Hi gang, First time grower here in the "nervous parent" stage. My sprouts are three days old, and there was no noticeable change over the last 24 hours. Should I be nervous about that? They're in rock wool under 4 t5's that are 12 inches away. I don't have my top drip system set up yet, so I'm giving them a healthy dose of distilled water with no nutes once a day. They're in a box I built in a closet (2' x 5' x 8'). I have a fan in the room, and my thermometer reads around 80 degrees with the lights on, 71 degrees with the lights off. Here's a picture of my babies. Am I worrying about nothing or do I need to change something? Thanks in advance for your help!
Hey, they look good for 3 days ! I remember my first sprouts last year I had someone sending me hourly pictures from home hahaha Don't be in a rush to add nutes as well, happy growing http://forum.grasscity.com/index.php?/topic/1329219-My-2Nd-Real-Grow-Attempt%2C-W--Pics%21-Bubble-Cloner-clone-Machine%2C-Dwc
I would say they're absolutely fine for three days mate, you'll probably see them grow a lot more in the next 7 days or so once they have some bigger leaves. They're most likely focusing on growing their roots more than their leaves but you should see them speed up in the next few days! All I would say is, if you can move your t5s closer then do it, you don't want them stretching too much otherwise you'll end up with spindly plants which means less buds! t5s don't get as hot as HIDs so you can get away with placing them a lot closer. Hope that helps mate and good luck!
They look good man. I suspect they are growing, but you are just looking at them too often so it's appearing slow to you. Just make sure the rockwool isn't too wet. The roots need a lot of air and drowned easily. But from what I can see things look perfectly fine
GREAT feedback guys, thanks for putting my mind at ease. By way of update, my babies are doing well. They haven't gained much height, but the spike leaves have gotten bigger, and all three sprouts now have a second set of spike leaves coming in directly on top of the first set. My 4 t5 lights are still about 10 inches above the tops, and I'm probably going to drop them 4-6 inches. I'm worried about the added heat, but cutting a vent hole in the top of my grow closet should help quite a bit. A question - two of the sprouts' spike leaves are curling under, one worse than the other. Is this normal? Could it mean that I'm overwatering? I try to judge by the weight of the cubes and how damp the tops and bottoms of the cubes feel. I'm also concerned about humidity - I live in a fairly dry climate, so it's a concern. Pics are attached, one of all three sprouts, and closeups on the two that are curling. View attachment 151545 View attachment 151544 View attachment 151543
You mention nothing of ph. The rockwool should have been conditioned in 5.8 ph water for 24 hours. Your nutes also need a ph of 5.8 and no hotter than 300-400 ppm. Feed once a day, at this point. You need to measure the ph of the run-off water from the cubes, and make sure it's staying below 6.5. If your ph is too high or low, you will get nute lockout, and they will die. If need be, flush several times with RO/distilled water that's ph adjusted to 5.8. I hope you are getting the picture. You need a ph meter and you need to keep your range at 5.5 - 6.5. 5.8 being the sweet spot.
Forgot to add, as long as the cubes aren't sitting in a puddle, and they are allowed to drain off, it's almost impossible to overwater rockwool. That's not to say you can't over feed the plants though.
Crankz1, thanks. I've been using plain, distilled water without balancing ph, I thought it didn't need it. I haven't added any nutes yet, I was told to wait 2-3 weeks. Looking at the pics, you think they look ready for it? I got my ph and ppm meters a couple of days ago, so measuring and adjusting isn't a problem.
I'm hand watering now, but I'm going to build an ebb and flow system for them. Sounds like it might be time to build it. I considered an rdwc setup first, but I think I like the flood/drain model better for my closet configuration and space limitations (limited square footage, but lots of height.
I suppose they are still a bit young, but a weak solution wouldn't hurt (150-200 ppm). Main thing is get the ph right. Here is a good read. http://www.420magazine.com/forums/hydroponic-gardening/190831-how-simple-hydroponics.html
So balanced the distilled water and gave them a thorough flush. Within a couple of hours the leaves started to spruce right up. Thanks again!
No problem. Might not be a bad idea to flush em a few more times (every 4-6 hrs) till the run-off is staying below 6.5. Also not a bad idea to finish off with a weak nute solution.
It looks like the roots aren't getting enough oxygen. While it might be "almost impossible to overwater rockwool", it is definitely possible to water it too often. Rockwool drains well, but it doesn't drain fast. It holds a lot of water. Rockwool is a great medium for NFT mat systems but personally, I started getting much better results (and less headaches) when I ditched the rockwool and started growing directly in net pots with clay pellets (flood tables).
Rockwool holds a ton of water and is easily over watered so make sure you are letting the cubes dry out enough between waterings. I start nutes at around 5-7 days of age, 150ppm at this point and bumping up to 200-250ppm a week after
As I stated above, don't keep them in a puddle and allow them to drain off... Quality RW, such as Grodan, also provides a lot of airspace. I like to flood mine a few times a day. It exchanges that airspace and rinses out unused salts.
"Quality RW, such as Grodan, also provides a lot of airspace" Not as much air space as a perlite/vermiculite mix (for rooting), and not near as much air space as clay pellets (for growing). I flood 15 minutes every hour during lights on (12 floods a day in flowering and 18 floods in veg). Flooding more often keeps fresh nutrients to the plants at all times (like SWC), and keeps the solution oxygenated better. In a flood and drain system the water gets oxygenated going down through the overflow chimney. A NFT system works better for rockwool than E&F only floading 3-4 times a day. With NFT you have a constant supply of fresh nutrients (through the film layer at the bottom) that are wicked up by the rockwool. Rockwool provides oxygen better when it's wicking nutrients up than it does when it is flooded and drained. In my experience, growing directly in clay pellets in E&F and flooding more often produces far better results than using rockwool.
I'm not disagreeing with any of that. We all grow in whatever way works best for us. He happens to be in RW. My seedlings and mothers are in top feed RW. Clones go aero, then hydroton/rdwc systems for veg and flower.
Just wanted to update you guys. Things are going well. I put the rock wool cubes in the flood tray a few days ago and they have picked up speed. They're still not very tall, but the leaves are growing and new sets are coming in quickly. I'm still having some ph issues. I'm giving them a 30 minute drink once a day, and every time I run it the ph goes from 5.8 to between 6.1 and 6.5. I'm not too concerned, I just re balance it before I let another cycle run. I'm hopeful that it will settle down over the next week or so. In the updated photos you can see that the leaves got a little burned on the tips from high ph water a little while ago, but they're coming back really well.
I don't think I'd make them little ones drink for 30 mins at a time. I suppose it kinda depends on how fast your pump floods the table, but that just seems like a long time to be under water. I'd sure hate it. You would be better to flood more often at shorter durations. You could mix up a weak nute solution for a spray bottle, and do some light foliar feeding a few times a day while them roots try to establish.
Are you flooding for 30 minutes because you don't have a timer that will do 15 minute intervals? (been there done that) You can get the mechanical ones that have 15 minute intervals cheap on Amazon. I just got a couple for backups because they are getting hard to find in stores. Everything is digital now. Personally, I root my seedlings/clones in vermiculite/perlite mix and put them in the table after they have decent roots. I always keep the main root ball high enough in the net pot so that it is never submerged. What you are doing more closely resembles NFT than it does E&F. If you're going to continue that method you should only flood about 1/4'' deep (basically take the overflow stack out of the table). Rockwool is very good at wicking (which is what makes it work well for NFT), and it provides oxygen to the roots much better when it's wicking up from the bottom than it does when you fully saturate it and let it drain.