Ok so alot of people are using deep water culture for growing their plants but not me. I have chosen to grow mine in rockwool cubes... All of my plants were started in small starter cubes and then transplanted into bigger standard 4 inch cubes. Is this going to be enough room for roots if I grow 3-4 foot plants at maturity? Will it kinda slow growth once the cube is full of root??? I know other people use deep water culture to give lots of root space and aeroponics and all that but I'm stuck with using hydroton rocks and grow baskets with the 4 inch cubes in the middle. There is about 1 inch of rocks on the bottom of the baskets. I think rockwool grows slower than aeroponics probably because mine are growing slow. What do you think?? Can you give me some comments?
a 4 " rockwool cube does not have enough space to contain a full plants root system. DWC bubble buckets DO use rockwool, the seedling starts in the rockwool, the root system grows out of the cube, through the net pot, and into the water. so you should mix both systems.
Give us an idea of your total grow setup. You are obviously using hydroponics of some sort, but not really sure based on your post. Also, pics are always a great help. Rockwool is basically just a stabilizer. I have grown 2 foot plants in 1" rockwool. Just depends on the rest of your setup. so please, include more details. We know that you are not using DWC, but what are you using?
Bro It's not that rockwool based gardens grow slow, it's that your system hasn't been dialed in since you started, first overdoing the ferts, then underdoing them.. Either way I saw your other post on how much nutes to give them, with that 1/2 tsp if they show no signs of burnt tips or anything and start growing nudge it up a bit maybe to 1 tsp.. and keep looking at them,... About the rockwool, I get super fast results from rockwool and always have, once you get your sys dialed in, you have to get the plant on the right track, then it grows at an amazing rate extremely close behind aero, and DWC...
my plants are all going to be done with my 4x4 foot flood and drain table that i bought at the local hydro store. I also got a 90l reservoir with it. My light is a 400 watt mh but I got a 600 watt hps coming in a week off the internet along with a squirrel cage fan. The plants are in 4 inch rockwool cubes and basically sit in 6 inch baskets that have 1 inch of hydroton rocks on the bottom and all around the sides and a little on top. The 4 inch cubes stay nice and wet so I only have to water them twice a day and I am using the 1/2 tsp of ferts at the moment and its working it woders but I have decided to use 1 out of 15 of my smaller 4-5inch plants to do an experiment with adding a fert blend of 1 tsp of each fert per jug and see if it catches up to the rest or if it just starts to burn again or something.... I use an oscilating fan to keep the tepms stable at 81-82degrees and the ph is always 5.7-6.0. the light is about 11 inches over top the plants... Does that help you get a better idea...
cheesypeace, I noticed something I wanted to comment on, you said that your rockwool stays wet so you only water it twice a day, On flood and drain your rockwool with stay wet, but it would not be overwatering to water more times than two because everytime you water you push all the old air out of the cube and then when it drains it draws new fresh air down around the roots as the water gets sucked out.. So each time you water your not only watering, your aerating too,. I flood at least 4 times a day... Other than that, your setup sounds sweet, and now that they're growing your gonna see ALOT of growth....