its not often i put a band round the cube although ive had no issues when doing so i would imagine you would have to wrap the band round extreemly tight to smash plant materal and restrict air supply. have no fear i wouldnt do such a silly thing
the smaller cubes suit me fine i am able to see roots poping out of the bottom of the smaller cubes in around 9 -12 days, i dont even like using the larger 2 inch cubes, they are too big,
using the transplanting blocks to root clones in would take up way too much propagator space, i havent had issues with the 1inch cubes drying out .. myself
taking cuttings its a very simple process for me,
i take the cuttings from the mother plants make the final cut under water to avoid air bubbles , dip them in clonex, pop them in a 1 inch wet seed cube put them in the wet propagator .. (closed vents) leave them for 3 days, then open the vents every once in a while, and spray them occasionaly with water only , making sure the humidity is kept high, i replace the water every 2-3 days, after 9-12 days they root ..
this method has worked for me for about 15 years .. i do like to keep things as simple as i posibly can ..
i do recall when i first started i followed the rule book to the letter i would ph the rockwool first and "condition" it with formlex or some other condition agent to lower the ph of the rockwool.and add some nurtrients i would even spray my cuttings with nutriants and even apply some antifungal just incase, but with experance and a little lazyness i later found all this to be unnecessary
if your 1 inch cubes were drying out unexpectedly , it perhaps might of been becuase your propagator vents were open for too long, .. if anything i find they can stay too wet and i will gently squeeze excess water out of the bottom of them, making sure not to smash plant materal when squeezing ofcourse
