Return of the Spork
Well-Known Member
Well the reasoning I stated was for the soaking.
Of course you don't have to do anything, it is just good procedure.
After soaking with PH water I shake as much as I can out without squeezing and destroying air space. Then I "soak" them in the nute solution for anywhere to a minute to hours.
The reasoning for that is to ensure that everything in the cube at that moment in time is proper ph and proper nutes. If you soaked in PH water and the ph rose because of the limestone as corral said, then after watering with the ph'd nute solution you will get a mixture of whatever was left in the cube and the nutes you added. By soaking it evenly distributes the small amount of old water with the larger amount of nute water. This makes the concentration and the ph difference from the original nute solution very minimal.
Shaking water out is just because in most situations RW holds too much water and is prone to overwatering as while it can hold lots of water while providing oxygen, if you give it a chance to absorb as much as it can, then you lose the airspace in the medium until it dries up.
Of course what works for one person might not work for another. If you soak your cubes and stick the seed in and it works, then keep on doing it. I am just trying to minimize my unknown factors so that if I fuck something up I can more easily identify it.
Of course you don't have to do anything, it is just good procedure.
After soaking with PH water I shake as much as I can out without squeezing and destroying air space. Then I "soak" them in the nute solution for anywhere to a minute to hours.
The reasoning for that is to ensure that everything in the cube at that moment in time is proper ph and proper nutes. If you soaked in PH water and the ph rose because of the limestone as corral said, then after watering with the ph'd nute solution you will get a mixture of whatever was left in the cube and the nutes you added. By soaking it evenly distributes the small amount of old water with the larger amount of nute water. This makes the concentration and the ph difference from the original nute solution very minimal.
Shaking water out is just because in most situations RW holds too much water and is prone to overwatering as while it can hold lots of water while providing oxygen, if you give it a chance to absorb as much as it can, then you lose the airspace in the medium until it dries up.
Of course what works for one person might not work for another. If you soak your cubes and stick the seed in and it works, then keep on doing it. I am just trying to minimize my unknown factors so that if I fuck something up I can more easily identify it.
