Ok so now it starts to become slightly tricky and I have to confess that I am still a little lost on what to choose and how to go about using it. I have tried three different types of medium to grow in with mixed success, or probably better put mixed failures.
Coco pucks
Lack of a better word, these are small pucks of pressed coconut coir that expands when getting wet, you can then plant your seed in the puffed up puck. They are environmental friendly and quite easy to use even though I found them to be quite messy and somewhat troublesome to work with. In the picture below you can see a before and after when the puck has been soaked in water, it expands quite a but.
Most have pre-made holes where you can put the seed, I would suggest getting those since it makes it less messy. The cheapest place to buy these are on Amazon or similar sites and you can buy them in large bulks since the last quite well just make sure that you store them dry place until you plan to use them. These are then put in plastic baskets, you can find kits quite cheaply at Amazon here -> Hydroponic Coco
Sponge or foam
Given that Coco pucks was a little too messy and cumbersome for me anyways I decided to try foam instead which I guess is the total opposite of messy. These are cylinder shaped foam blocks with a pre-made slit in them where the seed is placed. These are very clean and easy to use but I had some problems with them not standing up straight when I added water which was kind of annoying I thought. They usually come, or should be placed in a plastic basket of some kind as you can see in the picture below. You can easily find kits on Amazon here -> Hydroponic sponges
These worked pretty well and I especially liked the simplicity and how clean the process was. They dried up quicker than the Coco pucks but overall the seedlings grew quite well and little fuss.
Hydroponic Rockwool
The third kind that I am currently trying is hydroponic rock wool that come in small cubes with pre-made holes in them for seeds. It’s similar to the material used to insulate houses. From what I have gathered so far they are easy to work with, use plastic gloves since it can itch when you get it on your hands and they soak up and retain water really well.
When using these make sure that you have some sort of tray to stick them in, you can find these on Amazon as well for next to nothing and it is well worth the investment. Look here Hydroponic rockwoll. The first seedlings have already come up after just a few days so it seems to be working just fine.
Irrespective of which one you choose to use it is advisable to use some sort of tray, just a flat one or there are trays designed for the medium that you have chosen, this in order to avoid things floating around and leave space for the roots to develop and grow. You can find some examples here, Hydroponic trays. And lastly I would avoid the pre-made kits, they are so overpriced and you can easily build your own hydroponic setup just googling a little and having some imagination.
