Starting From Seed, DWC

[NeWcS]

So for my next grow I will be starting from seed, not clone like I have the past few grows.

Normally I would purchase the clone in a small rock-wool block. I would plant the rooted cube into a net-pot full of hydroton and let it do its thing. Nice and ez.

Does anyone have any tips/links of a sure fire way of germinating seeds and getting them to root in cubes before I put them in a net-pot? I know nothing is 100% but with the price of seeds what they are I want to try and get it right the first time.

Thank you!

 

[stonedar]

I usually use peat pellets to start seeds, they work fine in hydroton
but I've done lots of rockwool, the only tip I can give you ,besides pretreating your rockwool which you probably already know, is to plant them a little deeper than soil. seedlings tend to "push out" of the holes in the cubes if you don't.
I'm not talking super deep just a half inch instead of a quarter
good luck

maybe germ them in paper towels until they get a small tail?

 

[FreezerBoy]

Drop seed in cube. Keep cube warm and moist. Voìla, seedlings. I use the same bubbler I use for cloning.

Because rockwool is inert, I use 1/4 tsp each per gallon of GH FloraMicro and FloraBloom.

 

[NeWcS]

I guess the part I am wanting to know more about is once the seed pops. Because I have a lot of it I was going to use small rockwool cubes.

So once its poped I put the seedling into the rockwool cube. My question(s) I guess would be:

-Does the cube need to first be soaked in a nutrient solution?
-What sort of light schedule would I run to get the seed to root into the cube?
-Should I keep the cube with the cracked seed covered? And if so at what point would I uncover it?
-What should the cube be set in? I know once the roots come through the cube I can put it in a net pot w/ clay.
..Anything else to help ensure a successful grow would be great info.

Thank you!

 

[FreezerBoy]

So once its poped I put the seedling into the rockwool cube.

Cube first, pop second.

Place seed in cube. Close or cover the hole with a torn piece of rockwool. Keep it warm and damp. The cube will pop the seedling. Paper towels have no magic powers of germination. Their benefits are mold, rot, root breakage and death.

Because rockwool is inert, keep them damp with a 1/4 strength solution. If cubes are in open air, a dome may be used to retain moisture and warmth in the cube. Remove dome immediately after the seedling sprouts as high RH can be deadly.

Place seedling in netpot with Hydroton. Place cup in DWC tub. Because Hydroton cannot wick, maintain a water level that causes direct contact between cube and water (failure to maintain contact may result in death by dehydration in a matter of hours) Once roots hang 3-4 inches below the cup, water level is dropped 1" below the cup.



Seeds need no light to root as they're buried, they can't see anything until they sprout. Once sprouted go 18/6 for veg or straight to 12/12. While seeds need no light, they can benefit from the warmth. I run lamp 24/0 until are cubes are sprouted and then cut back to 12/12.

 

[stihgnobevoli]

oh... so the roots are supposed to be at the water level in the beginning? no one told me that haha. now i know why my plants take so long for the roots to hit water.

 

[NeWcS]

Awesome!!! Thank you!!!!!

Cube first, pop second.

Place seed in cube. Close or cover the hole with a torn piece of rockwool. Keep it warm and damp. The cube will pop the seedling. Paper towels have no magic powers of germination. Their benefits are mold, rot, root breakage and death.

Because rockwool is inert, keep them damp with a 1/4 strength solution. If cubes are in open air, a dome may be used to retain moisture and warmth in the cube. Remove cube immediately after the seedling sprouts as high RH can be deadly.

Place seedling in netpot with Hydroton. Place cup in DWC tub. Because Hydroton cannot wick, maintain a water level that causes direct contact between cube and water (failure to maintain contact may result in death by dehydration in a matter of hours) Once roots hang 3-4 inches below the cup, water level is dropped 1" below the cup.



Seeds need no light to root as they're buried, they can't see anything until they sprout. Once sprouted go 18/6 for veg or straight to 12/12. While seeds need no light, they can benefit from the warmth. I run lamp 24/0 until are cubes are sprouted and then cut back to 12/12.

 

[FreezerBoy]

oh... so the roots are supposed to be at the water level in the beginning?

Hydroton will bounce water drops up to a degree but, it wont wick. Simply having the netcup touch water may not be enough to get water to the cube. Plant your cube 1/4 inch too high and it can die in less time than a good night's sleep. Not that I - koff koff- ever did that myself-koff.

 

[stihgnobevoli]

i thought i just needed the water level to be at the bottom of the pots so that the roots will get misted like an aero or something and not dry out. i tried putting a rooted clone(hempy/wick style cloner) into the pot by itself and so far thats not working out too well. been a week and the roots are now just finding their way out the bottom of the netcup.

