I’m thinking of buying clones in LA from the house of clones for my no-till bed. They come in 1 in rock will cubes. I have read that you should plant the cube directly into the soil. Will putting the rock wool into the no-till soil hurt the soil or prevent the clones from getting the benefits of the soil? If I am to remove the clones from the cubes what are the best practices to remove the clones without damaging the root systems?
I wouldn’t suggest trying to remove the rockwool cube. I feel like it would do more damage than good TBH. If I remember correctly the seedling bonds with the media pretty damn quickly, so you might be ripping roots in the process and not realizing it. IMHO I would think it would be multiple times less stressful to simply set the rockwool into the soil. That being said, I would also put a little layer of straight peat or coco (or at least 1/4-1/2 strength mix) to set the block in, that way it’s not going from the inert world of rockwool straight into the power-packed-organic-goodness of full strength soil. Before long The microbeasties will colonize and make sure she gets what she needs! (Assuming everything she needs is in the soil) but if it were me I wouldn’t worry any about the presence on rockwool effecting the soil life… maybe Soup will chime in with some more in-depth awesomeness but that’s my 2¢! Hope it all works out well for you and the girls!
there is no harm in popping them in to the soil just the way they are