What mediums can be used for DWC for seedlings?

I have a question about what other type of mediums can be used to grow seedlings before adding them into my DWC rez. What I have been using is called Sun Leaves Starter Cubes (I think)! They are a spongy material about an inch round and 2 inches long. I would start the germed seed in it untill it grew 4 sets of leaves before adding them into the rez. They worked great but I was just wondering if there is anything I could use that's maybe around the house. I was thinking about using cotton balls intill it grew 4 sets of leaves and then add it into my rez in a 6 inch net pot surrounded by hydroton. Has anyone else attempted using cotton or anything else I could find in my house? Thanks in advance for any advice!

HB

Oh... One more thing... Could I just drop the germed seed into the netpot surrounded by the hydroton? Would that work?

rockwool works great.
and you can do anything to a seedling, but if you want it to grow might think about rockwool, it works great.

Dont just set seed into hydroton. Use rockwool cube

Rockwool cubes are the most commonly used (germinate them in the cubes until the root system is showing out the sides of the cube and then place the cube in the hydroton and net pots).

You can actually germinate them directly on the hydroton... But a few issues with that: 1. It is super easy for the seeds to fall through the hydroton and be lost too deeply in the net pots or fall into the reservoir (and have fun trying to empty all the hydroton and find the germinating seeds without harming the taproot). 2. I've even had one seed try to grow a taproot inside of a broken piece of hydroton which completely halted its growth until I very carefully dislodged it and 'replanted' it in the hydroton. Otherwise, young roots just seem to have a bit more trouble getting through/around hydroton in general. 3. It can be hard to regulate how much moisture reaches the seed without having to open and close the lid a lot and bumping things around (see issue #1). 4. Sometimes the taproot has a hard time anchoring on hydroton and the germinating plant either falls over or takes an excessively long time to get oriented and grow upwards/downwards. It can be done but you have to be really careful. I wouldn't say it's a recommended way to germinate... I do it because I'm lazy and just generally don't like rockwool.

Thanks a bunch for all the info! What about what I was thinking with the cotton ball? Does that seem like a good idea? I mean... The tap root will be able to anchor itself to something before I move into the netpot and hydroton. Any comments on that???

HB

People use cotton balls in lieu of paper-towels outside of cannabis circles... I'd bet you could get it to work if you want to go the minimalist route.