Hydoponic system problem (+rep avail)

Hey guys,

I'm finally ready to start my 1000w grow...and after months of research and slowly gathering info and equipment...I have a minor issue.

I am using a General Hydroponics Rainforest hydroponic system(6 sites with vortex sprayer). The system has 6'' baskets that have cocotek liners, which hold hydroton pebbles.

My seeds are fully germinated (all from Greenhouse Seeds Via Attitude)...and rockwool has been sitting in CLEAN, purified water for 36 hours. My plan is to put my germinated seeds IN the rockwool...then place the rockwool into the Hydroton where it will get water through the sprayer hitting the bottom of the basket.

My problem is this...

I have set everything up..and am doing a dry run without the rockwool & seeds. After the system has been running for ONE FULL HOUR...the hydroton is not wet at all. When I remove the basket from the system...it is VERY wet and dripping...but the water does not seem to be penetrating the COCOTEK LINER (used to keep the medium from falling in to the res). Should I remove the cocotek liners? Should the system be left on longer to let the water penetrate the coctek linrer? Should I only use a little bit of hydroton and have the rockwool towards the bottom of the basket where it is more likely to get wet?

The rez has exactrly 13 gallons of water (as per the instructions). The sprayer IS working.

Any help would be GREATLY appreciated guys! Thanks

anyone? kiss-ass

No you do not need tube feeding. Your problem is hydroton doesn't hold water as well as rockwool does. And what you care about is maintaining the right level of wetness for the rockwool. So what you should do is load a cup with everything except the seed and then monitor how wet the rockwool is on top (start it dry). Then you can make whatever adjustments that system provides. The link below describes some of thisalthough it related to bubble based DWC and no sprayer.

Fuck the coco liner, there is no need. It will take longer for the roots to puncture through that as well delaying your grow time. Load up the net cup with the hydroton, use a small screen at the bottom if the rocks are falling through, place the rockwool in the bottom/middle of your rocks and your good to go. Coco sux IMO

Toss the Coco liners. After the seeds develop tap roots and a few true leaves carefuly remove the seedlings from the rock wool and plant the seddlings in the Hydroton in the net baskets. Rock wool tends to have to cause to many damp off problems with anything but intermittant hydro as they tend to hold too much solution when used in aero and bubbler systems.

fatman7574 said:

Toss the Coco liners. After the seeds develop tap roots and a few true leaves carefuly remove the seedlings from the rock wool and plant the seddlings in the Hydroton in the net baskets. Rock wool tends to have to cause to many damp off problems with anything but intermittant hydro as they tend to hold too much solution when used in aero and bubbler systems.

Click to expand...

Okay - thanks for the advice. That seems tough to do...especially once the seedling starts to develop roots. Is it worth the risk? If it will help and reduce risk, I'll do it.

This is where my grow is now:
https://www.rollitup.org/grow-journals/274401-nastys-1000w-6-plant-hydro.html

Is it too early?

The esaiest is to transplant them as soon as they get their first serated leaves. The first leaves are smooth edged when the second ones star showing it is still easy to transplant. Much beyond that there are usually a mess of roots. Some people transplant as soon as the tap root is an inch or so long. The roots only need to be kept in a humid to moist environment. Somepeople even use sah and bleach free laboratory grade wipes and damp them and put the seeds inside, and just check them every few days and keep the wipes moist. Once they have a long tap root they plant them straight into inert media such as hydroton. Paper towels do not work well as they contain a lot of acids, hydroxides, sulfides, carbonates, residual bleachs, perfumes, dyes and other crap.

I wouldn't transplant anything. If you're using 1" rockwool it won't hold enough moisture to cause a problem after the first couple weeks. Transplanting is way too risky imo.

Get rid of the coco and just put the 1" rockwool in hydroton. Make sure the bottom of the RW touches the water but not submersed. 3" rockwool is better imo, but it holds more water.

can u help me with autoflower hydroponic growing. I have a box, and pics