First Grow - need advice

Hello Everyone. Glad to see that there’s so much helpful company down this rabbit hole I find myself in. This is my first attempt at growing cannabis.

I’m growing Wedding Cake and Dos Si Dos 33 (both from Barney’s Farm) and a Seedsman Blueberry. 2 days in paper towel, then into Coco 17 days ago.

Growing in Coco + perlite, but I made a last-second decision to add worm castings into the mix which I realize was a mistake since it's unnecessary and now my runoff is “dirty” and has an EC way above what I’m watering with. (I’ve got a strong “more is better” reflex that I’m working on overcoming.)

Using an “HLG 600 R SPEC” LED light (18/6 sched.) turned most of the way down.

Using GH CocoTek fertilizer. I’ve started them on the Early Growth / Light Feed recipe after initially using a half-strength seedling solution.

I had issues right off the bat controlling light, temp, and humidity which affected all the seedlings to varying degrees. I had to transplant very early because the incubator heat mat/dome I bought was just cooking the seedlings. They are recovering from the abuse and are growing faster now after not moving for a few days.

I’m keeping the temp around 75-80 f and humidity around 60%, give or take.

I did some Fimming/Topping today on the seven that started their 5th nodes.

I’ve got a few questions about moving forward:

First, if anybody who knows what they’re doing sees something that I’m doing wrong, or issues with the plants, please let me know.

The outer layer of the Blueberry’s stem is peeling off. Should I be concerned? see 1st Pic. attached.

I’m not sure how to handle the intake air in my 5x5 tent. I’ve got a 6” in-line fan blowing out of a top port, and a short piece of 6” duct through a bottom port for intake air. The intake air duct allows light in, so I’m closing the port at lights-off, but that isn’t sustainable. I was thinking of constructing a box with an HVAC filter on the side to attach to the intake air duct to keep out pests and light, but since the fan already sucks in the sides of the tent with the intake port open, I’m afraid it’ll be too restrictive.

I’ve been mixing a gallon of nutes at a time and am keeping an air stone going in the unused portion. How long will pre-mixed nutes stay good? I’d like to mix a week’s worth ahead of time, but am not sure if there’s anything wrong with that strategy.

How will I know when to transplant into larger pots? I’ve just started seeing a few root tips in the drain holes of the pots. I was planning on going into 1.5 Gal. plastic pots next, then into final 7 Gal. fabric pots. I’m anxious to transplant in order to bury the stems of the ones that have stretched the most. Going to keep the 6 strongest looking.

Thanks to all who read all the way through my manifesto.

Hi there! Welcome aboard. Regarding transplant and plant health- I would transplant them directly into their new & final home. Your 7gal. They are healthy enough to handle. But they do need to come out now..Except for the one in the back middle. The small one. You can usually aim for transplanting when the leaves are at the edge or extending their pot a tad. Anymore and you run into roots coming out the bottom like you said they are. I would increase temps to 82F and humidity around 67-70%RH. How far is the light?

I’m growing the exact same strains Wedding cake from Barney’s and Blueberry from seedsman as well! My blueberry has the exact same shedding on the trunk so we can probably chalk that up to genetics. Also it seems in yours that the shedding goes just to the cotelydons just like mine, I can assume that it’s the younger outer layer and as the trunk thickens this is what happens, nothing to worry about as mine is growing vigorously! Also topped at the 5th node and she has just exploded ever since!
As far as transplanting, it’s best to do so as few times as possible, mine went straight from solo cups to a 3 gallon fabric pot, however I am growing in organic soil and not coco. Rule of thumb, the root mass is normally the size of plant above ground.. if the leaves are reaching the edge of your container, you can almost guarantee that the roots are as well. I would transplant to your final container next and just role with it. If it’s a super large container, you won’t need to water the entire medium until your plant catches up as this can cause root rot.

Here’s some pics of my Blueberry. Don’t have up to date pics of the wedding cake atm

Highlife42 said:

Hi there! Welcome aboard. Regarding transplant and plant health- I would transplant them directly into their new & final home. Your 7gal. They are healthy enough to handle. But they do need to come out now..Except for the one in the back middle. The small one. You can usually aim for transplanting when the leaves are at the edge or extending their pot a tad. Anymore and you run into roots coming out the bottom like you said they are. I would increase temps to 82F and humidity around 67-70%RH. How far is the light?

Click to expand...

Thanks Highlife. Glad I asked. I was going to wait to transplant. If they go into 7 gallon pots, do I need to fertigate enough to get runoff every time, even though they're so small?

The light is 2 feet above the plants. I've got it at about 40% using 325 watts.

Lowkeygardener said:

I’m growing the exact same strains Wedding cake from Barney’s and Blueberry from seedsman as well! My blueberry has the exact same shedding on the trunk so we can probably chalk that up to genetics. Also it seems in yours that the shedding goes just to the cotelydons just like mine, I can assume that it’s the younger outer layer and as the trunk thickens this is what happens, nothing to worry about as mine is growing vigorously! Also topped at the 5th node and she has just exploded ever since!
As far as transplanting, it’s best to do so as few times as possible, mine went straight from solo cups to a 3 gallon fabric pot, however I am growing in organic soil and not coco. Rule of thumb, the root mass is normally the size of plant above ground.. if the leaves are reaching the edge of your container, you can almost guarantee that the roots are as well. I would transplant to your final container next and just role with it. If it’s a super large container, you won’t need to water the entire medium until your plant catches up as this can cause root rot.

Click to expand...

Thanks Lowkey. Great minds, right?

That's very reassuring about the Blueberry.