When do you put seedlings under the light?

I was wondering when do put seedlings under the light? I heard you had to place them under right when they break the soil? Also, if the seedling is still crooked do i wait to put them under the lights or can I just place them under?:hump::hump::hump::hump::hump::hump::hump::hump:
 

mmmfive

Active Member
i think my method is perfect.

use a real 1'x1'? paper towel that is usually located in the kitchen.

fold it in half, place seeds inside, use slightly warmer than room temperature (+5-10 degrees, trust me)...

soak a cloth towel in the same warm or even warmer water, squeeze most of the water out but leave it nice moist. i just keep it as moist as possible without dripping.

now place the first paper towel on the second cloth towel, then place the warm water (+5-10 degrees) in the palm of your hand and drip it over the already wet paper and cloth towel.

the step above makes sure everything is making contact.

now place the towels is a completely dark drawer, cabinet, box, whatever, try to keep it at 65-75 degrees and within 24 hours they should be cracked with the white root coming out. As long as there is some root showing out of the seed, the seed is ready to be transplanted to soil.

have a good soil mix, use your finger and poke into the soil 1 inch.

*when you place the seeds in the soil, it doesnt matter what direction you place it in. the next 24 hour period in weak lighting will allow the plant to search for proper lighting and water.

one thing special thing i learned. during the next 24 hour period, main roots will grow and shoot out like no other. in 24 hours, roots should shoot straight down to the bottom of any planting container/pot. this idea is key as roots are crucial foundations to the plant, and by shooting straight down the entire container, it makes sure the plant can attain water at any depth of the container. i learned this the hard way because sometimes my vegetation on top grew too fast for the roots and as a result plants were topping over. i believe this tiny issue is only for 24/7 vegetation people. because any off time will allow the roots to grow, otherwise it's too busy with the photosynthesis of the top vegetation? haha

when transplanting the seed, i use a plastic bag over my hand to make sure nothing on me can shock the seed. hopefully you gloves or something, because using just a bag can get tricky since the seed is so tiny.

now drop the seed in, cover it up, water it lightly so that everything is cohesive.

now just place it in the light! i try to save light by putting the sprouting seeds slightly outside of my large mh lights. meaning the light rays are not directly hitting the surface, it's simply bumming random light outside of it's efficient range, and it works great for me. within 24 hours, from 1 inch deep in the soil, it will be tall enough and ready to move to the normal mh light.

once it shows the first 2 leaves, it's ready to go grow!

recap: within 48 hours, you should be able to place your seedlings into normal growing. if you don't know what height to place it at, just always go much lower than you think, then adjust. by having the light so far away, the plant stretches immediately to try and find light.

one time i left the seedlings under the weak light for too long, instead of the 24 hours (second 24 hour period of my method), and instead of moving them to the full growth light at around 2 inches, the sproutings went up to 6 inches! it's just searching like no other.

without proper lighting, the plant will not grow. I've been testing differently lightings, and it's amazing what typeof difference it makes.

so yea..this is obviously more than what you wanted, but i apologize, i was lifted when* i started this.

which means it's time... =)
 

creativemind21

Well-Known Member
I was wondering when do put seedlings under the light? I heard you had to place them under right when they break the soil? Also, if the seedling is still crooked do i wait to put them under the lights or can I just place them under?:hump::hump::hump::hump::hump::hump::hump::hump:
Once they have popped they are ready for light just be very careful planting in the medium as to not break the tap root I normally use a pair of sterilized tweezers and place them gently with the tap root facing down in the soil and barely cover the seedling with dirt as to not have any trouble breaking the surface....6500k daylight cfls or fluro tubes are the best....Oh and superthrive works wonders if u can buy it do so.....goodluck:mrgreen:
 

o2hustla

New Member
hi there, my seedling has just popped out the soil and im using a 400w hps on it. if you use an hps make sure its far enough away so not to burn the seedlings. if you are using cfl's get them as close as you can within 2-4 inches as they dont give out much heat.

hustla
 

porchmonkey4life

Well-Known Member
hi there, my seedling has just popped out the soil and im using a 400w hps on it. if you use an hps make sure its far enough away so not to burn the seedlings. if you are using cfl's get them as close as you can within 2-4 inches as they dont give out much heat.

hustla
Why not just put them under the MH light once they reach the top of the humidity dome? That's what I did. They were around 6" tall when I put them in the buckets and placed them under 400W MH.
 

email468

Well-Known Member
As soon as I see taproot, I put them in my hydro system under 1000w of light. I know you ain't supposed to but i'm just letting you know what i do. the plants seem to like it (otherwise i wouldn't do it)
 

o2hustla

New Member
Why not just put them under the MH light once they reach the top of the humidity dome? That's what I did. They were around 6" tall when I put them in the buckets and placed them under 400W MH.
hi porchmonkey, i dont have a mh light just the hps. i got some 125w cfl's but im going all hps this time.

hustla
 

porchmonkey4life

Well-Known Member
hi porchmonkey, i dont have a mh light just the hps. i got some 125w cfl's but im going all hps this time.

hustla

yeah, I read you can use HPS throughout your entire grow, just make sure you have the correct nutrients and hours of light/day according to stage of growth (flower/veg/transition, etc.). Here's some more info from another reputable source: this was a response to my question of how to get the correct lighting for both mothers and clones:

You don't need to buy another ballast. For cuttings, a small fluorescent light is preferable until they show roots. Once rooted, though, you can put them under high pressure sodium light. Keep lights on 18 hours a day and give them vegetative nutrients and your plants will be fine.

