Here is a pic of Island Girl x Isabella germinated in rockwool, beginning 1/29. They are getting ready to put on first true leaves. I did wet the rockwool initially with diluted "Miracle Grow Rose Food", but they are around 3" tall.
Rockwool Success!!
Looking so happy!
Looking very good.
I'm not having as much luck with rockwool as I had hoped. I planted 100 brug seeds on 2/1, and so far only 20 have germinated. I think I may have gotten some of the cubes too wet, because after 2 weeks they are still very damp and a few of the seeds seem to have white mold on them. Also, I think the holes in the 1" cubes I purchased are too big, because the seeds are loose in there, and a couple fell completely out. I'm not giving up on them yet, because I have some really great crosses and spent a little too much for them to throw them out yet. What do ya'll think? Think they'll still germinate?
Sylvia, are the mouldy seeds mushy? Poke them with a knife and see if they are still firm. If they're mushy then they're prolly goners.
If they're still firm you might want to remove them from the rock wool and soak them for a 1/2 hour in 10% bleach. It will help kill any fungus on the seed coats.
minigrannie, you have a pretty good rate of germination for such a short time! I'd give them a good while longer! The bleach soak is a good idea too.
Thanks for the advice. I'll try that in the morning.
I haven't had any mold in the rockwool. I did get some in the Rapid Rooter sponge stuff and poor germination, in fact none yet!! LOL.
Sylvia, I would cut out the cube with the mold so it does not spread. Wash your hands well before you open the bag. Mine are pretty wet and I have had no trouble. I may have soaked mine in bleach like Sue mentioned though. I can't remember. I have had germination problems with the ones I soaked in Physan so I won't be doing that any more. Maybe I used it too strong.
As mine germinate, I cut them out to pot up and reclose the bag for the others. I still have some slow pokes germinating more than a month later! The tops of these rockwool cubes are green with algae, I guess, but the seeds do not seem to mind.
Sylvia, don't give up yet! I put a bunch of seeds in rockwool on 1/25. Nothing. Kind of forgot about them. Yesterday I confessed to Mystic that I killed several of her future children, all I had seen was mold. On a whim, I looked at them shortly after that and have about 20 up! LOL Now, I gotta pot em up. I think I should have used heat or light but I am not complaining. LOL Anyway, I am not sure when they came up. Some had sent out a tiny root then looked dead. When I looked yesterday, I had several about 4 inches tall.
Wow, maybe there's still hope. So, ya'll are saying that the ones that have already germinated should be taken out and potted up? Some of them are touching the top of the clear wrap over the container.
That's the nice thing about Rockwool cubes. You don't disturb the roots by removing the cube and planting it. I still have seedlings in the cubes that haven't been planted and some are up to six inches tall. As long as I water with some fertilizer, they keep growing. I just don't have room for all the pots under light, so I'm trying to hold off until I can get them in the greenhouse.
Then I should start fertilizing them already? Hadn't thought about that one. I need to buy some small pots before I can pot any of them up yet.
Sylvia, Brugie's are out of the bag now. You need to take yours out also for once up and grownig they may rot in such humidity. I have left mine in for a week but once it gets tall I repot in dirt and they take off.
Take a pic of your babies and show us them! We all love baby pictures.
Congratulations on your Brug seedlings! Looking good!! I didn't begin fertilizing until the 1st set of true leaves developed. Since Rockwool has NO nutrients, you will need to give it some "light" plant food by diluting your fertilizer in half with water. Remember, "feed weakly NOT weekly".
I'm going to buy some little pots tomorrow and plant up the ones that are sprouted. I've always used MG, but I see that some of you prefer Peters. Guess I'll buy some of that as well.
Wow looks like I should have tried the rock wool.Everybody seems to be having good luck. Chele those hussy seeds are from good stock they are hardy. All of mine came up to. lol
I wanted to try some in rockwool and enquired at the garden centre - their reply 'never heard of it'! I think Ireland has some catching up to do.
Sue
I think most garden centers do not carry it Prudence. It seems to be quite common in hydroponic stores. You probably can buy it over the internet.
To start with,
............. I believe that the water you use has such an influence on everything . (We have deep-well water.)
..............................I have not had good results with MG at all.
.............So I switched to Schultz Expert Rose Formula ( 19-24-24)and my seedlings are bouncing off the lights. All my plants look happy and have the nice green color I could not seem to get with MG.
...................................SRF has no clorine in it, as some other products have.
JMHO.....§
We have deep well water also, mostly alkaline iron/lime/sulfur. I did better 3 years ago with blooms, before I started following all, on which fertilizers to use. My brugs used to bloom in small pots, short plants. When I followed all the advice, they grew 6' in the ground with no blooms.
This year will go back to my old ways.
I have a lot of Ca. and iron in solution ( aka the iron only shows up after the water has been poured and sits awhile).
We are kinda like the Wisconsin version of Kentucky's Blue-Grass Country with the hi ca. in our soil and water. It almost caused problems in my horse breeding program, was throwing the nutritional balance in the mare & foal feed out of whack.
hibiscus,
...Sounds like your N. balance is too heavy which will cause tremendous green growth at the expense of flowers/fruit.
§
IMHO