aspiring first grow, plant dying... with pics

Missnu - Thank you so much... Some of what you have said was being said by others but it took your comments for me to "get it". I sorta feel like I had a breakthrough just now.

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU...

- although I now regret that I just watered the plant (mentioned that in earlier post) though it wasn't very much water

I am ok now with letting by baby find more of her own way and I promise I wont water for at least 2 - 3 days! ;D

Can I add perlite to my current plant or does that need to be mixed throughout your soil mix before putting in your seedling?

Water: I've never heard of your watering method but I want to try it. I have my little girl in one of those biodegradable starter cups, I'm guessing I can't submerge that into a larger cup as you suggested. What do you think?

Rememeber that over-watering is watering a little bit everyday, like top up watering. Best to let ur plants dry and always water with fully.

colortherapy said:

Missnu - Thank you so much... Some of what you have said was being said by others but it took your comments for me to "get it". I sorta feel like I had a breakthrough just now.

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU...

- although I now regret that I just watered the plant (mentioned that in earlier post) though it wasn't very much water

I am ok now with letting by baby find more of her own way and I promise I wont water for at least 2 - 3 days! ;D

Can I add perlite to my current plant or does that need to be mixed throughout your soil mix before putting in your seedling?

Water: I've never heard of your watering method but I want to try it. I have my little girl in one of those biodegradable starter cups, I'm guessing I can't submerge that into a larger cup as you suggested. What do you think?

Click to expand...

I start seeds in solo cups, the bottom watering is just so you know for sure that all the soil has been saturated...then as the pot dries the roots will look for more water...and more water and more water...then finally you give them lots of water and they grow a lot to seek out more water. You will be set back on growth somewhat by the earlier faux paus but it will be alright in the end, as long as you don't overwater...
And bottom watering is nothing new, or a technique...just another way to water...I do it with small plants. it is just easier than trying to water them any other way...take a few in their little cups and just stick them in a bucket of water...I do it with plants in Jiffy pucks as well...just set them in water and the soil will absorb as much as it can...

You want the plant to go from totally dry to sopping wet, to totally dry, and then sopping wet again...a pattern...you don't want even wetness throughout the whole time the way some plants like...dry like a desert, wet like a rainforest...so on and so forth.

missnu said:

I start seeds in solo cups, the bottom watering is just so you know for sure that all the soil has been saturated...then as the pot dries the roots will look for more water...and more water and more water...then finally you give them lots of water and they grow a lot to seek out more water. You will be set back on growth somewhat by the earlier faux paus but it will be alright in the end, as long as you don't overwater...
And bottom watering is nothing new, or a technique...just another way to water...I do it with small plants. it is just easier than trying to water them any other way...take a few in their little cups and just stick them in a bucket of water...I do it with plants in Jiffy pucks as well...just set them in water and the soil will absorb as much as it can...

Click to expand...

I get it now, and I am excited to know that I feel like I actually understand how to water now. Yay!

All I have to do is put my little bio-degradable planter pot down into another bucket or tub with water, say a couple inches deep, and then take it out after like 5 min or however long it takes for the pot to become full and heavy.

I think I realize that this way of watering... drenched to dry to drenched to dry... might explain some of the time-lapse videos I've watched where it looks like the plants go droopy-weak to strong and back and forth as they keep growing... to the point where the plant looks like it is dancing or waving when seen in timelapse. That may have nothing to do with watering them like - actually now that I think about it, its probably from the lights going on and off but in the videos you only see when the lights are on... that makes more sense. Silly me.

missnu said:

I start seeds in solo cups...

Click to expand...

what do you do with the solo cup? I tried using the paper towel method on bagseed and only one of about 20 germinated.

I pop seeds in the paper towl and then into the peat (Jiffy) pucks and then into the red solo cups. After your seeds pop and a tap root begins to show, you can just aqs easily put them in the red solo cups and let them grow.

If you got only a 1/20 germ rate on the paper towel method then either you have bad bagseed (very possible) or arent quite on with your germination techniques. Make sure sees are brownish is color (specifically not white) and you can even put them in a cup of water overnight to see if they sink. Sinkers = good, floaters = bad. Give them time to drop though.

Okay - UPDATE
The plant in question didn't get much further than the first picture I included on the first post.

The first leaves and top part of step is dried and brittle... i'm almost positive its all dead now. But there is life in the lower part of the stem. I took control of the water better and have been doing better with light, etc. It seems the stem, below the top leaves and parts that are dried and dead, is actually got life in it.

Can I cut off the first growth of a seedling including its first 6 leafs and the plant still live?