First grow: Bagseed under CFLs + 250w MH/HPS

Sup all
Been following a few journals here, seen some great stuff and giving it a go myself now. This isn't anything big, will be happy to get any decent amount of smokeable bud for my efforts and the little spending I've done.

Germination
Stuck 15 seeds in between wet paper towels with no response after 48 hours so I tried the cup of water method with the same seeds which saw 4 of them germinate last night.. the rest of the seeds are still in their cups of water so I've still got hopes up for more.

Planting in soil
The 4 seedlings that did germinate were planted in plastic cups filled with some Peat and Moss Potting Mix I got from the local nursery. Been watering them with a spoon as to not damage/drown them. Water is filtered through one of them Brita drinking water filters and left for 24h. The plastic cups have been covered in cling film with holes to retain moisture but also allow ventilation.

Lights
The seedlings are under 2 x 65W 6400K CFLs on 24/0 until they pop through the soil. They've been put outdoors under some direct sunlight today as the temperatures are warm enough for them to be outside.

Once the seedlings sprout through the soil I'll add a 250W MH Lowbay and adding a 50W 2700K CFL to the 2 x 65W 6400K CFLs that are up already. As far as lights go, these are what I will be working with throughout the whole grow, with the 250W MH being replaced by a 250W HPS lamp when flowering.

Will be adding pics once I figure out how..
Any constructive comments/critisism of what I've done so far would be much appreciated!

Here are the pics promised.. 4 seedlings under two 65W 6400K CFLs at day 1.

They're set up inside a box about 1x1x2, which inside a closet about 2x4x4. A 6" fan is blowing cool air into the closet as temps get too high inside the box with the lights on.

Comments??

Also, anyone know roughly how long I'm looking at for them to pop up above the soil if I didn't mess anything up?

jrk152 said:

Also, anyone know roughly how long I'm looking at for them to pop up above the soil if I didn't mess anything up?

Click to expand...

60 hours from planting

First to sprout so far, pics attached! I'm no expert in this but if anyone could take a look at it and comment.. as you can see from the first two pictures a thin growth has come up above the soil but then curls back down towards the soil, and its maybe 3-4mm in total length, is this normal? I don't want to be putting it under light if its a root growth as I've read that light is harmful to roots.

I have no experience in this so I have no idea what its meant to look like or whether its healthy or not so any input is much appreciated. Thanks in advance

In the last pic you can see the whole setup so far. I've put 4 more pre-watersoaked seeds (2 of which cracked after 48 hours underwater) into jiffy pellets at the back so I'll be waiting on those to germinate.

i have somethin similiar to what your doin a lil more space but almost exactly what your doin chck journal dwn below out!! =) anyways nature needs time to grow your plants. how did you put the seed in the soil?? root pointing down or up?? how deep??. they will all sprout if you keep the soil moist! =) not wet but moist. the also ide get those lights much closer just a lil over an inch away right from sprouting (one - two leaves) it should happen in no time just smoke a j.. and chill back let nature do its thing. =) and welcome to RIU happy grows it!! Peace Smoke =One!

ps make sure you poke hole in that film your using they need air a better method to get some humidity up would be to just mist a pixie cup possibly the plant as well and cover her up for a night when its night time for her. hope this helps latas =)

I planted them about 1-1.5cm down in the soil with the shoot growing out of the crack pointing up. Is that right?

i would deff go a more like half an inch next time what you did will satisfy the only thing you may end up doing is having to put a lil more soil later once she has sprouted for some support! =) and shoot pointing up is right too!! so everything should be fine just Smoke =One and chill!! =) lol koo well hope that helped ya out a lil more!! =)

Update

Two more have sprouted out of the soil and are now going for those CFLs! Now, 3 sprouted seedlings are on 24/0 at the moment, and on most days are getting some direct sunlight for a few hours in the afternoon. Any ideas on when I should switch to 20/4? What am I supposed to look out for..

Some pics of the new grow box I've made:

jrk152 said:

Update

Two more have sprouted out of the soil and are now going for those CFLs! Now, 3 sprouted seedlings are on 24/0 at the moment, and on most days are getting some direct sunlight for a few hours in the afternoon. Any ideas on when I should switch to 20/4? What am I supposed to look out for..

Some pics of the new grow box I've made:

Click to expand...

umm lighting 20/4??? the best or most common light cycles is of course the 24/0 all the way up till smoking another would be a 18/6 for veg and 12/12 for flower or you can go 12/12 from seed and they will grow to what they think is right and flower automatically never heard of 20/4 but whatever you decide to do there i wish you luck!! =) umm as for keepin an eye out for them i dont really know what to tell you its at the super beginning of life dont over water, make sure ph is okay, keep the temp in the mid 70's if possbile up to like 87 is okay but plant wont grow at an optimal rate with heat like that. really just leave them be for a while. something u may want to do also is throw the plants in to what cycle you want as soon as they sprout =) well once again happy grows. Peace!! =)

livelife8345 said:

umm lighting 20/4??? the best or most common light cycles is of course the 24/0 all the way up till smoking another would be a 18/6 for veg and 12/12 for flower or you can go 12/12 from seed and they will grow to what they think is right and flower automatically never heard of 20/4 but whatever you decide to do there i wish you luck!! =) umm as for keepin an eye out for them i dont really know what to tell you its at the super beginning of life dont over water, make sure ph is okay, keep the temp in the mid 70's if possbile up to like 87 is okay but plant wont grow at an optimal rate with heat like that. really just leave them be for a while. something u may want to do also is throw the plants in to what cycle you want as soon as they sprout =) well once again happy grows. Peace!! =)

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I've opted for 20/4 because it gives the plants more daylight for their veg period as I'm only planning on vegging them for a month tops before putting them on 12/12 for flowering... due to time constraints. I'm thinking the actual length of daytime doesn't matter as long as the change to 12/12 triggering flowering is clearly distinguished... am I right in saying this?

