Grow Mediums First DWC grow Advice a lil confused

[gioc27]

Hello all this will be my first hydro grow I've grown all year in soil was my first time growing with the help from AFN they have been successful ones. Nothing like smoking your own. Well i reached a point were I'm going to try DWC see how i like it just put everything together going to start germinating today, My question to you guys is ushally soak them then put them in the dirt directly simple enough i read to put the seed in soaked ph'd rock-wool cube wich i bought let the tap root go through the bottom then put in the rock medium how far down to i put it ? do i cover the whole rock-wool with rocks or do i put rocks down then rock wool then more rocks this is the part I'm a Lil confused about any advice would be much appreciated !

Also my net pot is 10inch because the hydro store ran out the 6 inch does that matter do i need a bigger rock wool cube

 

[SkatterBrayne]

Definitely soak the rockwool beforehand, I soaked mine for 24 hours. It has a natural PH of like 9 which is way too high, so you need to soak it for sure.

How big are your rockwool cubes, the 1" or 4", and also, how big are your net cups? That would determine how far you need to plant them inside the bucket. You don't have to put the rockwool into the DWC bucket until the tap root starts to come through the bottom of the rockwool

Generally speaking, you want to rockwool sitting an inch or two away from the bottom of the net cup. You want your water level to be even with the bottom of the net cup, so that the water spashes up gently to get the rock wool moist, until the roots make it down into the water.

 

[gioc27]

There are two inches blocks net cup is 10 inch

 

[SkatterBrayne]

My Net cup is 10" also, which was a little tricky with the smaller rockwool.

I would put about 3" of hydroton in the net cup first, and then place the rockwool cube ontop of that. Just note that the rockwool will be pretty high up in the bucket, so at the beginning of the grow you want to make sure the water level is like two inches above the bottom of the net cup. Before you fill up the rest of the cup, make sure that some of the water will reach where the rockwool will be sitting. You don't want ALOT of water in there, because the cube will wick up all the moisture and get completely saturated. Just make sure that some of the bubbles are popping and splashing up onto the rockwool cube. As the roots eventually develop, you can slowly lower the water level and the roots will chase the water down through the hydroton, and eventually into the bucket.

 

[gioc27]

Sweet thanks ! I'll give it a shot. one more thing then i just add more rocks over the seedling or around? Might seem like a crazy question but what i mean is in soil we bury the seed after soaking it, is it the same case do i bury with rocks?