First grow, Deep Chunk open pollination

[pipeline]

Yeah use a nonfertilized media with a cup or cup and a half 2-4-3 granular composted chicken manure in a couple cubic ft of media with 1/4 cup dolomite lime.

Is there a rate or any fertility information on happy frog?

Happy Frog® Potting Soil - FoxFarm Soil & Fertilizer Company

Happy Frog® Potting Soil is a nutrient-rich growing media for use in containers. It is amended...

foxfarm.com

 

[pipeline]

They don't say anything about its composition or amendments from what I can see. Could email and they would probably tell you.

Doesn't say seed germination on the site, but not all media will say that.

How To Use:​

Container Gardens:​

• Fill container with soil 1 inch (2.5 cm) below top edge of the pot.
• Water thoroughly after planting.
• For best results, feed your plants with FoxFarm fertilizer products during growth and bloom seasons.

Houseplants​

• Water thoroughly after planting.
• For best results, feed with Grow Big® Liquid Plant Food.

Established Container Gardens:​

• Top dress a 3-inch (7.5 cm) layer of potting soil around existing plants and carefully work into the soil.
• Water thoroughly.

Trees, shrubs and roses:​

• Select a container 2-3 times the diameter of the plant’s root mass and 3-6 inches (7.5-15 cm) deeper.
• Place enough potting soil into the container so that the root mass is positioned at the correct height.
• Secure plant in place while adding more potting soil around the root mass until the container is almost full.

Use FoxFarm fertilizers & liquid plant food concentrates in conjunction with our soil mixes.

 

[pipeline]

Could move them into new soil for a couple weeks. But that may slow them down too much, I would just water them a little more heavily to leach the nitrogen out. Let it dry out a little in between, so every couple days at this point.

 

[pipeline]

Shiva is an experienced grower and is using this mix from Biobizz:

Light·Mix - Biobizz

www.biobizz.com

 

[greencalyx]

I'll try to flush the soil a bit once I get home. A google search for "is happy frog good for seed starting" shows there are quite a few people who use it this way. Idk

I'm not at home now, but here's a pic I found online of the back of the bag. Looks like there is alot of information back there that I'll have to take a look at when I'm home. Can't read most of it from pics. But here's the NPK and ingredients

 

[pipeline]

Looks pretty mild, and good growing media. May have been the coir on top, how much of that did you use?

 

[greencalyx]

About 1-2 inches. It was eco earth reptile bedding. No added nutrients.

 

[pipeline]

I don't know if thats a great idea. If you think its an issue you can easily transplant at this stage with very little shock, so feel free to move them.

 

[pipeline]

Pop them out of the cells and shake off as much of the coir on top then transplant back into the little cell. Just minimize disturbing the roots, and water immediately.

 

[greencalyx]

I use that same coir to start my vegetable seedlings every year, with no ill effects. This was stuff leftover from last spring.

Maybe I just got a hot bag of happy frog?

 

[pipeline]

Thats probably it, the guano was probably a little much for it. Just leave them, and leach a little bit when you water for the next couple waterings.

 

[greencalyx]

I got one of those things to measure wattage at the outlet and I thought the seedlings maybe looked a bit lanky and floppy, so I upped the wattage from 95w to 135w. Light is about 3ft from soil

 

[revegeta666]

I got one of those things to measure wattage at the outlet and I thought the seedlings maybe looked a bit lanky and floppy, so I upped the wattage from 95w to 135w. Light is about 3ft from soil

View attachment 18807965

You don't need anything over 40-50w at most for little seedlings that size. You're going to kill them with 135w. If they are looking floppy it's because they're having a hard time enduring the 95w of light. Also you don't need to feed them anything at that stage, especially a pure indica. Wait for the transplant and they will have more than enough food in the new soil. Seedlings this size have no use for guano either. Guano is used for the flowering stage, not now. Better to leave them alone, little seedlings don't need anything to thrive. You can do a lot of damage by overcaring and trying to solve problems that don't exist. They are not abnormally lanky either. Just have a small fan on them making them oscillate a little to strengthen them.

 

[greencalyx]

You don't need anything over 40-50w at most for little seedlings that size. You're going to kill them with 135w. If they are looking floppy it's because they're having a hard time enduring the 95w of light. Also you don't need to feed them anything at that stage, especially a pure indica. Wait for the transplant and they will have more than enough food in the new soil. Seedlings this size have no use for guano either. Guano is used for the flowering stage, not now. Better to leave them alone, little seedlings don't need anything to thrive. You can do a lot of damage by overcaring and trying to solve problems that don't exist. They are not abnormally lanky either. Just have a small fan on them making them oscillate a little to strengthen them.

Thanks for the advice. I turned the light back down. It is currently hanging 4ft from the soil. Should I raise it up to 5ft?

