Warning!!!!!

[tinytoon]

Hi all and welcome to Tinytoon's info post. I have been running the same setup in 2 cabinets for a year now and never had a problem really until I tried these RW starters that I had bought. Normally I would take my clones and put them in 1" RW cubes and they would be otw to growing the lovely herb that we all enjoy so much. Since I put my 1" cubes into 4" cubes after roots show I started thinking that wouldn't it be nice to have a round clone starter instead of a square one since the hole in 4" cubes is round. Also thought it would be nice if such a starter would be split so clone could be layed into RW instead of pushed ( I normally slice 1" cube so I can acomplish this). Low and behold I found Grodan round starters and thought I was in heaven, NOT!!!!! I did my normal soak in PH adjusted water before putting clones in and didnt change anything from previous grows. About the time I figured I should start seeing roots the 5 clones started to shrivel up and started down the road to hemp heaven. Here I am going WTF? Didnt underwater, overwater, temp fine, hunidity good and plenty of light. So for some starnge reason I checked the PH in the bowl that I had been dunking my clones into and what do I find but PH way high and I mean like around 7+ pushing 8. How the hell did this happen?? So I nurse them to the point of getting them into the tub ( I do E&F), and start checking PH twice daily. Everytime I checked it it was high as hell. Nothing changed in the way I was doing things besides these new round starters I was using so I deceided to try a little test, I put 1 round starter in a bowl of PH adjusted water to soak. 2 hours later I tested PH of water and it was extremely high!! These new starters were the cause of my PH problem!! The remaining clones ( lost 3 out of 5) are still hanging in there but slow growth doesnt even come close to describing what is going on with them. Now after 2 weeks in the E&F setup, flooding 5 times a day and with me constantly adjusting PH back down I think the lil bastard starters have finally flushed to the point of being rid of whatever was causing the rapid rise in PH. Thought I would share this as I wouldnt want anyone else to waste money or bang their head on their desk trying to sort this out. There were 32 starters in the bag. I used 5 for clones and 1 for PH test, the rest went in the trash!!!

tinytoon Reviewed by tinytoon on 06-02-2009. Warning!!!!! Hi all and welcome to Tinytoon's info post. I have been running the same setup in 2 cabinets for a year now and never had a problem really until I tried these RW starters that I had bought. Normally I would take my clones and put them in 1" RW cubes and they would be otw to growing the lovely herb that we all enjoy so much. Since I put my 1" cubes into 4" cubes after roots show I started thinking that wouldn't it be nice to have a round clone starter instead of a square one since the hole in 4" Rating: 5

[the image reaper]

sorry about your bad results ... rockwool is so 'yesteryear', I won't use the stuff :wtf: ... try RapidRooter plugs next time :thumbsup: ... they're made of compressed bark, neutral pH, and hold/release just the right amount of water ... RapidRooters Rock :thumbsup: ... good luck, my friend :smokin:

[socialistpete]

I got a bag of those some how and didn't much care for them myself. I can't believe you use rockwool in the first place, you really need to try rapid rooters way easier to use!

[socialistpete]

damn reap you beat me too it.

[tinytoon]

well my Bucket garden is not running yet so I am using to seperate E&F setups, medium is RW blocks and Hydrotron. I will look into the Rapid rooters as I have seen alot of peeps using those but would I start in a RR in then graduate to the 4" Blocks like I have been or?? I will accept any recomendations that do not require a Gold Card to be able to afford :thumbsup:

[MJACTIVIST]

Dude just change the Rockwool starters to Rapid Rooters and then just do everything the same. Hope it helps
L8
MJ

[tinytoon]

aye that was the plan since I still have a few 4" and also 6" blocks to use up. Been looking at the new SureToGrow blocks but they can only be purchased in case form atm from what I have found and dont really wanna drop $200+ on something I dont even know will work for me lol thnx for the input though and remember it's 420 somewhere!! :jointsmile:

[socialistpete]

Seriously, stay away from RW. just throw your clones in rapid rooters and then into hydroton.

[tinytoon]

well flood tray is only about 4 1/2" deep and was thinking blocks were giving stability. I will be running the same setup that Dive has when I get basement finished and planned on doing your thought Pete with that setup since they will be in 2 gal buckets.

[easymare]

Tiny's other half here i just keep seeing the plants tip over in my mind that with only hydrotron around the rr's they gonna take a header LOL.Have seen some of our's get top heavy enuff to tip the 4"rw nearly over LOL. Course I tend to think beyond xtreme at time too LOL.:rastasmoke: n b happy