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Edit of original post. 1 of 2 seeds grew a 1/2 inch taproot, and I carefully planted approx 1/4 taproot down in a previously watered Solo cup (until the soil [Happy Frog] was nice and moist, and a little bit of water trickled out of the bottom. When the soil gets dry, the cup makes a crinkly plastic crumbling sound, so I know to avoid that; also, the cup is lighter, rather than heavier. The 2nd seed, although germinated side-by-side, seems to have cracked open (I whipped out the magnifying glass, lol, when I couldn't see anything with my flawed eyes), but nothing's happening. As a last ditch effort, I put the seed back in the paper towel and back under the bed with anofher spritz of bottled water & a prayer she's not DOA. I'm hoping she's just a late bloomer, but I do find it really ironic they were literally right next to the other to have such different germination results. I'll give it another 4-5 days and monitor it frequently to make sure the paper towel stays wet and see what happens. In the meantime, I've planted her sister and placed the grow light about 2 feet or so above head, and have 2 clip fans and the humidifier going at full blast (I'm trying to increase the humidity levels in the tent). Also purchased drip water system, namely, Big Power Automatic Drip Irrigation Kit, Indoor Plants Self Watering System with 0.5-30 Day Interval Programmable Timer for 15 Potted Plants, Watering on Working Days, which I genuinely hope will resolve my watering problems. Any assistance you can provide to assist with the proper settings is GREATLY APPRECIATED. Also, with respect to the best mediums for growing, I have several brand new 5 gallon plastic buckets (I plan to drill adequate sized holes in the bottom and 7 gallon fabric growing bags. Any suggestions which is best?
What about using a wicking watering system to water? I based mine on a YT video using landscape fabric, rocks, PVC pipe (inside bucket 2 create airspace & water in reservoir), H20 & a 5 gal plastic bucket. Think it'll work? Still start it in smaller pot & xfer 2 bigger pot later?
Just a peice of cloth from bottom of the pot up and looped down to the reservoir. The wick will suck up the water on its own with no help. Yes it works well for starter but wouldn't say it's very effective after.
From look at your design will need wick extended to the bottom of the pot.
Pssst....if ya want a more hands off style of growing try DWC instead of a wicking system in general. Cheap to build your own buckets and very effective, and aside from changing the water in the buckets weekly and checking your ph values every day or two it’s pretty hands off. And you don’t have to deal with soil...lol cheers💨
I’m with @ORGANOMAN , I think what you sketched out there with the landscaping fabric being the only divider between the water in the reservoir and the growing medium will definitely keep your growing medium way too wet. I see what the first grower is saying too about how his fabric plants wick it up really quick, which is very true in my experience as well, but I wouldn’t want my fabric pot sitting in water 24/7, sounds like a sure way to drown them. You need more of a wicking system to restrict the flow of water from your reservoir to your grow medium better some how in my opinion. Cheers💨
Abandoned the wicking watering system & instead ordered the Big Power Automatic Drip Irrigation Kit, Indoor Plants Self Watering System with 0.5-30 Day Interval Program. Any assistance on settings and placement is appreciated!!
For germination you want your lights at about 30 inches from the soil. An auto watering system may make your life harder in the long run, your settings are going to have to change quite frequently as the plant grows and uses more and more water. Add to that the fact that you should be feeding plain water every after every one or two feedings....so you'd have to change out your reservoir fairly frequently, for only a few plants its far easier to hand water, easy to make adjustments that way also. But thats just my opinion. Happy growing.
Just planted my germinated seed and am hoping for the best. Grow light about 1-3/4-2ft up. I read contradicting things on the web - 1 site says high, while another says low (but not so close to burn the leaves). Which is it?
My TS600 is set for 18h on and 6h off. Just planted germinated seed in 16oz Solo cup w/light up @ about 2 feet or so. Good initial thorough watering b4 I planted, but how often should I check soil to ensure soil doesn't dry out b4 I install drip watering system. Any advice?
