Quick Question: (I've tried searching)

I'm new to the DWC game, and I have a question about Rockwool... How big should the cube be? I plan on vegging for a month after taking clones, if that makes a difference. Thanks!!!

Smaller the better as you don't want it to be your main medium for more than 2 weeks. You'll veg the rest of the time in the buckets.

I like the 40mm sized grodan brand. It holds enough moisture so that I have to check/water once a day and its not so huge that it takes forever to fill it up with roots.

1x1 or 1.5x1.5 R/W cubes are all you need for seed starting then place rooted cube in medium of choice(ie Hydroton in net pots).
Warning:R/W can easily be oversaturated,you want moist so shake off excess and do not squeeze.What I do personaly is remove wrapper (each cube) and soak ph corrected water (no nutes) 5.5-6.0 for half hour.Drain and soak an additional 15 minutes in fresh solution.Then remove and give about 15 shakes/flicks of the wrist till no more drops of water comes out for each cube.Then I take a sterile razor blade and cut a slit 1/2" deep opposite end of preformed hole.I place a seed in middle of slit on it's side 1/4" deep then rip a small piece of corner and very gently/lightly pack over slit.Cubes are kept in humididome (for moisture retention only) at 75F-80F (80-90F faster germ but higher risk of seedling fizzle) till sprouted then placed in medium of choice (healthy sprouted seedlings do not need a dome) with PROPER temps,light intensity and 1/8th strength (ph 6.0) nutes keep cube lightly moist till roots take hold.
Most people will keep sprouts in dome till fully rooted leaving dome 1/4-1/2 open to harden them off.#1 problem is cube oversaturation inwich chokes out taproot of oxygen.I shake off excess and gently press cube on top of wrist for a tiny beeds of sweat look.Youtube:Grodan 101
know before you grow.

Yea I use 1.5 inches work good for me in 3.75 net pots.

ive used 4" rw blocks with no problem. i had to veg in them for a couple weeks so it made sense. just lay a layer of hydroton in your net pot (i use 6in pots btw) then set you cube on top and fill it in.

You dont even need RW if you startes your cuttings in an aero or bubble cloner.

Shivaskunk said:

You dont even need RW if you startes your cuttings in an aero or bubble cloner.

Click to expand...

Yeah I was thinking of that also, but I've never used net pots and it seems like it'd be a real pain in the ass to situate bare roots inthere, right? Would the hydroton just have to be more moist until the roots creep into the water? Sorry for the Q's, but I'm making the transition to hydro haha

you can make the holes a bit bigger to pull the roots through. If the roots are not long enough to reach the water yet just keep the water level right at the bottom of the netpot until roots drop ito the water.

Just say no to rockwool!!

I took these from aero and placed them in the ebb monster moments before this picture was snapped.
We just kinda gently buried the roots in the Dyna Gro Roks. unfortunately a few weeks later I killed the bitches with some kind of algae in a sprayer I used, killed them all.

db: I use aero cloners then hydroton, so I use rapid rooters or rockwool for more of stability then a medium for roots. You don't have any issues with plant stability during growth?

BigBuddahCheese said:

db: I use aero cloners then hydroton, so I use rapid rooters or rockwool for more of stability then a medium for roots. You don't have any issues with plant stability during growth?

Click to expand...

hey , yep sure do buddy, especially when they get that big but I usually have a solution to tying them up down , left and right if I have to.After I put those in the Roks they were fine, sure wish I hadn't killed them.

dbkick said:

hey , yep sure do buddy, especially when they get that big but I usually have a solution to tying them up down , left and right if I have to.After I put those in the Roks they were fine, sure wish I hadn't killed them.

Click to expand...

Yea I have to tie up also even with rockwool or rapid rooters as they get unbalanced etc. Maybe I will try a trial plant with just coming from my aero-cloner.

the small cooler I posted above I forgot to cut the bottoms of the net pots off , in a case like that I just bury the netpot and all in whatever media, last time I went to soil abruptly and unwilling and just buried the pots and all.

Well, I'm gonna have to start a mother from seed anyways, so Ill have to use some sort of media. Before being able to clone. Haven't really picked that out yet. Suggestions?

I keep three in a soil-less mix since keeping them in hydro just isn't realistic to me for any extended period, of course I only need 6 cuts every two months or so which makes keeping a mother not that realistic either, should just clone as I go I guess. take cuts and flip the rest.

peppers that is.