Best way to get a seed going in a DWC bubble bucket set up

Hi Folks,

I have had about 4 grows under soil and want to sweet to a dwc set up. I have the bucket already but, after numerous searches, am baffled as to the best way to get a seed started in a bubble bucket.

I have been doing searches and havent had much luck.

The best info I have found so far is the following:

Germ a seed in a wet towel and soak a rockwool cube and hydroton in ph adjusted water over night (5.8 on the ph scale).

When the seed has germinated, put it in the rockwool cube and put it in with the hydroton in the mesh basket in the bucket, and then fill the bucket with ph adjusted water (roughly around 5.8) all the way up to the bottem of the basket so that the bubbles spray against the hydroton. Dont add nutes until the starter leaves start to yellow.

Anybody have a different way?

If I were doing it, I'd let them chill a bit in the RW cube until the lil roots start poking out at the bottom, then transfer them to your DWC buck..But that's how I'd do it...Just don't let the cube dry up on you, keep em moist but not saturated, savyy!..
As far as nutes, for me, no roots no nutes, so with roots start feeding them lightly, ~1/8-1/4 strength, and keep an eye on them..
m2cents..Good luck!..

I've put them in 50/50 perlite and vermiculite then just let it dry out when u transplant and most of it falls right off the roots..then I carefully put it in the hydroton and covered the roots with the rest of the hydroton..worked great no shock even

That sounds like a good idea. I can prob just put it in a plastic cup with pearlite and the rockwool cube im guessing

yup in a plastic cup..dont even need the rockwool but you do need the vermiculite to hold enough water for the seed...you could just put the rockwool in the perlite if you wanted but then you might as well just start it in rockwool then go right to the buckets

I dont have any vermiculite, so I may just put it strait into the hydroton and keep the rockwool wet.

I will try it out first with some freebee seeds and see what happens!

I dont have any vermiculite, so I may just put it strait into the hydroton and keep the rockwool wet.

I will try it out first with some freebee seeds and see what happens!

That will work fine just make sure to soak the rockwool like you said...ive seen people start them right in the hydroton fine just depends on your preference..good luck

I always germ my seeds in paper towel sheets placed between 2 plastic plates. Once they sprout put them in medium.

I just drop the seed in the cube leave the bucket empty and just water once a day with ph water when I get my root i fill the bucket just under the root with ph water let it go one week like that then start nutes

IM guessing i should leave the rockwool in the dark untill a sprout comes out? Kind of like when you are germinating a seed in a wet papertowel and waiting for the root to come out?

I keep mine under cfls from seed to sprouts then switch to my mh. It works fine for me. Normally takes 7 days to sprout

Edited by UniXh03, 14 July 2012 - 01:05 AM.

The best info I have found so far is the following:

Germ a seed in a wet towel and soak a rockwool cube and hydroton in ph adjusted water over night (5.8 on the ph scale).

When the seed has germinated, put it in the rockwool cube and put it in with the hydroton in the mesh basket in the bucket, and then fill the bucket with ph adjusted water (roughly around 5.8) all the way up to the bottem of the basket so that the bubbles spray against the hydroton. Dont add nutes until the starter leaves start to yellow.

Anybody have a different way?

There are lots of ways to do it which will work successfully. The way you mentioned is one of them. Of course it all depends on your system, medium and personal preference.
I just drop the seeds in to half a glass of water and place it on top of my modem/router for a little warmth. They usually all crack in 12-15 hours and I transplant them within 24.
Also, I like to use nutrients (0.5 EC) as soon as the cotyledons begin to open. The buffering helps to keep the pH from drifting back up when using my tap water. I try to keep the cotyledons green and healthy for as long as possible.

Sounds good.

I skipped the papertowel method and stuck them in the soaked rockwool cubes. I put one directly into the hydroton in the basket. The other i put in a small pot with pearlite. I will monitor the cubes daily to make sure they remain moist. I have not added water to the bubble bucket yet though as the seeds havent even germed yet.

One thing about rockwool, should I close the whole up in the cube after putting the seed in there or just leave it open? And how far do i it into the basket with the hydroton.

I normally close the hole up the best i can

I'm running a DWC bubble bucket setup as well...started it at the beginning of this week after germing my seeds. I did the paper towel method, all cracked and I let them come out about 1/4" before putting them straight into the RW (24hrs soaked in 5.5pH). I then decided to add another 6 seeds (so 12 total....2 in each bucket) to weed out the fails and males. Those 6 I did not germ in a paper towel...just straight into the RW.

All are doing well, cotyledons and 2nd set of leaves are out and honestly I can't tell a difference between which ones I popped in the paper towel and which ones I put directly in the RW.

My seeds all came from a reliable seed bank, so 12/12 so far....

I only put 2 per pot because I didn't want to waste a lot of time to only have a male or a fail and waste 2 weeks before putting them into veg, and not have anything else to put in that bucket......

I figure process of elimination will work itself out. Or I could just be lucky and get 12 females.....LOL

If that happens, I have another 6 bucket DWC system I can pull out of boxes!

Edited by xlxlxlxlxlx, 13 July 2012 - 11:06 PM.

I will just add...I think next time I will pay the extra to get feminized seeds, so I don't have to put in extra seeds in hopes that I get some females! Just didn't have the $$ to get al fem seeds this time around, bought 30 total which was expensive enough as it is....

Hey check out the first few pages of the top journal in my signature.. Had very good results with it! My plant was huge by the time it was two weeks old..

When do I start adding nutrients to the dwc bucket? The seed popped its head out of the rockwool cube on tuesday. So i planted in the hydroton and continue to baste it with water from the dwc bucket (just trying to keep the rockwool cube moist).

I noticed a tiny bit of yellow on one of the cotelydon leaves. I am thinking I need to wait a week before i add nutrients to the bucket at about 1/8 stregnth? I am using the ph perfect grow/micro/bloom line mind you.

When do I start adding nutrients to the dwc bucket? The seed popped its head out of the rockwool cube on tuesday. So i planted in the hydroton and continue to baste it with water from the dwc bucket (just trying to keep the rockwool cube moist).

I noticed a tiny bit of yellow on one of the cotelydon leaves. I am thinking I need to wait a week before i add nutrients to the bucket at about 1/8 stregnth? I am using the ph perfect grow/micro/bloom line mind you.

Again everyone will say different things that work for them. You have to be really careful not to over soak the rockwool. The first page of my journal i explain how "I" gave nutrients at each step.. It works great for me. I would have personally left it out of the hydroton until you had quite a bit of roots coming out first.

After reading your journal, you definetly got off to a good start.

On my next seedling, I will follow your strategy.

It definetly looks like the little one is feeding on the starter leaves. So i added nutrients to the dwc bucket to about 285ppm. I basted the plug with water in the bucket. I hope it starts to root and make its way through the hydroton. I am using AN ph perfect microw/grow/bloom. Ph was set to 5.6