Roots, roots and roots again!

filmost said:
Wow! That is amazing! What are you using as a medium?
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Yes, it`s rockwool. Just trying it out for the first time this year. Lots of good things going for it, but a few drawbacks too. 
 
Nigel said:
Yes, it`s rockwool. Just trying it out for the first time this year. Lots of good things going for it, but a few drawbacks too. 
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First off, great picture! Thanks for sharing!
 
Would you mind quickly elaborating on the pros/cons you find with rockwool?
 
dash 2 said:
 
     I think those are just root hairs. To me, they look to uniform and symmetrical to me mycelia.
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Neat, I did not know about root hairs until a quick google just a moment ago, very cool.
 
AaronRiot said:
Did you inoculate with mycorrhizae fungi by chance? The swarm of feathery filaments look very much like the fungi taking hold.
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No, none at all. These are all roots put out by the seedling
degenerate said:
 
First off, great picture! Thanks for sharing!
 
Would you mind quickly elaborating on the pros/cons you find with rockwool?
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This is my first time using rock wool, so I`m by far from an expert. I have a few obersevations, though.
 
First, it`s a great medium for germinating seeds. Controlling the water content is easy and it stays damp in just the right way if you pay attention. However, if you don`t pay attention it is easy to allow to dry out and fast. 
 
Second, you get more helmet-heads than with any soil-based medium at least in my very limited experience. That`s a pain in the backside, but not insurmountable. I have around a 90% rate of success for removing the seed case.
 
Third, it`s simple and easy, as well as satisfying, to monitor germination. 
 
Once germinated I think the seedlings become a bit leggy, regardless of the light intensity. They also appear to grow/develop true leaves, much slower than in seedling mixes. My suspicion is that there just aren`t enough (any at all!) nutrients available. I`m trying to see if dilute ferts help and my initial thoughts are that they help enormously. 
 
Looks great roots look amazing. I always like to see the root system in hydroponic setups it looks neat to see them suspended.
 
 
 
Yeah rock wool has no nutrients in it at all it just made from spun molten rock. It worked great for sprouting some of my harder seeds but the stuff that I had in soil over took it.
 
I gave them to grow shop there working with them right now. Look better but there feeding them everything they need.
 
Nigel said:
They also appear to grow/develop true leaves, much slower than in seedling mixes. My suspicion is that there just aren`t enough (any at all!) nutrients available. I`m trying to see if dilute ferts help and my initial thoughts are that they help enormously. 
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I noticed this about coir a well.
 
Same with Oasis Horticubes. I am also using rockwool for the first time this year (ran out of horticubes). Germination rates so far are good. To fight the helmet heads in rockwool I just tear a piece of the cube and push it down the hole. I can still use tweezers to lift it up and check on the progress.
 
Do you break up the bottom of the cube before planting them?  I used them a few weeks ago and had great germination rates but a few struggled to grow because the root system couldn't break through the bottom.  They became stalled and just didn't do anything.  The owner at my local hydro shop said to break up the bottom to keep that from happening, but I haven't started anymore seeds so I'm not sure what he's really talking about.  I had the same issue with horticubes but that was solved by loosening up the bottom before I planted them into soil.
 
Thanks 
 
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