+++rep--- rockwool size?

What size rockwool cubes are best to grow?
I had a grow (started with seedling in it) with 8 inch cubes(could have been 6 inch, been a while forgot) and my babies grew fast and strong(600w HPS). The roots were coming out of the cube by the 4th week and growing into the hydroton. Plant grew healthy and did not have any issues for the first month of growing. The cubes were a little expensive but I thought it was worth it because I wanted big healthy plants.
Then had a grow in 4 inch cubes (started the seedling in a 2 inch first then transplanted to 4inch) and my babies grew fast (then stopped after the 19 or so day and grew slowly) and they were strong. The roots were all blobbed up on the bottom of the rockwool. A couple of the plants got burnt from the light(which is weird because i used 400w HPS this time). So I guess I had the 400w HPS light too close but I am almost sure I had it the same distance I had on my other grow with the 600w HPS light. So its the 24 day and they look about the same size as they did on the 19.

So i was thinking that because the roots had nowhere to go, the plant grew slower than usual. Kind of like a plant can only grow as big as the pot lets it(transplanting). I thought you want the roots to stretch and search for that water. The heart of the plant is its root system; so I thought roots are what you work on first. Does anyone have any input on what size rockwool to use?

i have a 20inch tall clone still in a 3x3 cube.

Roots coming out everywhere getting air pruned!!!!!!!!

Just have to water her everyday .

J

Just like those new airpots that are available.

J

yea my roots were just bunching up under the rockwool. i had no hydroton in yet; the cubes were sitting on a black tray. i will have to try that out jondamon. thanks

No worries my man.

It was my first time cloning and it was all i had. I started them in a little COCO pellet and then into the hole in the 3x3.

Just gotta make sure it doesnt fall over lol!!!!

J

I used 4x4's they worked great for me... take care

yea i just think the main prob this time was the roots had no where to go with the 4 inch cubes, if there had been hydroton under the rockwool, i think the plants would have remained growing fast and strong.

The roots should air prune once they come out of the block. Did you remove the wrapper and cover the top with a plastic cover to stop algae?

J

I use the 6x6 Rockwool blocks with nothing else.

yea i removed the wrapper and i did cover the top to stop algae. I did it in the first week or so.

You should only remove the wrapper if your roots are circling around the cube that way they prune off when they meet the air.

You could have been allowing to much light to begin with through the cube before the roots filled it.

J

sic set up dadio... thats how mine looked before with the 600w HPS (except the mylar).
mine new one has mylar

yea next time im going to start the seedlings/clones in either 6inch/8inch rockwool (hand feed them initially to start then flood/drain) or put them in the 4 inch rockwool and (flood/drain) with the hydroton so the roots can spread.
Later I want to build a separate smaller tent just for vegging. one for veg, one for flower. If I do that, then i probably will just use the 6inch/8inch so i dont have to worry about stressing the plant while i transplant it to the flowering tent. i would just need to move the rockwool cube itself. i think if i use the 4 inch rockwool, the roots will get too tangled with the hydroton in the veggie tray, when i try to transplant them to the flowering tray(with hydroton).i thought when you transplant established roots you always run a big risk of shocking the plant. Doing so will damage some of the roots. hydroton shifts when taken out of it's confinement, and while shifting, it will stress some of the roots and break them. be gentle as possible when transplanting and the plants, they should recover from the transplant shock in a week or less. let them recover from the transplant shock before putting them into flower. failure to do so may result in creating some hermaphrodites from the stress.-IMO
any more input any1?

This is why I use the 6x6 blocks with NO hydroton. Blocks are big enough to finish in and I have the freedom to move my girls around as needed without causing any stress. I can spin em , rotate em , ect. They air prune themselves.

yea that would be great... thats what i did with the 600w and was great being able to move them and spin them around and not having to worry about stressing out the plant. one of the biggest reasons people use hydroton is because it does a great job of aerating the roots of the plants in the medium. because they are bigger pieces, it allows plenty of air bubbles and spots for roots to grow into where fresh oxygen exists to help the roots intake as much nutrient solution as possible. i used the big blocks before on the 600w system because the plants that are vegging didnt really need hydroton yet, but when they start to flower, and start growing big, they could really use the hydroton to expand.

One bad thing of planting in hydroton is when vegging for one you don't which are male and female. When you pull the males you will leave dead rotting material and that will cause disease. I suggest a drip system somewhere else to veg your plants under cfls or hps and a place to determine sex, then move the ladies to the flood table with hydroton. your biggest problem will come if the roots start growing together.. transplanting soon is a must... if the root systems do start tangling up with one another you'll have a hell of a time serperating them.

Anyone else input?
++++++++REP