When I was deciding on the light height, I knew my light was a bit bright, So I figured if I hung it at twice the height that people normally have lights over seedlings, the light reaching the seedlings would be 1/4 of the intensity according to inverse square law. So my light at 4-5ft should be giving the seedlings the same amount as a light 1/4 as strong hung at 24-30 inches.

Since my light draws about 100w, at 4ft it should be giving the seedlings the same light as a 25w hung at 24 inches. Should be good, right? I know watts aren't exactly same as light output but they scale linearly, so are able to be interchanged without too much problems. Should make for a decent rough estimate anyway.

As for the soil/nutes I just used a bag soil that I thought was mild enough (Happy Frog). But yeah, lesson learned, and I won't be using it for seedlings again

I do have a small fan on low blowing on them from a couple feet away. I noticed the fan was starting to almost blow the seedlings over, which is why I became concerned about lankyness. Maybe an oscillating fan would be better?

 

[revegeta666]

Thanks for the advice. I turned the light back down. It is currently hanging 4ft from the soil. Should I raise it up to 5ft?

When I was deciding on the light height, I knew my light was a bit bright, So I figured if I hung it at twice the height that people normally have lights over seedlings, the light reaching the seedlings would be 1/4 of the intensity according to inverse square law. So my light at 4-5ft should be giving the seedlings the same amount as a light 1/4 as strong hung at 24-30 inches.

Since my light draws about 100w, at 4ft it should be giving the seedlings the same light as a 25w hung at 24 inches. Should be good, right? I know watts aren't exactly same as light output but they scale linearly, so are able to be interchanged without too much problems. Should make for a decent rough estimate anyway.

As for the soil/nutes I just used a bag soil that I thought was mild enough (Happy Frog). But yeah, lesson learned, and I won't be using it for seedlings again

I do have a small fan on low blowing on them from a couple feet away. I noticed the fan was starting to almost blow the seedlings over, which is why I became concerned about lankyness. Maybe an oscillating fan would be better?

If you can't dim the light lowerthan 100w, 4-5 ft of distance to the soil sounds good. You can leave it at that distance, and the seedlings will "grow into the light" without having to worry about this too much. I have similar sized seedlings at the moment under a 65w led (non dimmable) that is around 3 ft from the soil.

If the fan is too strong it would be better an oscillating one yes. At this stage a little computer fan is enough. If your fan is too strong you can turn it away from the plants and try to have the air hitting them indirectly if that makes sense.

Even then sometimes seedlings stretch a little more than ideal the first 1-2 weeks. This is not a big deal. Try to counteract this with the fan but even then if they stretch a little, you can bury the stems a few centimeters when you transplant them into the next pots and the stem will grow roots as well. If they do fall over you can use a little piece of wire as a tutor but try to not hurt the main root if you do.

I don't know the brand of soil you're using but for the first 2 weeks it's enough to use a "light mix" soil, which is soil that has no added nutrients other than maybe 10% worm castings. Make sure it does have a good amount of perlite as cannabis needs better draining soil than most vegetables.

 

[greencalyx]

My initial plan when I first set up the tent was to just keep the light at the maximum height (5ft) and do exactly that. Let the plants grow into the light. But then I thought, "what if the low setting on the light was actually 50-75w?" So I put it at 4ft where it stayed from emergence until now.

I have the fan pointed at them indirectly now. Now they are just wiggling instead of looking like a palm tree in a hurricane. They were fine with just their cotyledons, but when that first set of true leaves showed up they acted like a sail and really grabbed the air.

Gotta say, nothing gets the blood pumping as much as reading "you're going to kill them" first thing in the morning, lol. Glad it's all sorted now

Thanks again

 

[greencalyx]

Here's another update, 2 weeks after seeds put in soil. One of the seedlings never grew true leaves. Never figured out what its issue was, but here is the rest of the gang. I am thinking I may transplant to 2gal pots this weekend.

 

[pipeline]

Those are some fat leaved little seedlings, common with Deep Chunk. Looking great. Its a good time to transplant them. They will keep their momentum going well. Glad they didn't have any real issues.

 

[greencalyx]

Was totally going to transplant today, but realized the soil I kept in my unheated mudroom/entryway was really cold and frozen in spots, so I brought it in and I'll transplant tomorrow when it is up to temp.

The new pots will have (fox farm) ocean forest in the bottom half, and happy frog in the top half. I wanted to use up all the happy frog I have, since I won't be using it for germinating anymore (possibly a bit too hot), and the plants are already used to it.

A couple seedlings have fallen over. It is OK to bury the stem up to the cotyledons (2-4inches), right? One of the seedlings that fell over was the only one out of 19 that has 5 leaflets on its second set of leaves. Kinda neat. All the others have just 3.



And this other seedling has some discoloration. Is it anything I should worry about?

 

[revegeta666]

Yes you can bury the stem a little. 4 inches sounds like a lot, they don't look that stretched out.

The decoloration is just variegation nothing to worry about