How to judge if my rockwool has too much/too little water?

So i planted my seeds on the 9th of may, 9/10 germinated, 1 died, and here's what i noticed. around day 5 I noticed after the 9th seedling hatched, that the plant growth slowed significantly. It seemed they were all growing VERY fast, especially lengthwise. The leaves are pretty small still, all are growing their first set, and it seems like the first two leaves are dying but the newer leaves are doing good.

It seems that the smaller plants are wilting a bit, and feel dry,but constantly have dew drops on them. The stems on all the plants are very very long, so i changed them from their cfl to the 400w yesterday. The rockwool is wet enugh so that it feels a bit damp at the top, but no water is released if i give it a little squeeze.

so i heard somewhere that you can't overwater rockwool unless it's submerged, so in that case i should be more liberal on the water, right?

Any ideas people?

Thanks.

Hugo blocks(4x4 6x6 8x, rockwool mini cubes, granulated rockwool. Specify.

im a very inexperienced grower but the guys at the local hydro store told me to use rapid rooters after i had already planted 13 tomato seeds in 4 days in rockwool. None have really been that impressive. On the last day when i planted 4 of the 13 i also planted 4 in rapid rooters. WOW the rapid rooters are killing the rockwool hands down. if it doesnt give me any trouble by breaking down or anything in the hydro system i will never be going back. the rapid rooters are less dense and it seems to me it would be alot easier for the roots to push its way through. time will tell.

greengenius said:

Hugo blocks(4x4 6x6 8x, rockwool mini cubes, granulated rockwool. Specify.

Click to expand...

2x2 inches, should i include some pictures/

Despite some very viscous rumors on the internet, rockwool is actually very easy to over water, and drooping leaves (pics would really help) can be one of the first indications of over watering.

If you add water do they perk back up? If not, and I know this sounds harsh, but you need to let that wool dry out till the plant just starts to show stress from lack of water and then set your watering schedule to water them just before this time has elapsed.

A fan blowing gently in their direction will help with the stems also.

Good luck!!!!

kpw555 said:

Despite some very viscous rumors on the internet, rockwool is actually very easy to over water, and drooping leaves (pics would really help) can be one of the first indications of over watering.

If you add water do they perk back up? If not, and I know this sounds harsh, but you need to let that wool dry out till the plant just starts to show stress from lack of water and then set your watering schedule to water them just before this time has elapsed.

A fan blowing gently in their direction will help with the stems also.

Good luck!!!!

Click to expand...

Thanks for all your advice man. So I really inspected them closely, and since removing the humidity dome and bringing it under a fan/400w, the rockwool dries FAST. I have been pretty much saturating the rockwool cube (i add water until i see it get dark at the bottom, but not enough so that it drips off the bottom), and it's pretty dry the same time the next day, but it seems to retain enough water to be healthy. Humidity is around 40%. I noticed the growth has commenced again,l but there was some growth stunting for about 3-4 days.

It's now day 11, and of my 10 seeds: 1 didn't sprout, 1 died. 4 are producing a nice looking set of true leaves, and 4 are starting to sprout their second set of leaves. Will add pictures tommorow when the lights turn on again .

Mike7 said:

Thanks for all your advice man. So I really inspected them closely, and since removing the humidity dome and bringing it under a fan/400w, the rockwool dries FAST. I have been pretty much saturating the rockwool cube (i add water until i see it get dark at the bottom, but not enough so that it drips off the bottom), and it's pretty dry the same time the next day, but it seems to retain enough water to be healthy. Humidity is around 40%. I noticed the growth has commenced again,l but there was some growth stunting for about 3-4 days.

Click to expand...

wait what?? You said two inch cube right? yes pics are great! Rockwool is hard to over water and easy to correct. As pointed out, when you have the day to watch them, let them dry out so they "feel" like an empty cube in your other hand minus the plant weight. You should get a good grasp on how dry is to dry from this. Now water them as you normally would and monitor how long it takes them to dry out. Rockwool has excellent air passing qualities. Also they dry out much faster if you take the cover off, I dont do this some do.

Oh yeah, my drip system runs four times during the feeding cycle for about two minutes each time with 1L/hr drippers.