly tap water (some RO in there) and hydroguard, my PH keeps rising after I PH down. I did it twice today. Have you had this happen? I read that sometimes low PPM can cause this, or buffers in the tap water. I added some root 66 and sugar daddy at 1/4 strength and have a ppm of 150 now. Hoping this stabilizes it. I haven't had much luck with hydro so far. I can't seem to get them past this size without killing them.

 

[JadedMarxist]

What's the sugar daddy? If it's a carb supplement stop using it. I was using it in my dwc and got a clear slime because carb booster so I've been told is not for dwc only soil

 

[JadedMarxist]

Maybe it's just the lights but your RW looks real dry and it should be covered by hydroton I think.

 

[Formallyhap]

ya cover the rockwool, it dries out way too fast to have it up like that with a seedling.