Rockwool vs Rapid Rooters vs Oasis Cubes

I have a new outdoor grow planned out in an ebb and flow system, based on the two tub system in the FAQ. I plan to fill the top tray with either hygromite, hydroton, or gravel, foregoing the 6 planters shown in the FAQ.

What I'm trying to decide now...

A-Which should I start the seeds in?

B-Transplant directly to grow medium, or into larger rockwool cubes and then to the medium?

C-Do rapid rooters and/or oasis cubes transplant easily into the larger rockwool cubes?

As a side question, what is a watering schedule like for each type?

Come on... somebody has gotta have some words about this!! +rep for response.

I have almost the same thing going on here. I actually got the idea from the FAQ that you linked. I used the small 1.5" RW cubes but I have been wanting to try out the other starting mediums. I really don't think it will make a difference either way. Anyway I hand water the small cubes on a plate under a small CFL until my I see root coming out the bottom of the RW cubes I use. Then I just stick the small cubes in a 5" netpotfilled with hydroton, and stick them in the top grow container that is also filled with Hydroton. Here are some pics to show you what I mean.

You can see thatt there are 2 cubes in the first pic that is just for right now. Of course when they get bigger they will each have their own net pot. Also you will see in the secong pic that I have only one plant and it is sitting in the net pot in the container of hydroton. So there you go I hope I helped.

As for a watering schedule I water them every 4-5 hours and they container floods just below the RW. Also I make sure that the small RW cube is covered with pellets to keep the light off the cube. I have a CAP timer that is set to flood for 30 seconds every 4-5 hours. When they are first put into the system I only need to food for 15 seconds. As the plant gets older and the root sysem more robust I need to increase flood time to ensure the root mass is saturated.

Thanks for the response! haha. as promised +rep
Helps a bit... gives me an idea what to expect with the rockwool. Anybody got anything for the rapid rooters or the oasis cubes??

side note... is that used as an oversized hempy bucket??

rapit rooters is great for clones, you wont need rooting copound, same for seeds promotes root grow

can the rapid rooters get plugged into rockwool blocks?

i use jiffy pucks 100% success

NegligentMother said:

i use jiffy pucks 100% success

Click to expand...

can THOSE go into the larger rockwool cubes??

dont use rockwool...everyone i know that used it had problems. they get too wet and soggy. put the jiffy pucks in hydroton. or even coco if you want to water less..

not too sure about how well the coco would do in a flood and drain... think jiffy in hydroton, ebb and flow would do well??

I hate jiffy pucks, never had anything but slow growth from them because the netting inhibits root growth from what I can tell. I use rockwool but they are finicky with under/overwatering for the first week. I want to try rapid rooters but am afraid to change something that is not broken. Besides jiffy pucks are for soil, this is forum category is hydro.

I've used Oasis cubes for a long time, then the hydro shop quite ordering them in and had to switch to rockwool. I can definitely say for me the oasis cubes gave quicker results, same sucess rate just quicker for the clones to root.

Rockwool is a bit finicky and my time is getting better. It just takes some trial and error to get it to work for you.

Right now I am trying out rapid rooters for the first time. I'm interested to see if they work out better for me over the rockwool cubes.

NegligentMother said:

dont use rockwool...everyone i know that used it had problems. they get too wet and soggy. put the jiffy pucks in hydroton. or even coco if you want to water less..

Click to expand...

Look at my pictures again as far as I can tell there aren't any problems. That is just one plant in that container and those clones are fully rooted after about a week.


Yes RW can be a pain in the butt if not prepped properly but I have used about 20 of them and have not had any issues yet. I know that they can get soggy and that is why you need to not water the cubes to the point of saturation. RW takes some getting use to but once you do it is very easy to use.

The plugs are also good and can be used in the RW cubes. My advise is like I said, get those little tiny RW cubes like I have. They are very easy to take care of and they will not get water logged like the big 3" cubes. If you already have the bigger cubes then well no problem just be careful while watering them. You can use whichever starting medium that you want as long as it can fit in the hole of the larger cubes. I would stay away from anything that has loose debree such as peat, soil, and cocoa. Unless it has a medium to hold the stuff from making a mess. I am not sure if you no what I mean, but you do not want the medium to come apart and get down into your res.

Honestly dude just use the small cubes, once you soak them overnight you shouldn't have any issues at all. Just make sure that when you water you do not saturate the cubes. That is why I have the Hydroton in the flood thray, and use small cubes. That little cube never comes in contact with water directly. the tray only flood high enough to just come below the small cube and I let capilarry action do the rest. The water has a skin and that skin will crawl up the small cube. The flood goes right to the very very bottom of the cube, almost level with it.

bump? heh? maybe?

one of the main issues i've personally encountered with rockwool was that no one told me to shake them girls out after ya soak em in ph balanced water. i'm still new to indoor growing and hydro work but dammit. i must of wasted maybe like 20 white widow clones. no shit. luckily , i kept the momma in veg for more. i was crushed. they hold alot of water and thats not their purpose. you need em moist, not soaking. shake all that excess out. i know now and hopefully ppl. will listen to that,. if not you'll get rot at the base of your clones wether using gels or powder rooting hormone. it didnt matter which kind i used, they still died.

thanks for the heads up on the oasis cubes and others. ive been tempted to give them a try but i have to special order them. no big deal though.

Yeah you definately need to let them drain and drip so they are not saturated. Regardless of the medium you use you do NOT want it saturated. I let my RW grain out and I squeeze out the excess water by pinching the little cubes. I have never used RW any bigger than the 1.5" starter cubes so that is all I can really atest to. Imo they are great and I probably will not use anything else. It really doesn't help that I have about 70 of them still LOL, and would buy more till they are gone. Really dude what ever you buy get to know how to use it cause they all have their pro's and con's. Once you get it figured out stick with it and do not change unless you have damn doo reason. One thing I use to do is try try try. I was always trying new things and being that I was inexperience each time I tried something new I usually fail at first. Now I know how to use the RW and that is what I stick with, as that is what I am comfortable with. Stop trying to decide and go out there and just ask the hydro guy to pick for you. Learn how to use what ever he picks and stay with it.

Both Mdgcmd and Deviouslikeyou have given good, sound advice. Pick a medium and run with it. Research as much as you can on using it, and practice, practice, practice. Take good notes so you have something to refer to each time to see if you are improving yourself or working backwards.

i used rock wool starter cubes then went to 3" rock wool cubes set on top of hydroton in an ebb&flo system and had no problems.............................

They all work man, peat pellets are easy, the nets DONT stop the roots in any way, plus they work fine in hydro setups, ive actually started using the coco pellets and like them better. RW will work fine it only gets soggy if you over water, you can pretty much transplant anything into rockwool.

I use Jiffy pellets and then into hydroton for cuttings. This works very well. I have rooted 1000s of cuttings now, and have used Jiffy pellets, rapid rooters and rockwool. In my experience they all perform equally well, your success will depend on the conditions you provide the cuttings. It you go rockwool or jiffy, make sure they are not sopping wet. A half squeeze to the things does the trick.

For germinating however, do not use Jiffy pellets, and have experimented with this and I only recieve half the germinations in Jiffy as I do in Rapid Roots. IMO rapids are the way to go for germing. I have not used rockwool for germ so I cant say this is better or worse