* 3rd December - Day 14 from seed *
Well, what a week! And I wasn't even here to enjoy it. My partner lovingly tended Nora (we decided to name her) while I was away. Looking at 'germination week', you'll see I was constantly aerating the nutrient solution. For the first 4 days, my partner was pH adjusting the solution (Rhizotonic seems to leave pH constantly climbing - around half a point per day), pouring out any old solution from Nora's 'semi-kratky' pot, then syringing 24ml of solution through the rockwool. As soon as the tap root was around half way down the pot (4th day), we filled the pot so the tap root was just touching a well of nutrient solution within the pot. Each day, the solution was emptied and refreshed - not taking any Pythium chances here. Within the next 3 days the rest of the explosive root growth came bursting through the rockwool.
So, time to transport her. Made some changes to the bucket: lots of holes in the rim for LST, full foil-bubble insulation (including around the rim of the net pot , and aluminium tape around the entire silicone air line - zero light leaks), a very large new air stone, and a 25w pump to power it. The pump is ridiculously quiet - not 'quiet for 25w', simply ridiculously quiet. And as you can see, it creates a bucket which looks like a pot on full boil. There's absolutely no way pythium is getting any sort of foothold on this grow.
The root explosion made it very easy to position the rockwool cube within the hydroton - the roots are submerged while the rockwool sits just above. Decided to stick with the Formulex as it's doing a grand job, albeit the dose has been kicked up. Swapping the Rhizotonic for Regenaroot as I hear very good things, including that pH remains stable! Will now use Rhizo for foliar applications only.