Sponges??

ok I hate rocwool, or at least the type I have the package says you only need to soak them for 10 min in properly ph water and they will be ok , well thats BS,they constantly cause minor ph fluctuations nothing life threthning to my plants but annoying, so can I use sponges cut to fit my application, I know the pods in the AG use sponges, any ideas or recomendation on the type to get???

I've been looking for the same thing. I want something like the starter plug material....only bigger.

shenagen said:

I've been looking for the same thing. I want something like the starter plug material....only bigger.

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my thoughts exactly, I am wondering if maybe a sponge from the store will do I have seen "natural" sponges, but I am not sure, anybody got any ideas or experience with this????

I'd like to know as well... Fuckin with the PH constantly sucks!

I just called sunleaves and they didn't answer...i'll call back in a bit. We'll get to the bottom of this!

please post if you get an answer I would love to never use rocwool again, I think it may work ok if you transfer it to soil, but for me it makes hydro a nightmare

Will do! I hope they answer soon

I couldn't get sunleaves to answer, but I called my buddy at HTG. He said that he doesn't know for sure if they do....we decided they could mke them but they probably don't because if they did, he would definately have them. I asked him about my own idea and he said it should work well. I want to buy a mat of those square replacement starter plugs and just stack them inside a 4" or so pot...and then put the starter plug into that. It should work great as long as they are packed in tight and no light gets betwenn the pieces. If anybody has the website for the rapid rooter company send it my way and I'll give em a call.

sweet tip, I am still looking into it, I am making a trip to my local hydro store tomorrow I will ask, I am really thinking about ust germinating a couple of seeds, and putting them in whatever i can find that "looks" like it will work and seeing what happens...... i will get back too you

check this out, its a quote from another message board about using the Aerogarden it seems like he had the same idea i did an dit worked goign to give it a shot


I simply replaced the grow sponge in the seed pod with my own sponge. Do ya wanna know how to do it? Do you? Here's the super secret: All I did was cut a similar shape out of a normal grout sponge, put the seeds in the sponge(Bell Pepper & Butterhead Lettuce), plugged the sponge into the empty seed pod, added a small amount of miracle grow pellets to the water, and just like magic...they grew!

I know this makes no sense at all but I switched from 4x4 rockwool cubes in a ebb & flow surrounded with hydroton, to a drip system with rockwool crutons and hydroton. With my 4x4 cubes I had to adjust my ph daily. With these crutons and hydroton my ph stays the same.

Same brand of rockwool and hydroton. Can't figure it out, but I'm not complaining!

yeah thats one of their selling points with that stuff, no more ph fluctuation. I was curious if it was true....sounds like it is. Good to know

Does anybody have any good books or websites with information on growing using sponges?

I don't know anything about sponges, but I've never had a pH fluctuation while using rockwool. It's inert, just like sponges, or coir. The pretreating is in case there is some residual lime in the rockwool, so a soaking in low-pH solution will fix that. From there on, it's your nutrient soup buffers, and your water, and the plant itself that causes the fluctuations.

HTH

I am afraid I am going to have to disagree with you potroast and this is based on the 2 systems I currently have running and this is my 3rd time around with rocwool and in the one system I am not using it,I have had to adjust the ph once (its checked daily) with the other system WITH the rocwool i am adjusting the ph twice a day!! the ONLY difference is the rocwool same water no nutes yet

so if someone wanted to do a bubbleponics grow, whats an alternatve to rockwool you'de reccomend?

bigd921 said:

I am afraid I am going to have to disagree with you potroast and this is based on the 2 systems I currently have running and this is my 3rd time around with rocwool and in the one system I am not using it,I have had to adjust the ph once (its checked daily) with the other system WITH the rocwool i am adjusting the ph twice a day!! the ONLY difference is the rocwool same water no nutes yet

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ah hahahaha. your supposed to soak em in a buffer if not just water overnight before you use em, then rinse and shake. if you have ph problems and are blaming that on rockwool... that's kinda like blamming the jews for the holocaust.....

why don't you guys use coco?????????????

again doctor I have to disagree, it says right on the package DOES NOT REQUIRE LONG SOAKING TO ADJUST PH......... but regardless I soaked them for 24 hours in water ph at 5.8 prior to using and as i stated this is my second go around using them and I have a side by side comparison in 2 different systems, plus all of us that have posted in this thread cant all be nuts....... maybe you guys that it works for are just lucky

don't know if this helps but in my hydro set-up, i use something called rapid-rooter (i think it is organic for those of you who care) and i hold that in place with hydroton. seems to work pretty well for me.

if you want more info - let me know.