Hi all,
I’m wondering how long I can keep an autoflower in a starter rockwool cube before it gets stunted?
I’ve heard you need to transplant them as soon as the tap root is out of the cube.
Thing is, i want to try some autos in ebb and flow w/ hydroton, and I think the flood level needs to be below the cube. If they don’t really have any roots below the cube won’t they dry out?
I noticed both of your posts were similar, if not they same, so I put this one through and canned the other as the same people will see it anyway …
Welcome to the forums! If I new about ebb and flow or flood systems I’d help out but someone will be along shortly to help out
Thanks for sorting that out, sorry for the double post!
No problems lol
I don’t know much about it, but I will say I think once the roots make it out of the rockwool, you should be able to put it in the hydroton and continue to water as usual
But again, automated hydro is beyond me… I handwater my coco lol
Most autos will stop growing vertically (and sometimes even flower) if the tap root gets stuck , so you would hope to transplant them as soon as possible. You may have to just hand water for a week or so.
I have only used rapid rooters and coco crutons with my autos, they did just fine, but I was hand watering.
I recall @Mr.Sparkle having terrible luck with coco crutons and hydroton with autos and went back to coco coir. I think @Pedro_Bann has had some luck with it, perhaps he can chime in?
Thanks for the reply!
Maybe that’s the way to go: I’ll flood the hydroton and also water through the rockwool cube (when it’s dry) from the top, until they are more established.
Definitely interested to hear if anyone has used autos in a hydroton ebb and flow so thanks for the mentions 
I only use the small cubes to start clones and seeds and rarely run autos so I’m of limited help here.
I do 12 12 from seed often though and do so in about one litre of medium without hassle.
Also guys in sci’s beer cup competition are killing it with autos in 600ml or even zero medium in them.
Automated flood and drain or drip feed should not be a problem to grow autos in rock wool.
@argo945 might be the master of rock wool.
Thanks Pedro!
I’m actually interested in growing them in hydroton via ebb and flow, but I’m unsure of how long I can keep them in rockwool starter cube before transferring them to ebb and flow.
I know if I keep them too long in a starter cube I will stunt them (autoflowers), but if I put them in hydroton before they have roots out of the bottom they won’t get watered via flooding.
Im going to give this a go in a 6x6x6 hugo Thanks to the man himself…
Nothing but to try,My plan, start seed in a hugo with a starter plug starting 40 % wet weight. I’m guessing 3/4 gallon or so water only at first and just let it go as long as i can stand it. if it works i might jump to a unislab they make moisture meters for the Rockwool moisture levels if you want to apply some science? Thanks for the chance to try Rekio -X !!!
With the starter cubes its best to first time it right but secondly have them growing on a bed of perlite or coco so if and when the roots grow out the bottom they won’t be disturbed or stunted.
@Pedro_Bann do you top feed the starter cube at first in hydroton?
@argo945 I’m doing a flood and drain run now with 666 cubes and I dont recommend it.
Everything is going OK, but there are things about it I really don’t like.
After I pre soaked the cubes they weighed 2.5 kilos each… They hold way too much water for small plants.
The biggest factor that annoys me though is being blind to what the EC level is in the root zone. The EC in the rez is the same every day until I do a weekly top feed to flush out any salts. That’s when I find out if I’ve been over or under feeding.
I imagine with hydroton that the EC in the rez is closer to the EC in the root zone.
The cubes grow healthy plants for sure, but I think it’s too much work and a top feed system would work better for these guys.
Here are my plants a week ago. This is 25 days into 12/12. 8 plants, 4 diff strains from seed in a 2.5x2.5 ft tent:
If I was going to use rockwool again, I would make sure I could flood over the top of the cube so I didn’t have to top feed weekly, but I think I’d rather use hydroton (just my .02$).
hugos are more of a top drip op for sure. got the caps just try it out?
I’m actually using pargro quick drain cubes and that might be part of the issue. I set up flora flex with drippers but the cubes all held significantly different amounts of water when saturated. Some weighed 1800 grams and others up to 2500 grams.
So what this meant was that when I tried to drip irrigate, some cubes would be draining almost immediately and others would take a long time to catch up. That’s when I switched to ebb and flow and it definitely has its own issues with rockwool, but for this run it will have to do.
I really do like ebb and flow though, so I think I’ll stick with it and use hydroton. Rockwool is definitely a great medium though.
less is more with a hugo untill the root mass gets built up. i also have yanked a plant and let it dry out in the shower some times they will go 5 days before drooping. The quick drain i really like but no close suppliers. just dont over think it with a short cycle timer you can dial in the drain to 5% run off like suggested and forget it. untill things get a bigger and reset the timer easy stuff.
If you are in the US I have had good luck with the website “growers house”. Good prices and shipping isn’t bad. They sell most sizes of big cubes as singles too so you don’t have to get a case
i also love the unislabs for growing bigger plants with 10 sec daily cycle time just to move new solution in every day killer growth amd i’m still overwatering!!!
