need tips on rooting in rockwool

im a successful soil scrogger, and i decided to try hydro. i would like to know the best way to root in rockwool.. i got the cubes and the mother but i wanna get the most common easy, and effective method before i start whacking it.

Soak your rockwool cubes in water with a PH of 5.5 overnight them gently shake out the excess water.(don't squeeze the cube)

Cut your clones as usual, dip them into your rooting agent of choice, then I take the paper off the cube and split the cube to the pre-cut hole. ( I do this to assure that I don't wipe my rooting agent off when positioning the cutting.)

I hold the cube open and position the cutting where I want it. Next I slip the paper back on the cube to hold it together.

Put it in a dome and wait about a week for the roots to grow out of the cube.

Once the roots grow out of your cube you can put it into your growing medium and your off.

Good luck,

AB.

clever idea splitting the cube like that.. ill see what happens.. thanks alot

I do pretty much the same technique as angelsbandit, but prefer to use the Rapid Rooters over the rockwell. I've had better results with the Rapid Rooters with less ph issues, less algae and other growths.

cool, i might try those. im also intrested in building some kind of bubble cloner/clone machine.. see what i can dig up. thanks

i dont know how wet to keep my cubes... Im guessing it should be more dry than soaked through for cutting than angelsbandit said.

Im doing my first rockwool experiment atm. so please correct me if im wrong

doidlethedigger said:

i dont know how wet to keep my cubes... Im guessing it should be more dry than soaked through for cutting than angelsbandit said.

Im doing my first rockwool experiment atm. so please correct me if im wrong

Click to expand...

I like to wet from the bottom to keep roots heading down. Keeping moisture off top of cube will also limit algae. I set up a tub approx. 3" deep and soak them for a couple of seconds keeping water just below top of cube. Let cube dry out almost completley before watering again from bottom. Good Luck

DH

here we go!

10x20 mondo tray with humidity cover (or plastic bowl with saran wrap cover leave a cm gap for gas exchange) cfl or fluoro tube light at 24/0, 20/4, or 18/6. make cut (preferably while submerged in water or even better under running water) and apply rooting hormone, insert cutting into pre-soaked rockwool. a perfect presoak is pH 5.2 1/4 str flowering nutrients or other weak fertilizer, like a 1-1-1 or an organic, although P and K are supposed to help rooting more. ppm should be around 250-300 w/ nutrients and pHing.

put rockwool in tray, pour a little of the soak in the bottom (if you have an irrigated tray bottom, where water is stored in trenches) cover it, keep the light on it, warm spot not too hot not too cold, a heat mat will help but isn't always necessary.

the rockwool should take 3-7 days to dry with water in the bottom of the tray, and usually by the time it dries you will have roots. may need to rewater once and then you'll get roots by the time it dries, but careful to not overwater.

clone will root in 7-10 days, roots will stick out of the rockwool within a few days and then you can transplant and grow a good root mass until flowering.

or you can buy rapid rooters and follow the directions and get better and faster results... at the cost of minor stability loss...


or even put cuttings in neoprene sleves and root straight with aero or aerated water then transplant into some sort of support system like a stabilized tomato trellis(?) maybe.

thanks dbo, thanks guys, anothr couple days ill be whackin on mammy.

If you have a mom.... forget the rockwool. Make an easy bubble-cloner. it will cost you about $20.00 and you will have roots in a week. After you have a nice root system... you can go right into a net pot with hydroton. Your veg time will be about 2 - 3 weeks. I have 100% success with the bubble cloner... and its sooo easy. If you need instruction on how to make one... let me know. Pic Attached.