I deserved that didn't mean to whine but I've been out of smoke since january and the tension has been getting to me lately. I also lost over 150 seedlings to damping off recently so I've been on edge so sorry about getting a little cranky there. Luckily my last batch of seeds for this strain came out to 500+ so I'm still good but it was still painful to watch my babies die. For starters yes I'm growing in top drip hydroponic systems. I watered the cubes just like I've done hundreds of times over the last decade. Never had these problems before so I was pretty pissed. I'm using a triple poise scale to measure water weight now. It's a very accurate scale for measuring gunpowder charges and I'm shooting for a water weight 4-5x a dry cubes weight.
CLEAN YOUR AREA WITH BLEACH!
EVERYTHING AND EVERYWHERE!
any rockwool you have in stores, needs to spend an hour in the oven at 250 degrees, or get soaked in gin and allowed to dry, then rinsed with water ONLY immediately before use.
store your tools and supplies in a tightly sealed container with an OPEN jar of salt or sugar to reduce the moisture level. when the salt or sugar becomes sticky or clumpy you can dry it by baking it in the oven at ~150 degrees for a few hours or just replace it with fresh.
wash your tools with gin (even cheap shit is fine) before use and before returning them to storage.
keep your humidity LOW and keep the air moving.
install a blacklight (turn it off when your working in the propagation room to protect your eyes)
do not keep fruit, old soil, used implements, old pots, or any other potential source of spores in your propagation area, store that shit OUTSIDE IN THE SUN or clean it thoroughly with bleach or gin before storing it properly
if you have the space and the inclination, construct and maintain a worm farm, this will provide a bountiful supply of not only nutrient rich fertilizer, but a constant colony of beneficial organism which can be used (through the effluent) to inoculate your plants against the various fungal growths of Damping Off
note: gin has powerful and long lasting anti-fungal properties, even the cheap shit. it is also handy for cleaning forgotten thermoses found in the trunk of your car, smelly laundry hampers and tile grout stained with mildew. but if you use it on a plant that plant will die so do NOT apply gin to your plants or the growing media. if you use gin to sanitize your rockwool cubes, rinse them well before using them to sprout seeds as the gin's antifungal properties are also herbicidal. gin is however LESS dangerous to your plants than denatured or isopropyl alcohol which contains chemicals and compounds specifically designed to render the stuff toxic if drunk, to avoid the liquor tax. seriously. it really is just that retarded.