Successfully germinated all 3 of my seeds under my bed using paper towel method and grew beautiful, long taproots. I planted them about 1/4 inch down, making a tiny hole for the taproot. For all 3, I awoke the following day to find they'd all sprouted. I've got 3 seedlings going - the most I've ever planted successfully & I'm hopeful I can actually do this!! I've moved the light down to about 6 inches, making sure it's not too hot (my TS600 doesn't seem to get hot; I held my hand directly above the plant for over a min to make sure), as I want to avoid "stretching." I have plastic ziplock bags with multiple ventilation holes cut throughout (to keep humidity down, otherwise it's over 90%; the holey bags keep it at a solid 77% or thereabouts), and I make a point to check them at least 3x daily to make sure the soil stays moist and remove them during the period the light’s off - from midnight to 6am. The question now is, how much bigger should my plants before I can remove the bags permanently? Technically, it’s still a seedling, and I’m not sure how much longer to use it. For the moment, the plants look beautiful and it seems not to be bothering them. Any advice for me?
To keep soil moist, I mist when needed, give a small amount of H20 when needed (judging by weight/color of soil), & full water until some comes out the bottom holes every other day or so, when soil getting dry w/bottled water only. Is that right? As long as soil stays moist?
Cannabis prefers a dry to wet cycle when it comes to watering. and seedlings are pretty vulnerable. Try getting used to feeling the weights of your cups with dry soil, and wet, then check to see that the top is dry and weight is quite a bit less before watering again. Bags with holes are good to keep humidity up until you get some larger leaves. Make sure you have a lot of draining holes in the bottom or even the sides to keep the oxygen supply good.
At 2 weeks stop misting and doing the wet dry cycle....and go to bed, it's Christmas. Don't dome cuz it's root should be established by now not to dome👍👌👊
Its important to keep high humidity since the plant doesn't have a strong enough root system to provide moisture for the plant, a clear dome/plastic cover should do fine to keep humidity high enough until the plant develops it's first set of leaves and a sufficient root system!
As for the soil, let at least the top half of the cup to dry before watering again to aerate the soil and allow the roots to develop more quickly.
Hope this helps! Good luck and happy growing :)
When is it time to start adding fertilizer to the plants? RN they're still small, w/4 leaves in 16oz Solo Cups. How big should the plants be before it's time for that?
Wait till about week and a half to 2 weeks before feed and add just a taste. Nothing strong. Very week solution. If autoflowers your nutrition demands are lower across board. Less is better
This depends on your grow medium. Is it an ammended soil? If so not till the third week after transplant. If it's not an ammended soil I'd start feeding at 1/3 str when it hits a 3 leaf. 🤘😤
What is your plan with the plants? will you transplant them in a bigger pot later on or are you gonna go through the whole growth in those?
If you're transplanting to bigger pot then wait until the first set of leaves had fully matured (second set starts to grow) then give them a 1/4 of recommended amount of fertilizers in every other watering until transplanted, once transplanted start giving them 1/4 strength fertilizing with slow increase as the plant matures
If you're leaving them in that cup then I'd start fertilizing once the first set of leaves had fully developed and with a 1/4 of recommended dosage. Give it a slow increase as the plant matures.
Hope this helps! Good luck and happy growing :)
I'm beyond pleased with myself RN. Beyond pleased. Now, if I can only keep it up and not only not murder them, and miracle...get some primo bud out of it, it all my efforts will be worth it. I treat the Lou sisters (it has nothing to do with the strain, but more to do with Cindy Lou Hoo, one of the Hoos of Hooville, from "The Grinch," the inspiration for the names, lol. I also named them out of affection and pride, but also to better tell each plant apart. It certainly helps I treat them like newborn triplets; I check the the temperature, humidity levels, and soil in the tent at least 3x daily, my biggest issue I can't get the humidity above 40%. I'm giving the plant a good watering every other day and keeping the soil most, but not wet or soggy. There are 4 big drain holes at the underside of each cup for which excess water drains out. I'm still not really 100% com with watering, but I feel like I must be doing a good enough job, since the plants look healthy and green thus far. I'm waiting on my automatic drip watering system to come in, which I think will help a whole lot to automate the watering, and I love the idea of a drip system; it'll just be challenging to figure out the settings that work best. If anyone has any suggestions and/or advice, I'd surely appreciate it. Now, I started around the 2nd or 3rd of December, so we're rolling into a month. Now there are more questions. When to transplant it into the 5 gallon bucket? I drilled 5 dime sized holes in the bottom for drainage, but should I drill another hole in each side for additional air? At what point do I change the lighting schedule from 18/6 to 12/12? Any and all advice welcomed. I've come way too far and spent too much to screw it all up now, lol. Happy 2021 everyone. Here's hoping it's better than suck-ass 2020!!
