Been getting alot of good info here, thanks Latewood and all. I have been growing in dirt for sometime now and had a hydro kit that I bought setting around and finally decided to give it a go. Soo...

Do I put the Rockwool at the bottom of the net pots let them get wet for a day then put the seeds in the Rockwool and cover them with the little round stone sort of things?

I was hoping to start this morning but noticed last night, when I put the stones in first that alot of them fell through the net pots and into the water. There was quite a bit of dust from them floating on the bottom as well. Should I pre-soak the stones to get the dust off?

TIA

Hi man, You got no instructions ? maybe this will help, I run drip and am starting bubblers now. You need to wash the hydrotron expanded clay balls well to get all dust off of them. First you need to decide on a germination plan. You grow soil , do you just plant or do the paper towel thing or what ? More ??? than you wanted. If you go with the rockwool cubes there are propogation stuff for that. Just use the paper towel thing till they sprout. Presoak you cubes in PH balanced water over night. Poke a little hole in the top if it doesn't have one and put a sprout in. I'm shure you get the idea. Place a layer of hydrotron rocks in the bottom of net pots, a lot will fall through that's alright just do it in another container. The big ones will stay. Now put in your cube with sprout. Depends on how big your net pots are , how deep you want the cube to sit. Then fill in with rocks around sides, don't cover the top . You can add more later to help hold up the plant and keep algea off the rockwool. They all need to be the same. put them in unit and fill with PH nutrient water to just touch the bottom of the net pots. To keep the rockwool wet now. As soon as the roots start to go for the water lower the water to just below the net pots so the main root ball does not sit in water. Not good. Bubbles will keep it wet. Now change water every 10 to 14 days. Learn about nutes and add ons. And above all else get a PH meter, no really do it now. PH is king in hydroland. You can get a TDS meter later but get the PH meter. Only use RO or distilled water and then add back what you need. So are you now confused good ?? I was at first but if I can do it you can. You can put the seed right in th rockwool just make shure it stays wet. What kind of light you got ??

The instructions that came on the CD that came with the kit were very lacking. I use to germinate in a paper towel but the last few I did in a small cup and that seemed just as good if not better, at least for dirt.

I just finished up cleaning up the rocks, I even sorted them so that I can put a few of the bigger ones on the bottom. I bought PH test strips, they're for fish tanks but I suppose they'll do till I can get something better.

As for the water, I boiled tap water in a stainless still pot. I haven't added any nutes yet, but I have a bottle of Liquid Grow (7-9-5) which I hope will be good for the first stage.

I would love to have better lights, right now I have one CFL to come down from the top and two 2 Ft. Wallmart Gro Lights which I was planning on using for side light. The electricity in my room is a bit touchy so I think I better stick with Floro lights. I do know how much light can make a difference but I wouldn't want to burn anything down. My real goal is just to keep myself in smoke so hopefully what I have will be enough. I may get a couple more of the 2' lights once I start seeing some green though.

Thanks alot for your help, this sight is great but it sure helps to have a question answered.

Get all the gro lights you can get the electric on those are very low. PH strips better than nothing but get the drop kind next time. It's a little vessel you get some water and add a few drops of the stuff and compare colors. As for the water unless some one can test the TDS I would buy distilled or RO water. It can hold you back and cause nutrient lockout. Your nutients should be good to start. You will have fun but you get what your lights put out., I learned the hard way.

I was looking at a post in another thread and seen a link for a ph tester on eBay that was only 14.95, I'll probably order one of those today. Hydro sure is starting to seem more complicated then I had anticipated though. What is RO water? I thought that meant "Regular Old Water"

RO means 'Reverse Osmosis.'

A few companies use this method to purify their water. Just look at the labels when purchasing -- look for reverse osmosis filtering, or any variation of such.

__________________
"I didn't inhale." - Bill Clinton
[ A Presidential candidate at the time ]

"Make the most of the Indian hemp seed, and sow it everywhere!" - General George Washington
[ A note to his gardener at Mount Vernon, on the year 1794 ]

"First they ignore you; then they mock you; then they punish you; then you win." - Mahatma Ghandi
[ Indian independence leader ]

Reverse osmosis, is filtered water, Almost as clean as distilled. You will need some cal-mag plius to go back in the water. You need calcium and magnesium. You can get by with a little Epson salts for magnesium. That's a good price for a PH tester. IT just makes it easy to check twice a day. Just keep up the home work and ask questions. I could kill any house plaant on earth (with love). If I can do hydro anyone can.

Well, I changed my mind about a hundred times on how I wanted to do my first hydro-grow and finally decided on taking clones from a mother plant that's really good. My first time cloning as well; I put the three on the left in rockwool and the three on the right right in the hydro stones like I think Zandor does. It hasn't been quite 24 hours yet but they seem to be doing alright except for the middle one in the rockwool, its a bit droopy.

I also bought a pool PH tester I believe it's better then the strips but not as good as a meter. The 14.99 price was just the opening bid. I will get one but just can't afford it right now.

Here's a couple of pics of the clones. Does it look like I did it correctly? I used some root toner that I got off a buddy of mine.

