Starting seeds... need a bit of feedback

Hi everyone,

I received some White Widow fem. seeds from Nirvana. I'm planning on starting them in rockwool... now, I've seen many different ways to start seeds on this site, some seem to work, others don't, and others are up in the air.

Here's what I've done so far with one of the seeds. I've prepped some pH'd tap water, did a quick 1-second dunk of the rockwool cube in the water, then put the rockwool cube into a little container. I then added about 1 tsp. of the pH'd water into the container, so that if the rockwool starts to dry up a bit, it can leech up that tsp. of water. I took the seed and dropped it in the hole in the rockwool, and pushed it down ever so slightly into the rockwool, only about 1/16", so that it is snug. I put the whole container in the dark, with the lid partially on so it can breathe as needed.

I've heard it's best to start the seed in your grow medium so you don't have any transplant issues. Has anyone tried a method like this before? If so, what were your experiences? Also, have you done it a different way with the same or better results? Just looking for some feedback in the event this seed doesn't sprout.

Thanks in advance,

Mr. Bond

For anyone interested, I just noticed that the seed hull has split open slightly and the taproot is beginning to emerge. I'm still keeping it in the dark for now. How big should the green sprout be before I start vegging it with light? Also, this rockwool cube is only about 1x1" square, which is a bit too tiny to support the plant when it grows. Can I just nestle that small rockwool cube into a larger cube, say 3x3" square? Thanks in advance.

Mr. Bond

if you want a true method that works every time? use a cloth towel.. like what you would use to wash your face with. Cotton wash cloth.. its what I use.

Simply wet the cloth.. put however many seeds you want to germinate/grow into the towel.. then gently roll up the towel and put it somewhere, where its room tempature and dark.

Within (usually) 24 hours, your seeds should/will have cracked.. and should have a visible tap-root showing/emerging from the seed. Once the seed/seeds have a nice tap-root (visible tap-root) you then should go ahead and plant them into your medium. Waahhlaaah! Germination done.

good luck.

peace.

sounds like you've done a fine job germing in the rockwool , just as soon as they pop up give them light

This past month I have started 7 MJ seeds and 1 Romaine Lettuce seed in 1 1/2" Rockwool Starter Cubes. I took 3 White Widow and 3 LSD seeds, I took one of each and placed them in cubes soaked in pH5.5 tap water, one each in cubes soaked in 1/4 strength nutes pH5.8, and again one each in cubes soaked in 1/4 nutes plus some rooting solution. I put them under a dome with T5 HO lights on from the beginning...... 3 days later..... all but one popped (LSD with Rooting solution).

The best growing White Widow was the one soaked in 1/4 strength nutes. The best growing LSD was the one soaked in tap water pH5.5.

I then started a Blueberry Gum to replace the LSD that didn't pop. I also started a Romaine seed for kicks and giggles. I started them in cubes soaked 1/2 strength nutes pH5.8 and they both popped in 3 days.

I'm new to this and wasn't able to find much info on starting in Rockwool, so I tried a few different ways to find the best rockwool method. All worked well..... although, the cubes with rooting solution seem to stunt the growth on one cubes and the other cube had the seed that didn't pop.

Best of luck to you,

Thank you everyone for all your feedback so far. Lt. Dan, are you going to be keeping your plants in those 1-1/2" rockwool cubes or are you going to put those in larger rockwool cubes? Just curious.

Thanks!

Mr. Bond

mr.bond said:

Thank you everyone for all your feedback so far. Lt. Dan, are you going to be keeping your plants in those 1-1/2" rockwool cubes or are you going to put those in larger rockwool cubes? Just curious.

Thanks!

Mr. Bond

Click to expand...

Howdy Mr. Bond (Is It James, lol),
When I start seeing roots poking out the bottom of the starter cube, I put each one into a 4x4x4 rockwool cube. Remove the plastic wrap from starter cube and plug into hole of bigger block. I'm using a Flood and Drain system and will grow to finish in those cubes (4x4x4). The plants I'm growing now will only grow to about 2 feet tall..... I'll probably use 6x6x6 cubes for anything bigger.

