My First seeds, help anyone?

[wolfeman]

Ok I've done a few grows with clones and had great results, this is my first with seeds.

I soaked them in water for a day, popped them into some root riot cubes and all 10 popped in two days. So far so good. Two days later they look to me like they are stretching to over 3 inches. (Picture 1) Naturally, I figure they want to be closer to the light, so I dropped it to about 6" above. (4 bulb T5's BTW)

Not long after I dropped the lights, two of them sorta flopped over. Thinking the low lights are the cause I raised it back to 18' above and wait a day or so. The leaves on the flopped over babies turned up toward the light- but they looked so sad laying there, I propped them up with toothpicks and they are responding to the new light direction yet again.

Just when I think I'm OK, a third one flopped over today...WTF! I thought I would seek the advise of this noble forum. The only difference I can see with the weak ones and the good ones is the good ones have stems that are turning brown. The weak ones, the stems are closer to white (in the weak areas anyway) The leaves on all of them look as they should at this stage. The roots are coming out the bottoms of the cubes on all of them.

So, I guess my first question is: Was a 3"+ stem in two days OK? did I lower the lights and knock 'em for a loop for no reason? I did plenty of reading on how to get them to pop, but not enough on what to expect the first week or so, obviously. Any suggestions or links would be appreciated!

 

[wolfeman]

And while I'm here, can someone tell me how to post a picture directly into a thread; so the people viewing don't have to download the attachment?

 

[Hazy Lady]

Hi wolfman, they are a little 'leggy' but it's not a real problem, when you re-pot you can just bury them stems up to 1/2" below the leaves, the thing is now because you've put your light back up to 18" it's impossible to say what caused the stretch, heat and humidity also play a part, I was going to say the two that fell over had succumbed to 'damping off' - mould, but if they are now facing the light, alive, i would say the sem just could not take it. 18" is a little high, drop to 10", when you re-pot bury as i said, they look fine apart from the sheer length, good luck.

 

[wolfeman]

Thanks bro, or shall I say sis? good info.

Regarding re-potting- I plan to put them in rockwool cubes. Any ideas on that?

 

[h^2 O]

dude do you have a fan on them? it doesn't seem like it. You gotta!!!

 

[Mr.Hades]

^^I wouldnt put a fan directly on them, it could cause them to bend and break right away, instead just put a fan in the room and make sure the sprouts are just slightly moving ever so gently.

If youre using a T-5 with daylight bulbs that stretching shouldnt happen. It looks to me like you need some new bulbs.

Get 4 new daylight bulbs... You dont have to get the GE ones, the generic ones are about 3 dollars cheaper each and work the same.

Also check your heat, ventilation, and the moisture of your medium at this point, making sure its not over/under watered. Its a very crucial time in the plants life. ^_^

 

[Weedman Herb]

Yeah ... set the fan to bounce the "wind" off a wall Near the young uns ... Good Point on the possibility of Old Bulbs Mr H ...

 

[yortbogey]

well too me if there "leggy" and the rootz are shott'in out the bottom of the cube itz time for the next planting.....time to plant those cubez in the medium of U'r choice......just plant deep most of the way UP the little stem leaving just the leaves exposed...to the light and breeze......ps..like said before....U must have air circulation from this point on...........

goodluck.......sofar U'r on task and making good progrezz.....

 

[chemsteady]

...

...

wolf, what are you growing in? the reason i ask, is because you can ditch the rockwool- which i believe is the culprit behind your little floppers-and clone in straight coco coir.

you see, with rockwool, you have to be really careful not to over water which can lead to dampening off-or under water-which can lead to dampening off. its an art, most people who use rockwool have had a few goes at it, perfecting a technique though trial and error.

now with coco, theres no trial and error, its too easy to mess up. i know you didnt ask for an alternative to rockwool, im just letting you know for the future, btw. it goes something like this.

1-get a good bag of fine, pre-rinsed coco. canna works great.

