Hydroponics Update1 - Growing Seedlings in Rockwool NFT

[TheCj1970]

rockwool is not expensive! You can a get a box of 24 for like $10 from amazon.com the 2"x2"

[Oisterboy]

Cool, thanks! I've started countless seedlings before, but wasn't quite sure how to go about it with rock wool. Now I know~ :D

[Hydroponics4Dummies]

What do you think of our hydropnics starter kits? Do you think we should try and expand into other core realated hyro products.

[chillindamost91]

@Hydroponics4Dummies I believe you should I am currently on fed probation I get off in May I will be buying two of your LED tents forsure but would love if you had a build your own with like a seedling starter kit as an option or like the dome for the reg set ups plus ph testers and ph up and down

[Hydroponics4Dummies]

@chillindamost91 We can provide seedling starter kits and clone domes as well as ph testers and up and down. Don't know where you live, but in LA, tap water has the perfect ph.

[chillindamost91]

@Hydroponics4Dummies well thats good to know man. Im def 100% sure I want to go through you. Great looking products.

[Hydroponics4Dummies]

@chillindamost91 We'll talk to you in May. By that time we should have even more options available.

[chillindamost91]

@Hydroponics4Dummies I actually live north in Vallejo

[MrGhettoGrower]

Jolly good grow mate~

[MrTeaB]

Yes, builders rockwool for insulation is different. You should buy the cubes from a garden centre and they will be the cheapest thing they sell!

[ronnie1973uk]

rockwool is not expencive is is very cheap i can buy a metre bock for 3.50 how is that expencive lol

[rickvanman]

@ronnie1973uk Here it's about £50 for a large block from a builders mercant

[nevasumma6]

@ronnie1973uk 

In Australia it's about $3.50 for 36 blocks @ 25mm*25mm*40mm

[wakomike29]

you should put more than one seed in your rockwool.

[juicyjuicejosh]

Nutes, and no PH Test Kit Plus PH UP & PH DOWN?... Non organic Nutes? Not Gonna check for salt levels? Don't forget to flush or you;re gonna do damage hehe!

[juicyjuicejosh]

Instead of Rockwool plugs... u should find... "Super Starter Plugs" From Sunleaves... They have a naturally occurring rooting hormone (from the manufacturing process)... The root ball you get in about 3 days... is just Mind Blowing.... and Healthy roots= Healthy tall green plants... also.. when you are using nutrients.. eventually you will have an OUTBREAK of something.. if your res temps get over 70 degrees..... Algae mold bac. will kill roots.. If this happens use some hydrogen peroxide

[juicyjuicejosh]

Damp Paper Towel... In between two plates = 2 day germination! And you only need to put the seedling like 1/8th of an inch deep lol// ull have 2 inch basil in 1 week!

[neogrosz]

love where you are growing it looks rather nice

[nephildevil]

gah seems like this system is used mostly to grow marijuana

if u say herb ppl say marijuana

if u say weed ppl say marijuannna

if us say hydroponics ppl say marijuana

i HATE marijuana!

screw all those damn hippies, if it is up to me they can suck the end of a shotgun!

that'll make those stupid empty monkey smiles disappear!

[erik1994dom1994]

@nephildevil U Mad brah ? ,im smoking a joint right now....guess what its full of marijuana, u jelly bro?.

[2k9haigy]

@nephildevil shut up u fuckin dafty why watch it if u hate it? dumb punk ass bitch away an do world a favour an shoot yourself ya bam!!!!!

[brznzzy]

@2k9haigy fuckin dafty,, hahahahaha,, fukn brill...

[juicyjuicejosh]

@nephildevil It's called Hemp Actually, and although I dont grow or smoke. It's safer than Advil, Alcohol, and has tons of uses.. Like fuel, Fiber, Medical, so you're pretty much a retard. You know it used o be illegal to not grow hemp in America.. True story.. Im not sure about other countries. Either way, it's illegal because Cotton Industry and pharmaceutical industries pay off the governing bodies. Its been used millions of years, so you're pretty much an asshole If you drink, a hypocrite ;)

[NarcolepticFilmer]

@nephildevil funny thing is, in vietnam soldiers used to smoke weed down the barrel of a shotgun because by the time it got to the end the smoke was nice and cool hahaha how ironic...

