my dwc seedlings not growing

yorban

Member
hello. i have my baby plant in a 5 gal bucket w/ an airstone. my seedling has the first 2 true leaves and the cotyledons are out, but not growing... last night I pulled out the rockwool cube its in and put the tap root directly in water in the area where the airstone is making all the bubbles, but i read it might not be getting any oxygen that way. So now I have the rockwool cube sitting on some gravel in a cup with some holes, it is about and inch or two above the water. any ideas?
 

dudeoflife

Well-Known Member
Um.... Trying to visualize this....um....

First of all, how wet is the rockwool cube? Drenched? If so, it'll be a while before you see anything happen.

If you can put that taproot directly in the water like you say you did, go ahead and do that. How you you figure it's not getting oxygen if the root is sitting in water that is full of oxygenated bubbles??

Shit man, I'm really lost here.

Picture, sketch, whatevs, please.
 

Flo Grow

Well-Known Member
Did you soak the rockshit cube (hate them) in ph'd water first ?
What are your ppm's ?
What are your temps ?
PH should be 5.8/5.9, not 6-ish.
 

Weedler

Well-Known Member
That's how mine are setup. I did notice a slight slow down as roots got developed mine are taking off about 3 weeks from seed. If you posted a real photo & not a drawing more people would chime in... Keep it in the bucket it will grow. I hope its light proof.
 

Flo Grow

Well-Known Member
Go peep Weedler and BeaverHuntr's 5gal COOLERS for DWC !!
The kind at sports games for the Gatorade..............
 

yorban

Member
no nutrients in water , temps are like low low 70s, is that too low? i might turn off fan and warm things up for a night.
 

Flo Grow

Well-Known Member
No, temps need to be in the mid-60's !
Did you test the ppm's ? There's some minerals in there !
 

dudeoflife

Well-Known Member
ROFL. Love the picture! Since you took the effort to do that much I'll chime in...

You're at the "make it or break it" stage.

This is the stage where if the seedling doesn't send that little root in the water, it'll just sit there. It'll probably die.

So, how do you coax that little bastard into doing something?

Well, first of all, that little root will only move if it can find an environment that is better than the one it's in. Since it's just a seedling and has enough energy to go for about 2 weeks, its only goal is to find water.

SO, if it is sitting in a rockwool plug that is heavy with water, absolutely nothing will happen!

You first step is to assess whether or not the net pot has an excessive amount of moisture inside of it. If the rockwool plug is heavy, gently pull the plug out of that net pot, so as not to damage that delicate little root, and give that plug a firm shake. Jerk it around a bit to pull all that extra moisture out and return to the net pot.

Gently place the rockwool plug and place the root at the bottom of the net pot, to expose it to the mist from the bubbling beneath it, and cover with the geolite.

Which bring me to my next 2 questionw:

How much is it bubbling? And how close is the water?

From your illustration, it appears as thought the water is a little too far away for this troubled plant. You want about an inch of clearance-- the bottom of the net pot to the h20 level. Half inch is best. But not touching the net pot.

Those little splashing bubbles will coax that root into the water, which you need to adjust.

Ideally you keep your ph around 5.5-5.9, as k gets locked out when the ph goes above 6 in DWC/Hydro.

Ph'd water isn't THAT huge of a priority right now, believe it or not, since all that little root wants to do is find water. But adjusting the ph will not hurt, as well as adding a minimal amount of a vegetative blend of fertilizer. Again, that's making the water more attractive than that wet rockwool cube!

Good luck
 

yorban

Member
thanks, i rang the cube out and raised the water a bit, just gonna cross my fingers and hope for the best now
 

dudeoflife

Well-Known Member
But you did just confirm that the rockwool plug was soaked/wet.

Now, as it dries, you will hopefully see something within the next 3 days. Do NOT add any more water to that net pot.

Holla if nothing happens.
 

stelthy

Well-Known Member
Hi dude, just wondering what light you have your baby under? whats the ambient temp of the room? ...as long as your water in the rez. has lots of O2 bubbles flowing through it (room temp) and the rockwool cube,(moist), I presume in a net pot + hydro-clay balls.... is sitting level on the top of the water, or a couple of CMs under the water level,water should be nearing PH 6.5 -(piss yellow) the room temp should be between 22 and 26oC also make sure no light is getting through to that little root system.. and you have good air circulation in the room (in/out-fans) and possible some small amount of veg/rooting nuits in you PH balanced rez. the rest is down to seed genetics, and luck. Hope this help's man - STELTHY
 
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