Help - 6 day old HYDRO seedlings.... r they toast? literally??

jeeves1000

Member
So this is what I woke to this am.... I'm assuming I fried them? there are no nutes in the water but the water level was low - about 3/4" below the rim.... so now I don't know what to do...I filled the res back up to right below the rim...

Should I just trash them and start over? These are badseed babies so I have plenty more...

If not, which ones should go if any, or should I give them a chance to recover?

Pretty basic question - how high should the water level be? I can get it to actually bubble out of the perlite if needed but don't know if that would create a new set of issues....

Thanks for any help u can give this noob on his first hydro attempt!

Cheers
 

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hydrosoil78

Active Member
the one in the 4 th photo might survive but , you might need to ditch the hydro . It looks like they are not getting enough light and/or they are always saturated and the roots aren't getting oxygen (air pump+ airstone?), maybe. There are lots of different mediums you can use 'hydro' irrigation with. if you put new seeds in this exact system, the same thing will happen again. they have no soil and just get water in 100% perlite (looks like)- you could try mild fish emulsion or something on a survivor but hydro is tricky especially at first.
 

jeeves1000

Member
ugh.... i figured as much.... as for lighting I have 6 26w 6500k cfls right on top of them about 2 inches away so hopefully it's not that! I'm actually running three air stones on 2 pumps one 8" and 2 4"......
Because of where I live the only other alternative is to use spharium(?) moss with the perlite.... I may try that.... Could you tell me typically what the water level should be in the res?
Thanks Hydrosoil78!
 

Rob0769

Active Member
I let plants sit in soaked rockwool without air stones. Even with an inch of water covering the 4" cube. If you have air stones undr all that tuen air is not your issue. I use deep water hydro and I overfill it sometimes to where water is over the medium lsvel and touching the trunk. the air stone will keep the roots alive. As for light I haven't used cfl except for clone but those are small so same deal. I'd wait it out and replace any that die in a few days. What medium are you using? No more slacking off Rob0769 Jr. ;)
 

jeeves1000

Member
Unfortunantely the ONLY mediums available to me are the sphranum moss and perlite! that's it! I was told to ditch the moss and use str8 perlite....MS is as backwards as can be.... I even went to the only local nursery and they looked at me like I was a freak just for asking if they carried rockwool.... in spring walmart will btreak out the little growing cubes but I heard they suck as well....
So from what I gather, it's ok to have the water bubbling out of the perlite? maybe that was the issue all along....
Thanks Rob0769 Jr!!
 

Rob0769

Active Member
I've heard of people using straight pearlite. It's pretty much the same thing as rockwool just not compressed together. Rockwool has no nutrients or any benefit except to soak up water and be there to hold the plant which is the same as pearlite. They're both glorified sponges. Maybe it is the better choice.
 

justanotherbozo

Well-Known Member
...this can be run with straight perlite, ...in this thread it's a perlite/vermiculite mix but i know people who run it with straight perlite.

The Official Hempy Bucket Thread

...this is a form of passive hydro so it has no pumps that can fail and it is brain-dead simple to run, plus, your results will be close to what you'd have gotten with a DWC.

...simple is good when you are learning your chops.

peace, bozo
 

jeeves1000

Member
Well as retarded as it sounds they actually look a little better now with the water right at their base.... so I'll give them a day or 2 then replace with the germies if needed....
Thanks again for all the advice and I'm about to check out that thread bozo! thanks
 
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