Hi all! Super excited to join this community as everyone seems so knowledgeable and willing to help one another.
I’m just starting out with some rock wool for the first time. I know some people have said their plants grow bigger faster with higher yields in rock wool compared to other mediums, but I’m actually seeing the opposite so far - my gals seem pretty stunted.
If anyone is open to it, I’d love to hear someone else’s regimen (watering, nutrients etc.) for growing in rock wool, so I can compare and potentially find where I’m going wrong. Other than that if anyone has any tips or tricks that have made their life easier with this stuff I’d love to hear them!
Hello fellow newb,
Not trying to bash rockwool but like yourself, my friends have had similar issues with rockwool. Personally i use the paper towel method and put them in a tin can that has a sealable lid. Back to rockwool ive noticed that it absorbs the water a little too much, so maybe your putting too much water in? You say the growth is stunted , are the roots showing at all or is the issue nothing is popping out.
Interestingly I’m not having any trouble germinating in the rock wool, it’s only once the plant gets older that I notice the difference compared to plants of the same age I have grown in soil. I have my routine in soil down pat but want to switch to rock wool as it seems like a much neater alternative (I’m tired of having dirt everywhere…) and I want to switch to automatic watering since now I’m doing it all by hand. I have some roots popping out, but not as much as I guess I’d expect.
Welcome @ajager. You should start a journal and taking pics and giving us all the info you can come up with.
I’ve been growing in rockwool up until late Veg for a while. Never a full run, but there’s a few on here that use rockwool grow blocks or even bags.
Plants grow a little different compared to soil and the bigger the block the longer the root mass can take to develop. From my experience. But the plant catches up in time.
Let us know your specific questions and lots of pics.
I grow exclusively in rockwool with auto drip feeders and powdered nutes. Rockwool is totally inert; it’s not going to have much margin for safety if pH or moisture or feed strength aren’t right. It’s like going pedal to the metal in a sports car; things happen fast and it can be really exciting, but it can kick you in the ass just as fast in my experience!
Can you tell a bit about your set-up and schedule?
Commercial systems aim to dose Rockwool with a shot of nutrients that is about 6% of the container size every watering, and the frequency of watering can be as often as every hour depending on the environment the plants are growing in.
The recipe for getting the best growth or of the plants is to keep things as smooth and consistent as possible; the temperature and humidity are the same all day, the light intensity is high enough, roots always have just enough food at just the right pH and don’t get too wet or too dry.