2-get a solo cup (beer cup), i like the opaque ones cause you can see when the roots hit the sides and bottom of the cup. poke some holes in the bottom, maybe make a slit or two on the side for more air.

3-put coco in the cup halfway. let a little tap water flow over the coco. you dont want it swimming, just a little, to moisten and compact the coco a little.

4-now look at your seed. give it a kiss and say "grow big." bury the seed two seed widths deep. a few centimeters of so. sow it sideways. this is important.

5-put in a nursery flat under a seedling heating mat at about 75-80*, do not cover with a dome. coco acts like hydro, no need to cover with a dome, unless your rh is really low.

6-have your t-5 5-7 inches above the tops of your solos. sit back and think about how smart you are and how well the plant is going to grow.

you dont need root enhancers or anything, straight tap for two weeks or so. never let the coco dry out, and never flood the cup with water. its a real light, easy trickle onto the surface of the coco. you'll see what i mean.

as soon as your seeds germ, they will start to stretch toward the light. since you filled your cups halfway (remember?) you now have a miny humidity dome (of sorts) which helps the seedling, and you can also, very carefully, put more coco around the new stretching, seedling to help support the stem and to help create a shorter, more branchy plant in the end.

i just put these guys out (after transplanting into gal pots of course) four days ago. exact same technique.

as you can see, theyre doing well. if you want more info on coco cloning (cause you can do that to, cut and pop into coco, nothing else) or starting seeds, heres a great thread.

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=110334

hth.
-c

 

[Hazy Lady]

Thanks bro, or shall I say sis? good info.

Regarding re-potting- I plan to put them in rockwool cubes. Any ideas on that?

Oh my goodness please call me sis wolfy, and thank-you, I can't help you on how you could bury the stem in Rockwool i'm afraid, i'm sure some of the guy's will have a way, hope they are ok.

 

[chemsteady]

no fan...

no fan...

i wouldnt put a fan anywhere in the room when germing seeds. when seeds are that young, roots really cant support the plant as well. if you have even a small breeze on the seedlings, this can effect the tiny root hairs that are trying to develop into big, fat roots. imagine being shaken every few seconds, the roots would have a hard(er) time to develop.

some people will say it helps to make the plant tougher, well, im all for that, but not now. theyre babies, we need to baby them. when they start developing roots, then, a fan is perfect. not on them directly, but a nice little breeze. plus, seeds can be expensive! why not get them started as gentle as can be, with as little stress as possible? better on your wallet as well.
-c

 

[mexilandrace]

I try to kill babies, with fans and other ways, I give them dirty looks, called them ugly, sometimes I push their pots and look at them stupid, like "whatcha gonna do sprout?"

I don't like weak plants, seeds are expensive sure, but out of 10 I always have a male and female survive, cross them and I have more seeds to play with.

Why do I want to work with plants I have to baby just to get them to live?

 

[baet]

^^^^ right on haha

 

[Weedman Herb]

Never skimp on your ventilation strategy ... even when they are just sprouts. MJ at any stage needs fresh air moving around it ...

 

[chemsteady]

whoa!

whoa!

baller
-c

 

[Signiant]

^^

chemsteady - you say sow the seed horizontally? this is for ungerminated seeds right??? no taproot?? already spooning me out chem!

 

[chemsteady]

yup.

yup.

sig, i pop seeds in straight canna coco and tap water (for the first two weeks until the first basic root system is established). i dont even adjust the tap h2o. i can do that because water here is very low ec and 7.0-7.3 ph out of the tap. the ph doesnt matter because seedlings arent trying to take up nutrients, they re just trying to become established. you dont even need a humidity dome if rh is above at least 40%.

yup, horizontally. i do this because sometimes i dont know which end the tap roots coming out of (since i dont soak or wet in paper towels), and you dont want the tap root pointing up toward the surface. lot of what i do with regards to popping seeds, i learn from breeders. i mean, kinda gotta assume breeders, especially reputable ones know what theyre talking about. heres a few links.

cloning/starting seeds in coco
https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=110334

a good seed starting link
mandala
http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=29917

peace.
-c