some help getting started

Hey, amateur grower looking for some helpful advise. I've tried my hand at growing a couple times, got most of my knowledge straight from these forums. And even though I've never had a successful grow in the soil medium, I feel comfortable enough to try a hydroponics op. Now the one thing I can't wrap my head around is how to get a seedling started in rockwool, once I get that im off to bud production. I've germinated a couple seeds treated my cubes and pellets and got everything into it's proper place in my system and turned it on. But after a week or so I didn't see any sprout shot up. I do think the main problem is my outlet timer (it only permits me to run at intervals of 30mins). I searched this site for hours for the answer i needed but to no avail. So i was wondering if any one could help me out or point me in the right direction

With much puff,

Ca've

Turned What on?

What is the timer running?

AimAim said:

Turned What on?

What is the timer running?

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turned on my water pump and lights, right now it's on for 30mins and off for 2 hours; the water pump that is

Seems to me you're drowning your seed, don''t need a pump running 30 min, just water your cube once or twice a day so as not to let it dry out, maybe put a hood on it so it doesn't dry out too fast, keep it warm.

Foolproof germination using rock wool:
1) soak cubes in water with a few drops of lemon juice.
2) gently squeeze off excess water
3) drop your seed in the cube
3) put cube into a med size ziplock bag (I use ziplok marinating bags cuz they sit flat & have square bottom) & blow in some air
5) seal bag & sit upright
6) leave in a warm dark place for 3 days
7) when seed pops & sprouts put under weak light (cfl) for 5+ days before adding to veg area.
Works Every Time... Don't let cube get dry- use spray bottle to water if needed- but no nutes

Thanks my fellow farmers hopefully I'll get a grow journal going soon. I'd have one now but im experimenting with smoke bag seeds before I step up to pure breed seeds; on acount of cost and risk

IMO begin with the good seeds from the first run. It doesn't require rocket science to keep a mother plant. you could then try with its clones as many runs as you want. It is a loss to do a grow with bagseed. JMO

caveman97 said:

Thanks my fellow farmers hopefully I'll get a grow journal going soon. I'd have one now but im experimenting with smoke bag seeds before I step up to pure breed seeds; on acount of cost and risk

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Yeah don't bother experimenting with shitty unknown seed stock. Do yourself a favor & get some good genetics (unless you are sure what your bagseed is of course) the extra effort will be worth it and then you will know what you got... I recommend fem seeds too- why bother with guesswork? Get a few good strains going then clone them. Costs less than $50 for a few good strain feminized seeds...btw bag seeds are mostly dead by the time they are sold on the street. You could get more dead ones & males than viable females; could even be the source of your germination issues!

DeeTee said:

Seems to me you're drowning your seed, don''t need a pump running 30 min, just water your cube once or twice a day so as not to let it dry out, maybe put a hood on it so it doesn't dry out too fast, keep it warm.

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Never tried to germinate seeds in rock wool in system . I always germinate in paper towel then move seedling into rock wool then into system. As far as pump and flood, my system runs 24/7 and never had issues with drowning! The plants actually seem to do better in my setup with pump running cont. you said you germinated them so why did they have to sprout up. Did you bury them? They should have been sticking above level of pellets, and what do you mean pellets? You should post some pics of setup!

I use a simple tray and cover it with nylon food film to keep moisture, and water the rockwool every day or 2 depending on heat. I try to keep temps above 22 inside the seed tray. NEVER leave a pond under the rockwool, as long as it is well draine, you will be fine. Oh btw I soak seed for 12-24 hours before placing in cubes.