Oh no! A rockwool grower

Growoolit

Growoolit

Well-known member
G'day from Australia (aka land of Oz).
Been growing on and off (legal issues) since before the first Dutch seed catalogues came out.
East Coast location, cultivating old and newer varietals.
Recently bought some genetics from Gurtbyseeds.
Mostly using rockwool flock, indoor and out. Up to 100 gallon pots (outdoors).
Hey Ho, Let's Grow!
IMG20240801102723.jpg
 
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Chichón said:
Looking great.
What are the pros/cons of rockwool?
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Briefly:

Perfect air/ water ratio, even when saturated.
Hydroponic watering methodology.
Can run as flood/drain, hand-water or drip system.
Re-use until the medium collapses (up to 20+ years).
Can fill pots, or use preformed blocks or slabs.
Can be used for seedlings or clones.
Can be expensive to set up.
Pre-treatment (pH 5.5) required before use.
Zero cation exchange capacity.
Should be watered to minimum 10% runoff.
Thanks for asking.
 
Also, the medium is sterile, at least initially.
Rockwool can be sanitised between grows and enzymes added to degrade the organic matter i.e. roots.
Pests are therefore initially excluded.

Also, it's a one stop shop from clone to fully grown.

On the minus side, it may involve storage space if you have boxes/bags of cubes or loose wool.
A corollary value is bulk prices.
Another con is that you need to break up the loose wool as you put it into containers.
That leads me to the use of PPE and it's cost.
 
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Looking jolly good in there! Tip o' the head, brother! Pleasure to have you along and looking forward to hopefully more pics and documentation!

You could use the bags those RW crouton/flakes/flocks come in themselves for a nice soak. Just a few cuts in the bottom. Less plastic waste. Maybe wanna rinse em beforehand. Unless, that is, you get those in cardboard boxes, obviously. ;)

Hope your water is fine. A friend in Sydney mentioned that sometimes being a problem. More quality than rationing. Maybe more a local problem and you are prolly running RO anyways with spun, molten rock fibres...
 
liftedfellow049 said:
Looking jolly good in there! Tip o' the head, brother! Pleasure to have you along and looking forward to hopefully more pics and documentation!

You could use the bags those RW crouton/flakes/flocks come in themselves for a nice soak. Just a few cuts in the bottom. Less plastic waste. Maybe wanna rinse em beforehand. Unless, that is, you get those in cardboard boxes, obviously. ;)

Hope your water is fine. A friend in Sydney mentioned that sometimes being a problem. More quality than rationing. Maybe more a local problem and you are prolly running RO anyways with spun, molten rock fibres...
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Our water was once the match of the pure brewing water under Plzen.
In that regard, I have never needed RO processing.
Been hydro since the 90's and supporting local wool since forever. Big ol' recyclable plastic bags.
 
Growoolit said:
G'day from Australia (aka land of Oz).
Been growing on and off (legal issues) since before the first Dutch seed catalogues came out.
East Coast location, cultivating old and newer varietals.
Recently bought some genetics from Gurtbyseeds.
Mostly using rockwool flock, indoor and out. Up to 100 gallon pots (outdoors).
Hey Ho, Let's Grow!
View attachment 366576
Click to expand...
Beautiful work there mate
 
Growoolit said:
Croutons are a fresh take on increasing drainage.
I'm feeling the urge to put 6 inch blocks in an old Hydrofarm Quantum flood/drain system. Thoughts?
Click to expand...

They definitely allow for very precise steering. Many different kinds and brands of rock wool, these days. Watch dry backs with croutons. Not the same as with blocks. In some ways similar to flocks. Some run croutons almost like soil.


Stuckeez won the Grow-Off with croutons once or twice:


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Blocks and croutons can run like clockwork in F&D - once dialed in. Can be a bit of a learning curve, though. Others have made it work for them.

There is also (ample) research showing bottom-fed or flood and drain systems can work very well, if not mistaken.

Here is another example: https://www.icmag.com/threads/10-agrobar-720s-over-6-4x8-5-ft-rolling-benches-f-d-ftw.18126911/

Personally don’t think a recirculating setup would take full advantage of RW, to be honest. Neither blocks, nor croutons.

Top-fed impulse dripper fertigation with drain to waste is what I would prefer. Netafims (2 per plant) work best, imho. Pretty standard and run-of-the-mill.

While implied waste is definitely a concern, upkeep of a recirculating system is a bigger one, in my eyes. Especially at scale.

PPMs on the lower side, more impulses instead, and as little drain as possible. Generally slightly higher than usually recommended moisture content across VEG and FLO worked very well. The following would be a good illustration of what I prefer, in principle:

croutons 2.jpeg

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salt brand analysis:

 
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That Frosty Friday has me salivating and drooling! Happy to hear your 5x5 is coming along nicely and progressing without any hiccups!

Is that your pic on Seedfinder.eu, then?

SSSC Frosty Friday Seedfinder pic 2.jpeg

( https://en.seedfinder.eu/strain-info/Frosty_Friday/Super_Sativa_Seed_Club/gallery/27052487551703869/ )

Looks pretty similar and was posted there a few weeks ago.

Are you and your plants happy with that EC?

Always feel queasy beyond 2.4 and try to steer away from the 3.0 Athena and such seem to recommend. Those numbers always bring to mind foie gras, imho.

Sure, some plants can take such an EC under certain conditions, and some might actually need those high numbers.

For how long would you normally keep your EC at 2.8? Is that the peak EC in your setup, usually? What is your RH like?

✌️
 
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