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damn.... i so wish i had of checked the responses earlier, been super busy lately working on other things i kind of went straight ahead and attempted to alter the PH of the rockwool after i read that the rockwool HAS to be at an approproate PH - this oviously is not the case. I also soaked 4 rockwool cubes in water and lemon juice - i kept adding lemon juice until the PH meter read 5 .... i have now learnt my lesson... as the seeds that just had their taproots emerging stopped growing and turned yellow HAHAHA i wont be doing that again - perhaps i used way to much lemon juice lol..... iv gone through quiet a few seeds ...i was aiming to grow one of each strain, two are doing well, the other 4 i put in rockwool 3 days after the 1st two... i was impaticient and was worried the fact i may of slightly compacted the rockwool to tight for the seeds to emerge, so i went sifting for them, which oviously wouldnt have helped i also think they drowned...they showed small taproots but i had them outside in a box so its dark but warm, however it rained really heavy - leaked through the box, and suddenly they stopped growing...were still white but werent doing anything, so scrapped that lot, tried a new batch straight into the PH altered (with lemon juice) rockwool...after two days the white tap root turned yellow/brown.... so scrapped that lot ....

 

I like to learn s^*t the hard way....or im just living up to being a dumb blonde hehehe...either way, this time i soaked the rockwool in plain water, seeds wont be going outside and have been put in a cupboard, and i have banned myself from even entering the room that the seeds are in, for fear i may feel the urge to go sifting through the rockwool to see if iv made progress... i figured, they are either not gonna grow & perhaps i can do those strains next round, or i will be pleasantly suprised to see little emerging sprout plants next time i see them.. I will not be tempted to look!!

Edited by bl0nd3
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Ah this brings back memory's .

 

The reason I soak mine in glass of water first to germinate is the reason you go sifting for a look.

 

By doing it in water first I know they cracked and then when I put them in cubes I just have to wait for them to break through and don't have to worry they haven't germinated.

 

For my cubes I make a PH adjusted nute mix and place it in a glass baking dish about 2cm deep, then I sit the new cube in the water and wait for it to be absorbed.

When the mix wets the top of the cube I know the whole thing is saturated. When you do this you will see that the cubes don't all absorb at the same rate (they are mass produced).

Then a gentle squeeze with the grain ( a close look at a cube will show striations going in one direction) this opens up the cube to more air and removes excess water.

Seed in, tail down, place under dome, stoke the first cone and think happy thought's.

 

Don't waste your seeds getting the process right, I learned by using tomato seeds and as soon as the process was perfected switched to the real ones. Tomato's require the same PH and conditions so good to practice with and MUCH cheaper.

 

Happy growing

 

 

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The method I use (which I learnt green

House recommends)

 

1. Soak seeds in cup of water for 24hrs ( I have used tap water at 7.5 ph and water at 5.5 ph and both worked)

 

2. Fold 2 peices of paper towel paper towel put on a dinner plate

 

3. Wet paper towel then put seeds on top and fold paper towel over to cover the seeds

 

4. Turn plate sideways over the sink and drain excess water so the towels are damp not soaking wet

 

5. Put same shape plater ontop of the other plate to keep humidity up.

 

I then check every 12hrs or so to see if tap roots have poped out.

 

6. Put in rock wool only a couple of mm deep and push in wards if the hole to cover the seed , keep rockwool moist not soaking wet and they will sprout in a day or two

 

This works 100% for me with seed bank seeds.

 

Out of 12 I lost 1 when using self created seeds(probs a dud seed)

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I agree wit sols, the less you touch it the more chance you got.

 

rinse your rockwool under tap water for a bit, let it soak in a bucket for a bit more, squeeze each block out, repeat step 1 again, squeeze out again and plant your seeds. it don't matter whether you put em in upside down or back to front,  if they gonna pop they will, if they don't try again. don't worry about soaking in nutes before hand either, you could cause a burn that wont let em pop anyway.

 

don't worry about ph testing your wool once its rinsed, its the water you use to feed them later, make sure its between 5.8 and 6.5 somewhere, that's the right ph for your plants to feed at. once they popped and starting to get a few leaves, cup your hand around the wool taking care not to damage your baby and twist your hand into your medium to the depth you want them at, spread some more medium around to fill the gaps and level everything, make sure the top of the wool is lightly covered to avoid algae growing and there you go leave your lights a bit higher for a day or 2 so as not to burn them and away you go, drop the lights, turn up the nutes and watch your little girls go for it.

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I'd always wondered about the rockwools not being the correct PH so I have just completed a test.
I ph'd water to 6 and then soaked them for 24 hours and tested the water again. PH 6.
This was with the little inch squared ones that I propagated them in and the larger ones I have know moved them to.
I do buy them from an appropriate shop though. 
I have also read that different brands, especially cheap ones can have different pH.

I think a lot of the reason we get lucky with Not PHing our water and feed in Australia is because the tap water in most places sits between 6.5 and 7.5.
By the time you add acidic nutes it brings it back to 5.5 to 6.5. Great for plants. Obviously the size of your feed matters too for that to work.

In an average year if it rains here when it should I don't have to adjust my water.
But if I get a serious week of unexpected downpour the PH in the tap can go as low as 5.5. Add the nutes and it ends up 4.5 ph. NOT GOOD.

Ph is not the be all and end all, it's a weed after all, BUT, you get better results faster if you keep it where it should be consistently. Science says so



 

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