NFT drowned roots/ early transplanting. Advice on best ways to remedy the situation.

skunkd0c

skunkd0c

Well-Known Member
sometolearn :)
No other aeration
i do sit the tanks on something at one end to increase the angle of the slope slightly to keep the channel stream as shallow as possible
i use 1 inch cubes to start seedlings and to root cuttings
when roots show out the bottom of these 1 inch blocks i put them in 3 inch blocks

beforehand i soak the 3 inch blocks in water and maybe a little bit of food so they are fully wet and do not dry out
i put the 3 inch blocks on the system with no spreader mat
i keep the stream as shallow as possible buy raising the slope a little
it takes about 4-7 days for the roots to grow out the bottom of the 3 inch blocks
i use the 3 inch blocks as i can fit 15 on one small tray that way i only need 1 tray and 1 small light to start them off
once a few roots are showing and have grown a little from the 3 inch blocks i put 2 or 3 plants in there own system with spreader mat in the trays on an EC of .4 to .6,

depending on how vigorous the plants are the roots will start weaving into the spreader mat they look bleach white it is the root growth that is most important at this stage
the plants will not grow much foliage until they build the first stage of the root system/rootmat ,
they do not need hardly any food at this stage you can feed them once set the EC at .6 they will not need feeding again for 2 weeks or so
they do not need spraying or any additives i never spray my plants if they have roots at any stage with anything
just be patient let them build the root system
if you have any problems with yellowing, or very slow growth this is most likely keeping them too wet if you spray them fuss over them too much or the stream is too deep
this stage is not fast it will take 10 days or so for foliage to start growing quickly

from seeds they should be around 6 inch to 1ft tall in 3-4 weeks ready to start flower
still only on an EC of .6 to.8
from cuttings as soon as the roots hit the system you can flower them
they will stay small if you flower them straight away
if you let them grow/veg for 2 weeks they can get 3-4 ft tall on average

humidity 35-60 40-50 it varies a fair bit time of year etc , i do not have a humidity meter at the moment

using 1 x 125 cfl or 1 x 250 MH for seedlings /clones
3x 400w MH for veg and 3x600 hps for flower

check my current run, i took pics daily for the first 25 days or so from the start of seedlings
you will see they start off fairly slow but have a nice few growth spurts at different stages

https://www.rollitup.org/grow-journals/754888-skunkd0c-nft-nutriculture-bodi-et.html

peace
 
S

Scarlet 420

New Member
Sometolearn said:
Thanks for the advice Scarlet your plants look happy.

Can I ask you how many stems per m2 you've got and under what bulb (600w/1000w)?

I'm asking because it looks like a nice setup
Click to expand...
I just put 9 in a square and vegged til 20 cms. Then I switched to 12:12 and they finished at 70cm. I'm running another sq with 16 this time, they look really hungry so I've raised the ec 0,6 to 0,7. I will not be adding for a while. I also need scrog netting. 600w and 5-6 colas per plant, no topping and minimal pruning underneath. I'll prune more next time and reduce cutting time which was a ridiculous 10 hours.

I do pretty much the same as skunk doc above and I use rock wool cubes but have bought an aeroponic propagator so I'll switch to that to reduce veg time and speed up rooting.

The key point of advice here is to watch the plants and be patient. They decide what they want next week, not you. Get a good EC pen and wait for the plants to pull the nutes out the water therefore reducing the EC. If the EC goes the other way, then the plants are taking up water and not food and are becoming lockout.
 
S

Sometolearn

New Member
Skunk D0c and Scarlet 420 thanks a lot I really appreciate you taking the time to share your knowledge.

Had a look through your grow journal Skunkd0c great looking grow.

I've definitely got a nute lockout in the trays that are fed from one of the reservoirs as the E.C. is rising in that res faster than the other and it is the same res that spiked E.C. the other week. The growth is noticeably worse in these trays. I'm going to flush them again. :sad:

Thanks again guys. It's so good to have a resource to get good advice from.:razz:
 