In general, plants like both blue (metal halide) and red/orange (HPS) at all stages of growth. They prefer more blues in vegetative and more red/orange in flowering. The best bulbs are usually balanced spectrum, which means that a metal halide, such as the Agrosun Gold, will be about 70% blue and 30% red. Conversely, the Hortilux Super HPS, will be about 70% red and 30% blue.

At this point, a metal halide bulb for vegetative would be nice to have, but not necessary. If you have a digital ballast or a switchable magnetic style, you can use any metal halide bulb with your current ballast. If your ballast is strictly HPS, you can still create a metal halide spectrum with a conversion bulb. Any way you go, you'd only need a bulb.

That being said, I would not put cuttings and flowering plants under the same flowering light. Light spectrum isn't the issue so much as hours per day. Most flowering plants prefer more darkness (12 hours) than your cutting prefer. Isolate these two stages so that your cuttings can have a longer light cycle.

Use fluorescent lighting for 18 hours a day to vegetate your plants. Our tomato varieties in the store don't seem to stretch under fluorescents until their at least nine inches tall or so. We keep the lights 2-4 inches above the canopy and slowly raise them to create a stockier plant before flowering.
 

sticky2009

Active Member
Just think about plants in the wild.. They dont get 'special treatment' (low light) when they first pop out of the ground. I have studied a lot of wild ruderalis and the plants that thrive the most get full sunlight penetration from day one of the seed cracking. In my experience, hardening off is always a shock. All you can do is minimize it. The best way is to not shock your plants at all from seedling. so give em all the light you want. Temperature on the other hand is very important so having the heat of the light as far away as possible will keep your plants from burning as o2hustla said. good luck
 

Jack2009

Active Member
I think the best way to go (depending on how many plants you have/ available square footage in your grow area ) is to use an HPS Son Agro for all stages of growth. Ideally, I think you need upwards or around 3,000 lumens per square ft. to grow successfully. The HPS Son Agro has an increased blue spectrum of 30 %, which should be a help in vegetative growth, and as for flowering...it's an HPS with all the red/orange spectrum needed and it's 5% brighter than a regular HPS. A 430 HPS Son Agro has an output of around 53,000 lumens.. enough to cover 17 square feet. (an area 3 ft x almost 6 ft). I would like some feedback to know if this is correct.
 

dazed76

New Member
right after they sprout put in soil depending on what kind of light ur using slowly bring the light down like if you had a 1000 mh on top or hps put the light at least 3 feet up intil 6 inches tall and if you have a cfls can b 6 inches from them and if you got a 400 about a 16 inches and so on
 

Bamstone

Well-Known Member
If you just plant them in the soil to begin with, then dome the top or cover the cup with a baggie and put them in your lighted grow chamber you won't need to worry about this. Take off the baggie once they pop out of the soil.
 

Heads Up

Well-Known Member
I try to refer back to this simple thought. If it were in its natural habitat what would be happening? The soil would be getting direct sunlight before the seed ever sprouted and once sprouted the seedling would be getting direct sunlight from the second it broke ground. I put two seeds into a cup of water overnight. One seed went directly into vermiculite with root stimulators and I used the paper towel method for others for a day or so. Some sprouted a tap root some didn't. I put them all into soil and within two days all had broken ground regardless of the method and as soon as they did I put them under lights. Only the one planted directly into the vermiculite didn't survive. My seedlings all appeared either on the sixth or seventh of this month. All seem to be happy and doing their thing. Sometimes I think we tend to over baby our weed.
 

Armadillo Slim

Well-Known Member
Sunlight is different to cfls and HIDs because it has a 100% penetration, but the further away you put an artifial light the weaker the light is. Also in nature the seedlings start growing in spring when light levels are quite weak, as the plant grows the days get longer and the sun gets more powerful. A plant that germinated outdoors in full summer sun might burn up and die, thats like putting it under a 1000w HPS but obviously how far away the HPS is matters.
 

[email protected]

Active Member
can someone help me please ,
the only light source i have is a 400watt HPS my seeds just popped , my question is how far do i have the light from the new born plants at the moment " with out a clue " i have it sitting 20" away from the leaves do i need to adjust or ?
thanks in regards , tumeke
 

Jtoker

Active Member
hey just wondering ive had my plants under a cheap dollars store flouresant light for about a week today and i only have two baby leaves on the plants one plant is about 3 inches tall because i was havinga lighting problem where the plant stretched out to that length and the other one is about an incha and a half tall with two baby leaves as well my one tall one sits under the light for 12/12 and same with the other one should i still be doing the 24 cycle or is 12/12 ok i need some suggestions im a begginer and i have picture posted on my page if you want to look i just want to grow the plant for the sake of the looks of it i love smoking dope been doing it for 8 years now since grade 7 lol and now im taking an interest in growing seriously till the end of the season when i can harvest and smoke again so anyone with advice please contact me thanks
"J"
 

Jtoker

Active Member
hey just wondering ive had my plants under a cheap dollars store flouresant light for about a week today and i only have two baby leaves on the plants one plant is about 3 inches tall because i was havinga lighting problem where the plant stretched out to that length and the other one is about an incha and a half tall with two baby leaves as well my one tall one sits under the light for 12/12 and same with the other one should i still be doing the 24 cycle or is 12/12 ok i need some suggestions im a begginer and i have picture posted on my page if you want to look i just want to grow the plant for the sake of the looks of it i love smoking dope been doing it for 8 years now since grade 7 lol and now im taking an interest in growing seriously till the end of the season when i can harvest and smoke again so anyone with advice please contact me thanks
"J"
 
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