When to move rockwool seedlings to dutch buckets

[Stan]

I forgot to mention you'll nee to insert 2 screens 1 on the bottom of the drain piece in the 5X5 and 1 right where the water drains back into the reservoir. This will prevent the sprayers from becoming clogged by root mater during the grow season.

[gdgdad]

Stan, thanks for the great advice and tips. I placed one 360 sprayer between “pairs” of net cups, not in between each – that GREATLY reduced the number of sprayers. I’m down to 12 – 360 and 3 180 sprayers. I too used grommets to get the feed line into the rail. For the drain line, I cut PVC couplers and made ~ ¼” high “rings”, then I fed ½” PVC pipe through the rail and glued to either straight or angled coupler (see pics). Water level in the rails should not exceed about ¼”. I did find the food grade caulk you suggested. As for the pump, I just happened to have a ¼ hp. 1,800 GPH Submersible pump from years ago. Now it’s clean and test, check for leaks and make repairs where necessary. I do have to order another interval timer – then I should be good to go. As for my next “crop”, I’m anxious to use those seeds you sent me, so I’m staying with 4 Dutch buckets: 2 with the “3 lb. tomatoes”, 1 with the other seeds you sent and one cherry. I’ll be “firing up” the cloner soon for tomatoes and veggie seeds. Lastly, tomatoes still going strong, whole new "batch" up high. Had to wrap hoop house in bird netting - wood peckers were ruining tomatoes.


Thanks!

[Stan]

Those plants will grow 14+ft if you let them but the size of the tomatoes will start to get smaller if you let them grow that long. Always better to start up new plants and as they start to get almost to flowering stage clip the tops off the old plants and disconnect them from the reservoir. Just pour regular water with a little bit of dissolved epsom salt into the bucket twice daily early am and at sundown so the tomatoes still on the plant can ripen until the last plant. As you do this start feeding the new plants the reservoir nutrients. By the time the last tomato is pluck from old plants the new plants will already have tomatoes forming. Try to keep a log of how long the plants disconnected from reservoir lasts for and how long it takes new plant to start forming tomatoes so you can adjust the timing for both so tomato production never stops.

Very nice setup with the rails. Let me know how it works out for you since you will have 1/4 inch of still water at the bottom of each rail. My rails completely drain so the roots get plenty air in between watering.

[gdgdad]

Stan, I “fired up” the cloner again but…. as in the post from October of 2018 “This is where / when I seem to have the most problems…..” . I started 6 Rockwool cubes 5/29/19 from the seeds you sent - 3 of the 3 lb. seeds and 3 of the Cherry. By 6/15, 3 did germinate and 3 did not. So I re-seeded 3 cubes – all with the 3 lb. seeds (I am obviously anxious for those!). On the 3 seeds that did germinate, one exhibited the same issues I had in October, it got tall and fell over. I carefully, delicately propped up all 3 of the 1” to 2” seedlings with hydroton. Days later, 1 just fell over. I have 2 ~ 1-1/2” seedlings still hangin’ in there as of 6/22/19, though I noticed the tips of the cotyledons on one seedling had yellowed. (see pics). NONE of the new seeds placed 6/22 have germinated.
So…. Cloner setup and environmental conditions:
- 5/29 Rockwool cubes were pre-soaked (overnight) in 1/8th strength Miracle grow adjusted to 6.0 PH post nutrient
- 5/30: Placed 3 to 4 seeds per cube Rockwool cube (in 2” net cups), then placed cloner
- Timer set to 5 seconds on 15 minutes off per your October post. Note- every time I pull up a net cup, it is dripping – too much water? Top of cubes seems slightly dry, water from top occasionally?
- Same as last time, the cloner is on my covered Lanai, though is does get some direct sunlight after ~ 6:30 PM.
- Temps and humidity are HIGH. Low to mid 90’s and humidity 85% +
I’m wondering if I should cover the cloner dome with some type of cloth to minimize sunlight - would that encourage root growth? As of 6/25 I simply removed the cover, I can’t imagine a humidity dome necessary in this climate….
The reservoir water temp is running 79 degrees. I could make a batch of nutrient/PH balance ice cubes to lower the temp if we suspect that’s a problem.
If heat and humidity is stifling seedling start, what about moving cloner indoors until seedlings get to a certain point? This is frustrating – I have the greenhouse 90% done (see pic) and was hoping to have seedlings ready to move into Dutch buckets in a couple months. I'm ready to start from scratch…..

[Stan]

With the high temps and humidity you’re now in I would run the sprayer all day 24hrs a day until you have a couple roots an inch or 2 long coming out of the net pots.

With it being so hot I would start the seeds indoors as 90degrees is way to hot to start seeds. You can put the rockwool cubes in a tray that holds water and have a light a couple inches away.

When they germinate set up a fan blow on them slow speed this will strengthen the stem. When you can surround them with hydroton put them in the cloner still indoors until roots are exposed then move them outdoors.

Put them in an area where they will only get 2 - 3 hours of either early morning or late evening sun. This will get them accustomed to the heat. When roots are 4 inches long put them in an area where they will get more hours of sun have the sprayers on more time than off. After a week of this transplant into buckets.

[Stan]

I forgot to mention don’t start the seeds in any type of nutrients until they have germinated and you have the first 2 leaves opened.

[gdgdad]

Hello Stan, hope you’re doing OK! We haven’t talked in a while but I’ve been busy. I have my “permanent” greenhouse done except for the visqueen (which can wait a little longer), and burying a second reservoir for the aeroponic rail system. Anyway – after SEVERAL failed attempts to get seedlings going, I finally have 5 plants from the “3lb. seeds” you sent me (see pics). I’ve found that the minute a seedling sprouted in the rockwool cube (in shaded seedling tray) I transferred it to the aeroponic cloner placed in direct sunlight - intermittently shaded by trees. It worked - they started growing true leaves at about an inch tall – and all survived. I have 3 of the plants in Dutch buckets now. I’ll be ordering seeds for the aeroponic rail system soon and I’ll put that 21 net cup “super cloner” I built into service. One thing I’ll be doing for certain this time is cutting suckers for cloning – I’m just not successful with starting from seed – less than half the rockwool cubes I started even sprouted. I go back through this blog frequently to remember timer settings, nutrient ratios etc at the various growth stages. Thanks again for all your help and advice! I’ll keep you posted and – likely – ask for more advice and direction.