Depending on the system you're using, you could put the small starter cubes into Hydroton, bigger rockwool cubes, or rockwool slabs.

The small starter cubes by themselves will dry out too quick and will not have the room to grow more roots.

If you're interested in a grow where only rockwool cubes (6x6x6) were used, here's some links:
https://www.rollitup.org/grow-journals/358562-dyna-gro-vs-general-hydroponics.html
https://www.rollitup.org/grow-room-design-setup/372572-dadios-flood-drain-closet.html

Cheers,

Hi Lt. Dan,

Thanks for your additional reply. This is exactly the information I was looking for... +rep. I'm going to drop those rockwool starter cubes into bigger 3 or 4" cubes, which will then sit in hydroton. Gonna be using 5-gal. bucket systems and a DWC setup. When I add more buckets here soon, I will be switching to an rDWC setup for optimum automation and liquid feeding/circulation. I wasn't really able to find any diagrams on setting up an rDWC, so I did a quick diagram myself. Check it out if you'd like.

Anyway, thanks again Lt. Dan!!!

Mr. Bond

Thanks,

I'm new to growing, with that said, if I understand DWC correctly, you can put the starter cube straight into the hydroton.
So, IIRC, You want to get the roots into the nute solution as soon as possible. By putting the starter cube into the hydroton, the roots will reach the nute solution quicker then if it had to grow through another block (cube) first.

Anyway, Happy Growing and cheers,

Thanks again Lt. Dan. One last thing, the seedling is starting to take off, and has risen out of the rockwool at this point. However, the seed shell is still wrapped around the top growth. It's either going to fall off naturally and let the cotyledons come through, or its going to choke the seed to death. I want to be patient, but at the same time I'm not sure if I should help the seed remove it's shell. What is your take on this??

Thanks, Mr. Bond

mr.bond said:

Thanks again Lt. Dan. One last thing, the seedling is starting to take off, and has risen out of the rockwool at this point. However, the seed shell is still wrapped around the top growth. It's either going to fall off naturally and let the cotyledons come through, or its going to choke the seed to death. I want to be patient, but at the same time I'm not sure if I should help the seed remove it's shell. What is your take on this??

Thanks, Mr. Bond

Click to expand...

If you're REALLY careful, you can slip the seed husk off. and sometimes there's a membrane too. Just remember to use both hands so as not to damage your fragile baby.

Howdy,

I had a couple of my seedlings do the same thing. I read where some people helped their shells off and some just let them come off on their own.
I TRIED to wait for them to come off on their own, but I couldn't. I took a couple toothpicks and lightly helped them off.

Cheers,

Greetings all,

Thank you for your valued input. I ended up waiting a little while, did some research, and decided to remove the seed husk. It was pretty much dry to the touch, so I put a drop of water on it to soften it (since it had risen out of the rockwool at this point). About 15 minutes later I put another drop of water on it. Another 15 minutes, and I removed it pretty carefully with a toothpick. I'm happy to say the seedling wasn't damaged at all, and fully opened its nice green cotyledons within about 6 hours of removing the husk. No nicks or anything, I was quite pleased.

After that is when the magic started... lol! I begun vegging on an 18/6 cycle. Day 1, I used two CFLs. They were on and ready as the cotyledons opened to kick-start that photosynthesis. After its night period and going into day 2, I axed the CFLs and started with 500w of MH, and added 1/4 strength nutrients to DWC bucket. I noticed it actually growing before my eyes, so I gave it a little more light and stepped up the MH to 750w. Today, day 3, I can see multiple main root branches forming at the bottom of the stem/top of the root area. I've increased the MH to 1000w, as the beginning leaf set is starting to surpass the cotyledons in size. It's drinking up that light...

A successful start... I'll post pics when some more progress comes along. Also, I'm going to be starting more seeds today. Here's hoping for a 100% germination rate! Cheers everyone!

Mr. Bond

be nice if you could use both spectrums you'll bet better results more taste more fluff more resin and more thc potency