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

I am happy that youâÂÂve gone absolutely right so far. But since you are a first-timer, I would like to tell you the basics of hydroponic growing and how to maintain your hydroponic vegetable garden. Things you should always keep in mind are: 1. Different vegetable types require specific nutrients and pH levels. 2. You should use a TDS meter to check the water amount and quality 3. Prefer a digital probe for measuring the pH and strength of the nutrient solution. 4. Take test equipment readings only when youâÂÂve run the nutrient at least twice through your system.

There's a guy around here that goes by Hydroponica that's got what he calls an encyclopedia with a bunch of stuff, but it's incomplete and he doesn't seem to do much work on it. If you Google "encyclopedia hydroponica" it'll come up. There's a couple other people around here with good sites too, but I forgot who. Mostly I recommend the articles on Advanced Nutrient's website (they make hydroponic nutrients but they've got a lot of good general information stuff). Here is a link that might be useful: Advanced Nutrients Articles

I'll put a link below to an article a rose-expert friend wrote about growing miniature roses, focusing on the problems one might expect to encounter. I do know some people who live back east take their potted miniature roses into their basements during the winter and have success getting them to bloom under special grow lights. Years ago I grew my own seedlings indoors under grow lights and had some success with that as well. Here is a link that might be useful: article on growing minis indoors