When to move rockwool seedlings to dutch buckets

[Stan]

Strawberries would probably be best during your winter months as they thrive on cooler air temps along with cilantro or oregano and others similar.

If you are reusing perlite you should try to get all dead root matter out before planting new. If the plant before had problems the new plants might if root matter was left behind.

If you are not getting any germination using the rockwool cubes then go to the old fashion reliable way. Take a paper towel wet it down place some seeds separated fold the wet paper towel over and place seeds in a somewhat warn dark place for 2 days. Make sure the paper towel doesn't get completely dry after the first day. If you feel its to dry just spray with fresh water so its damp. By the second day open the paper towel to check on the seeds see if any cracked open. You might have to wait another 2 days if they did not. If they still didn't open they are probably not good. If they crack open you gently pick them up and put them in the rockwool cubes.

As for the rail system do you have it on an angle for the water to drain very slowly or is is draining fast? It should not drain fast reason being it would be like a river running down each rail pulling on the roots. This will stress the plants. The water should run out slowly so it doesn't pull that hard on the roots. Also the rails and PVC piping needs to be cleaned if the system was shut down for a week or more. If its constantly being used you could clean once a year.