good germination techniques

itsraininbuds said:
anyone got any good advice for germinating from seed for a DWC?
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I'm also interested in some advice here. I use rock-wool cubes for clones, i imagine they would work for germination but it would always be nice to have more confidence with some advice.
 
Here on both counts. Rockwool is great for both clones and germination. Have 5 Skunk #1 I started last week popping now.

Soak in pH'ed water, put seeds in 5 to 10mm. I seal mine until they pop in a tupperware, burped and checked daily. I leave 1/4 to 3/4 of an inch of water.

Once they pop, I leave the lid on loosely and watch the stems of the sprouts; if it looks like they are thinning, put the lid back on for the day as it bumps the humidity right up.

They stay there until their first true set of leaves, where they may go into a dilute grow DWC or add up to a cup of veg nutes from my grow tank.
 
Sorry, but can't disagree more. Rockwool was great 20 years ago when we had nothing better (my first home made hydro sytem was made of drainage pipe, rockwool and a washing machine drain-pump!) but not now. Awful stuff by modern standards.
I germinate in a plastic box with a lid in my snakes vivarium (85 degrees) then into a root riot cube as soon as popped.
 
cues said:
Sorry, but can't disagree more. Rockwool was great 20 years ago when we had nothing better (my first home made hydro sytem was made of drainage pipe, rockwool and a washing machine drain-pump!) but not now. Awful stuff by modern standards.
I germinate in a plastic box with a lid in my snakes vivarium (85 degrees) then into a root riot cube as soon as popped.
Click to expand...

and that is ok to be put into a dwc with hydroton clay pebbles? how wet do you keep the cube, can you please explain a little more. I have no problem germinating them, but its the getting them to the hydro part that worries me...
 
Start in 1" root riot cubes, then pots of hydroton when the roots poke out, then into dwc when they poke out.
I'm no expert in DWC though so you need more advice. I just don't like rockwool but I'm a flood/drain fella myself so you need help from others.
I just hate rockwool and am sure there are better ways. Sorry I can't help more.
 
Sorry, hate is a strong word. Still beats soil IMO. I use root-riot cubes for my bonsai chillies (seriously), then into coco, then I wash the coco off before going into hydro flood/drain. Sounds scary but works sooooo well! A similar system should be good for DWC, I would have thought but, as I said, It's a different method and really needs more advice from someone more experienced in this method than myself. As I understand it, the nute level are different. Many people on here will help.
 
cues said:
Sorry, hate is a strong word. Still beats soil IMO. I use root-riot cubes for my bonsai chillies (seriously), then into coco, then I wash the coco off before going into hydro flood/drain. Sounds scary but works sooooo well! A similar system should be good for DWC, I would have thought but, as I said, It's a different method and really needs more advice from someone more experienced in this method than myself. As I understand it, the nute level are different. Many people on here will help.
Click to expand...

I have always germinated seeds in a paper towel first for my outdoor plants, and I plan on doing the same because I have always had 90+% success this way. I'm just more or less worried that i might put a germinated seed in some rockwool and it never takes. I've read where they work well with seeds and where they haven't. Haven't really heard bad things about root riot cubes. What I'm worried is that they may be organic and last I knew organic doesn't go well with hydro.
 
To tell the truth, I don't know if they're organic or not. I only know they work. I mainly use them for cloning now and get about 90% success. The only problem I've ever had with them is in heated propogators where they dry out fast, presumably due to the small size.
 
Germinating is pretty hard to completely mess up.. Just ensure they're always damp, in the dark and not at crazy temperatures. And if you use RO water you don't usually have to even adjust Ph.. There are also probably like a million YouTube videos of people doing what you're asking.
 
I'm not trying to fan the flames of opinion by any stretch, but simply stating that for the buck and simplicity, cubes can't be beat. I'm batting 100% on week old Skunk #1 booted up in rockwool.

Aside from blind and subsequently retracted hatred, @Cues, help me understand why this is so bad?
 
Quick question about what direction to put the seed in the rockwool? Pointy end up since that is essentially the base of the leaves?
 
m420p said:
hmmm... alright thanks, I read somewhere pointy end up but you can't always trust what you hear on the net.
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pointy end up, forget that guy

the root comes out the pointy end, goes up THEN goes down, if the pointy end is down it has to find it's way up then go back down again
 
dudeman222 said:
pointy end up, forget that guy

the root comes out the pointy end, goes up THEN goes down, if the pointy end is down it has to find it's way up then go back down again
Click to expand...

dude, I am high as shit and confused. so your saying pointy end down is right?
 
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