Transferring your seedlings into Netcups and start growing!
By Eric McIntyre, TechnologyGarden.net
published 4-15-2008

We showed you how to get your seeds started with Perfect starts in our first tutorial, and now we will explain how to move the seedlings from your starting tray into your netcups and then into your Hydroponic or Aeroponic system.

We are not going to show you how to build or choose a system, this is going to take some research on what you want to grow, spend and how much space you have. We suggest you get a few books, starting with HOW TO HYDROPONICS – a great intro and it also has some great plans on building your own systems. This is the book we first used to get started and build some systems of our own. We are now the proud owner of 4 lettuce rafts and 4 aerosprings!

Depending on the system you have and what you want to grow you may have different needs for a growing medium. In our case, since we are growing in a lettuce raft and aerospring, we are using netcups in both systems. There are many styles of netcups, some thinner and more flexible, designed for single use, and thicker more durable netcups that can be cleaned and re-used over and over. You can also make your own custom netcups as I have – see the shots below of a real and homemade netcup.

I took some small 9oz. plastic cups and using a very hot soldering iron (and adequate ventilation) I melted several holes in these cups. These worked great in my lettuce raft system when pumping out 9 heads of romaine every 40 days. They can also be cleaned and re-used if you are delicate enough when cleaning.

A real Netcup – a smaller 2″ version is great for use in lettuce rafts

A homemade Netcup from a 9oz. plastic cup and a hot soldering iron

Before you begin, it’s important that you have your system built, started and tested. You want to get your water added, heaters added (if needed) to keep the solution around 70 degrees, and PH adjusted properly for the crops or plants you are growing. You should also have your lights and timers ready – I have my lights on for 18 hours a day during the growth stage and drop down to 12 hours for flowering.
  
Step 1) Once your seedlings are all sprouted and have a good root base as shown below, you should prepare your growing medium and netcups and have your system ready to go. The seedlings can be pick up and carefully handled at this stage.

Perfect Start showing tomato seedling with excellent root development

Perfect Start showing tomato seedling with excellent root development
  
Step 2) Take your Leca Stone (clay pellets designed for hydroponic and aeroponic growing) and dump them into a collander and rinse with running water. This will remove all the fine dust to prevent from clogging your system. Rinse them as shown below until the water runs clear

Leca growing medium is a fantastic medium for Hydroponics and Aeroponics

Washing the Leca growing medium before using in your netcups
  
Step 3) Take your Netcups and line them up, rinse them off under fresh water and place them in your sink or transplanting area. Take one of the netcups and fill about 1/2 – 3/4 of the way up as shown in the shot below.

Filling a homemade netcup with freshly washed Leca stone growing medium
  
Step 4) Once your all your netcups are filled almost to the top, you can then carefully take your seedlings that have a good root base and place them gently on top of the leca stones as shown below. The top of the perfect start is just below the top of the cup.

Placing a seedling in the netcup with Leca stone growing medium
  
Step 5) Once all your seedlings are neatly placed in the netcups, backfill around the seedling with leca. Be sure to do this gently, the seedlings are very delicate at this point and can be easily damaged.

Placing a seedling in the netcup with Leca stone growing medium
  
Step 6) Backfill until you cover the perfect start, or it’s barely peeking out over the top of the netcup as shown in the shot below. This is a tomato seedling ready to start it’s heavy growth phase in it’s new netcup. Transfer these netcups into your hydroponic or aeroponic system and watch them start to really take off!

A new tomato seeding in the netcup with Leca stone growing medium

Important Links: Netcups and my Leca Stone can be purchased over at FutureGarden.com

Stay tuned for our next tutorial, preparing your Hydroponic and Aeroponic systems – TDS water testing, PH Adjustment and adding nutrients!