[dienhacu]

can you reuse the rockwool? and r they expensive?

[rickvanman]

@dienhacu yes they are expensive, and you generally can't reuse them. I've since changed over to an ebb and flow system which is cheaper to do and involves less fuss.

[RunKill0909]

@dienhacu rock wool cubes are NOT expensive they are cheap as hell

[pleiades121]

I saw another video which used PVC pipe. They cut the holes out of it for the plants. They didn't have to use any covering to prevent the sunlight from entering.

[jcbboss1]

you have to soak rockwool overnight in ph'd water 5.5

[metaspherz]

I germinate lots of seeds for planting (wheat berries for wheat grass) & eating ((homemade sprout bread or sprouted bean soups, etc.). Soak seeds overnight in mason jars then dump them into cotton bags (with draw strings normally for carrying veggies) purchased at my local health food store. Hang. Rinse the bags twice a day until the sprouts are longer than the seed (3 - 5 days). These $1.50 resusable bags are fairly large, they'll hold a half pound or less of seeds quite easily & never mold.

[oolilfishyoo]

is the air pump necessary since you are pumping the water to the top, and it will be aerated as it flows?

[TheKudee]

Wow i like your videos they are very inspirating. i think i am hooked! Regards from little Denmark! Thank You...

[rickvanman]

@TheKudee Glad you like them - thank you :o)

[matshroom]

top tip.... :) try rocket fuel on cutigs, seeds, flowering or growth but only once or twice! 1 litre ph water, 20 drops oxyplus, 5 ml nitrozyme, 5 ml root stimulator, make up to cf of 10 with formulex..... add in that order and stir properly before each addition, really important. hope that helps... iv have very experienced growers stunned with what it does... :)

[Brakinator]

Wow.. an actual hydroponics enthusiast who isn't just growing weed.

[mad4misty]

A great simple method is to cover several seeds with a wet paper towel .this is then enclosed in a zip lock bag to retain moisture and placed in a warm,dark cabinet or drawer the towel is kept moist until the seed germinates which takes any were between 3 to 14 days or so.then Transplant to rockwool and place in the pot with hydroton which are clay balls that retains moisture from your hydro system. then your in good to go.

[GoreChick13]

i am going to try my passionflowers and papays like this :) lets see if it works

[scarecrowstoned]

at 0:25 really looks like a marijuana seedling.

[HaPPineSS4l1fe]

rockwool is acidic out of the packaging. you need to either a) soak it in a good pH water (about 5.5-6.5 pH) or you need to soak it in a rockwool conditioning solution. The latter may be necessary if you have hard water running out of your faucet.

[sunsetreptiles]

rockwool doesnt work for me.

[rickvanman]

I have to agree. after working with it for a while, it just stays too wet.

I have since upgraded (see my latest hydroponics update)

[FijifunXP]

@rickvanman if you want to use something that dries out fast enough for about 1 watering a day/1 watering every other day, then try grow plugs. They're made of coco I believe, and if you want to try a good loose seed-starting substrate try botanicare's cocogrow

[metaspherz]

@sunsetreptiles Your comment was quite old but---Did you sprout the seeds first? Sprouting is very important so that the seeds don't rot prior to germination. Once the sprouts start hardly anything will stop them from growing except drying out completely, extreme heat/cold or disease. I know that some persons have luck germinating using rockwool but I find it rather problematical. Remove the guess work by soaking over night and then using sprout bags that don't get moldy like using paper towels.

[sunsetreptiles]

i put my seeds in rockwool and they arent even growing and its been three days. so i have no idea whats going on.

[rickvanman]

depends what seeds you are growing - most will need at least a week or two to germinate.

[JasonJustPlayin2]

@sunsetreptiles What you should do is germanate the seed if it is marijuana it will take 2 days or so then plant it

[mirkhail]

Hi,

First off all, thanks so much for uploading this informative vidoe. I have got a couple of questions. Did you adjust the pH? coz I heard that the rockwool pH is basically high.

When is the best time to transfer seedling form the starting pluges to the rockwool cubes and from rockwool cubes to the slabs? I am about to start this project and i will be growing tomatoe, but I do not have any information about the rockwool,.

