Hello all, new member to grasscity here needing some help. Im a newb and still doing somethings wrong, but hopefully that will change with some help from the grasscity community. Ok so the problem is after the taproot had poked its way out of my rockwool about and inch i transferred them to a bubbler(PH is fine btw). The next day i go check on my girls and i notice one of the taproots is dingy, wilted, and over all not looking good. My others just looked a little yellow but still concerning. They seem to be doing a small amount worse today. The tops look in no way effected besides some slowed growth, but other than that they seem fine. I think i have narrowed it down to 3 things i could be. 1.I forgot to leave the bubbler on during dark period(even though RW was still saturated). 2.The temps are to high in my room making my res too hot.(cant do much about it at the moment). 3. Im somehow getting to much light in from the top even though it has been spray painted. Let me know what you think, any help on the subject would be amazing so thanks in advance. \n(EDIT) Posted this several days ago and received advice that my 3 concerns were spot on. I have since then fixed the 3 problems with no effect. Roots still not recovering at all. The tops are looking fine other than extremely slow growth. Someone help me, this has already set back growth at least a week.
if you turned your air pump off its probably that. they will quickly drown if the water isn't saturated with oxygen. your rockwool maybe too wet, that stuff is shit for aeration. use a pipette to suck out some of the water and allow some air to get it it. what's your nutrient strength? what size air pump are you using? I recommend no smaller than a 10 litre per minute per 5 gallons of nutrient solution
The air pump is plenty big enough, besides its for my small bubble cloner. My rockwool is pretty soaked though. My nute strength is half of the recommended starting dose so like half a tsp per gallon. This is killing me im having a much harder time then i should. The taproots all look terrible but tops are fine, but have almost completely halted in growth. I fear my water temps are not stable or low enough and that thats the whole problem. I have been putting frozen water bottles in and that will bring temps down enough but not for very long. My air conditioning is out at my house so its nearly impossible to keep temps down with out the purchasing of an chiller that i don't have the money for, so this seems fruitless. I think i just need some better confirmation for my suspicions. Ill be moving moderately soon so this shouldn't be as big of a problem. Its usually 75-88 ferinheight, is there anyway that soil would be fine for my condition? I also wanted to say thanks for the reply and contribution to this forum. I haven't even been here very long and already ive seen sooo much good stuff from you. Thanks again man.
I m having somewhat same problem, slow root and veg growth. Starting to think its the rockwool, too wet, doesn;t let enough oxygen get to roots. I m a newb kinda too, on 4th grow, good luck.
Your rockwool shouldn't be soaked. The water level should be lower than the bottom of the cubes. My res temps get too warm also, I just drop frozen bottles in and it seems to help. I have to drop a couple every other hour or so. Soil would probably be easier for you. Easier to learn with in my opinion.
I kinda thought the hydroton's point was to let water glide up to the cube no? just to the roots? i thought grodan cubes had 18% oxygen always unless submerged in water?
course if the rockwool cube is too deep in pot and water is higher not doing much good for your plant
Hey mars, I too had too high of temps for dwc, and couldn't afford a chiller.. Original past recommended hempy buckets to me (thanks again) and I haven't looked back.. Hempys are simply a passive hydro system, drain to waste. I'm running temps of about 80-82 with no issues what so ever.. The growth is explosive in comparison to soil and they are so simple to use, great for beginners and experts alike.. A hempy bucket is simply any type of container (I use 5 and 3.5 gallon black buckets) with a hole drilled 2" up from the bottom of the container.. The 2" of water simply acts like an internal res and mimics a water table like the Earth's. There are numerous mediums to use, but the original is 80% perlite - 20% vermiculite. I have a few buckets that are straight perlite, but a lot of people are using coco coir and even mixes including turface. I too was very hesitant to switch because I was always interested in dwc, but I can tell you that I'm not disappointed in the least bit, and will try dwc when I have the proper equipment .. Personally I hate rockwool because of its initial ph issues and delicacy when it comes to overwatering. Try some peat plugs or just use 50/50 perlite/vermic. I use perlite/vermic and have virtually no transplant shock. I try to stick with the same type of medium that I will be using for the entire grow, it's more productive for the roots and lessens chances of shock IMO. If you're interested in the hempys just let me know, I have a plethora of resources regarding them and would love to share them with ya.