root rot

[Gaytimegrower]

I presume that most people will disagree with me here but stiff.

 

I soaked my seeds overnight in distilled water and when they started to crack, I put them into 1" growool cubes as thousands of growers do.

 

When they got to around 2" tall I transferred them to the grow room. I planted them in expanded clay and had the watering system on for 15 mins and off for 2 hours.

 

Result, half dead seedlings. After posting some pics on here, I was told it looked like they could have root rot. I thought "rot", couldnt be. I was using Phytoff and Oxy Plus.

 

Well, lets cut it short. They were right. Those stinking, useless, seed killing rockwell cubes were at fault. I was told that there was absolutely no drainage problems with them at all and that over watering was almost impossible because they did not hold saturation. BULLSHIT.

 

When I prised my seedligs out of the sodden cube, there were roots that had gone a light brown color and just broke off.

 

I have now removed all of my seedlings from the cubes and they have taken off like rockets. No more water-logging problems as the expanded clay is free draining.

 

All comments appreciated, i love constructive critisism

[pipeman]

g'day Gaytime, I split this post from a reply in the Growing Faq.

 

mate, rockwool most definitely holds a lot of water. Whoever told you it didn't, well, um, made a mistake. You won't get too much disagreement on that point from the folks around here.

 

gets back to what I've said to you before, get the hang of basic growing and don't worry so much about using all the additives. The guy at the hydro store will tell you you can't grow good without them, but you can.

[Guest BudWaver]

yeh grow cubes can be tricky especially for sprouting seeds as if you plant em too deep the seeds wont germ...as for root rot with the cubes...heres what i try to do...after roots are showing transfer my cube or whatever to the growing medium and dont water the cubes directly...just hand water em once a day BUT water the rest of the pots medium as per normal...why? Because the roots will follow where the water is...it might take the best part of a week for the roots to do that but you will know when they have fo sure...so if you water them once per day with your half steength or no strength nutes (water ) ya shouldnt have any rot problems

 

I wouldnt use oxyplus near seedlings at all..its far too lethal for em

[ThcAholic]

...Yeah--rockwool soaks up the water like a sponge....

I water as little as possible to make the roots "search" for it. This in turn promotes healthier and faster root development.

..I'd rather premium a blend of :- premium p/mix + perlite + vermiculite+worm castings over rockwool myself . Has awesome drainage properties......and is more organic.......

[fossil]

I soak my cubes in ph5.0 water overnight. Shake as much of the water out of the cubes as you can. Sit it down for a while, and then give it another few shakes. they deform a bit, but don't worry. you can't shake out too much water by hand. Carefully put your seeds in and place on a warming tray if you have one. (very good investment IMHO).

 

When they sprout, place them under a fluro for a week. Water them by just dipping the bottom of the cube in a tray of water... Only when the cube feels light. Never soak the cube till it is dripping wet. This will encourage the roots to get to work. Same goes when cloning this way as well.

They will stretch to about 3" high. Don't worry about the stretch, and don't fertilise yet.

Get them in your system, and let there be light! Keep the lights up very high at first and gradually move them down over a week or so. If you have a cupboard.... Leave the door open if you can. Any excess heat will damage them quikly at this stage. Fertilise with 1/4 strength during the first week of the big lights. 1/2 strength in the next week, and then full strength next week. You won't go wrong then. You can do it quicker, but you have to have a bit of experience and know the early signs of distress before you should go all out with plants. This takes time and experience... but it comes. Be patient and have fun.

 

Having said all that....... I have done away with rockwool alltogether. I have had fantasticly better results with the little jiffy things.... and they only cost a few cents each. They drain off better and I get between 90 and 100% germ rate every time.

 

I have tried ALL of the substrates available for growing on, and will only use perlite and vermiculite mix now days.

 

Hope this helps

 

Fossil

[Chev]

Hey Gaytimegrower, rockwool can be very tricky to use the first time around. And it's easy to overwater it. You have to let it dry out a little between waterings, and make sure it's not totally saturated constantly.

It can be extremley handy to use for cloning

I've always used it to germinate my seedlings, besides the paper towel method

[WhiteSkunk]

I soak my cubes in ph5.0 water overnight. Shake as much of the water out of the cubes as you can. Sit it down for a while, and then give it another few shakes. they deform a bit, but don't worry. you can't shake out too much water by hand. Carefully put your seeds in and place on a warming tray if you have one. (very good investment IMHO).

 

When they sprout, place them under a fluro for a week. Water them by just dipping the bottom of the cube in a tray of water... Only when the cube feels light. Never soak the cube till it is dripping wet. This will encourage the roots to get to work. Same goes when cloning this way as well.

They will stretch to about 3" high. Don't worry about the stretch, and don't fertilise yet.

Get them in your system, and let there be light! Keep the lights up very high at first and gradually move them down over a week or so. If you have a cupboard.... Leave the door open if you can. Any excess heat will damage them quikly at this stage. Fertilise with 1/4 strength during the first week of the big lights. 1/2 strength in the next week, and then full strength next week. You won't go wrong then. You can do it quicker, but you have to have a bit of experience and know the early signs of distress before you should go all out with plants. This takes time and experience... but it comes. Be patient and have fun.

 

Having said all that....... I have done away with rockwool alltogether. I have had fantasticly better results with the little jiffy things.... and they only cost a few cents each. They drain off better and I get between 90 and 100% germ rate every time.

 

I have tried ALL of the substrates available for growing on, and will only use perlite and vermiculite mix now days.

 

Hope this helps

 

Fossil

hey all

thought i throw in m 2 cents worth,i have to ask fossil as to y put them in your setup b4 knowing there sex????more work later on!

i mean i agree and follow you up untill where u only put under flurop 4 a week then into your main system....but i leave em under my fluro's for 3weeks then @day 21 turns fluro's down from 24hrs to 6 hrs on 18 hrs off

for 2-3 days .

in this period any males will show there balls remove from room and do what u want to eg:kill it,put in differnt room to collect pollen...so on.

after 3 days turn back to 24hrs for 4 days all in there will b females

after 4 days you will b ready to put in main room and not have to worrie about if you got any males and wasting money growing em!

now for feeding nutes week 1just water with either super thrive or nutraboost @ 3 drops a litre week 2 1/4 strenght nutes with 3 drops of nutraboost week 3 go to 1/2 strenght nutes and nb *3drops continue

on 1/2 strenght nutes till the end of week 1 in the main then go on to full nutes .

now at any stage of feeding you start to notice brown tips of the leaves go back 1 step with nutes and remember if useing rockwool{which i have /and do for the last 10 years or so}only water when cube is light !!!

and you will have a beautiful garden of females everytime.cheers WS

[fossil]

Good points WhiteSkunk.

 

I should have added, that I rarely grow from seed, and have a relable stock of mums to select from.

 

I will try your light cycle over the next week or so. I have some seeds coming from MJOZ (BronzeWhaler) which should be in my mailbox right now

 

TTYL

 

Fossil

[rudsy]

wool definetly hold heaps of water. trying soaking the cubes and then squeezing excess water out of them from then on just ensure not to over water. i know a few people who use a bed of perlite with the cubes placed about half way in the perlite, watering onto this generally keeps the moisture level about where it should be. other alternatives are to sprout straight into perlite or coco fibre or use jiffy pots. perlite however is by far my favourite for sprouting seeds just about always 100% sucess!