Total Head
Well-Known Member
any updates? what ended up happening?
Sick of paying for Root riot cubes/ made my own...........
- Thread starter Clonex
- Start date
Clonex
Well-Known Member
Yeah , will do pictures tomoz , all clones rooted and been planted out , i have left sponges visable to see, i have a group of plants picture where they are sitting you may not be able to make them out , but will take individual pics i promise , i have also tested planting 1 of the sponge clones into normal run of the mill loft insulation rockwool , this has also gone well ......again more pics tomoz , apologies in advance for my slow updating.....
Clonex
Well-Known Member
Ok , 2 x G-Bomb clones , 1 x cloned and rooted in sponge then planted into coco , 1 x cloned and rooted in sponge , planted into normal attic rockwool- and on into soil , they start off a bit jagged , and they took maybe 1-2 days longer to fully root , but i didnt really do anything spec to help them , these are the 2 plants that we shall follow , there are 4 others , all in sponge but they were burried to deep, so we will just talk about what is visable......... they are vegging under 2100w hps for 12 hours and 250w mh for 12 hours......Peace Umbre's....
Clonex
Well-Known Member
Thank you!!
i have extended my bloom room , added 1200 watts , new direct air con , i am vegging like crazy just to try and fill it up ..........
Clonex
Well-Known Member
Clonex
Well-Known Member
lol @ well known ,Well done with those sponges
I haven't read every post or every pic, do you think the cubes are better, more economical than messing about with this?
I swear by root riot cubes, formulex and a well know root rooting gel btw
No i am not in anyway trying to say that using sponge is better ,
i would say if you have no root riot cubes or are just on a budget , it will work no problem , i would however say that they work better than jiffy pellets(canna or peat) , i find the side wall on these ( the sack bit) stunts seedlings as it is to hard for roots to break through ,
On normal rockwool , as apposed to Cellmax or other brands , i would deffo say it's exactly the same , ph wise and usability wise , the only difference is that they are machined into 1cm cubes ......
Thanks for looking in .......
Clonex
Well-Known Member
Well here they are , they have gone into 12/12 and have been for 3 days,
after the rocky start tbh they look no different than any plant started in Rockwool , although it did take slightly longer i think it's evened out , i realise they are a tad small to put into flower but i want the results and as it's an experiment i was unsure it would work and i am not reliant on these plants so yield is not really important , more quality of growth,
thanks for looking in guys,
clonex....
after the rocky start tbh they look no different than any plant started in Rockwool , although it did take slightly longer i think it's evened out , i realise they are a tad small to put into flower but i want the results and as it's an experiment i was unsure it would work and i am not reliant on these plants so yield is not really important , more quality of growth,
thanks for looking in guys,
clonex....
NietzscheKeen
Well-Known Member
I don't know if anyone mentioned this as I didn't read the entire thread before posting, but Root Riot brand is inoculated with beneficial fungus, so the mold you saw might have just been mycelium from the fungus. I've seen this on mine and used them without any problems. Don't worry, it's most likely good fungus; we all know that when the good fungus and the bad fungus battle the good fungus always wins.
Forgive me Lazarus of Bethany.
Forgive me Lazarus of Bethany.
NietzscheKeen
Well-Known Member
I think I'm going to stop using Root Riots and go back to peat pellets. It's just too humid here and they never seem to dry out. They should be called Root Rots instead.
NietzscheKeen
Well-Known Member
I don't want them to dry completely out, but perpetually saturated isn't good either, ya know?
Clonex
Well-Known Member
I fill their water tray every other day and mist regular , i really have always had 100% success rate with them, i think they are a great product, but your right if kept to wet , milew can be an issue, i think lots of fresh air is the key but i do take your point.
Why dont you try making extra holes in them with a pin, the sponges i made seemed to hold less if you get the right type, i found the cheaper ones better, soak them in boiling water first.
Why dont you try making extra holes in them with a pin, the sponges i made seemed to hold less if you get the right type, i found the cheaper ones better, soak them in boiling water first.
NietzscheKeen
Well-Known Member
I might try your sponge idea; I was intrigued by that. My problem isn't really the cubes being too wet in the dome/tray, it's when they get planted in soil. I may be going about it all wrong though. I really do like them for germination (I'm talking about for germination btw) and am only just now trying to root a few cuttings. I was thinking about using the for cuttings only, this might solve my problem. I'm nervous about starting seeds in FFOF even though it is mixed with an equal amount of worm castings.
I should mention that the seedlings the died were tomatoes, the cannabis seems to be doing just fine. It just makes me worry.
I should mention that the seedlings the died were tomatoes, the cannabis seems to be doing just fine. It just makes me worry.
Clonex
Well-Known Member
I never have tried any other method with seeds other than the paper towel method and then straight into coco.
I did not experiment with seeds.
Clones are a lot lot tougher.
Seeds can dump off at the slightest hint of anything gone bad.
Could have been a bad batch of tomato seeds though ,
Its happened to me before now.
Clonex
Well-Known Member
Good thing about sponge is you can cut it to any shape you like,
I cut mine to fit in a root riot tray,
But you could go large and cut it to fit exactly into a small pot.
I may yet start a thread ,using sponge as a complete medium.
What a good idea.
Clonex's complete sponge grow ,
From clone to sweet n sour !!!!!
herbbilly
Active Member
Been thinkin on unique media since first real attempt at growing. Ran a hydro reservoir bubble system in mid 90's. Don't let clones roots get crazy before planting leave soil loose and water perimeter. My wife got me convinced clones like a good hug/squeeze around stem. No dome no mist a little splash tbsp'ish 1-2 x a day .
NietzscheKeen
Well-Known Member
If you do the complete sponge medium, do you think it would be better to have smaller square inch pieces of sponge and use it like a soilless mix or to have one big solid sponge? At first consideration, it seems like the smaller you can get the sponge the better it would be; like an alternative to coir AS WELL AS root riots. I wonder if sponges would hold too much nutrients, salt, etc.?