[rickvanman]

Hi. After experimenting with the rockwool for a time, i decided to change over a hydoleca system as the rockwool stayed too wet and didnt encoutage the roots to grow. see my latrest hydroponics update for details.

[silverpizza100]

Looking good Rick!, Nice bay window you have! Ever set a few plants there? You can rip up the RW and use it just like soil. you dont need an air stone or pump. /You can hand water twice a day and its still hydroponics.. they sell small cube bits in a bag... You may want to rethink it, but would say soil is best where u are... you may need lights and heating mats...you must provide what the plant needs,,sun, warmth,nutriences, and air/co2. more sun

[nthaat]

whay do ppl use them shitty cubes test have proved that they cause probs but each to there own i guess

[spartapus1]

I have meandered through a few of your videos and have learned so much about plum wine, irritable bowel syndrome and hydroponics in the last 15 minutes! Thanks for the fun learning.

[rickvanman]

My Pleasure! Thanks for watching :o)

[almackska]

I like your videos as you give a different view on hydroponics. In the video i wanted to point out that the "Bloom" nutrients are primarily used for cannabis production as it helps is flowers become heavy and product higher yield. You can still use it but i do not know how it would effect vegetables or fruit as they only have flowers just long enough for seed production.

[manilaenglish]

Thank you for making these videos on your hydroponics project. My wife and I have started our own project of trying to become as self-reliant, food wise, as possible. We have been raising 3 pigs for the past 4 months, started raising 30 chickens a month ago (28 still alive), and today I started looking into growing our own vegetables. I found your videos very helpful as I am starting from knowing absolutely nothing about gardening.

Quick question. Why did you choose to use a gutter over a pipe?

[rickvanman]

Glad the vids are helping - I should mention my knowledge on this hydroponics lark is still extremely limited.

[manilaenglish]

Thank you for replying. I had learned from your video that sunlight can't touch the water or else a bacteria infestation might set in.

Did you try taking any of the plants out of the rockwool and putting it directly into the container as you had mentioned in your video? I am wondering how the plants would stand up right? If you do that, do the plants stand up right, or prop against the hole, or do they fall into the water? If they prop, do you need a smaller hole so they don't fall in?

[rickvanman]

I tried putting some of the seedlings that were growing in the small starter plugs, directly into the water channel (without using the larger rockwool blocks). they don't appear to be doing any better at this stage. 2 of the seedlings died after I minimised their exposure to water (trying to make them seek out water with their roots) - so it's a real hit-and-miss affair at the moment.

I chose gutter over piping because the right fixings were more easily available.

[manilaenglish]

Hydroponic gardening sounds like it's a lot more difficult in practice than in theory.

I know you just started so I don't know how much of this you've tried yet. Have you had time to increase or decrease the amount of nutrient that's mixed with the water or changing the brand of nutrient and see which plants are affected?

[rickvanman]

I have to admit at the moment, I'm not that impressed with it all, although being the winter time probably has a lot to do with the lack of growth. I'm looking into growing food in containers from the springtime, so will have a direct comparison to work with.

I've tried various strengths of nutrients and so far have discovered that the weaker the solution, the less young seedlings die off.

[14CPO]

why do garden centres in the uk never stock rockwool or coir blocks like the hydro stores do.. Also the garden centres in the uk never stock plagron soils or biobizz soil which is better than any other soils i have ever tried from garden centres. One time i asked a garden centre if he sold rockwool and his reply was "rockwools for professional groqwers only" I didnt say anything but i thought what kind of fool is this guy. rockwool is for anybody to use freely.

[14CPO]

thing i dont like about rockwool is its harder to cover the seeds as you have to squeeze it tightly. I prefer jiffy cubes coir. I have found a new way to germinate seeds in aeroponic props using no media at all. Get some nft spreader mat and line net pots with this then just put seed on this. save money on grow cubes

[MokuPueo]

I am one of those hydroponic subscribers. Thanks for posting. Around how much do you think it costs to build all of that system?

[rickvanman]

unfortunately I didn't keep all my receipts, but I estimate the all-in initial cost including the nutrients, rockwool, air pump & stones, plus the guttering would have cost me around £100GBP give or take.

