Quite frequently on the boards I see seedlings and clones that have just been transplanted into rockwool cubes looking a bit grim so I thought i'd put a guide up on how I used to prepare my cubes, and what worked for me

I think bad preparation of the said cubes could be the main reason why some plants struggle. If you prepare your cubes correctly then at least if you do get problems you can rule this out

1. Soak your blocks, whether 1" or 6" in 5.5-5.6ph water for 24hrs, preferably with an airstone

2. Squeeze out most of the excess water, but not too hard that you damage the cube

3. For clones soak for another 24hrs in a weak nutrient mix with an ec of 0.6-0.8, ph 5.8, and your choice of rootstim

4. For germination(1" blocks) I just soaked for a second time with a rootstim, no nutes, ph 5.8

5. When you use the blocks, a light squeeze to leave the block 60-70% wet and you are ready to go. This way you shouldnt overnute them, the ph will be in balance, and drowning them shouldnt happen because leaving blocks sopping wet especially with seedlings can cause damping off

6. Leave the plastic wrapper on to stop the blocks collapsing

Hope that helps and clears a few things up for you

Owd

Thx Owdherb , i didnt do this and my ladies took ages to start . Will do this on my second attempt.

p.s nice piece on supercropping , ive got small stumpy ladies , bushy as hell and im getting sweating on the leaves so i dont want rot r owt so just building up the courage to attack with the scissors .

could watered down clonex be used as a root stim?

n n n no. Canna rhizotonic is a good root stimulater and used on all mediums ie rw cubes.
Hantshaze.

looks like another trip to the GS i almost bought some when i bought the spreader mat but would have probably left that there to and come home with just a single pipette(like i did)

WOW

Been looking all morning for this info and when i return you have posted it all, good stuff Owd

you know i've copied and pasted this in my ever growing hydro info doc if thats ok?
thanks

Nice post Owderb and simple to follow.



From my experience I have noticed that .8EC of organic mix burnt 2/3 of my clones and 1.9EC of GH nutes was just fine. So my conclusion is that the strength is product dependant. Also the strength of 1.9 is not needed for clones.


A question for you, do you soak cubes in any nutrient mix prier to transplanting? (for ex. 1” into 3”or4”)

what about rockwool slabs..... whats the best way to prep them?........ anyone

If it were me then i'd be finding a container to fit them in and do exactly the same or use the bath

Owd

Nice post ,

Thanks for the info.

Mrm

I put them in a colander inside a bucket. I then swing the bucket around 10 times so that the water drains out of the cubes by centrifugal force.

I find this helps maintain the shape of the cubes (provided I'm careful) and drains them uniformally.

Seems to work...

Stan

i was recently given a bottle of jump start advanced nutes
its does the job but havent used Canna rhizotonic yet!

Have you tried the peat disks soak them in willow water to expand them put them in a block tray and into the prop work every time.. no need for rooting hormone to make willow water soak willow cuttings in water 24 hrs. do not store always us fresh. .happy horticulture. eric

Cheers, Iky, yes, that used to be my method but I wanted to do hydro now. ;-)

Rockwool is inert: so is soaking them crucial? Is there some some of residue on them that is removed by soaking?

By the same token, how does soaking them in (weak) nutes help, if rockwool does not absorb the liquid?

I appreciate that a simple application of nutes would work as the capillary action of the Rockwool fibres will keep the liquid suspended.

Sorry to be thick about this!

IME no it isn't. Those designed for horticultural use can impart a high pH (so I've read ) but otherwise they should be OK.


I think that's pretty-much what happens when they're soaked...

Personally I soak them for an hour-or-so if I can - simply to ensure that there's no hidden dry areas.

If I'm in a rush then I simply give 'em a quick dunk... I've not noticed any significant difference...

Stan