NFT Lettuce

[OChydro]

Lets talk NFT.

I recently started my bibb lettace in rockwool the same way as described in my dutch bucket squash thread. I have transplanted them into gutters. I went ahead and sprang for the CropKing gutters, all other parts are HomeDepot issue.

From what I have read the cubes should not be touching the bottom of the gutter. I think I may have transplanted a bit early as the roots were not busting out of the cube. I read that if the cubes touch the bottom of the gutter they will stay too wet and I will get root rot. My plan is to reset them in the gutter, keep them off the bottom and wait for the roots to reach out for the gutter bottom. To keep the cubes from drying out I will just hand water them everyday or every other day to keep them moist. Since this is a small system, 1 gutter with 5 in the future, it won't be a problem.

If I leave the next batch in my high tech germinator pan an extra 2 to 3 weeks I would think the roots would be busting out. Again the only problem I see is that the roots still won't be dangling into the gutter flow and I will still have to top water them. I could always build one of the upspraying starter units which will develop the dangling roots I need but this is a pain, I want it to be simple. I'm not sure how commercial growers solve this problem but finding out would answer the question.

I am using the same reservior for my dutch bucket and NFT.