RQS - The Littlest Dwarf

Happy is now officially the only Royal Dwarf to have lived. Which is a shame, but... Happy is looking very happy and reaching for the sun. His relationship with the mushrooms is changing in that he is now the biggest flora in the pot. The fibre cup is still there, but it is rapidly disintegrating. I've only had to water the pot once since he sprang up, as this indoor houseplant mix tends to keep its moisture very well. // a little too well, with the fibre cup too, I found out later..! It's also supposed to provide enough nutrition for the entire cycle, but we'll see about that later. The cotyledon leaves are nice and broad and still look healthy, without any signs of yellowing despite that the young leaves are looking strong enough and there are even the beginnings of real leaves starting to grow. Stem is firm and strong, with fine white hairs that aren't necessary to deter predators right now. I wish that the soil was a little warmer, but there's not much to do about that. The cost of electricity has rocketed in the EU this week, so I'm loathe to put on the heater when the air temperature is not so bad. I've started cheating on cloudy days and have put him under a 300w pink grow light to top up the sunlight from the South facing window. The diffuse overcast light doesn't seem to have him turning to face as well as the warm, direct sunlight. I'm wondering how realistic is will be to keep moving him every day from the window to the plant room, but hopefully by the time he gets to start to flower - it will not be necessary to put him under a light, or move him to the window (I'd prefer him to be at the window, tbh...). This is simply to get him nice and healthy to start. The soil could do with being a little more dry, but right now it's not much of an issue. // HA! How complacent of me - The soil was not dry enough and now he's suffering! (08/04) The temp. has been pretty steady this week. Everything seems to be going ok. I'm feeling confident that this one will survive past the end of the week. As for the others... well... nothing. Since the 3 in the Aerogrow turned to mush, I'm not holding any real hope that they will pop up. Still. It doesn't hurt to leave the pots out for a little longer. I've had some seeds take a few weeks before, but these autos are supposed to be pretty fast, right..? If this guy popped up last week, and the others are a no-show, with the other 3 being mush. Perhaps they are also non-viable. 1 / 7 for RQS Royal Dwarf, this batch. If Happy yields more than 7-8g then he will be cost-effective. // Well, today (08/04), I noticed that Happy's leaves started to droop a bit. The soil is a bit moist so, I'm not sure if it's that. I've Let the day progress and now I see some slight curling and they are really drooping hard, like seagull wings! I'm unsure what this is about, so I guess I will ask the growers. // 😱 Seems as if the soil is too moist, everyone says overwater (thanks guys!) which seemed strange as they've been watered once since potting. I've been warned about it twice and have gone, "oh dw it's fine..." WELL I SHOULDA LISTENED..! I dig up the fibre cup to have a look inside and the bottom of the cup is very squishy. So I went ahead and mushed this up and squeezed it out into the soil. I'll leave Happy under the lights after a re-pot and hopefully he'll recover tomorrow and not die. I'm hoping that as he grows, he can overcome this bump in the road, but I've read autos have a very short veg life... I really did think it was some trait of autos to bow the leaves this way. Over-watering is very easy to spot with my other plants, as they show it rather fast (esp Bay - those trees go brown leaved and they refuse to come back, I lost one to the rain this year...) // 😰 Happy is now re-potted, and the port has had the muddy potting mix out from the bottom removed. Those fibre cups retain a LOT of water, and Happy was growing right against the edge. You can see that the fibre cup was soaked in the video, and the potting mix underneath was muddy. It's all replaced. Interestingly, I found his shell just under the surface, and I had to extricate him from the fibre cup (I pinched a few side-roots, but the tap root is intact - nothing dried out - he'll be good). You can see how long the tap root has grown, mirroring the growth upward. In some plants, nipping off the end of the taproot causes it to start to grow outward (well, with my bonsai, anyway), but Happy's was fine. He's settled in and I've not wet the soil, as the potting mix is a bit damp as it is. He can get some air for a while. Crisis averted (I hope)..! //😖