I'm a rockwool murderer.

i decided to make the transition from dirt to hydro, and am trying to get a couple of seedlings going to put in my mini hydro hands on learning system. problem is, i keep killing the damned things. i get em sprouted fine in my humidity dome. once they're popped up and ready, (by dirt standards), i put em under a 26w cfl, where they start growing nicely. the problem is, one minute the rockwool is plenty moist, and the next it's dry and my seedling is dead. example: checked one last night at 10pm. cube was moist to the touch, seeling was happy and healthy. light goes off at midnight. checked it again this morning at 9am, (light on at 6am), and it was withered with it's little head resting on the cube. same thing has happened twice. what's the trick? i've never killed a seedling in dirt.

dude ... i can't figure out rockwool. It's not that hard but i run into the same issues. For sprouting seeds ...i'd recommend rapid rooters.

yeah? besides composition, how are they different? hold moisture more consistently?

if you don't wanna go in dirt any more try coco, i gaurantee you will love it!.

basically hydroponics in a pot, you can make it as simple or complicated as you like.

start seeds in rapid rooters then transplant into 0.5l pots when you see roots.

i tried cloning in rockwool but i also found it a lot harder than rapid rooters, so i'll never go back to using it for anything ever again.

rapid rooters are spongy material, don't know exactly what they are made of but the hold water really well and are great for starting seeds and cuttings

I tried rockwool a long time ago and plants lasted about 2 days lol

whew. glad i'm not the only one. how long do you guys wait before moving? i'll be going into 6" pots with hydroton...

i like rock wool because its clean =)

some tips,

use bigger cubes if you can, the bigger cubes hold the water better and longer and give the roots more room to grow b4 hitting the air.

if you cant use bigger cubes you can bunch them up or use a bigger humidity dome. i use them in a dwc so its a fair bit different then flood and drain. i use 2 inch cubes and let the plants live in them in a dome till there about 5 or 6 inches usually a week or so if im coming from seed. if your doing flood and drain i would use 6 inch cubes prolly then just adjust your watering schedule to fit how fast they dry out =)

but in the end i would have to agree, when starting from seed (which i dont do often) i would also use a rapid rooter or plug starter type medium rather then rockwool, i find rockwool works great for clones. lately however i have just been cloning in a dwc with just water and its working great.

I've had seedlings in 1.5" rockwool cubes sitting in a cup of hydroton for like 2 weeks. I've never had them dry out that quickly, but I run my lights on them 12/12. I just use a misting spray and spray the cube and pellets every day or sometimes two days.

Just rinse with pH'd water before using and keep moist.. simple!

that's a good idea. my newest seeding is in a little tupperware container. i've been putting just enough water in to soak the cube, and it needs it twice a day. was waiting to see some exposed roots and was going to move them to their big girl pots. i like the hydroton in a cup idea though! is it difficult to move them to pots without damaging the roots? any other potential issues to watch for?

I don't know. This is my first time doing it! I don't think there will be an issue. The roots should be large enough to survive contact with a couple of pellets. I should have enough root growth to reach the water in my DWC though when I move them.