top drip pouring on rockwool stuffed with seeds
 

I've just set up a top drip system, but I am worried. It's not dripping, its pouring. It's only a 30w pump pushing water through a thin tube with a smaller nozzle at the tip, so its a small gentle type of pouring, but I was just looking online at other people's top drip systems and they have it dripping 1 drop every 2 seconds! Like I said the stream is gentle but it covers the entire surface of the 1 inch rock wool cube. I have the seeds stuffed in there about 1/3 inch deep but it's been a few days and no sprouts. Did I drown my seeds?

Hello chopficaro,
There are ways to reduce the water flow, and you can use drip emitters or make your own. But Drip emitters clog, so I prefer to make my own. However the problem is the growing media your using. Rockwool holds so much water it becomes saturated and waterlogged easily. One drop every 2 seconds would water small rockwool cubes. you would have to reduce the flow rate to about 1 drop an hour.

If your going to use the rockwool cubes you should probably either set it up as a flood and drain system to water 1-4 times a day. Or just wet them by hand 1-4 times a day as needed. I attached pictures of a simple seed starter I made using rockwool cubes. You'll notice the container has about an inch of water/nutrient solution in the bottom, while the rockwool cubes are suspended above them so they can drain. I just shook the containers once or twice a day to shush the water inside around wetting the rockwool cubes.