SamDo Hello everyone,
welcome back for a brand new grow journal on the Pineapple from Humboldt.
This time, the idea is simple:
we’re taking everything that went wrong in the previous run,
and we’re fixing it—properly.
The main focus for this cycle is the very start of the plant’s life.
Seedling and early development were clearly the weak point last time,
so this run is all about dialing that in and giving the plant the cleanest possible launch.
For germination, I decided to go with cotton pads.
Makeup cotton disks, specifically.
They were soaked in a nutrient solution prepared according to the Athena feeding chart:
Bloom A and Bloom B,
a small amount of Cleanse,
and Balance to properly stabilize the solution.
I set the EC at 0.8
and the pH at 5.6.
That EC is slightly below Athena’s recommendation, which is closer to 1.0,
but I intentionally chose to underfeed at this stage to keep things gentle and controlled.
The seed has now been germinating for a little over 24 hours,
and it will reach the 48-hour mark tomorrow.
Everything is sitting inside a mini greenhouse with a heating mat.
On the photo you can see 26°C,
but the actual setting is 23°C,
so the temperature is stabilizing as intended.
In parallel, I also prepared the coco pellet that will receive the seed once it has sprouted.
That pellet was pre-soaked in the exact same nutrient solution used for the cotton pads,
to ensure a smooth and consistent transition for the seedling.
For this run, I’m sticking with the same system as before: Autopots.
The substrate mix will be coco and perlite,
with roughly 55% perlite and 45% coco this time,
to improve aeration compared to the previous cycle.
Another major change is the lighting strategy.
This entire grow will be done under full spectrum 3500K.
Last cycle, I ran 5000K for veg and then switched to 3500K for flower,
and that transition clearly caused metabolic stress.
This time, we’re keeping it consistent from start to finish.
Once the seed is up, light intensity will be set around 100 PPFD,
just to provide a soft, safe environment for early growth.
Nutrients will remain 100% Athena throughout the cycle,
with a controlled, slightly underdosed approach at the beginning.
Humidity will be kept as high as possible during early stages,
which is why I installed a dome directly on the Autopot.
That’s it for now.
The plan is set, the mistakes are corrected,
and everything is in place for a cleaner, healthier run.
We’ll be back once the seed has germinated
and has been transplanted into the coco pellet.
See you right after germination.
Peace.
*UPDATE: Day+5
Mid-week update for the Pineapple germination.
After five days, the seed finally cracked and pushed out a nice taproot.
I placed it into a small coco cube pre-soaked in pH 5.7 water.
I added just a touch of CalMag to keep things balanced.
I decided to skip Athena’s nutrient starter this time; an EC of 1 still felt too aggressive for a fresh sprout.
I’m keeping nutrition extremely light at this stage: CalMag + tap water only.
The seedling is now in the mini-greenhouse with the heat mat on to maintain temps.
The coco cube soaked for around 48 hours in CalMag water beforehand.
Light is set to about 100 PPFD for a gentle welcome.
Temperature is holding around 23–24°C inside the dome.
pH remains stable at 5.7 with lightly supplemented tap water.
Now we just let her emerge and adapt at her own pace.
Fingers crossed for a solid start and a clean run for this Pineapple cycle.
That’s it for this mid-week germination update.
See you early next week for the full weekly recap.
Update – Day 6
Day 6 update for Pineapple Round 2.
After settling into the coco pellet, the seedling straightened up nicely.
I helped remove the seed shell gently so the cotyledons could open freely.
She’s now in the main box with high humidity to keep conditions stable.
For now everything looks on track, and she’s adjusting after the transplant.
This is the last update for the week, but I wanted to document the early stage closely.
The start is critical, so I’m monitoring day by day.
We’ll reconnect next week for the next update.
See you at the next checkpoint.
Final Update: Day+7
End of week one for the Pineapple seed, and this run is officially underway.
It’s been seven days since I started germination, and the timeline was pretty classic: about three to four days for the seed to crack, push the taproot, and finally break through the surface.
The seedling is now up and standing, looking clearly more developed than in the previous attempts.
She did stretch a bit at the beginning, which makes sense with the lower light intensity I was using at first.
To keep things under control and avoid a leggy plant, I gently bumped the PPFD up to around 200.
The idea is simple: give her enough light so she can build a compact structure without stressing her.
Right now, the first true leaf pair is starting to show after the cotyledons.
The cotyledons are open, doing their job, and the tiny serrated leaves are just emerging.
This is the stage where I’m really hoping everything continues smoothly, without the issues I had in the previous runs at seedling stage.
So for this round, I’m staying disciplined: no unnecessary interventions, no overwatering, no “rescue mode” unless there’s a real problem.
On the environmental side, conditions are stable.
The seedling is in a mini greenhouse with a temperature holding around 24–25°C.
That’s warm enough to keep metabolism active without cooking the plant or drying out the pellet too fast.
Humidity is naturally high in the mini-serre environment, which helps the young plant transition smoothly from germination to early seedling phase.
In terms of watering, I haven’t touched anything yet.
The coco pellet is still nicely moist, so there’s no reason to add water at this stage.
The goal is to let the seedling work for it a bit: let the root search, anchor, and start exploring the medium.
Overwatering here would be the fastest way to repeat old mistakes, so I’m consciously doing nothing – which is often the hardest part.
