A lesson from a newb to other newbs about medium choice

You get told all sorts of things when starting out growing.

I was told coco was the way to go. In one way it's true, you give the plant everything it needs, and you get rewarded with bud. But it's certainly more complicated than a soil grow I now find.

However, today's lesson is for those who have decided to grow in coco, and start with rockwool. My friend who grows told me to put the seeds into rockwool plugs. This is sensible. He then told me:

"Once they've sprouted, put them into 4" blocks. Put the blocks straight onto the top of the coco in your 15l pots and mound a bit of coco up to the edges"

I wish I hadn't listened to him. The result of this is that:

1) The coco you push up to the edges just washes away, leaving the 4" block looking like an island in the coco.

2) The 4" block then starts to come loose and damages the roots going into the coco below.

3) Algae grows like a *bitch* on the exposed, damp rockwool and you have to make covers to block the light which then have to be removed each watering in the young days of the plant, to make sure the roots in the block get water too.

4) The rockwool then stays saturated for longer because it's not evaporating water as fast.

GAHHHH why did I ever listen to him?!

I have a question also - would I be better carefully digging out my plants, and planting them deeper and covering them with coco?

Sympathies dude its hard to know who to listen to. You stumble along making mistakes until you find what you like .
I grow in soil because I dig organics and yeah it's way less intense than coco.
That said i start my cuttings and seedlings in little jiffy coco plugs that you have to hydrate. As soon as there's an abundance of roots they go into a small pot of soil. Then another pot, and another, and then into the final one.
It might be worth your time to just repot your plants again, I find as long as I'm careful it only delays grow for a couple of days.

Thanks for the advice. I may repot one of them as the rockwool block is sitting about 2.5" above the coco. I will have to dig down and try and get its roots out intact, but ofc have no idea how low they go. Poor little thing. It's my earliest auto too, so a shame to have to set it back any more, but I fear for its security perched on the coco like that.

In my considered opinion Coco just complicates what is supposed to be a very simple process. So I plant seeds in soil. They grow like weeds and reward me eight weeks later with some beautiful fragrant flowers. Growers will always be trying to make the process better and making it more complicated but in the end, everyone learns that soil is king. It's a great medium for holding organic matter and elements that sustain growth.
So on your next run try soil. You'll be relieved at how right it is for what you're growing.

I love coco. It's super easy and forgiving. I control exactly what goes in. Perfect moisture content. Mix a bucket of nutes, set my drip pump and im done for the week.

I'll see how I go on this grow. If I get the hang of it, I may run coco again, to save learning yet another method. However, if it stays as hard as I'm finding it now, I'm definitely moving to soil.

I'll also move to a one strain, one plant setup, and just grow the fcker large. At the moment I am struggling with six plants, with five strains between them. Not great for a beginner.

Well, I say that, it *will* be great if I get a harvest off each one!

For a first grow, 5 strains is a little over ambitious, even now, I only flower 2-3 strains at a time (20 of each though).

I'm a big fan of coco, much more forgiving than hydro with comparable yields and speed but for a first timer, it can be tricky, next time stick to one strain, it will be a lot easier.

For now, if your still in veg, you should probably repot, don't worry about hurting the root ball too much, they will recover quickly and come back stronger, I would even trim the root ball a little with a pair of sheers and use a rooting stimulator like rhizotonic when you feed them, they will love it. If your reusing the coco, I also add cannazyme to breakdown dead roots.

Good luck.