net pot water level question

hello, can someone tell me why all wait since roots reach water ? why don't just raise the water level to cover most of the net pot i mean as long as you have air bubbles from air stones nothing can happen or ?

anyone tested or all are waiting 1 - 2 weeks since roots reach water ?

The idea is to encourage the roots to find the water on their own. Generally my roots hit the water after 3-4 days.

I slowly drop the water level as the roots grow. Why not, I raise and lower the water level as needed

I submerged the net pots about 1" for the first time and I am very happy with the outcome. I used to leave an air gap of 1". I am using HTG "rhizocore" net pots. Current culture uses similar net pots and they also recommend submerging the net pot. I noticed faster early growth plus I enjoy the added stability of temp, ppm, and pH with the additional couple of gallons.

BigLittlejohn said:

The idea is to encourage the roots to find the water on their own. Generally my roots hit the water after 3-4 days.

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oh yea, so i dont know what im doing wrong but for me it takes 1 - 2 weeks maybe because i drop directly to the hydroton without any rockwool as they sprout maybe i just unlucky and i have a slow growth seed with poor genetics.

Dumme said:

I slowly drop the water level as the roots grow. Why not, I raise and lower the water level as needed

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ya i think too i gonna stick to this and control my water level as i need because i want to speed up the initial grow

Major Blazer said:

I submerged the net pots about 1" for the first time and I am very happy with the outcome. I used to leave an air gap of 1". I am using HTG "rhizocore" net pots. Current culture uses similar net pots and they also recommend submerging the net pot. I noticed faster early growth plus I enjoy the added stability of temp, ppm, and pH with the additional couple of gallons.

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thank you also for your expression

I leave the gap at. 1/4 inch. That way the air stone splashes water into the hydroton and encourages the roots down to the water. You may need to top feed water small amounts for the first while until the roots hit water but i don't submerge the net pot in fear of giving too much water to it that young.

I never top feed. All my starts are in rockwool cubes. Generally the bottom of my net pot is not submerged but right at the surface of the water when I start a sprout in a dwc bucket.

You dont want the stalk getting wet. Prolonged wetness causes stem rot.

I get droopy leaves when I raise water level too much.

firsttimeARE said:

You dont want the stalk getting wet. Prolonged wetness causes stem rot.

I get droopy leaves when I raise water level too much.

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i like the air gap later on and i belive it is a benefit for the plant but i have that feeling that for seedlings it's okey have no air gap to cut off the initial growth time

some people say 3 - 4 days thats a fair time for roots come out, but when i wait 2 weeks and no roots you try to figure out a better faster way thats why i started that topic

What size net pots are you using? I've waited up to a week on slower seedlings.

BigLittlejohn said:

What size net pots are you using? I've waited up to a week on slower seedlings.

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5 inch

well, in our city people don't support hydroponics you can't buy net pots so i made my own from a normal pot and drilled like 1000 holes into it from each side

by don't support i mean we have no hydro store here and it's quite hard here to get some stuff in that manner

Ebay... cheaper than the hydro stores.

Dumme said:

Ebay... cheaper than the hydro stores.

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i was familiar with aliexpress but that hurts when you wait sometimes 30 days or more.
i plan to try ebay stores in future ...

grower112 said:

i was familiar with aliexpress but that hurts when you wait sometimes 30 days or more.
i plan to try ebay stores in future ...

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Are you buying from China? Never have bought something on eBay and it take more than a week to arrive.

mr2shim said:

Are you buying from China? Never have bought something on eBay and it take more than a week to arrive.

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yea China 30 days minimum for me

i mixed for 9 Liter tap water - 4ml micro, grow, bloom + 200 drops ph down (4.9 ph) i messed up the ph a little bit i watched some optimal ph charts and found that 5.0 - 7.0 is acceptable so i will keep 4.9 it will raise automatically within the next incoming days

i submerged my net pot to the half where i know the roots are.


Optimal PH value :

between 5.5 and 5.8 perfect
between 5.3 and 6.5 good
between 5.0 and 7.0 acceptable
below 4.5 and above 8.0 disrupted absorption of nutrients
below 3.5 and above 9.0 irreversible damage to the roots


so lets see what happens the next days if it will speed up the root growth and come from net pot


PS: i have an airstone