Transplanting part 2 - 18/01/08

Now the rockwool blocks have been soaked I get the planting area prepared. When propagating my plants i keep the temperature in the growing area between 22-25c and the relative humidity between 65-75%. Young plants respond and grow very well in humid environments. I use 110w fluorescent lamp on for 18 hours a day to supplement the natural light entering the greenhouse.

After the transplant blocks have been pre-treated they need preparing for the seedlings to be planted into. Rockwool holds allot of water so after soaking excess needs to be shaken out or lightly squeezed. I Shake a few times then lightly squeeze (squeezing heavily can damage the structure of rockwool). The blocks want to be damp but not too wet. You can tell when they ready by squeezing the corners lightly, if no solution drips out your ready to plant in.

Once the blocks are all ready I insert each propagation cube into their blocks. I make sure the cubes are firmly in to avoid leaving gaps between the cube and the block.



To avoid algae growing on the surface of the rockwool blocks i cover them with squares of black and white plastic. You can cut them your self but i buy pre cut squares as they are cheap and saves loads of time. Another good thing about the white plastic squares is you can use them as labels to identify the plants too.

I always put my plants growing in transplant blocks on a raised mesh so air can move underneath them. This slight movement of air under the blocks stops roots growing out and concentrates the root growth within the block, this is know as 'air pruning'. I use to place blocks on a growing media such as perlite or vermiculite in a tray but this encouraged the roots grow straight out the block and into the media. When the plants were moved the long roots out of the block inevitably got damaged. These young damaged roots would often die back not getting the plant off to a good start so now I always use air pruning trays until the bottom of the block is covered with root tips. This always gets plants off to a explosive start with less chance of transplant shock when planted into its final hydroponic system.