ploomez
01-20-2007, 01:24 AM
Hope everyone is doing well.
Like most horticulturalists i've tried various systems and mediums over the years
but i always stayed away from rockwool. I hated the stuff real bad! i could not root a clone in it to save my life, yet with professional prop mix from the nursery and powder(IBA,IAA,NAA) i had mad roots and the dome off in 5-6 days.
But after seeing a friend of a friends garden and getting a little info i decided to
experement and try one crop, that was a year ago and i've never looked back!
Sure the clones now take 7-10 days to root, but the roots system is stronger and the the young seedlings/clones take off alot quicker, so it still works out.
Anyway the purpose of this thread is to look at the different rockwool products available and the differences between them. some may say "its all the same shit"
but belive me IT IS NOT! I hope some people find this interesting as there is alot of interesting new products that have various benifits depending on your system.
My brand of choice is of course grodan. They make exellent quality commercial hort products that contain premium volcanic basalt /limestone mixtures. All products vary in some way with 50-80% water holding capacity
depending. Cheaper brands of rockwool can contain iron and other alkaline metals. Grodan is very close to being a natural product.
Here are some grodan products-
grodan "classic" original formulation
grodan "x-tra" grodan "expert"
grodan "Delta" my choice- very uniform growth 50-70% w.h.c drains well.
grodan "master" and "grotop" "master" these are interesting, 50/80% w.h.c
your standard 3ft slab , but the top 1/4 of the slab is alot more dense than the bottem this ensures that when you water your cubes from the top, the nutrient/h20 has to saturate the top layer horizontaly before perculating
down to the lower 3/4 of the slab. This also allows the plants to root very firmly in the top of the slab first , thus giving great stability of the plant.
Also you can now buy little compressed grodan "grocubes" they are around
the same size as hydroton/ceramic grorocks and intended to be used the exact same way as grorocks. I've not yet tried them at $500 a bag.
so what type of rockwool products do others use? have others noticed diffrences in plant preformance, for instance i get better results with big cubes as compared to the slabs.
Ps. my system consists of 3 x 600wt hps with aircooled shades over
2 - 6ft-4ft flood and drain tables set up for hand watering run-2-waste,
with all run off on the vegie garden etc. closed system with c02 gas
dehumidifier, 14,000 btu air conditioner . climate control.
happy to post data sheets on products and answer any questions
take it easy ploomez/pmrone
Like most horticulturalists i've tried various systems and mediums over the years
but i always stayed away from rockwool. I hated the stuff real bad! i could not root a clone in it to save my life, yet with professional prop mix from the nursery and powder(IBA,IAA,NAA) i had mad roots and the dome off in 5-6 days.
But after seeing a friend of a friends garden and getting a little info i decided to
experement and try one crop, that was a year ago and i've never looked back!
Sure the clones now take 7-10 days to root, but the roots system is stronger and the the young seedlings/clones take off alot quicker, so it still works out.
Anyway the purpose of this thread is to look at the different rockwool products available and the differences between them. some may say "its all the same shit"
but belive me IT IS NOT! I hope some people find this interesting as there is alot of interesting new products that have various benifits depending on your system.
My brand of choice is of course grodan. They make exellent quality commercial hort products that contain premium volcanic basalt /limestone mixtures. All products vary in some way with 50-80% water holding capacity
depending. Cheaper brands of rockwool can contain iron and other alkaline metals. Grodan is very close to being a natural product.
Here are some grodan products-
grodan "classic" original formulation
grodan "x-tra" grodan "expert"
grodan "Delta" my choice- very uniform growth 50-70% w.h.c drains well.
grodan "master" and "grotop" "master" these are interesting, 50/80% w.h.c
your standard 3ft slab , but the top 1/4 of the slab is alot more dense than the bottem this ensures that when you water your cubes from the top, the nutrient/h20 has to saturate the top layer horizontaly before perculating
down to the lower 3/4 of the slab. This also allows the plants to root very firmly in the top of the slab first , thus giving great stability of the plant.
Also you can now buy little compressed grodan "grocubes" they are around
the same size as hydroton/ceramic grorocks and intended to be used the exact same way as grorocks. I've not yet tried them at $500 a bag.
so what type of rockwool products do others use? have others noticed diffrences in plant preformance, for instance i get better results with big cubes as compared to the slabs.
Ps. my system consists of 3 x 600wt hps with aircooled shades over
2 - 6ft-4ft flood and drain tables set up for hand watering run-2-waste,
with all run off on the vegie garden etc. closed system with c02 gas
dehumidifier, 14,000 btu air conditioner . climate control.
happy to post data sheets on products and answer any questions
take it easy ploomez/pmrone