Germination/Seedling Question

titycaca

titycaca

Active Member
I'm currently germinating 2 seeds in rockwool cubes right now. They are under a humidity dome and have a heating pad underneath them. I was wondering if after the seeds have sprouted and reared their beautiful heads, would it be all right to give them light and take off the heating pad? I think i have had failed attempts in the past due to too much heat. I was thinking i would avoid that heat problem by taking the heat pad off. Or will the sprouts be shocked be the sudden decline in heat when the light and heat pad are off.
 
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frmrboi

Well-Known Member
is that a medical heat pad ? unless your dome is vented take the dome off too when they sprout it's too humid.
 
slonez47

slonez47

Active Member
titycaca said:
I'm currently germinating 2 seeds in rockwool cubes right now. They are under a humidity dome and have a heating pad underneath them. I was wondering if after the seeds have sprouted and reared their beautiful heads, would it be all right to give them light and take off the heating pad? I think i have had failed attempts in the past due to too much heat. I was thinking i would avoid that heat problem by taking the heat pad off. Or will the sprouts be shocked be the sudden decline in heat when the light and heat pad are off.
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When your girls sprout, by all means put them under light. I used CFL's at first. I used a combo of 6500k and 5000k. I've seen hella veg growth with the MH but I'm not sure your budget. You can take the heating pad away also. Don't put your lights too close while they're young either. You won't see alot of plant growth at first since the plant in concentrating on root growth. You'll see a growth spurt at around three weeks. They should be ready to transplant at that time as well.
 
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tellno1

Well-Known Member
i leave the pad on for a week or 2 after i hit them with lights ( as soon as i see sprout) .. slowly open the dome to let seedlings strenghten and acclimatise, if cfl's or t5's keep them about 6" above at first then slowly lower, if hid keep it at least 16" above and slowly lower ...

happy growin
 
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watchhowIdoit

New Member
tellno1 said:
i leave the pad on for a week or 2 after i hit them with lights ( as soon as i see sprout) .. slowly open the dome to let seedlings strenghten and acclimatise, if cfl's or t5's keep them about 6" above at first then slowly lower, if hid keep it at least 16" above and slowly lower ...

happy growin
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Leaving seedlings in a dome only invites trouble. Pythium and dampening off to name a couple. And you heating pad ? depends on 2 things. Is the room their in warm or cool? Is it a seed starter mat or medical?
 
slonez47

slonez47

Active Member
titycaca said:
I'm currently germinating 2 seeds in rockwool cubes right now. They are under a humidity dome and have a heating pad underneath them. I was wondering if after the seeds have sprouted and reared their beautiful heads, would it be all right to give them light and take off the heating pad? I think i have had failed attempts in the past due to too much heat. I was thinking i would avoid that heat problem by taking the heat pad off. Or will the sprouts be shocked be the sudden decline in heat when the light and heat pad are off.
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Watch the rockwool cubes also. I just read a thread where a guy said that his plant became rootbound in them. I have no reason to doubt him. I plant straight to soil and have no experience with rockwool. Just thought I'd let you know.
 
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Frodeybaggins

Member
personally after about 20 grows of me touching a FREEZING cold paper towel
and then seeing sprouts that grew just fine(in normal time limit)
i dont heat pad nemore
 
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tellno1

Well-Known Member
watchhowIdoit said:
Leaving seedlings in a dome only invites trouble. Pythium and dampening off to name a couple. And you heating pad ? depends on 2 things. Is the room their in warm or cool? Is it a seed starter mat or medical?
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never had a problem with the way i do it .. i use a seed starter mat and my temps ar between 65 and 70 f , but i can see your point if you dont actually take care of them .. .

happy growin
 
titycaca

titycaca

Active Member
frmrboi said:
is that a medical heat pad ? unless your dome is vented take the dome off too when they sprout it's too humid.
Click to expand...
No it's a heating pad i got specifically for seedling, "if that really makes a difference". My dome does have vents in them so I'm thinking once i see sprout i can open the vents for the first day and than just take off the dome a day after.
 
titycaca

titycaca

Active Member
slonez47 said:
When your girls sprout, by all means put them under light. I used CFL's at first. I used a combo of 6500k and 5000k. I've seen hella veg growth with the MH but I'm not sure your budget. You can take the heating pad away also. Don't put your lights too close while they're young either. You won't see alot of plant growth at first since the plant in concentrating on root growth. You'll see a growth spurt at around three weeks. They should be ready to transplant at that time as well.
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All right i will do that for sure. I introduced light last time right when they popped, but i think i had the lights way too close because my babies FRIED! Granted i had my heating pad on as well. Got to 105 degrees in the little dome.
 
