This is technically my second grow! My first attempt at Slurricane (OG, not the #7) failed even before this stage, as the seedlings all damped off after germinating in a peat/perlite mix. Classic mistake of too much love I guess. I thought I was being safe just keeping the soil slightly damp with very high temps and humidity. It felt like a humiliating loss at the time after years of research, and holding onto those seeds for so long - but we've come back with some even stronger genetics so you could say it's turned out for the best.
This time around I used some "Root !t" plugs which are a spongey plug made from who knows what recommended by the hydro shop. They come pre-soaked in a nutrient solution which I know is unnecessary, however they look very happy to me so far.
I found that once removed from their pack the plugs started to dry out so they have been given just a few ml's of water every now and again to keep them from fully drying out and remain spongey though I would not call them damp or moist. They also sat above a seedling mat which I felt exacerbated the issue, though temps never rose above 21c. 2 and a half days later, we had some lil ladies popping through their lids!
They're currently sitting in an oversized humidity dome with water spritzed on the sides, under some 55w CFL's in a small seahawk propagation tent. There is a fan blowing the warm filtered exhaust air from the 5x5 currently working on the cover crop in my organic/living soil mix!
The OMFG on the bottom right sprouted first and with great vigour. Last night I pulled that plug out to assess the moisture at the bottom of the plug and was surprised to see a good 5-6 cm root popping out the bottom already. Meanwhile, the Slurricane on the 2nd from the left/top has sprouted, though it's root is barely a cm or 2 in length. The seeds all sprouted quite well, though because of the plug's structure, I thought they were having a little trouble growing correctly, getting caught etc so I gave them a bit of a hand readjusting them to grow outwards, and deshelled a few of them last night. I wondered if I had interfered too much and went to bed anxious, but fortunately I woke up to them all looking great - bar the top right OMFG and the runt of the Slurricanes which I have not touched. I'm sure they will figure it out.
I feel like I am still helicoptering the shit out of them, but I can't help it! I could watch them all day.
Day 2/3: I removed the dome, added a humidifier and rearranged the plugs to be next to each other so I could position them to get an even amount of wind generated by the small broken fan heater. Woke up to temps at 30c and RH at 40%. The biggest OMFG was leaning very hard, but over the course of the day readjusted and is standing up a bit straighter. Added some water to the bottom of the tray for the plugs to wick upwards. They drank a lot more than I anticipated and I ended up putting the inner tray on a paper towel to remove excess moisture before putting them back into the tent. The cover crop is looking incredibly good despite earlier mould problems killing off a bunch of seedlings. Dark vigourous green with a healthy waxy layer. Top dressed with some soft rock phosphate and watered it in possibly too much dechlorinated water that had a small amount of AMF Myco added. Not as much growth as I expected today to be honest though looking at the photos I'd say the first true set of leaves have almost doubled in size. I also tried to support the runt(z) of the OMFG with some toothpicks and extra fibre in the hole as it's not looking super strong. The root is slightly extended past the top of the plug unfortunately. I'm definitely fucking with them too much.
Temps ~23c
rh - 40-60%rh
Water - distilled