Transplanting fro soil to rockwool hydro

So right now I have a A KCBrains Afghani 4.5 inch seedling growing in soil. After germenation I placed it in a peat pot...then planted the peat pot in Fox Farm's Ocean Forest soil. I'm not sure about what the root structure looks like right now because I'm always scared to pull it ou and expose the roots, but I was wondering if it's possible to trnasplant this somehow to rockwool and grow it in a DWC Hydroponic bubbler? PLEASE HELP!?

Matthew Riot

I would wait until the stem hardens off (couple weeks). The rockwool isn't necessary for a DWC. You just need to wash the dirt off the roots and put it into a net-pot full of rocks or anchor it with a piece of neoprene/similar.

Is it a major shock to the plants? I assume it is, but these plants have had some stress in their early lives and I'm trying to do this right, HOWEVER i did build a cool DWC and I'm totally itching to use it!

what i did was take the root ball and soil out in as a whole then submerged the soil and roots as i massaged it. dont pull just lightly pulse ur hand as whater flushed in and out ur hand and pass the roots. whatever soil that remains, leave it, cause in dwc, eventually it will all fall to the bottom. if u regularly change ur rez then u should have no probs as u will remove it.

oh and once the roots feels those nutritious bubbles through the hydroton rocks it will explode with growth and forget about shock. at least the 2 that ive done and they were bout 2 to 3 weeks old

i have just done this....went from soil to dwc in hydroton. I have the water about half way the the net pots... ( 6 inch net pots)is this okay? And how much bubble is needed? I have 1 air stones in a 27 gal resivior ( think the air stones are about 12 inches maybe longer, i forget. Im using floranova bloom and a 400w hps...
since i moved them some of the leaves have wilted pretty badly.....i think i had the light way too close, i raised it to where its about 18-20 inches above them now.... think things will be okay? sinsi star strain if it matters, and also....how long until the roots start to REALLY begin to flourish???
Thanks everyone!

You know, what I've found is that when they wilt it usually means you're overwatering and in essence, drowining them. As long as the fan is going good on them where the light's hitting, it shouldn't be burning them. I went through a whole process of thinking light was the cause as well, and I was only using a 250w at the time. Anyway, the rule of thumb is that if it starts to burn your hand where the top of the plant is, then it's burning the plant. I haven't started my DWC (i only have one pump with two more on the way in the mail and I'm not risking not having enough bubbles.) I have a feeling this might be your problem...20 gallons...a few 12 inch air stones..but what I'm wondering is what kinda air pump are you using? And from what I've seen is that the bubbles and water should be hitting the bottom of the roots, not halfway up the plant...Then again, I may be wrong, I've seen different info on here. I'm just trying to use common sense.

PS - common sense doesn't always work with these ladies!

Okay guys... you don't have to worry too much. There will be a lag when you go from soil to hydro... it's a serious thing, but plants want to live, you know?

If your leaves are curling after a transplant then they are having cooling issues... probably because you just wrecked their roots and now they can't take up the water they need to evaporate through their leaves to keep them cool. The best thing you can do is cut back the foliage. Leave a few nodes and take off the bigger fan leaves. Treat your girls like clones until they perk up (no fans/high humidity), which can be anywhere from a few hours to a few days. I sometimes take a large chuck of roots off to make it easier to clean out all the dirt before transplanting. I've done 5 plants from soil to hydroton E&F this week. It's not ideal, but you do what you have to. Those plants are going to do so much better in hydro anyway.

Just treat them like clones and you'll be good to go.

Thank you! The pump im using is a sunleaves durapump SDA510- it moves 71 gph..... Im thinking the 2 air stones are not enough??? Ever use a tube type air diffuser?? I think i may try that?? I have cut some of the leaves back, and raised the light, i still have a fan blowing on them but now for some reason im worried about alge......how much peoxide should i use?? I dont think Its there yet but i want to prevent it...
so is the water depth crucial??

runbysun said:

Thank you! The pump im using is a sunleaves durapump SDA510- it moves 71 gph..... Im thinking the 2 air stones are not enough??? Ever use a tube type air diffuser?? I think i may try that?? I have cut some of the leaves back, and raised the light, i still have a fan blowing on them but now for some reason im worried about alge......how much peoxide should i use?? I dont think Its there yet but i want to prevent it...
so is the water depth crucial??

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The fan is dehydrating your plant bro.

Keep the airstones directly under the rootball and you'll be good. I've used the smallest Sunleaves airpump (something like 27 g.p.h.) in a 5 gallon bucket with very decent results.

Well, the water depth is always crucial, however since it's dwc the amount of oxygen bubbles is VERY VERY important. I would suggest getting the dual diaphragm air pump for hydroponics at discounthydroponics.com (shitty customer service, though) or I think bghydro.com has one. I was thinking about buying one of the EcoPlus Comercial Air 3's or 5's/ These things pump like a motherfucker AND they'd be the only pump you'd ever need for a large container.,I made th mistake early on of buying a shitty 30 dollar pump and 2 relly shitty 10 dollar ones and it STILL wasn't enough bubbles to work with my 18 gallon reservoir. So, that's definitely something to consider. As far as water depth goes make sure that the bubbles are just hitting the bottom of the roots while they are in rockwool in the net pot. I wouldn't recommend having bubbles hit just the growcube without roots exposaed, though, and instead I would just hand water them until tere are roots showing out the bottom. As the roots get longer let them sit in the water in the DWC right in the spot where it's bubbling the most, It needs LOTS of oxygen bubbles or it will drown, andyou know that's happening when the plant wilts miserably.