Rockwool for medium?

I have a lot of lose rockwool and cant get ahold of any hydroton. My question is can I breakup the rockwool and use that or do i have to use a different medium such as river rock.

Overdose729 said:

cant get ahold of any hydroton.

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Seriously? No Garden Centres, no eBay?
Somebody on RIU has used aquarium gravel with no complaints.

Hugo Phurst said:

Seriously? No Garden Centres, no eBay?
Somebody on RIU has used aquarium gravel with no complaints.

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I read you can use lava rocks but didn’t wanna try till I got more opinions but the closest store is cross state line and the closest rural route box is 25+ miles away.

What system do you want to use?
It can work in certain situations, like I start and run my plants for 4 weeks or so in Rockwool, but then I transplant into Hydroton in a RDWC system.
You might just want to use soil, and screw the Rockwool.

Lava will work if you take the time and effort to make sure its broken up in to smaller 1/2" or so pieces.

Overdose729 said:

medium such as river rock.

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Definitely not, they will fk with your ph big time.
You want something porous that holds moisture.
You can get dirt right?
Get some perlite at a garden store ( go out and drive if nessecery) with a bag of top soil and mix that into a 50/50 mixture.
Use 3 gallon pots, add some Miracle Grow and away you go.
It might not be the best, but with good light for a 1st grow, it will work (I did it)
Good luck

Def dont use miracle gro

Jimdamick said:

What system do you want to use?
It can work in certain situations, like I start and run my plants for 4 weeks or so in Rockwool, but then I transplant into Hydroton in a RDWC system.
You might just want to use soil, and screw the Rockwool.

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I'm using ActiveAQUA "The Root Spa" Single Site. The soil is same issue as the Hydroton its far, but more expensive to ship. Looks like I better get ready for some traveling!

Airwalker16 said:

Def dont use miracle gro

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Definitely not! I'm running Mammoth Microbes. It's not my first grow just my first time in DWC or anything other than soil/coco

Overdose729 said:

Looks like I better get ready for some traveling!

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you can use rockwool. tear or cut it up into smaller pieces and it should work fine. they sell rockwool croutons that are maybe 1" by 1" by 1" cubes.

i personally dont' like it b/c it seems like it is either too dry or too wet and hard to find the middle ground.

Here's what I do with the bulk rockwool.
I tear it into pieces and mix it with coarse perlite.
It works great, and can not be over-watered.
I've tried.
It holds a lot of water and a lot of air...about 50/50...like the small RW cubes, but a lot cheaper.