I'm constantly afraid of my soil drying out because I have a fan blowing very dry air onto the seedlings.. humidity is 25-35% these days and every few hours I find the top of the soil is dry so I give them a teaspoon or so of water each time. Is this too much watering?

jrk152 said:

I've opted for 20/4 because it gives the plants more daylight for their veg period as I'm only planning on vegging them for a month tops before putting them on 12/12 for flowering... due to time constraints. I'm thinking the actual length of daytime doesn't matter as long as the change to 12/12 triggering flowering is clearly distinguished... am I right in saying this?

I'm constantly afraid of my soil drying out because I have a fan blowing very dry air onto the seedlings.. humidity is 25-35% these days and every few hours I find the top of the soil is dry so I give them a teaspoon or so of water each time. Is this too much watering?

Click to expand...

yes the watering part is too much man it needs to get dry not completley but make the plant look for water and remember there is water down below you cant feel so chill with the water! lol water like 1 every other day or what i do is i water lightly on tues water good on thurs water good on sun and repeat it kinda kept my plant from dying earlier in my grow! =) and the whole veg thing is right that a logical idea just have never heard of it or not many people use it thats all but seems pretty good since your shortening the veg time. why dont you just go full 24hr all the up untill flowering if you want optimal growth for 1mnth veg?? just an idea blaaaaaayze!

Been a while since last update.. been busy with the grow and other things

Some failures?
So the ones that I described above that sprouted in a weird way? Turns out they were planted the wrong way up (with the taproot up) and was exposed for a while (even had these things out in sunlight for a couple of days) so they're recuperating in the grow box but I doubt they will turn out healthy. Big noobie mistake I made..

Bagseed seedlings
Since then, I germinated 2 more in jiffy pellets. These work wonders for germinating where I live as it can get down to 15C with RH of 20% and so it is difficult to maintain that warm and humid environment for the seedlings. The jiffy pellets retain moisture very well as long as the tray they're sitting in have a few teaspoons of water rolling around. Both seedlings sprouted yesterday and are growing fast for that light. I cut the top of the tray and covered in clingfilm with holes in it to keep up the humidity and let in light from the CFLs, which are about an inch away from the sprouts. These two are looking a world of difference from the original ones that were germinated in water and then planted into the party cups, looking greener, stronger and growing a lot faster. My only concern is the brown spots on the tips of the sprout under the shells which are still attached. When the seedlings were white and just cracked they had these brown spots on their tips and now that they're green and growing they still have them.. what is it? Rot? Deficiency of some sort? Just normal?

Seedsman feminised white widow ordered
I've also got 5 seedsman feminised white widow seeds on their way which will be added to my grow.. anyone with any experience in growing these?

When to sit them under 400w HPS?
My 400w son-T agro hps bulb is on its way too, which will be run by a 400w ablite lobay. When are my sprouts tough enough for the intense light?

Pic1: One of the sprouts yesterday, bent over and growing parallel to the soil
Pic2: The same sprout today, self corrected itself and growing straight fast
Pic3: Both sprouts showing brown spot on the tips of the sprouts under the still attached shells
Pic4: Closeup of brown spot.. what does this mean??

Brown tips
Seems to be getting better as they get bigger and stronger. Been holding back on re-wetting the jiffy pellets.. maybe they were brown because of overwatering.

Seed shell still attached to both
The smaller one is actually older, 6 days since planting in soil. The taller one is 5 days old. Both still have their shells attached! Shouldn't they have their leaves out by now? The taller of the two is about an inch tall now.

light: still 24/0, will switch to 18/6 as soon as I have as many sprouts I want (aiming for 4-6, seedsman WW on its way). As you can see from the picture I put up the lobay with a 250w MH. My 400w Son-t agro HPS arrived but my ballast is only a 250w zz.

medium (help needed): still in jiffy pellets until transplanting into 20mm pots about a week or so from now. I've included a pic of the soils and stuff I've got. Will be making my own mix soon with these three ingredients (peat potting mix, premium quality potting mix and perlite). What ratio should I be going for? Seedlings that were sown into straight peat potting mix (before I got the jiffy pellets) did very badly, although I did make a few mistakes handling them and without doubt stressed them quite a bit. What ratio guys (peat mix, good quality potting mix and perlite)?!

pic1: Osram 250w MH, Phillips 400w Son-T Agro
pic2: 250w lobay fixture set up above seedling box
pic3: perlite, yates professional potting mix, amgrow peat n pot potting mix
pic4,5,6: the younger and taller 5 day old seedling, shell still attached
pic7: both sprouted seedlings in seedling box

Third seedling to sprout
A third seedling has sprouted from its jiffy pellet after a few days of silence. Its looking a bit bent and growing sideways but this was also the case in my biggest seedling a few days ago, which is fine now. All three sprouts are under 180w of CFLs and with a 250w MH about 2ft high. This may seem like overkill for seedlings but temperatures are being kept in check and I need these up and growing as fast as possible (time restrictions later on ). Pictures included.

Shell problem
Following advice in this thread I pushed the shell (quite easily) off the tallest sprout . Wasn't as easy for the other two as they aren't as developed so I've opted to leave them alone for the time being. The plastic film stuff underneath the shells covering the seedling was too hard to remove without damaging it too.

pic1: seedling with shell pushed off
pic2: so far 3 seedlings to sprout
pic3,4: my CFL seedling box under a 250w MH

Sorry double post.. PICS

3 and a half hours later...
The recently 'unshelled' one is stretching its leaves out for the abundance of light around it for the first time only 3 hours or so after I manually shifted its constricting shell off.