 

[hippydan]

I did the same thing you say you're trying so I'll try to share what I did/learned.

First I soaked seeds in shotglasses in a warm/dark area for 24 hours, then placed them in rockwool cubes that had been soaked in pH 5.5 water with no nutes added. Be careful not to keep them too moist as you don't want to seedlings to rot. 3 days later I had roots coming from the bottoms of the starter cubes and I placed them into the netpots of the DWC, surrounded by hydroton. I had to top water for the first week or so until roots emerged from the netpots and into the water of the DWC. One seedling did damp off, so be careful of that. Hope it helps, the main thing is to let nature take its course. Once you place the seeds into the rockwool you should leave them alone for the most part. You don't want to go poking in/around the cube and damaging the fragile taproot.

 

[highonmt]

Hydroton will bounce water drops up to a degree but, it wont wick. Simply having the netcup touch water may not be enough to get water to the cube. Plant your cube 1/4 inch too high and it can die in less time than a good night's sleep. Not that I - koff koff- ever did that myself-koff.

Good advice right here. I do it a little differently and Have had really good success. I have been using a method that is used by dutchgrown of seed making fame. Take a black dvd case clean it and bleach then rinse it. Take a @ 4"x4" piece of paper towel and soak it in tap water. put your beans in the towel and fold it up. put it in the case and close it up. I keep it at 80f using a humidity dome and light bulb over it move the bulb closer for more heat. 24hrs later you have little tails on most beans some take a bit longer but I'm now 39 of 40 since starting this method. Take a pre soaked rockwool cube poke a hole with a pencil and put the sprout in it. cover with a bit of vermiculite. I keep em in the humidity dome till I see the first true leaves then open the vents and water with super dilute grow nutes. When roots appear and are about 1" long out of the block bottom plant it in your hydroton. I hand watered once a day untill the roots were visible out of the net pot be sure not to water the rockwool too much just get all the hydroton soaked.
HM

 

[FreezerBoy]

That's a lot of unneeded work. Just place dry, uncracked seed in warm, moist cube . The end.

Paper towels have no magic powers. Whatever seeds do in paper, they'll do in media as well or better. Warm media will not freeze the seed. Damp media will not dry the seed. What media will do is greatly reduce damage and death. In the time you have a unplanted cracked seed at risk of death from root breakage, you can have a planted seedling whose roots are safe and protected. If you can't grow in it (and you can't grow in paper) why germ in it?

 

[NeWcS]

I do have another question on this; People say to soak the rock-wool cube in ph'd water but on the packaging it says to only dip the cube and to not soak. Explain please.

 

[Rusty-Axe]

No rockwool

No rockwool

I dont use rockwol anymore for my dwc. instead I germ my seed (using paper towel) until the roots are a inch or two long. then I take a bucket, fill with water or light nutes. I take a piece of strofoam cut it in a circle and float it on top the water. punch some holes throughthe styrofoam, 1 for a air hose, the rest for the seeds. I drop the tap root through the styrofoam and watch. its amazing how fast that tap root grows, when its super long and the stem is streatching. then I transplant to a net pot in my dwc.I find this method produces roots fast, u might se slower growth on the smal plant, for the first 2-3 weeks, seems to focuse engery to roots this way, but once the roots are larger than the plant.look out clasic dwc explosion growth. in long run dosent slow down production, just sems slower at first. anyway rockwol iscrap

 

[FreezerBoy]

anyway rockwol iscrap

Well, it completely eliminates every single step you just wrote... everything in life should be so crappy.

 

[Rusty-Axe]

by crap i mean its unhealthy. rw might eliminate the bubbler, but only by replacing with keeping a rw cube wet.so its not like its harder in fact its easier. usualy only 2-3 days in bubbler and tap root is very long and easy to place in dwc tub. with no expense of buying rw, no health hazards from inhaling little pieces, and no ph issues down the line from the cube. anyway works for me.

 

[FreezerBoy]

Put the rockwool in the bubbler. Protects baby roots. Prevents breakage. Saves a ton of work. No health issues. No pH issues before, during or after.

 

[Rusty-Axe]

personally ill never use rockwool for seeds again, might still use it for air layering clones, but only til I find a replacement. ever read the hazards on rockwool? icky shit. anyway we could go back and for forever "pointles" if u like rockwool go for it, personaly I think its crap.

 

[FreezerBoy]

Think whatever you want but, post nonsense and expect some flack. Water will kill you if you use it wrong. Don't blame Rockwool for pilot error.

 

[Rusty-Axe]

what did I post, that is nonsense? my method of germ, works great for dwc, and rockwool is in fact unhealthy. amongst other issues, I mean realy there are hundreds of threads across the net on the pros and cons of rw. So for me to be from the rockwool is crap camp, is not that rare...