Wow..germination direct into rockwool works amazing!

Exactly 3 days since germination, and wow, I'm surprised to see my girls already! I am also pleasantly surprised how easy germination was.

I simply soaked the rockwool in ~5.5pH water overnight, placed the cubes on the germination tray with heat pad underneath, and put the seeds in the hole. Humidity dome on, and 125W CFL as close to the top of the dome as possible running constant-on, right from the start. I was a little nervous about this approach, seeing how a lot of people opt to germinate in darkness, but as you can see, they popped up fast, they are screaming towards that light!

As far as watering, I dipped the bottom third of the rockwool cube in the pre-soak liquid if I thought it was too try. I also have a spray bottle that I misted them & the entire tray with sporadically to keep proper humidity. It's a bit low outside of the humidity dome, so I compensated for that.

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3 out of my 4 are well on their way to their first baby leaves...as you can see, the 4th is a bit of a slow-poke, but she's popping up as I write this!

I honestly can't see how there would be a simpler method for germination. This is great for a first time grower like me. It was virtually effortless! Added benefit of no stress on the seeds...these puppies are going right into my ebb & flow pots when ready.

A link to my grow journal thread is in my signature. I'll be posting there with constant updates. Can't wait!

Outstanding! Glad you soaked the cubes, that makes all the difference. best wishes on a healthy crop!

JP

I agree with this method, I get better germ rates with pre-soaked rockwool cubes than a paper towel or any other method, I also find them to be just as fast. The best thing about it is that there is no handling of the sprouted seed and no chance of damage!

Just check them every once in a while. Occasionally they will travel upwards root first =/

Be sure to keep an eye on them. Those small cubes can dry out PDQ if you happen to forget about them.
I started using jiffy pucks because they don't dry as fast, and they fit perfect in a large rock wool cube.
Your doing it the best way for a hydro setup as the little cubes then go into a bigger cube.
I am a little lazy and started killing a lot of seeds for not keeping them moist in rock wool.

SandstormGT said:

I agree with this method, I get better germ rates with pre-soaked rockwool cubes than a paper towel or any other method, I also find them to be just as fast. The best thing about it is that there is no handling of the sprouted seed and no chance of damage!

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For a noob like me, the idea of not having to directly handle my fragile sprouted seeds at all was all the motivation I needed!

Dirty Harry said:

Be sure to keep an eye on them. Those small cubes can dry out PDQ if you happen to forget about them.
I started using jiffy pucks because they don't dry as fast, and they fit perfect in a large rock wool cube.
Your doing it the best way for a hydro setup as the little cubes then go into a bigger cube.
I am a little lazy and started killing a lot of seeds for not keeping them moist in rock wool.

Click to expand...

I think I've found a good solution that fits my setup quite nicely. They obviously aren't in the hydro system yet...I put the cubes into solo cups filled a little with hydroton, and put the water level just slightly below the top of the hydroton. So far, 24hrs into this method, I've found that the hydroton and water combination with the cube just simply sitting on top keeps my cubes perfectly moist!
Check out my grow journal (link in my signature)...I'm a documenting FREAK and I have a more detailed account of what I'm doing there.