larrypizzimp93
Well-Known Member
I have some new seeds that I want to get going in a hydro setup. I usually do soil to start but trying to get them going quick. I can do dwc or use my aero cloner
how to start seeds for hydro? (dwc, aero)
- Thread starter larrypizzimp93
- Start date
Thundercat
Well-Known Member
Personally I’ve always preferred rapid rooters or even coco or peat plugs for starting seedlings. Then I put them right into my flood and drain trays in hydroton pots.Lots of people use rock wool starter cubes.
I’ve seen people start seeds and put them into the neoprene collars on aero systems or into hydroton pots. I feel like that leaves more room for something to go wrong then just using a seedling start plug of some sort.
I’ve seen people start seeds and put them into the neoprene collars on aero systems or into hydroton pots. I feel like that leaves more room for something to go wrong then just using a seedling start plug of some sort.
HolyAngel
Well-Known Member
Yeah I start in rapid rooter's. Soon as a root is poking out the side of the rooter i drop it into my dwc and start top feeding until the roots hit the water.
Rockwool can be finicky, sometimes it can hold too much water and causes the seedling to damp off. I've found the rapid rooters or similar are easier and work just as well if not better.
Could just start the seed and once it cracks carefully place it in the aero collar but that seems a lil risky to me.
Rockwool can be finicky, sometimes it can hold too much water and causes the seedling to damp off. I've found the rapid rooters or similar are easier and work just as well if not better.
Could just start the seed and once it cracks carefully place it in the aero collar but that seems a lil risky to me.
Thundercat
Well-Known Member
Yeah I’ve had issues with rockwool trying to stay too wet. Lost a whole batch of clones one time.
Airwalker16
Well-Known Member
If you're going I to DWC,you want bare roots. Therefore, the aerocloner. @fragileassassin will be chiming in any moment with his method or a link to a post he's already made that explains it.
fragileassassin
Well-Known Member
Good timing. I woke up 5 mins ago lmao.
fragileassassin
Well-Known Member
I have started doing exactly this and it's been working great. These seedlings I popped in coco+perlite. I let them grow for 4-5 days until they were big enough to fit in a collar I cut in half thickness wise. With the coco+perlite mix, I'm able to just gently pull them out or dig them up. When you first put them in there, they wont do much for the first couple days, then they just explode.
larrypizzimp93
Well-Known Member
Do you rinse all the coco off when inserting to the aero?
fragileassassin
Well-Known Member
Yeah. I mixed the coco pretty perlite heavy so they just have some dust on them when I pull them out. A few gentle sprays with a spray bottle gets them nice and clean for the cloner. I dont worry about a few little specks, just rinse the most of it off.
I do something very similar in my AA aero setup. I start the seeds in paper towels.
When they pop, I put them in mini hempy buckets filled with just perlite - about 1/4" deep. The mini-hempy bucket is just a small dixie cup with three holes poked near the bottom. Maybe 1/2" up from the bottom. I "wet" the perlite with nute solution Jacks 321) at about 300 PPM. Then let it all drain out down to the holes. My water is about 100 PPM. PH to 5.8.
They generally poke up in two or three days. I re-wet them once a day and let the excess water drain out. I leave them in the cupss until there is about 2" of stem showing. Then I dump them into my hand and gently shake off the perlite. I dont force it. If some is left, thats no big deal. It will even help the roots stay wet during the transition to surviving on nothing but 50 micron mist.
Then the stems get put in the center of a standard 3" puck and put in net pots in the system. I over mist for the first few days to help with the transition.
This has worked 100% for the last two years or so Ive been doing HPA and now AAA.
fragileassassin
Well-Known Member
Always love seeing those big aero roots. They just grow different than anything else.
You can start them in dirt first when you transfer it the water will wash it away in a couple changes. I can normaly just throw a seed in the pebbles and it will sprout i might have some magic tap water idk. I cant ever get rockwool to work so i normally start a small plant in a 1 gallon pot and clone off that. I just cut it dip it and put it in the mesh pot w the pebbles.
Offmymeds
Well-Known Member
I've never used the pucks. Will it hold that little stem? Doesn't it just slide down to the leaves? I like the perlite dixie cup trick.
HolyAngel
Well-Known Member
yeah rockwool is a pain to use. it needs buffered to the correct ph ahead of time or the plant dies, and then its hard to manage the moisture content in it as it tends to hold a lot of water and too much causes damping off/rot and plant dies. If too little water, which is hard with RW, and plant dies too. I've had much better luck using Root Riots, never had anything die off unless I just neglected it for a week or two.
Offmymeds
Well-Known Member
Just a thank you. I forgot to soak my seeds & never have them in much quantity so I was a little distressed when 2 of my 3 Blue Dreams seedlings couldn't shake off the shell & just flopped over. I was able to carefully pry off the shells, put them in cups of Perlite soaked in Rapdistart and they are back to life!
Drop That Sound
Well-Known Member
I noticed that gnats are attracted to the rapid rooters/ root riot plugs, when growing big DWC plants that were cloned in them months before. at least the last time ever dealt with them was when I used the plugs, maybe they were actually contaminated with eggs?. iMO the last thing you want is any type of organic type of matter thats getting wet and drying out constantly in your hydroton, stuck to the plant too. I just use RW now for any hydro plants, worth the hassle if you ask me..
My system is currently running two nozzles at 1.4 seconds ON and 45 seconds OFF. Thats with 6-7 PSI air pressure.