[krisobrien9]

what are you growing rick????

[rickvanman]

lettuce, salas leaves, herbs, tomatoes, raddishes and am about to try chilli peppers :o)

[wroutson]

Jus t a thought I know you like to do things with an eye on saving some coin so if you ever get around to putting a reflective surface behind your system to help distribute light better mylar is the material of choice but it can be a bit pricey a cheap solution is to use emergency blankets they sell for a pound or two at best and can be ordered on amazon or ebay its just mylar sheets but a large blanket size product. comes in a package about the size of a pack of cigarettes.

Later..

[rickvanman]

Great tip - thanks :o)

[wroutson]

I think you'll enjoy your experience when they really start growing,  way faster than a soil grow,

You can add C.F.L.'s and let them grow 24 hours a day to boost them further look for 6500 K CFL's for veg cycle and 2700K CFL's for bloom cycle (K=Kelvins) temp of lamp color (CFL's = compact fluorescant light) use 23 watt cfl's with reflectors economical and easy to set up and move.

write me if you have any questions

[bforcewwma03]

@wroutson

Not a good idea. Plants will do much better in an 16-18 hour vegetative cycle. During the night cycle, plants use all the energy stored up from the day to do actual growing.

[wroutson]

Well my experience has taught me to veg for 24 hours, later when the plant has matured in 1-2 months I cut down the time to a 12/12 schedule I've found I had much more vegatative growth doing it that way than 16/8, but that's my exp. growing with two seperate tanks, same seeds same nutrients etc.

[wroutson]

Wait at least two weeks after you place your seedlings into your system to add the nutrients and only at 1/4 strength for the first two weeks or you will burn your new plant roots after that you can go to 100 % strength.

[rickvanman]

thanks for the tip :o)

[MicheleMidnight]

you are so cute. teaching folks how to do this and just being adorable!

[rickvanman]

d:o)

[baddogonline]

Good job! Can't wait to see how it grows...

[rickvanman]

Thanks - me too! :o)

[johnny102marvin]

I guess the advantage of having a hydroponic garden is that you always have fresh vegetables on hand. But, during times of chaos such as a breakdown in the economy, or the depletion of world wide oil....it would be very difficult to get the chemicals to feed your plants. This system is good for peace time and during times of prosperity.

During times of anarchy and war, you would want wild fruit trees, wild berries, and edible tubers growing freely in your home garden and in nearby areas.

[rickvanman]

Interesting perspetive John - If this project turns out to be as fruitful as I think it will, I will be researching a solar powered version, and also looking into the storage of dry-powder nutrients which apparently store for a very long time in the right conditions so hopefully it will remain an option - even in bad times.

[endlessmountain]

Keep on rockin' Rick :)

[rickvanman]

Cheers Derrek :o)

[NuggetsOfTruths]

You should do a time lapse with a clock if they grow that fast :-)

[rickvanman]

Hi Mark - hope the studio is coming on ok.

Thanks for the idea - i did think about a time lapse vid, but I just don't have the equipment to make it work - and frankly I can't be assed! LOL

[NuggetsOfTruths]

haha, i'm waiting on the roofer starting today or tomorrow. So i'm off the hook for a while.

Then I have to do the walls inside. Should be good when it's done tho.

Maybe by xmas, who knows.

[wvsnoop]

cool :-)

[FenderGibsonWashburn]

Good use of the Rockwool Rick. You will be amazed how fast your plants will grow. Careful not to give them too strong of a solution the first couple weeks.

[rickvanman]

Thanks Paul - Since puttin gin the new airstones last night I've seen amazing growth just overnight! This project is actually turning out to be very exciting and interesting!

Thanks for the tip about the solution :o)

[TheMusicMark]

That looks very interesting!! You've got yourself a little greenhouse lol

[rickvanman]

LOL - true - this is quite addictive - hope I don't get too hooked!

[Macaddict54]

how much is the minerals

[rickvanman]

cost about £24 GBP (inc postage) for all 3 bottles - i hope to be looking into making my own nutrients later on.

[schumacher3344]

your videos are getting boring!!!

[CanadianBeaver]

Peace and Love!