A new beginning in Rockwool! Afghani and White Widow

[redfoxx]

Alright!!

I begin this journal anew after failing with a POS SH bubbleponics system. I'm now under expert tutelage of nongreenthumb and he's been doing nothing but helping me set this straight.

I have planted my first afgaani sprout today and tried to rescue 2 bigger seedlings I had in the bubbleponics, they'll probably die so no biggie b/c i'm germinating 5 more seeds of various Nirvana and will be sprouting them soon. I have my Ionic Grow and Boost on the way. I'm gonna pick up some more 6" Grodan RW blocks this Saturday as well as a few tray and pH down. Wish me luck...

Here are the pics, RW block 6", soaked for 30 min in 5.5 pH solution. No nutes of any sort added, water @ EC of .18 (~115PPM). I also hope to help newbies like myself who're trying this method. Also Drizzle's journal is great and NGT is starting a new journal as well with new sprouts. Stay tuned.

 

[redfoxx]

Well the biggest surprise this morning was the fact that the bigger seedlings survived the night of transplantation!! They seem to be doing well. Time will tell.

The germination process is coming along successfully, the Afgaani's once again beat all competitors and were transplanted to 1" cubes this morning, they're little monsters.

One white widow and 1 durbanxskunk showed tiny roots, others have cracked. I'll be getting the 6" cubes Saturday and planting them all Sunday night.

 

[redfoxx]

Well here's a small update. The plants seem to be doing better already. They're not dead at this point and that to me is impressive in and of itself. The biggest one looks healthy and green, the one to the right was the sickest of them all and had a lot of that red bacteria crap on its roots, so i cleaned it with water, we'll see if it survives. The little one's doing good and the 2 seedlings i put in 1" cubes this morning have already showed their head. I'll put them under the light tomorrow morning.

 

[redfoxx]

Well, plants seem to be adjusting nicely. My 2 wild afgaani seeds gave nice sprouts this morning and i moved them under the light. My 2 white widows are coming up nicely + 1 more afgaani germinating since i put him in a little later. The durbanxskunk1 freebies didn't even germ yet...oh well, a freebie is a freebie. I'm just happy I don't have to change res tanks every night and check the stupid pH. Once I start the Ionic nutes, the pH balance should be very solid.

 

[redfoxx]

Here's an update. Not much growth yet, but hopefully after I add nutes they'll start off.

 

[potpimp]

Wow, another guy burned on the SH(it) bubbleponics crap! I feel your pain bro. I'll be watching this thread and learning from you and Nongreenthumb. Thanks for the advice!

 

[redfoxx]

Thankfully made it just in time on Friday to the store, traffic almost made that impossible and I was going out of town for the weekend. Bought a small bottle of Ionic Grow nutes, 3 black trays and 8 6" rockwool cubes. So I should be all set now and will be transplanting and adding nutes on Monday. They should really take off after that.

 

[potpimp]

I just had 6 out of 7 big bud seeds to germinate - got them from Nirvana. So I'm about to put them in the rock wool that's been sitting in the pH water since Friday morning (about 54 hours or so). I'm gonna put the little tap root down in the wet rock wool, close the fibers over the seed, cover it and put it in a warm place and hopefully I will have a new set of babies next week. Now I gotta get my new grow journal started.

 

[redfoxx]

I just had 6 out of 7 big bud seeds to germinate - got them from Nirvana. So I'm about to put them in the rock wool that's been sitting in the pH water since Friday morning (about 54 hours or so). I'm gonna put the little tap root down in the wet rock wool, close the fibers over the seed, cover it and put it in a warm place and hopefully I will have a new set of babies next week. Now I gotta get my new grow journal started.

Awesome!

They will definitely sprout. Last night when I got home, I was in for a very nice surprise. Five seedlings which just sprouted on Friday, showed excellent green true leaves and the bigger plants in the rw blocks looked like they've adjusted nicely and gave new sets of leaves. My triple leafed freak soil plant did excellent as well and grew a new large stem and almost doubled in size (this was really supposed to be a control grow for the bubbleponics and i'm using crappy miracle grow soil).

I fed them all last night with a weak .45 EC grow solution to let them adjust to a stronger dose I will give the bigger 2 tonight (about .9-1 EC). I've got 5 plants to transplant tonight into their permanent homes as well as move all of them to the new trays that I got for them. Fun times indeed! Pictures coming tonight...

Potpimp it's great that you're starting out, this way we will have a very close grow and be able to help each other as well as learn since we're now in NGT's apprenticeship, you'll be surprised how much the plants love RW.

Also using a heated pad under the propagator tray and misting the cover, helps a lot! Seedlings sprout overnight this way.

 

[redfoxx]

Phew....2 hours of work...mixing nutes....etc...transplanting....should be easy from now on..

Here are the pics....all little ones got a dose of .5 EC, 5.8 pH....the two biggest ones got an EC of 1. Ionic Grow...










PS
This morning after rubbing the leaves, a delicious skunky smell appeared. Mmmmm (don't worry, i'm not gonna kill and eat any skunks).

 

[choppers4life]

what's up my friend, i was out of town for a week, just got home and knew i had 2 check newest updates, i am on top of it and study more tommorrow, dude thanks for all the good info you r sharing i will keep in touch if cool, take care my man........

 

[redfoxx]

Hey choppers! Sure thing, I'm glad this is helpful. I'll be glad to share anything i've learned, this is tons of fun!

 

[Gyp]

How did you set up your drip system, we're both working off the same concept.

 

[redfoxx]

How did you set up your drip system, we're both working off the same concept.

Hehe it's a dunk-by-hand system right now. I simply water it manually with nute water every 2 days.

 

[Gyp]

gotcha, I'm gonna dunk till I'm in the big blocks, but got all the tubes and what not for the drip.

 

[redfoxx]

gotcha, I'm gonna dunk till I'm in the big blocks, but got all the tubes and what not for the drip.

Awesome, post pics when your setup is ready.

My plants really are starting to enjoy their environment. The seedlings pulled up and are doing very well. I'll stop spamming pictures and will post an update on Friday. Stay tuned...

 

[choppers4life]

redfoxx. what is up with the black plastic on rw?

 

[Gyp]

algae protection, I used the white side to reflect the light under the leaves. It's the in thing, all us rw growers are into it.

 

[choppers4life]

cool man, always learning new things from you guys, you guy's rock. take care

 

[redfoxx]

So new pics.....

They're looking good so far....going to water them and give some miracle grow food to my soil plant....it is an experiement that one....it's a freak too.

Day 8...