When to move rockwool seedlings to dutch buckets

[gdgdad]

Thanks Stan, I broke down and ordered that timer off Amazon as we speak, should be here between 11/1 & 11/6. As far as temperature this morning, it could have been as low as 48 / 49, I’m not positive – but 50 to me is cold! On the nutrient, when I last “flushed” the bucket 10/17, the fresh water I put in was balanced PH at 6.0, and ¼ strength nutrient (Miracle Grow for tomatoes). The color is indeed NOT a rich dark green, and some leaves seem slightly wilted. Now….. I’ve not checked the PH since the flush, but I’ve not had to add water either. In a “static” system, do I need to still check PH periodically? In the mean time before my new timer comes, I can increase the spray cycles up to ten per day with my current timer, minimum 1 minute duration's. Every time I’ve checked, cubes were wet or saturated. Also, I currently have the aerator running only while the sprayers are, vs 7/24. As I said in the last post, I re-introduced the cfl lights when not in indirect sun light (except for nighttime) because the seedlings were always leaning / stretching toward indirect sunlight. I “rotate” the bucket daily to get them to lean the other way. The seedlings seem to be growing frustratingly slow – but I’m determined and hangin’ in there… all advice appreciated..

[Stan]

49!degrees yes you need to move them in. Keep the lights as low as you can get to the top of the plant so they don’t get stretchy. They were looking good and should’ve had much more growth so yes I would Check the ph maybe every 2 days and as I mentioned earlier increase the watering cycle to as many times as you can till you get the other on/off timer. If you don’t notice a difference within 2 days increase the amount of nutrients you are putting in the reservoir just a little bit more to see if any changes happen a day or 2 later. Like I said earlier you should’ve been able to see some roots sprouting from the rockwool by now.

[gdgdad]

Stan, turns out my digital timer only has 8 programmable times per day. However, my mechanical timers can go on/off in 15 minute duration's. So… until the new timer arrives it seems I can only water too little or too much. I’ve set the digital timer back to evenly dispersed durations during daylight and 1 nighttime duration (all 1 minute on durations) as follows:
Time on Time off
1:00 AM 1:01 AM
7:30 AM 7:31 AM
9:30 AM 9:31 AM
11:30 AM 11:31 AM
1:30 PM 1:31 PM
3:30 PM 3:31 PM
5:30 PM 5:31 PM
7:30 PM 7:31 PM
Again, every time I’ve checked, the cubes are wet to saturated, but If you think going “mechanical” with minimum 15 minute “on” durations is better, let me know. Also, before I check PH today (which I will adjust to 6.0 if necessary), you mentioned changing the nutrient strength. I had the nutrient at ¼ strength. What percent would you recommend increasing it to? Thanks!

[gdgdad]

Flushed and replaced aeroponic cloner bucket nutrient solution. I increased nutrient to 50% strength, PH adjusted to 6.0 (as always). Prior to flushing the system, I checked the PH and it had increased to 6.3. I’ll be checking PH every 2 days in the future – need to get my hands on a turkey baster to pull out samples for testing PH, that way I only need to pop out a net cup. Bucket has been wrapped with reflective cover (car sun shield) as suggested. Waiting for the new timer.....

[gdgdad]

The largest plant has a couple roots between 2 and 3 inches long -finally. New timer hasn't arrived yet so sprayers are only running eight times a day right now, 1 minute durations. I do run them briefly, manually, in between the 2 hour intervals if I happen to be in the garage. Apologize for the poor pics, it's difficult to hold the netcup and cell phone simultaneously, but look closely or zoom, and they should be visible.

[Stan]

Great as you can see the increased watering has given the seedlings enough fresh water and nutrients to absorb. Soon you will see roots coming out of the sides of the net pots when that happens the stems will start to get thick.

[gdgdad]

Timer arrived and is installed. Currently running 24/7, 15 min off - 5 sec on. Will switch timer to "daytime" only mode tomorrow - with one caveat; I still run the CFL's after I've "shut down" the garage (on a separate timer) until midnight, then on again at 6am., until I "open" the garage in the morning. Plants are in full sun during day now and seem to be doing good. Adjusted PH today, it scooted up to 6.5, so I lowered it to 5.8, but I did not flush the bucket, simply added PH down. Tallest plant has 1 or 2 roots about 3" long. I will test tomorrow to see if the new Spartan Repeat Cycle Timer is "fooled" by the CFL's and continues to run until CFL's shut off. Otherwise I have to come up with a plan B, i.e. likely running the Spartan Repeat Cycle Timer off the CFL timer (cascading the timers). Not certain how the Spartan will react (recover?) from power loss and return. Attached current pics.