A bit short with the introductions here, but heres the beginning of my first grow. Notes: Rockwool isn't availible where I am at. Neither is anything similar, so I kinda winged it. This is a free, as in beer alternative to rockwool. See the dirt/fiber like brown substance? That is was these round balls of (I belive seaweed) that I collected at the beach. I rinsed with tap water, then steamed them for 5-10 mins in a vegetable steamer, and rinsed them again to remove microbes, and salinity. Then I broke the balls up into the fibrous matierials. The addtional matierial seen easily in pic3 is a natural sponge. What I did to create a support system for ease of transplanting and a good medium for the roots to stretch. Heres the assembly instructions, get a natural sponge, cut it to create round tubes, it doesnt matter if the strips don't create one contingoues tube, I used rubber bands around several strips of the sponge to create a tube in which I then packed with the seaweed fibers. After transplanting to the hydro bubblers, I cut the rubberbands to allow the trunk/stem and roots expansion without having to remove the sponge, not to mention the roots hold the sponge together well.
This is the fertilizer/nutes I have been using thus far, but I'm pretty sure they are lacking. Its difficult for me to find proper nutrients here. I need to spend some more time shopping but I don't have a choice atm.
Lighting: 1 x 250w OSRAM POWERSTAR HQI-T 250W/D Bulb (MH) Does anyone else have the problem with cats showing up, sunning themselves in their growroom? http://forum.grasscity.com/images/smilies/stonedsmilie.gif Buckets are 20 litre sealable, with 14cm opening Net pots arent availible either. I used a regular pot and drilled some addition holes I hope its sufficient though. I originally made this type of net pots, but due to a miscalculation on my clay ball size (which was rolled as well by hand(s)) they kept falling out, and overall was a poor design choice. Making adjustments to grow guides for metric has been fun. http://forum.grasscity.com/images/smilies/wink.gif
Nice idea on the grow medium. I will address your leaf problem in your sick plants thread. Your nutes look perfect; they have all the micro nutrients which is good.