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tellno1

Well-Known Member
titycaca said:
No it's a heating pad i got specifically for seedling, "if that really makes a difference". My dome does have vents in them so I'm thinking once i see sprout i can open the vents for the first day and than just take off the dome a day after.
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medical heating pads may get way too hot for seedlings .. so it does make a difference to some. i would open the vents like you say, give it a few days then remove the dome .. you sound like you have a handle on it


happy growin
 
titycaca

titycaca

Active Member
tellno1 said:
i leave the pad on for a week or 2 after i hit them with lights ( as soon as i see sprout) .. slowly open the dome to let seedlings strenghten and acclimatise, if cfl's or t5's keep them about 6" above at first then slowly lower, if hid keep it at least 16" above and slowly lower ...

happy growin
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Thanks man that is a bit of advice I needed. I have been shoving my lights right in their faces the moment They sprouted. This time i'll be sure to slowly lower the light, I'm working with a nice size t-5 so ill take it easy on the little ladies.
 
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tellno1

Well-Known Member
I use t5s too .. move them down slowly .. i drop mine to about 2" from my girls .. takes a few days to get down there from 6" up ..

happy growin
 
titycaca

titycaca

Active Member
Thanks for the speedy response guys + rep. This is why i love this forum, So many people willing to help.
 
somedude247

somedude247

Well-Known Member
I dont use a pad but I put my sprouts under the light, out of the dome, immediately after they pop. Just keep the RW damp for a few days until you can move them to bigger cubes. I dont do anything special and mine always come up. I just use a tupperware container as my dome! LOL But I place the cubes on the lid with the base as the dome top until the sprout, then flip it over and put them under the light.
 

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titycaca

titycaca

Active Member
somedude247 said:
I dont use a pad but I put my sprouts under the light, out of the dome, immediately after they pop. Just keep the RW damp for a few days until you can move them to bigger cubes. I dont do anything special and mine always come up. I just use a tupperware container as my dome! LOL But I place the cubes on the lid with the base as the dome top until the sprout, then flip it over and put them under the light.
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How damp are we talking and how often do you get them damp? When they dry out or when they are just barley moist? I see your little guys are sitting in water. I thought you were supposed to avoid keeping them constantly wet. When i had the most success with my guys i dipped the bottom half of the rock wool cube in water, this way the root would have to go down. I had one little guy's root shoot down that back up getting the water it had on top!. It was weird.
 
somedude247

somedude247

Well-Known Member
titycaca said:
How damp are we talking and how often do you get them damp? When they dry out or when they are just barley moist? I see your little guys are sitting in water. I thought you were supposed to avoid keeping them constantly wet. When i had the most success with my guys i dipped the bottom half of the rock wool cube in water, this way the root would have to go down. I had one little guy's root shoot down that back up getting the water it had on top!. It was weird.
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That is weird. LOL While germinating I soak the cubes and squeeze out most of the water and put it in the container. I usually dont have to moisten often if at all. As long as you can see water droplets on the dome but its not in standing water, the humidity is good. I guess basically you just want to be able to squeeze out just a few tiny drops of water from your cube. Dont let it dry though, kills the taproot. I didnt put them in the tray of water until they popped up. And its just a 1/4 inch or so deep of plain tap water. Hope this makes sense.
 
titycaca

titycaca

Active Member
somedude247 said:
That is weird. LOL While germinating I soak the cubes and squeeze out most of the water and put it in the container. I usually dont have to moisten often if at all. As long as you can see water droplets on the dome but its not in standing water, the humidity is good. I guess basically you just want to be able to squeeze out just a few tiny drops of water from your cube. Dont let it dry though, kills the taproot. I didnt put them in the tray of water until they popped up. And its just a 1/4 inch or so deep of plain tap water. Hope this makes sense.
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Yeah it does. I just needed a basic idea really because it seems i either kept mine too wet or not wet at all. So obviously the middle ground is the way to go :). Thanks for the advice. Last question, do you use a heating pad for your seedlings?
 
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