I can't believe I'm actually growing, so far, so good, and honestly, folks, it's all bc of the community here. Your guidance, advice, and detailed explanations are what's gotten me this far, so THANK U. I finally transplanted last Friday, 1/8, planting each gal in a 50/50 mix of Happy Frog & Ocean Forest soils, thoroughly mixing & pre-watering prior to and after transplant. Snipped cup edge & ripped plastic of cup slowly, so as not to cut or break any roots. Popped out beautifully in 1 piece, all 3. As u can see, it was more than time to transplant than, but I'd realized too late almost HF is good for seedlings, but not after that. I actually called Fox Farm Customer Service to discuss the soil issue, as I had 3 big bags of HD and wanted to put it to use. FF recommended the 50/50 mix, so that's what I did. Was able to transplant smoothly without disturbing any roots, as I listened to advice that suggested I skip a scheduled watering to keep the soil from coming apart. Re-configured entire tent w/the addition of 3 wrought iron plant holders that set up 8"in high above the tent floor. Underneath I placed a clear plastic bowl sufficient to catch 2+ quarts of water runoff from the plants. Unfortunately, unless my plant stops growing vertically, I'm going to have no alternative but to raise the height at least a foot to make up for the foot I lost using the planter, as there has to be room for the light to be of sufficient distance away and to have sufficient space to grow successfully. I also fertilized for the 1st time this past Sunday, uaing 1/4 of the recommended amount (per the advice of my mentor, the talented Bluntzilla ❤️). I'd made the mistake of snipping off the few yellowing leaves, but I have to say, they're looking pretty dang terrific RN. Seeing those roots, I can see that was the reason for those yellowing leaves; the plant had run out of room to grow. I must say, I'm very pleased with myself. Next, I need to build my SCROG, as I intend to do all that if I can to train them to grow horizontally, rather than vertically. I've heard only good things about topping and low-stress training & think I could do it successfully. My grow IS GROWING!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH TO THE GROWDIARIES COMMUNITY!!! PARTICULARLY YOU, BLUNTZILLA!! Your generosity of time and expertise reminds me there still are good ppl in the world who just want to help others and want nothing in return, and gives me HOPE! On to the harvest damn it!!!!!
Been awhile since I posted, mostly bc I had private help from my mentor, the talented Bluntzilla, who has been nothing short of a Godsend for my grow. Not that I don't love, love y'all, but having the expertise of an experienced horticulturist has been EVERYTHING. The Grow is doing really well, although the need to raise the lights has been a bit of an issue due to the height (4ft) of the tent space. I removed the planters the plants had been sitting on, since it raised the plants way too high and close to the lights. I ended up constructing an alternate hanging wire to raise the height, which seems to be working OK. I have to watch the light height, bc I've noticed what appears to be light burn on a few leaves. They're now a solid 10 or so inches away from the top of the scrog, so hopefully, that'll be sufficient. The structure of the tent won't allow me to raise it any higher (I need an idea...maybe a short, double-sided clip) if that ends up being necessary. I guess I'll take a trip to Home Depot and hopefully will find something that'll work. I've been pretty successful with the DIY stuff for this grow, so I'm hoping my luck will continue. I added the scrog, finally, after topping and low stress training, and it's filling up nicely. I'm not sure whether they're big enough to start the flowering period, as this is my first grow. Any help or advise is sure welcomed and appreciated.
@Wendylicious, I'd say yes and no lol. I feel I'm still learning but have accomplished some things experienced growers haven't. I like to jump in try new techniques like training or simply just going Organic. I find Organic dumbs down the growing technology apposed to feeding chemicals on a weekly basis. Check out my diaries and see whats up!
Wendylicious
