overwatering? underwatering? help!

So here's the situation:

I just transferred rockwool plugs into some 4" rockwool cubes. The cubes had been running under tap water for 20 minutes and then soaked in distilled water at 5.8 ph for another half hour. Since this process yesterday at around noon, a couple plants in particular have started drooping, and this has only gotten worse as time has passed. The instructions on the rockwool cubes say not to water for 2-3 days, however, this situation is making me nervous because I've never had drooping last this long. The rockwool cubes feel a little moist to the touch on top, however, I'm wondering if maybe the cube was wet while the rockwool plug was dry and the roots are having trouble soaking the water in from the cube. Here are a couple pics:



I haven't posted much on here because I haven't run into a problem that I couldn't solve by reading some troubleshooting threads on here. However, there are too many things that this could be, and I don't want to take any chances and possibly make things worse. Underwatering? Overwatering? Transplant shock? Low nutrients from the distilled water?

Thanks in advance for your help, I'd really appreciate any opinions out there.

Hi ya Justin

It's good that you have managed your problems so well so far

To me it looks like a mix of things , Transplant shock from the cudes being to wet and maybe no hutrient in the new cubes , Some people ( myself included ) add a very small amount of root stimulation ( I uses Canna Rhizotonic ) to the water that the cubes or pellets are soaked in , And then give them a good squeeze out , Moving pucks to blocks should really be watered a little bit to .

It's passed the point you can do anything now so you just have to sit it out , If you can get them under a humidity dome for a bit longer that might help .

I might allso recomend that you trim the bottom fan leaves ( just the tips ) this sends a signal to the cutting to produce roots .

Lay off the water ... But if you can add a very small dose of root stim to them when they dry out a bit this will help them recover from the shock .

Oh and another good tip , no matter when your transplanting at any stage .... allways try and get the next location ( Puck ... Cube .... Soil ) up to a nice warmish temp rather than freezing cold or cold , When i clone i warm the " Next Container " under a light for a few hours befor transplant ,roots like warm dark " DAMP " places

Hope that helped a bit

Thanks so much for the quick reply Vento! I snipped the very tips of the bottom set of fan leaves and now I suppose I'll just wait and hope for the best. I actually have some Root 66, would you suggest that I wait a couple days for the roots to dry and add a couple drops straight to the cube? Or should I mix some in with the water I give?

Thanks again.

Hi Justin

The idea of letting them dry out a bit is so that you dont drown the roots starving them of oxygen,Its an easy thing to think a plant is not getting enough water ... But over watering is prolly the most common killer .

Letting them dry up forces them to produce roots to go looking for water , As long as you keep the ballence right the plant will keep looking in new places ... if its got enough it ill be happy to just sit in that spot and be fed ...If its got too much or very little drainage it will starve the root of oxygen .

So its a waiting game for you ...could force dry them by putting them in a warm "dry" place and just light misting the foliage a couple of times a day ... This will dry up the cubes and keep the leaves moist and humid .

As for the " Root 66" ... i don't know what that is ...but i will asume a root hormone or stimulent of some kind ... You should have used that in water to soak your blocks befor planting ... But it will be just what the plants need when time comes to water again

Have a good read of the instuction to see how its used ... If its a liquid it will be better to put in a water mix and feed that way than pouring onto the blocks ...i would never recomend anyone do that

So for now ... Patience and a bit of tweaking to get the ballence back

Hope that helps a bit