When to go to Hydro Set-up?

[howlinmike]

I have 2 babies now 2 weeks old. I started them in 1.5" rockwool til the roots came out then went to 4x4x2.5 rockwool, now the roots are coming out the bottoms of them too! My issue is, I currently have them under lights (300 watt LED) on top of the Gro-Smart tray I got from Grodan. Can I go ahead and put them in the hydro setup now? My fear is the roots aren't long enough to reach the water/nutes. I don't want the roots to get light in the situation they are now in. Any help?! They are about 2" height with a lot of vegetative growth, lots of leaves, don't want to kill by getting light on the roots!

Plus, my plants are only 2" tall, is this OK?
I have my lights about 18" above them is this OK? Like I said my LED is a Advanced Platinum Series DS200 300w 11-band LED Grow Light - DUAL VEG/FLOWER SPECTRUM from amazon.

Thanks for any help ya can give me out there!!

 

[Antics]

Pictures of roots would be helpful. I know some "famous" growers like to transplant from rockwool into Hydro or another rockwool cube when then roots around 1" long hanging out the bottom, some others wait to see 2-3" of roots. I've seen other growers that wait until they have 4-6" of roots, and they transplant JUST BEFORE the roots are all tangled up.

When someone more experienced comes along, they'll be able to give you an ever better idea from experience.

 

[howlinmike]

Thanks Antics,

They are currently about 1/8" below the cube. Sorry no camera. My concern is that they are on top of a Gro-Smart rack from Grodan, in the base of my growing tray. I'm concerned that the roots might be getting light, the tips of the roots have little yellowing on the tips of them. The plants themselves are great looking though, about 2" tall with a ton of leaves coming up, the 3 leave sections are coming out, my stress is the roots getting light. I've always grown outdoors but I lost my place because of disability and this my first hydro tryout.

Any info would be awesome, beans are pretty spendy ya know.

 

[Antics]

1/8" I'd normally wait a little longer. But at the same time, it sounds like you just have the larger cube sitting on top of the grodan tray. Am I right? If so.. and I mean you already had roots long enough to transplant into the next rockwool cube once, I've seen growers take out the small plugs, plant into a large rockwool cube, and go straight into hydro, if you went this route, I really don't think you'd have a problem.

I'd be willing to bet you'll have more problems with the roots getting light, than if you transplanted into hydro right now.
Can you change the water level, or even hang the basket lower to ensure the roots are in the solution?

 

[howlinmike]

Thanks again Antics,

Im using a drip/side spray type hydro setup, you can see it at fastergardens.com (https://fastergardens.com/3_PLANT_BUY_NOW.html) which I bought from ebay, the 3 pot version. I thought if anything I would go to hydro setup, leave it empty, and just water by hand till the roots got long enough. My main concern is keeping the roots out of the light. the roots then can get fed by using the sprayer versus the drip ring.

If if the roots aren't long enough, with the sprayer they can stay damp down there till they grow in to it.

Thanks for getting back to me, check out hydro setup and see if this make since. I need to get the roots dark!

Howlinmike

 

[Dantes Monkey]

With an aeroponics setup, I say go ahead and transplant. I haven't used that particular system, but when I used to run aero I would transplant as soon as I had roots coming out of the 1" rockwool cubes. As long as your roots are exposed and getting hit by the sprayers, you plant will be fine. Even if the roots weren't out, the rockwool should be kept wet by the sprayers (maybe even too wet). Be sure to keep your roots out of the standing water in the bottom of the buckets.

Did you system come with a timer? I think I used to keep mine programmed at 1 minute on, 5 minutes off.

 

[howlinmike]

Dantes Monkey,

Thanks for the response, I do have a timer for my hydro setup, according to fastergardens.com, where I got it from, they sent the timer and said to go 15 minutes on, 15 minutes off, thats the lowest this timer will go. What you said I also agree with, that as long as the roots are getting moisture they should be OK. The roots grow by actively searching out water, so they should grow to the water source. I can also hand water until they grow more, I just need to get the roots in the dark. Its not like they are blasted by light, but I think there should be no chance of any light.

Any other thoughts would be great! Thanks again!

 

[Dantes Monkey]

No problem Mike, happy to help. It sounds like the timer you have is one of the analog dial doohickeys with the dip switches. If the 15 minute cycle is too much, you may need to invest in a digital recycling timer so you can dial in more specific increments.

Another thought; in the link you posted it looks like that system has drip rings as well. You could probably just use the drip rings without the aero sprayer if you are concerned about over watering.

Again, you'll probably need to trim your roots on occasion to keep them out of the water in the bottom of the buckets. You don't want your aero/top feed turning into DWC, otherwise you'll get root rot and all kinds of nastiness.


-Monkey

 

[howlinmike]

Thanks Monkey,

My drip rings are screwed up, they put holes on the outside of the ring, meaning they spray away from the basket. Nice! Ive tried to reshape them but the plastic tubing is impossible to bend even when I tried heating it up. Yeah, my timer is what you said, and I wont have any money til the first, on Soc. Sec. disability, so I got to wait it out. I found one on amazon for $50. So I'll get one then. I'll take the tube from the from the reservoir to the drip ring and water the bottom of the roots every couple days the best I can! The plants themselves are nice, plenty of vegetative growth, looking good, just don't want to screw them, cant afford to waste money, like I said, my 54 year old ass cant it!

 

[Dantes Monkey]

I think you'll probably be ok without the drip rings, and I wouldn't worry about the timer unless you really find that 15 min is too much for your roots. Don't stress too much about your plants, cannabis is naturally pretty hardy.

Cheers,
Monkey

 

[howlinmike]

Thanks Monkey,

You've been a great help!!

Good Luck,

Mike H.