I think I might have spotted a first root tip poking out from the bottom of the pellet, but for now I’ll call that “unconfirmed.”
Either way, it means the root system is starting to push downward, which is exactly what I want before any transplant decision or major change.
So this closes out week one of the germination phase for Pineapple Round 2.
From seed drop to emergence took about a week total, and we’re now entering the transition between germination and early vegetative growth.
For now, the plan is simple:
– keep PPFD around 200,
– maintain temperature at 24–25°C,
– avoid any watering until the pellet starts to dry,
– and just let the plant settle and do its thing.
Next update will be for week one of veg, when the first true leaves have had time to expand and the root system has clearly taken hold.
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Used method
Paper Towel
Germination Method
1
Week 1. Vegetation
9d ago
1/15
5 cm
Height
18 hrs
Light Schedule
25 °C
Day Air Temp
5.8
pH
200 PPM
TDS
80 %
Air Humidity
19 °C
Night Air Temp
SamDo Week one of vegetative growth for Pineapple Upside Down – Round 2, from Humboldt Seed Company.
I’ll be straight: the start wasn’t smooth, again.
Even keeping things “simple,” I managed to stress the seedling early on.
The initial mix was tap water with a very light dose of CalMag and a bit of Voodoo Juice, with pH sitting around 5.8–5.9.
The coco pellet was fully hydrated, but the plant clearly didn’t like something.
It looked like early burn or a harsh reaction, which is frustrating because the input level was low.
At that point, the likely causes were pretty classic:
maybe the feed was still too rich for a newborn,
maybe the dome ran too warm,
or maybe the seedling just hates my “light touch” and wants even less.
So I did the smartest thing: I stopped guessing and reset.
I rehydrated the coco pellet again using only RO water.
I dropped EC down to 0.4 and kept it minimal, using just a small amount of FormuleX.
No CalMag, no extras, just a clean baseline.
Since that change, things look more encouraging.
I can see two new pairs of leaves coming in, and that’s the sign I wanted.
The seedling is around 5 cm tall right now, and I’ve kept humidity high in the mini greenhouse to support rooting and recovery.
The goal for next week is simple: clean new growth.
If the new leaves stay healthy, I’ll know the issue was the early mix and not something deeper.
And yeah—seedling starts are still my weak spot.
I’m clearly making mistakes somewhere in that “first 10 days” window, and I need to tighten the process until it’s repeatable.
For now: stable environment, minimal inputs, and steady observation.
See you next week.
**Quick update on the Pineapple Upside Down Round 2.**
I transplanted the plant into its final pot.
She’s still a small one, but the roots have clearly started to develop, and she now has four full pairs of leaves. That was enough of a signal for me to move her into the final container without waiting any longer.
That said, the start hasn’t been as clean or as smooth as I would have liked.
It’s not a perfect takeoff, but it’s clearly not as catastrophic as the previous cycle either. The plant still looks fairly vigorous, which is reassuring at this stage.
I’m still running the humidity dome to keep a high level of moisture around the plant during this early phase. The goal is to limit stress as much as possible and help the roots settle properly after the transplant.
I mixed a fresh, light nutrient solution.
EC is set around 1.0. I’m running Athena Grow A & B, plus a small dose of Cal-Mag.
Roughly 0.9 ml per liter for Grow A and Grow B, adjusted to reach that EC.
Hopefully, the combination of the transplant and the light nutrient solution won’t slow her down or cause any setback. The focus here is stability, not performance.
On the lighting side, I lowered the fixture slightly and reduced the power to stay efficient. PPFD is sitting around 180 at canopy level, which feels appropriate for this early stage.
So overall, not a perfect start, but still a workable one.
We’ll see how she reacts over the next few days, and I’ll do another update at the end of the week.
See you next week.
Stay safe, growers.
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Used techniques
Transplantation
Technique
2
Week 2. Vegetation
2d ago
1/8
7 cm
Height
18 hrs
Light Schedule
25 °C
Day Air Temp
5.8
pH
400 PPM
TDS
80 %
Air Humidity
19 °C
Night Air Temp
Nutrients 1
Formulex
0.5 mll
SamDo Week 2 of vegetative growth for Pineapple Upside Down – Round 2.
The plant is still struggling at this stage. Development is slower than expected for week two, and overall vigor remains below what would normally be considered healthy growth. Reading the plant has been difficult, as no single factor clearly stands out as the root cause.
Several parameters are being questioned: excess humidity, temperature management, light intensity, or nutrient balance. Overfeeding seems unlikely, as the last watering was done with a very light EC, around 0.3 to 0.4. Light levels are also modest, approximately 180–200 PPFD, which should normally be safe for a young plant. The pH was checked and appears to be within an acceptable range.
Because the substrate is already sufficiently moist from previous watering around the plant, no additional irrigation has been done. At this point, adding more water would likely do more harm than good.
A small adjustment was made by slightly opening the dome to improve airflow and reduce excess humidity. This should help the plant breathe better and potentially stabilize its environment. Temperature may also be adjusted if needed, depending on how the plant responds over the coming days.
This second week highlights ongoing difficulties in managing early growth stages. There is clearly room for improvement in the startup protocol, and this phase is being treated as a learning process for future cycles.
For now, the strategy remains simple: minimize interventions, maintain stable conditions, and allow the plant time to recover its natural rhythm. The next update will focus on whether growth resumes normally or if further adjustments are required.
