do you keep them sitting in a pool of nutrient?

No, I keep them in a dry plastic container. I immerse them in nutrient solution once a day, enough to absorb some solution. Tomato and cucumber germinated in just five days.

Very similar to horticubes but a lot cheaper! The only negative I have with horticubes is that if one has them growing under hot lights, they can dry out in 24 hours. Be late watering them and lose the seeds. I now keep water in the tray all the time - the plants only wick what they need.

Where did you get the cubes?

Mike

I got the sponge in a hardware store, in the cleaning area. The size was 4 x 2 x 6 in. It cost $0.15. I cut it in cubes using a very sharp knife.

Is there a brand name? Or just look/ask for polyurethane foam? I'm always on a tight budget, but I can afford 15 cents. I'm also running out of rockwool cubes.

Just ask for a inexpensive cleaning sponge. If you ask for "polyurethane foam", the salesman may not understand you.

Sponges with brand name are expensive.

The sponge I used it's the same kind of sponge some people use for manual dishwahing.

I'm sure that you have already seen this kind of sponges. This is a photo of the sponge:

Thanks jamesvlad,
I will be looking for it this week. I'm also going to get some sand and vermiculite that I plan to grow some radishes and green onions in. I won't be using the sponge material for those, but I have lots more in mind that that kind of thing would be very useful for (especially at that price).

Hi Jamesvlad,
I went looking for these sponges in several hardware/supply stores near me and couldn't find anything remotely as cheap. Cheapest I could find was a similar sponge for about $2; obviously not as economical to use then...Do you have a link or a source to get these sponges that you could share?
Thanks!
--Alex

Sorry, I don't know where you can find them online.
I suggest you to look in cheap stores, or some bed manufacturer, someplace that uses sponges.

hello
just been snooping here.
I found some cheep thin sponges at the grocery store and sliced them put a cutting between and tied them with fishing line and slipped them on my aerogarden, would work in tray too.
about $1.00 did 12 cuttings.
michelle

Ya, so far I haven't found any sponges for anything like 15 cents yet either. I haven't been to Home Depot or Lowe's yet (there across town). But I have been to 2 different grocery stores, Ace hardware, Havasu hardware, the Dollar General, another Dollar store. But I have gotten some ideas of places that might carry real cheap sponge like material. One is craft supply stores, and the other is furniture repair or re-upholstery places. The furniture repair places use sheets of foam like materials, and craft stores sell all kinds of odd materials.

The $1 sponges would probably work in a pinch, but not any cheaper than the roockwool cubes at that price. $9 for 100 1 inch roockwool cubes comes out to 9 cents a cube. $1 divided by 12, comes out to 8.3 cents per cube. The only difference for me is I don't need to pay for shipping because I need to order the roockwool cubes online. But I will still be looking around, and share details if I find anything worthwhile.

I was at a new store here in town called Hobby Lobby looking for something today, they are supposed be a large national chain for craft supplies. When I ran across sheets of polyurethane foam they had. The sold it in 1, 2, 3, and 4 inches thick. The 1 foot by 1 foot, and 1 inch thick sheet was $1.99. Cut into one inch cubes, that would make 144 cubes. I forget what the other thickness cost, but they also had a roll of it in the one inch thick, that was something like 1 1/2 to 2 feet wide, and I think 72 inches long for $12. Cut into 1 inch cubes, that would make well over 1000 cubes.

I think this is hysterically ingenious jamesvlad! Such a grand idea and yet something that was just under all of our noses... this week I will be picking up some of this polyurethane sponge material :D !!

We sell pre-cut hydroponic seedling foam that come in sheets of 96 cubes (0.96in each). They are cheaper and cleaner than rockwool. Give us a try! www.vegbed.com

THB 132.04 51%OFF | Magic Melamine Sponge 100*60*20MM Cleaning Eraser Multi-Functional 50PCS

https://a.aliexpress.com/_mOG2Tg3

Can a person just buy Rockwool insulation and cut it into 1 inch / 25mm cubes?