Seedling HELP (Flood & Drain Hydroton)

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fortphoenix

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I finally sprouted a couple seeds (afghan) in rapid rooters!! but i have a few questions! I used rapid rooters to germinate/sprout in a dome/tray and used a water bottle to spray and keep everything moist.. then after a week i transplanted to the hydroton. the bottom of the rapid rooters are like 1/4-1/2" from the flood level. I’m using an a/c 400w hps, like 10-12” from the tops on 24/7 and flood every 4 hours in 1 gallon pots. i already know i fucked these seeds up from over watering (they are drooping a bit) and transplant shock, i transplanted them on the 24th and like no vertical growth has occurred but the leaves yellowed a bit so i gave them 200ppm of maxigro and i think they’re just recovering now. but i have 2 more I’m transplanting tomorrow so i want to make sure i don’t mess things up on 2 new ak-48 seedlings, so heres my questions...

1. Once transplanted, should i water the rapid rooter directly? i was using a spray bottle but wasn’t directly watering the plug, just around it. also, should I still be flooding every 4 hours when watering from the top?

2. How often should i water the top? when the plug is like really dry, like a beige color? or when its still kind of moist (light brown)? or should i just not hand-water them myself at all and make the roots stretch to the flood level?

3. Is it safe to transplant into the flood table at such a young (1week) age? some people say to wait till the roots develop but logically i feel like the more roots sticking out the sides and stuff, the more damage can be done and more shock when transplanting. any thoughts?

4. Should i put hydroton on top of the rapid rooter when in the pot or should i leave the rapid rooter uncovered?

5.What could be causing the tips of the taproots to turn brown? the taproots on the afghans were brown and skinny/shriveled. i read some places it could be from light hitting it or under watering and some other stuff too… or maybe my heat mat?

6. Also, i have a thermostatically controlled heat mat. when should i take it off?

heres a link to the gallery of the afghan if this helps.... http://postimg.org/gallery/22wbc3epg/ ... theres 3 different plants, the first 2 pics are of the plant that was the most promising but i think its now over watered. the second 2 pics are of another afghan plant that i never planted, just wanted to see how it would do without being potted for 2 weeks and the last 2 pics are of the plant that seemed like everything was going decent (besides transplant shock) and now it has a slight droop and the cotyledons are turning like yellowish color around the edges and a purplish/gey color in the center of the cotyledons... though i must say i think the new leaves on the plants in the pot grew a tiny bit since last night they are still drooping. any thoughts?

Sorry i typed so much but i would really appreciate if you could help me out!!! thank you!!
 
You need to water the plug. The roots need moisture to grow and if you have only been spraying indirectly, the roots have not received the moisture you need for good root development. You do not want them sopping wet. Moisten enough so that it is like a wrung ouyt sponge.

Do not plant into the table at 1 week. You are going to want to see very good root growth out of th entire cube before you transplant.

I ike to cover rapid rooters with hydrotron as algae can and often does grow on the tops of the rapid rooters.

The brown taproot is most likely caused because you did not water the cubes--the root is deprived of water and is actually dying.

I would take the heat mat away.
 
i like to transplant into hydroton as soon as the roots show, and i let the table flood half way up the rooter cube. the important thing is that water gets to the cube every time you flood. if it does, then there should be no need to water from top
 
You need to water the plug. The roots need moisture to grow and if you have only been spraying indirectly, the roots have not received the moisture you need for good root development. You do not want them sopping wet. Moisten enough so that it is like a wrung ouyt sponge.

Do not plant into the table at 1 week. You are going to want to see very good root growth out of th entire cube before you transplant.

I ike to cover rapid rooters with hydrotron as algae can and often does grow on the tops of the rapid rooters.

The brown taproot is most likely caused because you did not water the cubes--the root is deprived of water and is actually dying.

I would take the heat mat away.

thank you very much for the response! and thats a very good idea for the algae sake I'm definitely going to cover them and yeah from now on I'm going to take the heat mat off a lot sooner then i did with these, again thanks for the response i appreciate it!!
 
i like to transplant into hydroton as soon as the roots show, and i let the table flood half way up the rooter cube. the important thing is that water gets to the cube every time you flood. if it does, then there should be no need to water from top

i gotcha, thats kind of the conclusion I've come to the conclusion it doesnt matter how you get it wet as long as it gets wet and theres a million ways to do it but I'm just afraid of over/under water but thanks for the response i appreciate it!!
 

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