Rockwool, how do you feed

G

Greennner

Well-Known Member
Iam interesstet in how you feed your plants in rockwool.

It seem like every Body does it a bit diffrent.

I have heard from people feeding 1 to 10times a day
And from 100ml to 2l with each watering
(In cubes 4×4-6×6 with and without slab)


Heard of Runoff 0-50% ,but i read the most 10-15%
Dryback to 25-60%

How much space between the cubes ?
How Big your cubes (4×4 /6×6 ...)
With slab or without

What do you do ,prefer
 
Last edited:
kingromano

kingromano

Well-Known Member
multifeeding with top drip is the way to get the best results

in bloom, you want to stop your last irrigation in order to get the right dryback the next morning

the next morning you start your first irrigation 1 or 2 hours after lights turn on, and give as much shots needed to get your saturation 2 hours after around midday

like you see on the graph, you want to slowly irrigate the block to re-wet it, never in one big shot


the most important is the night dryback
you want bigger dryback in bloom, to stimulate generative growth

here are the good numbers for rockwool water content:

veg: 75-50% water content. which makes around 25% dryback
flowering: 60 %-35% water content
which means 60 % WC at saturation and 35 % water content the morning just before giving the first shots of the day

about the "size of the shots"
100ml shots is what jungle boys and other 6x6 growers usually use. it make a 3% shot (3% of the volume of hugo is approx. 100ml)
small shots in veg (2%) and bigger shots in flower (3-6%)

if you use slabs you need to recalculate the dose size of your shots, its pretty easy

1578919117066.png



about you runoff ..you want bigger runoff in veg than flower
around 50 % runoff for first watering after transplantation, then 25% max runoff in veg and around 10% runoff in flower

bigger runoff => wetter substrate

10 % runoff for exemple doesnt mean you want 10 % drain on each watering
its 10 % of the total volume of the day that must finish in drain bucket.. and this runoff happen 2 hours after first irrigation to flush the salts accumuated during the night ( because of the night dryback)
if well managed the buildup is moderate and easy to flush

you use this 10 % runoff each day as a tool to guess if your watering not enough/ enough or too much
in bloom if youre getting the runoff before midday, after just 2 or 3 shots of 100 mL, it means your watering too much

sorry if i'm not clear
i can explain again
 
G

Greennner

Well-Known Member
kingromano said:
multifeeding with top drip is the way to get the best results

in bloom, you want to stop your last irrigation in order to get the right dryback the next morning

the next morning you start your first irrigation 1 or 2 hours after lights turn on, and give as much shots needed to get your saturation 2 hours after around midday

like you see on the graph, you want to slowly irrigate the block to re-wet it, never in one big shot


the most important is the night dryback
you want bigger dryback in bloom, to stimulate generative growth

here are the good numbers for rockwool water content:

veg: 75-50% water content. which makes around 25% dryback
flowering: 60 %-35% water content
which means 60 % WC at saturation and 35 % water content the morning just before giving the first shots of the day

about the "size of the shots"
100ml shots is what jungle boys and other 6x6 growers usually use. it make a 3% shot (3% of the volume of hugo is approx. 100ml)
small shots in veg (2%) and bigger shots in flower (3-6%)

if you use slabs you need to recalculate the dose size of your shots, its pretty easy

View attachment 4455444



about you runoff ..you want bigger runoff in veg than flower
around 50 % runoff for first watering after transplantation, then 25% max runoff in veg and around 10% runoff in flower

bigger runoff => wetter substrate

10 % runoff for exemple doesnt mean you want 10 % drain on each watering
its 10 % of the total volume of the day that must finish in drain bucket.. and this runoff happen 2 hours after first irrigation to flush the salts accumuated during the night ( because of the night dryback)
if well managed the buildup is moderate and easy to flush

you use this 10 % runoff each day as a tool to guess if your watering not enough/ enough or too much
in bloom if youre getting the runoff before midday, after just 2 or 3 shots of 100 mL, it means your watering too much

sorry if i'm not clear
i can explain again
Click to expand...

