First Grow: Need help with Rockwool cubes and hydro system

A

alacn

Member
Hi,


I bought a NFT system from somhydro (a website) with 600 watt light bulb.


Then i got 8 seeds and put them in pre soaked rockwool cubes to help them germinate and then i put the 8 cubes in the tray so that the cubes always get soaked in the NTF system (cas the pump always pumping water around) and i turned the light on.

only a few seeds germinated but they are growing slow.

i have a few questions .

when the roots start showing through the rockwool cubes, wouldnt that cause the plant to die cause of light to root exposure? how do i solve this?

how do i go about watering a rockwool cube? do i just leave it in the NTF system so it constantly soaking up water or do i just dip the whole thing in water every few days?

the temperature in my grow room is quite high, its about 38 degress Celcius, is this bad?


please help this newbie :)
 
I'm not an expert but, I'll take a stab at it. You guys are killing me with this metric stuff. 38C=100.4F, that is just way too hot in general and for young and tender plants? That is a huge light for four seedlings, you don't say how close it is to the plants but, if the temps are 38C I suspect that it is too close. I looked at the system, I think, that you bought and it shows a cover to go over the rockwool, do you have that and use it? If not I would fill the tray with viastone or something so the roots have somewhere to not exposed to the light. As for water, if they are in the system they are soaking in it, I don't suspect that's a problem. To the non gem seeds, I have found that if you put the cube on the lid of an empty marmalade jar, screw the glass on and put it on a heat pad on low with a towel between the pad and the lid more of them will pop. I know that it sounds really ghetto and I'm not proud to write it but, it works for me. If they didn't germ what do you have to loose? Good luck and of course, you results may vary.
 
Hay Alacn welcome to RIU.

You seem to be running a very similar system to me except that I have a 400 watt light rather than the 600.

I found it was much easier to get my seeds started under a cfl light for the first week or so before putting it under the big light as the big light is a little harsh for the baby plants.

Is it 3 inch rock wool cubes you are using? If you go to www.growwell.co.uk you can order rockwell cube caps which cover the cube and stop any light getting to the roots. I also covered the whole top of my NFT system with mylar which also protects the root system from the light and heat above and it seems to have done the trick.

As for your temps thats way to hot buddy, as douglas suggested ts probably because your using the 600 watt lamp too close to your seedlings. Your best bet is to get a CFL light and use it nice and close to your seedling for the first couple of weeks before attempting to put that massive 600 watter in.

I'd suggest you start up a grow journal with some pictures of your setup and post the link here and it means that some of the great folk on here can give you valuable help during your grow. You can check out my grow from the link at the bottom of this post.

I'm looking forward to seeing what kind of results you get with the 600 watt light once you get going. Best of luck dude and if you have any questions dont be scared to ask.
 
BU5T4 said:
Hay Alacn welcome to RIU.

You seem to be running a very similar system to me except that I have a 400 watt light rather than the 600.

I found it was much easier to get my seeds started under a cfl light for the first week or so before putting it under the big light as the big light is a little harsh for the baby plants.

Is it 3 inch rock wool cubes you are using? If you go to www.growwell.co.uk you can order rockwell cube caps which cover the cube and stop any light getting to the roots. I also covered the whole top of my NFT system with mylar which also protects the root system from the light and heat above and it seems to have done the trick.

As for your temps thats way to hot buddy, as douglas suggested ts probably because your using the 600 watt lamp too close to your seedlings. Your best bet is to get a CFL light and use it nice and close to your seedling for the first couple of weeks before attempting to put that massive 600 watter in.

I'd suggest you start up a grow journal with some pictures of your setup and post the link here and it means that some of the great folk on here can give you valuable help during your grow. You can check out my grow from the link at the bottom of this post.

I'm looking forward to seeing what kind of results you get with the 600 watt light once you get going. Best of luck dude and if you have any questions dont be scared to ask.
Click to expand...

thanks fo ryour help, ive ordered a CFL blue light 250 watt for the seedlings in their first few weeks then the plan is to put them in larger cubes and stick em under the 600 watt light bulb.

The biggest problem i have is heat, ive managed to raise the light to about a meter above the plant and ive got a better fan in there now and this has reduced the temperature to below 30 degress C however im worried that having the 600 watt bulb a meter away is too far away from the plant? what u guys think?
 
Is it a closet grow? Do you have an intake fan that brings cold air in from outside the grow room or are u just circulating the air round the grow room/closet/box?
 
BU5T4 said:
Is it a closet grow? Do you have an intake fan that brings cold air in from outside the grow room or are u just circulating the air round the grow room/closet/box?
Click to expand...

well i had just one 9inch fan in there intaking cold air from the outside but that meant leaving my window open in the bedroom to keep it cool, so i went out just now and got a powerful 18inch fan and thats just circulating air in the grow room and getting a bit of cold air from the bedroom. At the moment the temp is at 27 degrees C, the light is 1 metre above the plant and the the plant is shaking slightly due to the air flow.

The slight shaking scares me slightly.
 
slight shaking is a good thing it will toughen up your stems and make them thicker to support more bud.
 
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