Attached Images

	1_ClonesInBubbler.jpg (42.5 KB, 76 views)
	2_ClonesInBubbler.jpg (32.5 KB, 76 views)

You can mist them with water and put a clear dome over it if you want but you don't have too. Keep them misted and keep your water level up to the bottom of the net pots for now till you see roots. They look good. Any kind of PH test is better than none. Yours look alot like my drip I just have a manifoil of 3/4 down the middle with six 1/4 lines to the pots and a pump in the water. Keep us up on how they root.

They're all looking perky now. It seems the three in the rockwool are getting bigger then the ones in the hydroton stones though. The PH is begining to go up as well. I don't have any PH down yet but I do have some White Distilled Vinegar, how much should I put in to bring the PH down just a bit. The tester I have shows a shade of yellow for 6.8 which is the lowest the tester is made for. I had it so that I had a slightly lighter shade of yellow but now it looks like the PH is right at 6.8.

make it lower...you want to run around 5.8 when conditions are normal...

sunstoneherbals.com has some great ph meters i have bought several expensive models and the hanna checker one works as well if not btr, get some calibration fluid also . HEY! latewoood long time man

Thank you both, I will definetly check out sunstoneherbals. I'm going to have to get some PH down as well. I used vinegar last night and checked it this morning and it looks like it's in the low 6's now. This is so cool, I feel like a scientist checking the PH. I even got a turkey baster so I can get the water from the middle of the tank.

Where Can I get the calibration fluid? Is it the buffer solution stuff?

I'm going to order the Hanna Checker1 PH meter with my next 30 bucks.

sunstone also carrys the calibration soultion or if you will (buffer solution) its around 1.50 per pouch a cpl of pouches of each will finish your grow with some leftover, word to the wise it takes about 5 mins to calibrate a ph meter i have learned the hard way to calibrate weekly or at every resv change its not essential but considering the rewards, i use a tiny shot glass a few drops is all it takes to calibrate
as far as ph down i only use vinegar carefull with the down

What a week! First; I nearly, if not did, destroy my oldest plant growing in dirt by putting water with vineger in it to bring the PH down in the hydro grow. Now I check the PH in the hydro and it's in the 7's. Being a bit leary, I did however add water with vineger in it to the bubbler.

How long after adding vineger should it take for the PH to come down?

Here's a pic of them at day 7

Attached Images

DSC01996.JPG (313.5 KB, 68 views)

__________________
Gentleman - Farmer

dude i usually wait 15-30 mins and recheck ph level, dont get discouraged
it takes a while to get the hang of it , it may take a few times of adding
up or down for you to reach your desired ph level, after awhile youll be
able to do it the first time it takes practice,

The vineger is bringing the PH level down to acceptable levels, but it's a daily thing. I don't mind spending the time with them though.

They're in their 8th day now and I still don't see any roots coming out of the bottom of the net pots. Should I be? The top of the plants seem to be growing just fine however.

__________________
Gentleman - Farmer

Well, one of the six is dieing. Every morning now the PH is up into the 7's and I still don't see any roots. I believe I'm going to change the water today. Should I add some of the Liquid Grow (7-9-5) maybe and half strength? They seem to be kind of stalled in just the distilled water. I want to find some of that CalMag+ as well, but haven't found it locally yet. Would that be in a gardening center or is that more of an item for hydro only?

Attached Images

	DSC01997.JPG (317.3 KB, 49 views)
	DSC01998.JPG (259.6 KB, 69 views)

__________________
Gentleman - Farmer

Cal-mag, Unless you have a good hydro store, it's hard to find. You will most likely have to order it. Just a little Epson salts will help untill you can get it. It helps with the magnesium. Worked for me till I got some. As long as the tops are not dead it ain't over yet and it's hard to get 100%. You will see roots soon.

no nutes, yet...you can add some calmag, superthrive or liquid karma...If you feel you have to add nutes use 1/4 strength.

Thanks guys, I'm glad I read this first. I have 3 jugs of distilled water mixed up with 1/2 strength nutes but I'll save those for the next water change. I wish I could find a store locally that has stuff like calmag, superthrive, and liquid karma but I suppose I'll have to order it online. I should start a hydro store around here.

I like gardening in the yard and I REALLY like doing this hydro thing but half the time I'm setting here thinking that it's never going to work for me.

__________________
Gentleman - Farmer

Once you get the hang of it it will seem a whole lot easier. Hang in there your doing good. I need a hydro store too. I hate waiting for stuff to come in.

order from sunsethydro or bghydro...best pricing and service, overall. Imho

Just cut your 1/2 strength nutes by doubling water.
if you are saving that mix...put it in a tub, in the dark with an airstone to keep algae from growing and to keep it oxygenated...
you could probably use 1/2 strength, with slight risk. good luck, let us know...what's up. lw

Thanks for the links Latewood; so far I've done all my ordering from www.landmsales.com it's good to know where the experts go

What would you guys recommend in the way of nutes for the flowering stage?

__________________
Gentleman - Farmer