Thanks fot that,
Dont need to explan Again;)
That Sound realy great, but it seems to need more work than a ebbe andflow with hydroton.
So iam still not sure i want to switch
 
kingromano

kingromano

Well-Known Member
Greennner said:
Thanks fot that,
Dont need to explan Again;)
That Sound realy great, but it seems to need more work than a ebbe andflow with hydroton.
So iam still not sure i want to switch
Click to expand...
yeah its the complicate way
as long as you dont water at night, dont over 25% of runoff everyday and let the rockwool get lighter during night during bloom your'e perfect
dutch also use mapito in ebb flood system which is way easier lol
simple but amazing i find .. i never see these tech on these forum
type m
"mapito wiet" in google
 
G

Greennner

Well-Known Member
kingromano said:
yeah its the complicate way
as long as you dont water at night, dont over 25% of runoff everyday and let the rockwool get lighter during night during bloom your'e perfect
dutch also use mapito in ebb flood system which is way easier lol
simple but amazing i find .. i never see these tech on these forum
type m
"mapito wiet" in google
Click to expand...
Oh yes, i know mapito amazing results !
Thes durch guy have some realy nice Videos on YouTube

But i have never seen it some where else.
A frend of a frend use it, HE told me that he makes big big yield with this system (only thing i know, je handwaters the First 2-3 weeks)
 
Last edited:
zypheruk

zypheruk

Well-Known Member
kingromano said:
yeah its the complicate way
as long as you dont water at night, dont over 25% of runoff everyday and let the rockwool get lighter during night during bloom your'e perfect
dutch also use mapito in ebb flood system which is way easier lol
simple but amazing i find .. i never see these tech on these forum
type m
"mapito wiet" in google
Click to expand...
Quick question if i may, im currently trying 6x6 inch cubes feeding by hand atm but will be installing drip lines soon not a problem. What is the best temp to have the rockwool blocks at as mine are sitting around 24c in veg atm.
Cheers
 
kingromano

kingromano

Well-Known Member
zypheruk said:
Quick question if i may, im currently trying 6x6 inch cubes feeding by hand atm but will be installing drip lines soon not a problem. What is the best temp to have the rockwool blocks at as mine are sitting around 24c in veg atm.
Cheers
Click to expand...
if your spreaking about room temperature i like them to stay around 24/25celsius at transplantation .. you dont want the rockwool blocks to become too hot, and as they stay several days without watering at the beginning if your room temps are too hot they can become too hot too .. and bad oxygenated
then when i start to feed again i try to increase a bit the temp and the rh also .. the key is to stay as possible in the vpd ..

for veg 24 celsius with 60 % rh is nice .. plants love tropical climate with higher temps and rh, especially sativa dominant strains

some swear by high temps /rh in veg/flower, with 29 celsius and 80 % rh ( just decrease the last weeks of course ..staying in the vpd, always)
with co2 thats how you can get the higher growth rates

but 25 degree 60 % rh is wiser maybe.. i stick to ths with my cheese and cookies, these indica dont seems to like these "tropical climates"
 
zypheruk

zypheruk

Well-Known Member
kingromano said:
if your spreaking about room temperature i like them to stay around 24/25celsius at transplantation .. you dont want the rockwool blocks to become too hot, and as they stay several days without watering at the beginning if your room temps are too hot they can become too hot too .. and bad oxygenated
then when i start to feed again i try to increase a bit the temp and the rh also .. the key is to stay as possible in the vpd ..

for veg 24 celsius with 60 % rh is nice .. plants love tropical climate with higher temps and rh, especially sativa dominant strains

some swear by high temps /rh in veg/flower, with 29 celsius and 80 % rh ( just decrease the last weeks of course ..staying in the vpd, always)
with co2 thats how you can get the higher growth rates

but 25 degree 60 % rh is wiser maybe.. i stick to ths with my cheese and cookies, these indica dont seems to like these "tropical climates"
Click to expand...
Thank you for taking the time to answer, im just concerned about the root zone, ambient temps in the space is well under control.
 
kingromano

kingromano

Well-Known Member
yeah
a thing is sure

water temp makes a big difference

you ideally want relatively hotter water temps for veg ..

drain to waste is totally different of dwc for water temperature,
in dwc 18 degree is ideal because over 20 degree without the right additives you are exposed to root rot
oxygenation in these "active hydro" systems is dependant of the dissolved oxygen in the water
and as you know colder water= more oxygenated

but in rockwool watering at 18 degree is far from ideal ( except in end bloom)
because in ''passive system'' like (dtw, flood/drain...), the oxygen is obtained during the dry/wet cycles
at repoting in mapito i water at 23 degree to get the best results, some even do 24 ..
you will veg 2x fast at 23 than 18
but you have to be sure to keep the root zone at 23 no more .. mapito technique have th advantage to keep the root zone always cool
you dont have the light heating on the trays/blocks because all the square pot are side by side, the bottom is dark
real difference

do you use grodan grosens or other meters to monitor WC and temp in the root zone ?
 
zypheruk

zypheruk

Well-Known Member
@kingromano the only meter im using for the rockwool cubes is a little aquarium temp gauge with a probe stuck in the middle of the cube about 1 inch up from the bottom and usually reads around 22-23c, i reckon it was the best place to insert it as thats where most of the water resides as your aware. I grow in a cabinet so expensive meters just wouldnt make sense for such a small scale grow.
 
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