OK Hazey
Here's a couple answers to your questions ,and again TY for having a great attitude about learning,I love clearing up the BS floating around these forums that have new
growers chasing their tails trying to grow a weed ,like it's rocket science,,usually the culprits are people who have something to gain ,,,as in follow the $ there's so many
snake oils out there that are rubbish it makes me sick...I suggest you stay out of hydro
stores for 2 reasons,,,the security risks and the financial risks,,they rape you for big$
and sell you a bunch of shit ,,far from needed...
You the grower head home with all your new containers of super dooper bat shit and ultra root stimulator,,,,mega growth booster....etc... ya feel like a million bucks although you're now left to eating ramen noodles for the next 2 weeks cause you're broke bro!!
You're not going to get any better root growth from a seedling than in a great soil ..
Of course hydro will give you a noticeable better result,but we're talking seedlings here.
You can't (as a newbie) start seedling in hydro,,more advanced growers can,but it's not practical.
Seedlings need to be in a stable environment the first 30 days,,this is crucial why?
Because if you're using standard seeds which most of you are,you need an environment that has 0 stress to help you keep the plant's innate survival
mechanism from throwing you a batch of males...
A plant's sex isn't fully determined until about the 30 day mark dependent on
the strain,,,environment is everything,,,high amounts of nitrogen,blue light
spectrum,cooler 70 degree temps,higher humidity 60% -70%,,are some of the
contributing factors that help give a higher female ratio..
Seedlings in rockwool are a constant struggle to maintain the ph, nute level, moisture
levels all in check for a beginner,,,it's not a natural environment flat out.
I havn't even mentioned the high risk of damping off in rockwool for seedlings.
You shouldn't be worrying about keeping your valuable seedlings alive,,shit you've just
just spent enough damned money on the beans...
Start em in soil and tell the hydro guys to go listen to the B side of Dark side of the moon a couple more times, and kindly stfu! they love newbie failure,,,keeps you coming back and spending more $....don't be fooled...
You mentioned you have some fox farm soil already so you're already off to a good start get those small cups ,containers filled up with that precious soil and placed under that fluoro,,a heat mat that is meant for seedlings is always a help,but make sure you
don't get the soil too warm,this will bake your precious lil embryos and rot them quickly.
Try and keep a barrier between them,a tray will be best,place containers in the tray,mat under the tray.
You mentioned vegging the seedllings for 3-4 months...now I don't know what kinda
lights you have planned for the vegging process nor the strain but let me tell ya..
The only people that veg for that long are growing 3-4 pound trees in 5-10 gallon DWC
applications surrounded by vertical 1k Hid's can you say commercial? I don't feel that's what you have in mind..
Let me show you 2 seedlings I have that was vegged for a mere 45 days,,,they are now at day 18 in 12 hours of light...pretty big huh??
Notice the 5 gallon bucket and the windex bottle for a reference in size.
Maybe a veg of 30 days for you would be max?
Later after you select some mothers or maybe just
1 ,you can practice cloning and use cuts from her.
Then you can keep the veg time down to maybe just
a week....
Enjoy ,and have a great growing experience...
