first time germing in rockwoll

hi there, im planning to germinate in rockwool for the first time.
will be germinating in my garage then plan to transplant the seedlings into my wilma 8 pot system in clay balls.
this is the way i plan to do it.
1. soak the rockwool cubes in ph'd water
2.put rockwool cubes in tray in propagater.
3. sow seed in rockwool cube
4. re-soak cube in ph'd water till it runs out bottom of cube
5. place dome on propagater and turn heating mat on to keep up a nice humidity.
6.once seed has sprouted up past surface take dome off , turn heating mat off and put under 40 watt fluroscent tube.
7.keep lights on 24 hours a day and about 5cm away from top of seedling.
8.water when necessary and transplant into new medium when roots show through bottom of rockwool block.
9.start giving half strenght nutrient solution

is this the right way to go forward?
do i need to control the temperature in my garage as temps will drop in the evening, best way to do this?
also when the seed sprouts do i turn my heating mat off in propagater?
what size rockwool blocks to use and do i need to put them into bigger ones??
any help or comments would be great thanks guys

Germinating in rockwool can be tricky.....if you wet it too much you can kill the seedling and if dries out of course it can die.........I would suggest germinating in a cup of water....Ro water if you have some......just throw the seed in the cup ( adjusting the ph is not necessary) just put it in a dark place and check on it every 12 hours.....once it cracks ....immediately put in the rockwool tap root down of course....like that you know your seedling has germinated.......just some advice since I have killed many seedlings by just putting them in the rockwool cube......you dont need a dome and the heat mat unless it's really cold........oh and start with 100-200 ppm once the seedling has it's first set of true leafs....

Try the root it cube's these come with a germanation tray great product,If you are gonna germanate in rockwool make sure the cubes are wet through and scrape the side of the cube with a knife this will give you a fluffy piece of rockwool.Put the seed on top of the wet cube then place the small bit of rockwool that you scraped and put it over the seed.Make sure that these are then put somewhere dark and warm but not too warm.After about 24/48 hrs you will see the seed tail appear make a small hole not too deep i do it twice the depth of the seed with the tail down and cover the seed hole with the section of fluffy rockwool that you scraped of the cube.Then i place under the lights and it will normaly appear within 24/48 hours.There is normaly enougth water held in the cubes that they will not need any more for atleast a week or so.Even if you are growing in soil i still use the larger cubes and sit the cube in top of the soil this lets the root mass grow down into the tub been used.If you are gonna soak the cubes use a feed like plant start or a realy low dose of nutes.,,..................................................tyke...................................................................................................................

thanks guys. tyke what do you mean start with 100-200ppm sorry mate complete beginner

100-200ppm is a reference to the strenght of the water solution. 100-200 parts per million. basically the higher the concentration of the feed the higher the PPM.

i just lost 2 lemon skunk seeds to rockwool cubes, didn't enjoy trying to keep them going, much prefer doing clones in rockwool

i really haven't too much problems with rockwool. My last go round was like 11 out of 12 if i remember correctly. I would do as someone had said use a starting solution. I use Super Thrive. Just a drop or three. I soak in a separate solution than i put in my greenhouse. I dunk, kinda squeeze, then put in your propagator, then put the seed pointy end down in the rockwool cube. It doesn't really matter what size you get if you're going into clay pellets. The reason i use two separate solutions is because, when you squeeze out some of the water, threads of fiberglass (basically) floating around in the water. I don't like things in my water. I do like the knife idea tho, i'll have to try that.

So basically i skipped the separate germinating part and do it all in rockwool. Just remember, damp is the key, as in most germinating methods. I like to water them from the bottom by tipping your seed tray and letting the water you put in the bottom come into contact with the cube. I've also used a spray bottle to keep them moist.

Also i would use the heater and greenhouse. The heater will keep your water at a perfect 72. And seedlings and vegging plants love humidity. I would keep it on for at least a week with the vents open. If you don't have vents make some. And my metric conversion is poor, but if not mistaken thats like two inches. thats a little too close even for fluorescent. Keep it at the top of your greenhouse unless it causes stretching. If so remove the lid to your green house and drop it to where the plants aren't gonna stretch but they have something to grow towards. I tend to get philosophical in some of my other posts, but listen to your plants. Monitor them closely and just.... baby them. A friend i have doesn't check his garden often. I walk in for ten minutes and find 2 deficiencies and some bugs. You gotta talk your plants, at least ask them what they want.

Back to your question. 40 watts of fluorescent is plenty for germinating and I would turn the light on over the seed tray 48hrs after propagation not germination. Then you can go straight tap water until its seed leaves yellow or you have you're first true set of leaves. Then go 1/4 strength and work you're way up from there. Most tap water rests at 100-300 ppm of Total Disolved Solids. (depending on where you're at and pH it of course, my grodan rockwool says 5.5 for starts.) Up here..... somewhere in the rockies...the tap water is great. Has a lot of elemental goodness that comes straight out of the well.

One thing you will find here is that everyone has an opinion. Your method seems pretty close to mine so I figured I'd offer my method. Good luck and keep growing

thanks skunk in the trunk that has helped me out mate are let you know how i get on

I like to germinate in paper towels to get some visible root before dropping them in 5.5 PH'd watered rockwool.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PMFM2p998Y

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpeC6ca0iUA

i love to germinate in rockwool, i have never had to rewet the rockwool because it seems like the dome keeps in the moisture, i would be careful not to drown the seeds