A few hydro questions...

DieAbetic

Hey everyone. As you can see from the pics my Neville's Haze clones are doing well, with roots getting about 1-2". The ph is kept about 6.3-6.5 (and is continually adjusted because rockwool likes to raise it), along with a few drops of Superthrive. The rapid rooter plugs have small roots starting to poke out. The other plants you see are a Neville's Haze mother, a Neville's Haze soil clone that will go into flower soon, and 5 of my soil Chocolate Thai seeds (which are coming along very well).

As you can see from the pics, the clones are in small rockwool cubes in a very small mesh holder. My question is at what length of roots should I transplant to my larger mesh (as seen in 5gal lids in other pic)? Neville's haze takes a long time to finish, so I was told to put rooted clones directly into 12/12. I want to keep the clones in the veg chamber for a little while longer to get them going first of course. Should I take them out of their little mesh pots when I transplant to the large ones with hydroton? (Will this hurt any roots that might grow too big in those little mesh things?) And when I do transplant, should I plant them at the bottom of the big mesh pot so the roots go into the water, or should I put them farther up, so the roots have to grow through the hydroton pellets?

The rapid rooters are not growing as fast as I've heard, and I've also noticed something weird....kinda creeps me out. On the rapid rooter plugs, when I pick them up, little tiny....things....move. They almost look like baby slugs or something. Anyone know what these are/how to get rid of them?

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scott06

as you know Diabetic I am a dirt/soiless guy so I may not be any help....but little slugs..yuck...I will post if I find out anything about them ewwww

Brussels

DieAbetic... I've never transferred a clone from a smaller netpot to another larger one -- rather once the clone has rooted, I'll place her directly into the pot she'll spend the rest of her days in. I see that you have two options:
1. remove your plants from the existing pot and transplant.
2. place the entire smaller netpot with hydroton into the pot with your DWC lid.
Removing your plants from the smaller pot at this point will surely injure some of the roots, though I suspect they'll recover quickly. Planting the clones still in the smaller pot, will only remove that pot from your usable inventory, and shouldn't disable dwc growth at all.
The time to put the clones into your bubbler is yesterday. I always start mine in the 5gal lid once I have roots extending an inch or so from my rockwool cubes. I like to use cubes, as I feel that the clones have secured roots in them and are stable.
What I do, is plant the cubes/cuttings with the hydroton about a half inch of so from the top of the basket. I also just cover the rockwool cube with hydroton, as sometimes new roots will develop from the base of the plant stalk.
At this point, I'll start the air stones with a solution level about an inch and a half up from the bottom of the netpot, and do supplemental watering/feeding from the top, keeping the pellets moist. I use to use a 2 gal pump-up sprayer for the top feeding, but have since gone to little watering sticks, fed through tubes from a small pump. I doesn't take long before the roots stretch to the aerated solution, and they are off and running.
I've never used rapid rooters, though I suspect that if you'll treat them with 'Diatomaceous Earth', those little critters won't survive. Just sprinkle the powder all around the base of the rooter, and a little on top. Careful not to breath the dust. Mostly I just use DE on the soil surface and neem on the leaves, but the DE gets EVERYWHERE, and I use it on the leaves in late flower too when neem is out of the question. Hope my input helps with your dilemma...B

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tokecrazy

Very good infor there Brussels,I couldnt have said it better.I do use RR-plugs,but I wet them with SM-90 real good before I put the clones in it.When the roots start to show in the sides of the plug, I put them in the hydrotone in the net pots and that's it.That's the transplanting you have to do. Peace

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