Failed with rockwool/soil what did I do wrong?

I put rockwool into ph balanced water for minimum 1 hour and squished %70 of its water then placed my white widow seeds into them and put these into a propagator and a dark place and sprayed water when it was necessary.Usually temp was 24C and moist was around 80.
In 72 hours it poped out and became 3 fingers height.Last night at 1 am I checked them they were healthy I sprayed them, at 11 am I checked them but their top was going down and had brownish color, temp was 23C and moist was 57, but inside it was dry and there were no signs of water..

I dont know what happened I was going to put them in soil 1 or 2 days later.Wasted 8 seeds so far.
Any help will be appreciated.
Thanks.

Read the instructions your rockwool came with. You're supposed to submerge it in a light nutrient solution with a pH of 5.5 for 24 hours. You're also not supposed to crush the rockwool by squeezing it. It needs the air pockets intact for root aeration. Do that next time, and you'll be a lot more successful.

yup, shake the water out gently as opposed to crushing it. also were your lights on when you sprayed the seedlings?

Hey man, i wouldnt place seeds in rockwool with nutrient solution just yet... If your gonna soak them in anything make it root stimulator.. so as soon as the seeds makes a root, itll start growing big and nice from the start.. u also wanna put them under the light once the seed has sprouted...
if your leaving it in the dark, this is your problem....
give them 18 hours of light, after they sprout, and they should be good to go...

oh yeah, leaving your rockwool in the water longer than 1 hour, wouldnt be a bad idea either... Make sure the PH is exact... and check your ph tester if it needs re calibrate it...

good luck,
Peace

oh, and if you're using soil, you might as well just use peat pellets

Or, you could use rapid rooters instead of rockwool cubes for initial seed planting/germination. That's what I do. Then, once they're rooted transfer them to larger 4" or 6" blocks for transplanting.

So what do you say was the problem, putting rockwool in water for 1 hour, or once they sprouted not putting them into soil/light? why do they die in 10 hours? because of these problems?

No disrespect, but IMO, you really should spend some time reading a good cultivation book, or any of the many threads on this site about basic growing techniques. Until you do, you're going to continue wasting money and having difficulties. For your own financial good and sanity, please follow this advice.

I read from many sources, but reading is not the thing it is the experience that comes from actual growing...
I tried 2 different methods but rockwool seemed the easiest for me, I believe that I know what to do but there are just lots of thing to make sure, this is why I am failing, so any help from here will be appreciated

Mcgician said:

No disrespect, but IMO, you really should spend some time reading a good cultivation book, or any of the many threads on this site about basic growing techniques. Until you do, you're going to continue wasting money and having difficulties. For your own financial good and sanity, please follow this advice.

Click to expand...

agreed.

it could be either problem or niether, but something else altogether.

quick question.. Is there any pvc "plastic" around the plants?.
Everything you did sounds alright.. or atleast good enuff for the plants to not just die....
Just to re confirm with u ... Rockwool cubes have been ph'd to 6-6.5 ... ( u said only one hour) I dont think that its enough, so this may be your problem... Your rockwool cubes PH is off...
They are in a propagator/humidity dome at RH 80% at 25Ceclcius... Perfect... no problem there...
You said they were in the dark... This may be the reason why your having problems.. but then again i dont think such short time would do it ... try and place them under the light... in the same conditions maybe a little warmer.. like 28 celcius...

The only other thing i can think of, is PVC... when in contact with light and heat... pvc releases a gas that is toxic to plants... and wont allow them to grow or survive for that matter... 24 hours and they can be dead as dead can be ...

Check if your floors or anything near the plant is made of pvc.... this could be the cause of your problems...

Otherwise, the quality of your water... It is possible for water to have too many heavy metals in it .. And this can destroy your plants especially when they are just seedlings...

there ya go man .. I broke it down to have a clearer vision of your situation in my head... and to be honest i dont see what else could be your problem... Whether you used a light fertilizer solution in your rockwool cubes or not... the seedlings should do fine atleast for 48 hours no matter what... so its not that...

I would first put them under light..., and see what happens....

keep us posted,

peace

Question 1-Where did you get the seeds? Genetics plays a huge role in what your plants will look like(so if you got the seeds from a friend of a friend then this is not a reliable source of seed. When your investing your own hard earned cash on electricity, fert, Medium, Lighting, etc. you should have the highest standard for your genetics.

Question 2-What kind of lighting do you have? Lighting is very important threw out a plants life but more so is the right kind of lighting for what stage your plants r in. If you want your seeds to germinate properly you should have some sort of florecent or metal halogen lighting set up. For the florecent you can keep it 6-12in. away from your sprouts but make sure it is a cool burning bulb. Metal halogen burns much hotter so turn your light on and put your hand where the top of the plant would be if it feels uncomfortable then chances r it will drop your plants faster then the the U.S drops bombs!

Question 3-What kind of medium r u using? I personally only use organic soil medium. Fox farm ocean blend mixed w some playsafe sand and a bit of perilite is a great start for your plants. Makes for good drainage and you can control how much fert you put in with out having to worry about it staying in the soil for too long. If you plant your seed straight into the soil about half of a inch down and keep soil moist and turn that florecent on and keep it around 80 deg. you should have your self no probs! But seriously think about where you plants r coming from. The bay area has # of rep. canibus clubs where you can get starters for cheeper then seeds just something to think about.

I just had a whole shitload of beans die on me too. Luckily mine were mostly bagseeds but I tried to use those jiffy pellets and a greenhouse and I guess it got to moist and or too cold. I took some cuttings from my plants and they all rooted but the seeds in the same environment failed. i had some pots filled with seed starting mix that I usually have good luck with they all grew like some mold or something maybe like algea from being so overly saturated. Like I said I had clones so I was spraying on top the water already in but I have had problems in the past with the peat pellets drying up on me in the past too. Anyways I'm done with those pellets for germing the way i always did it with good success is just to soak the seeds for a few days in moist paper towels than put it in a ziplock bag in a dark warm place for a few days intil the seed cracked and than place right into the moist soil and under the CFLs to put out some heat and it also evaporates water from the soil and you can just spray the top of the soil everyday until they pop out and I don't have moisture issues and also the seed recieves light right away so I don't get elongated stems i hate that.

I appreciate last posts, thank you guys for spending some time on helping me.
Here is what I did, when I looked under the rockwool I saw roots coming out, so I took the rockwool (brownish seedling) and put it to soil/under light.
Brownish seedling became green and healthy, now growing very fast I will post a picture of my grow room & plant.
The problem was, I did not put them into soil when it was time so they started to rot but now its okey.