first grow seedling day 3

How do these look the tall one the leaves are pointing up. The ones on the left are curling down and are also much shorter. I have two 22 watt cfl on these about 3 inches aways. Any closer and the temps rise above 80.

Im assuming either the light is too far away on that tall one and maybe the soil is to wet for the ones that are curling?

Question, no drain holes in the cups and why only half full with soil? Unless you're running hydro you need some type of drain.

ya the cups have drain holes lots of them the soil just stays moist a while starting to dry out now. Cup size I wanted them smaller so they would be easy to keep warm. At first I had them in bigger pots but I couldn't get the temp up with the heat pad.

Yeah, just wait for soil to dry a bit on the top before watering and you'll be fine. The taller one is just reaching for the light.

Okay, I'll lowered the light on that one I just don't want to heat them up too much was trying to keep it at 75. even like one notch lower it will be 81. I'm not going to water them till its Dry to the touch like poking my finger into it a knuckle. I only had to water the tall one so far and I only gave it like an oz not even just around the stem. Thanks again

No problem. 80 is fine for seedlings. Good luck and keep us posted.

Just a couple tips i learned...
At this stage, we want to keep the temps around 73-75F (soil & air) with high humidity (65-75%).
The lower temps will prevent it from stretching on us so it won't grow tall and lanky real fast, unable to support its own weight. we are controlling the growth rate using temp adjustments, higher temps makes it grow faster.

The higher humidity is because it does not have a root system established yet and can take in the moisture through the leaves until a root system is developed, then we can back the RH down a bit... to around 60%.

Best of luck bro!

HarveyHarvester said:

Just a couple tips i learned...
At this stage, we want to keep the temps around 73-75F (soil & air) with high humidity (65-75%).
The lower temps will prevent it from stretching on us so it won't grow tall and lanky real fast, unable to support its own weight. we are controlling the growth rate using temp adjustments, higher temps makes it grow faster.

The higher humidity is because it does not have a root system established yet and can take in the moisture through the leaves until a root system is developed, then we can back the RH down a bit... to around 60%.

Best of luck bro!

Click to expand...

ya thats why I was trying to keep the temps at 75 but it looks like that one is stretching. If I lower the lights the temps jump way up they are about 3 inches away now even that far temp is at 79.

I do have a 4 foot long led shop light it's only 40 watts but I could probably touching the leaves.

we also need a fan on them to control the heat and it also will serve to strengthen the stems. rotate the cups each day 1/4 turn so they don't get wind from just one direction all the time. just enuff to lower the temps to at least 75 as you say... try to direct the air so most of it blows the heat between the bulbs and plants.

*edit* next time, let's fill those cups closer to full. that is going to cause problems getting a fan breeze on it... been there.

It is cold where i am so i also used some sticky-sided insulation to put around the cup to maintain soil temps above 70F with the fan on it. or just use a piece or 4x4 lumber or something to block the fan from hitting the cups.

I don't know with 'em that low in the cup, this hobby requires a McGyver-like skill set. lol

cool thanks right now the fan is sucking air away from them and the lights. I thought it might be too much for seedlings to point the fan at them Ill play with positioning later. Right now reading 76 at the current height so that's not bad.

cut the top of the cup off... duh. took me that long to think of that.

frankslan said:

cool thanks right now the fan is sucking air away from them and the lights. I thought it might be too much for seedlings to point the fan at them Ill play with positioning later. Right now reading 76 at the current height so that's not bad.

Click to expand...

yes, I think the fan really helps to strengthen the stem.

HarveyHarvester said:

cut the top of the cup off... duh. took me that long to think of that.

Click to expand...

Ya good call ill do that probably trapping some heat too

Here is a northern lights (fem) on day 17.



It was the container i plan to transplant this to that I put the insulation on, not this cup as I said. may bad. i will insulate the cup next time tho.

Mines a little low in the cup also. from soil settling. note i have that bag of soil in there to get it warmed up a bit for transplanting in a few days.

Oh ya that's looking nice very bright green. I just set the fan across the tent blowing on top of the lights. Sitting at 73.5 with the fan on low now perfect I have a heating pad on so it shouldn't cool the dirt too much. I lowered the light another inch about 3 inches from the bulb now on the tall girl.

The dirt is looking dry on top Ill water them tomorrow morning. Should be dry by then.

yes, it takes 2 to 3 days to dry out in the solo cups.
another thing i have always done is run 24/0 lighting.
I find it much easier to maintain temps and humidity with only a daytime setting and not have to worry about lights out environment. It also said to speed things along by 15-30%.

you have a ph pen? you gonna need one, like now.

HarveyHarvester said:

yes, it takes 2 to 3 days to dry out in the solo cups.
another thing i have always done is run 24/0 lighting.
I find it much easier to maintain temps and humidity with only a daytime setting and not have to worry about lights out environment. It also said to speed things along by 15-30%.

you have a ph pen? you gonna need one, like now.

Click to expand...

Ya Im doing 18 -6. I was reading it doesn't help that much and sometimes they need a rest.Some were saying the roots grow at night a bit idk 18-6 seems good to me. It's not very cold in this room and with the heating pad it wont get cold ever. I did read that 20-4 might be the best of both worlds maybe I'll try that next and compare.

I can see where 24 cycle would be nice though so I would not have to worry if I forgot to close the tent up before I leave or shut off all the lights outside of the tent. Once I get my exhaust fan in I can keep a steady temp sealed though so would be a big problem.

Yes I have a shitty ph pen that I tried to calibrate and it went all crazy on me. I also bought the test kit with the solution you mix in a little beaker and shake. Tomorrow I'm going to get more calibrating solution so I can try this meter again. If not I use the test strips till I can get a new digital one. I'm using distilled water I need to get a big container for my tap water to vent. It's not the greatest water but I think it will be okay. Distilled should be fine for now. I plan on getting a ro system maybe after this grow.

i had 2 pens do that to me. they were just $10 or $15 ones. I got this one and am quite pleased. It is simple to reset to factory calibration so no solutions/calibrating and it is waterproof.

Oakton EcoTestr pH 2 Waterproof PH TESTER

oh man maybe in the future I dont have the cash for something that expensive right now. I still need to buy a exhaust fan and filter (150) and more lighting (200-300)by the time I go into flower. than nutes and such for flower too. Ill have to get by with strips and the cheap meter at least this grow.

I know bro, that first one is a real cash-cow.
After that it tends to pay for itself... at least for me it has.