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1. Can you start seedlings in potting soil and transfer them to the hydroponic system after they germinate or would another growing medium work better?
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You should keep any and all dirt far, far away from your hydro set-up. Dirt carries the pathogens and pests that hydro gets you away from.

I have heard of others whe have washed their plants thoroughly and don't have problems.....I don't believe it's possible....

yes you can transplant dirt plants to hydro, ive been doing it for over 3 years with no problems. if you are worried about soil pathogens grow them in a steril potting soil and indoors under lights until they have a good root system.

wash off as much as the dirt as you can then put em in, yes its that simple.

you might want to use a perlite mix so its easier to wash

I've done that 2 years now and my plants have been great. For some reason though this year, I tried 2 kellogs breakfast tomato plants and they just wouldn't adapt to hydro. My other tomato plants are doing great right now and the cucumber is also doing ok.

Give it a try, but make sure you wash off as much dirt as you can.

hi guys,

this system has worked great for me starting seedlings, tomato, basil, peppers, etc.

my system is the cyclotron 9-site lid pattern with switchable controller.

everybody starting seedlings should have one of these.

Here is a link that might be useful: http://www.hyper-garden.com/

Just start them in some perlite and rinse them off when it's time to go to hydro. It's easy, clean and no pathogens. I do cutting seed starting and more that way in my aeroponic and flood and drain systems.

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Hi Chefschipull,

In my hydroponics system, which uses a sand medium, I sometimes plant the seeds directly into the sand.

Other times, I either grow the seeds in punnets with seed raising mix or buy them grown in a similar fashion.
If you want to keep your hydroponic system clean, all of the seed raising mix must be rinsed off the roots before putting into your system ... whether you are using a growing medium or not. To rinse them, just jiggle then up and down in a bowl of clean water ... like a tea bag, until all of the soil is removed.

Of course, you can plant them out straight from the punnet, but it will dirty up your medium and/or your recirculating nutrient solution.

So your best method by far is to grow your own or buy them in punnets, and rinse the roots well before putting them into your hydroponic garden.

I invite you to examine my web site for more information on hydroponics in general.

Jimr007

Here is a link that might be useful: Simple Sand Hydroponics

The potato roots 2:54 into the vid look pitiful too, not a great advert for aeroponics :)

You can start them in 4 inch rock wool cubes. watering with nutrients untill ready to tranfer into 6 inch rock wool. Just stay with rockwool.

Rock wool cubes work well