S

Sometolearn

New Member
skunkd0c said:
sometolearn :)
No other aeration
i do sit the tanks on something at one end to increase the angle of the slope slightly to keep the channel stream as shallow as possible
i use 1 inch cubes to start seedlings and to root cuttings
when roots show out the bottom of these 1 inch blocks i put them in 3 inch blocks

beforehand i soak the 3 inch blocks in water and maybe a little bit of food so they are fully wet and do not dry out
i put the 3 inch blocks on the system with no spreader mat
i keep the stream as shallow as possible buy raising the slope a little
it takes about 4-7 days for the roots to grow out the bottom of the 3 inch blocks
i use the 3 inch blocks as i can fit 15 on one small tray that way i only need 1 tray and 1 small light to start them off
once a few roots are showing and have grown a little from the 3 inch blocks i put 2 or 3 plants in there own system with spreader mat in the trays on an EC of .4 to .6,

depending on how vigorous the plants are the roots will start weaving into the spreader mat they look bleach white it is the root growth that is most important at this stage
the plants will not grow much foliage until they build the first stage of the root system/rootmat ,
they do not need hardly any food at this stage you can feed them once set the EC at .6 they will not need feeding again for 2 weeks or so
they do not need spraying or any additives i never spray my plants if they have roots at any stage with anything
just be patient let them build the root system
if you have any problems with yellowing, or very slow growth this is most likely keeping them too wet if you spray them fuss over them too much or the stream is too deep
this stage is not fast it will take 10 days or so for foliage to start growing quickly

from seeds they should be around 6 inch to 1ft tall in 3-4 weeks ready to start flower
still only on an EC of .6 to.8
from cuttings as soon as the roots hit the system you can flower them
they will stay small if you flower them straight away
if you let them grow/veg for 2 weeks they can get 3-4 ft tall on average

humidity 35-60 40-50 it varies a fair bit time of year etc , i do not have a humidity meter at the moment

using 1 x 125 cfl or 1 x 250 MH for seedlings /clones
3x 400w MH for veg and 3x600 hps for flower

check my current run, i took pics daily for the first 25 days or so from the start of seedlings
you will see they start off fairly slow but have a nice few growth spurts at different stages

https://www.rollitup.org/grow-journals/754888-skunkd0c-nft-nutriculture-bodi-et.html

peace
Click to expand...
Hi to all, any advice is gratefully received.


Skunk Doc I have followed your method to the point that they are now in a 4" cube with roots coming out the bottom of the cube. On around 10% of the cubes the tap roots are about 1" long. Can I keep growing the cubes like this or do I have to put them on spreader mat now? The thing is I can't put them into the NFT trays that they will flower now in as that room is already 12/12 and I want to keep vegging for another week or two.

So I think my options are:

1. Keep vegging as they are with no spreader mat
2. Put a whole sheet of spreader mat down and try to cut out each plant when they are ready to go into the flowering room
3. Cut out a smallish square (4"x6") of spreader mat for each plant and let the roots spread on those before transplanting. Then transplant the plant and (4"x6") square onto a whole sheet of spreader mat in the flowering NFT trays therefore creating a double layer of mat under the plant OR put a whole sheet of mat down with a 3 and a half X 5 and a half inch hole so there is only a half inch overlay of spreader mat

I have half decided on option 3 but thought I should ask for some advice first. I have looked and can not seem to find a set method for transplanting from Veg to Flower using NFT. Is it a given limitation of an NFT system or am I missing a trick?

Thanks Some
 
skunkd0c

skunkd0c

Well-Known Member
Hi mate you can keep growing them in the blocks with no spreader mat but dont let the roots dry out

you can cover the whole tray in the spreader mat if you want just 1 layer
this helps the root grow in a more organised way within the mat
and if the pump stops/fails the mat will stay moist for 3 days or so

i would just let the roots come out of the blocks and sit in the trays and try to keep them from tangling into each other
then when i knew they were going to be in their final position i put them in tanks with spreader mat

try to avoid using too much spreader mat or using a double layer as this will keep more water around the roots
and keep the stream deeper
if the stream is more than .5cm deep you can raise the slope slighty to keep it shallow and it will drain faster or use pumps that let you adjust the flow

even if your roots a quite long coming out of the blocks this will be fine try not to break too many of them
and just sit them on top of the spreader mat within a few days they will be growing into it

it would be better i think if they went in the final positions and had 1 week or 2 of veg to grow into the spreader mat before 12/12
if you still want to put little squares of spreader mat under them now that will be ok
maybe once you transfer them to the final positions dont sit them ontop of more spreader mat so it double thick
just fill in the gaps with a little more spreader mat so the tray is covered but still just 1 layer the roots will grow out in all directions
and root into the mat allover the trays

peace
 
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