Hello everyone,

Until now I've only used seeds in a soil grow or clones with my aeroponic propergator, now I need to germinate seeds and pop them into my X-Stream Aeroponic Propergator (I've got a 12 site one) .

Normally, I'd manually water the rockwool to keep it moist enough for germinated seed to grow into a seedling but I wanted to automate this damping process, soley out of "interest" rather than need . I was after some timing suggestions for the propergator to dampen the rockwool sufficiently, and some ambient tempratures sugestions.

Also, many people have suggested that it's possible to pop the seed directally into the pre-soaked rockwool to germinate, again I wanted to give this method a try out of "interest" rather than necessity. I'll probably only do half the seeds this way and the other half in my usual method.

So... What would you reccommend for my timing cycles to keep the rockwool damp enough. And what temprature would you reccomend for the ambient temp, inside the propergator, for :

Stage 1, Germination.
- I was thinking, 15 mins on every 1 hour and a temp of 27C.

Stage 2, Seedlings.
- I was thinking, 15 mins on every 3 hours and a temp of 24C

I figured the seed needs more water to germinate than it does after it's popped, please correct my if I'm wrong

As for humidity I find that I can easly reach 90% in the propergator if I keep the vents closed, I guess this is good until the seedling is has started to show it's first real leaves.

Cheers

KK

OPPS ...

I didnt mean 15 mins, I meant 1min every 1 hours (Germination) and 1 min every 3 hours (Seedlings)

Thanks

Starting at 1min per hr with an uncracked seed is way over the top mate you'll end up drowning em, 1min
every 24hrs or so is more like it, just keep an eye on em so they don't dry out. Once they've put down a
few roots and they start taking up water you'll be able to increase yer timings.

Take the lid off mate, you should only need it for rooting cuttings. Seedlings like the humidity lower, say
60%-70% for the first few weeks. You could end up with 'damping off' (stem rot) otherwise..

Thanks for your feedback.

I've spent the past weeks playing with the timing and the humidity, I've managed to get them about right I think so I'll have to make a start on the seeds now.

KK

Seeds in rockwool. Small starter cubes
Keeping the seed wet/soaked all the time is not a good thing. You have to soak and let it almost dry out. They need that. Once it comes out of its shell do not over water it or it will die plain and simple. You have to let the roots go looking for water. Having to much water will drown the plant. Once it has a root and a sprout you can start feeding it as well. Just not at full strength.

hope this helps.

Hey gb

After Hipgnosis advice I've reverted to watering by hand, and keeping the cubes relativly dry. The first few days they were way too wet, but since I've reduced the water and reverted to hand watering they are doing fine.


Thanks

KK

Why is that not good? A lot of people germinate their seeds in a glass of water, right?

Hey molmol

Note though the operative phrase "all the time" after the seed has popped to show alittle root tip it's time to take the seed out of the water.

You'll notice that where ever people have talked about using a glass / ramakin of water they only ever talke about 12/24 hours, or until the seed drops to the bottom.

If you leave it in the water too long then the seed will drown the plant needs CO2, just like we need Oxygen.

KK