First time grower, 2 week mark, QUESTIONS! PLEASE HELP!!

So the preliminaries:

I'm using the StealthHydro DWC Grower's Choice kit. It has room for 4 plants, but I'm only growing two at a time (Bubblicious and Critical Jack). Both are Autoflowers.

Location: Closet, white wallsCAM00441.jpgCAM00442.jpg
Lighting: Hydroponic Full Spectrum CFL Grow Light Bulb 60 Watt Bulb 5500K H60

The seeds arrived two weeks ago, at which time I immediately soaked them in room temp water in separate ceramic coffee cups, covered them and put them in a cabinet. Only the Critical Jack germinated (which really pissed me off because the Bubblicious was supposed to be 100% germ rate, but whatever). After about 2 days, I moved the Critical Jack into the rockwool and then into the DWC. For the first week, while there was regular tap water in the container and the air pump was running, I didn't adjust the water's pH or add nutrients. I had heard that the plant really doesn't need much of anything until the first two small leaves pop up, so I waited until that little bulb showed up about 4 days ago and started with the adjustments. Using only what I think is a 1/4 of full strength right now. Thus, my questions begin. Feel free to answer any of them.

1) The plant's root still hasn't popped through the hydroton rocks, so I'm not sure it's getting the nutrients yet. Should I be concerned? And have I started adding them too soon? I'm also not completely sure how high the water should be. Should it touch the bottom of the rockwool or somewhere near the bottom of the rocks? Or lower than that?

2) I check the pH usually once a day. Is that the recommended frequency?

3) When it comes to the nutrients, here's where I'm completely clueless:
a. I keep reading places that the mixture should be (during veg) 3 parts grow, 2 parts micro and 1 part bloom. First off, my kit only came with Grow and Bloom. Idk what Micro is. Second, what exactly are "parts?" The instructions say 1 tspn/gallon. I have roughly 4 gallons in the tub; so does that mean I put 12 tspns of grow (3 x 4) and 4 tspns of bloom (1 x 4)?? So far all I put in was a tspn of grow and a half tspn of bloom. I don't know how I got those numbers, but I do remember reading that early on, start the plants with abt a quarter of the strength of the nutrients. So I figured what I put in was low enough not to do too much damage. CAM00446.jpg

b. After I added the nutrients, the next day, there was a pretty funky smell coming from the tub. It wasn't particularly strong, but it wasn't very pleasant either. And the water has a slight brownish tint to it. I figured this was just the natural result of adding an non-clear liquid to water, but I wanted to double check with you folks.​

4) What stage exactly is my plant in? I've had potted plants reach this stage before but grow no further (this is my first real effort at growing, so don't mind my past failures, all it was was me putting a seed in some dirt and adding water for two weeks). CAM00443.jpgCAM00444.jpg

5) Any other suggestions based on the pics?

Thanks y'all.
 

zack66

Well-Known Member
What are you running for a light? It seems to be stretching you may want to bring it closer to the light. If it's not too much heat. Any fans blowing on it?
 

NnthStTrls

Well-Known Member
I bet if you had just popped them into some dirt they would have both germinated and you wouldn't be having any problems.

Take a step back, stop overthinking, and maybe try dirt for your first grow.

Good luck. There's plenty of help with dwc to be found here. Just keep at it. Peace.
 

datguy

Well-Known Member
Def a lot of stretch there... 60 watt cfl is a 150 watt equivilent, Get that light 6 inches off those plants ASAP IMAG0157_BURST002.jpg
This plant is 1 week since it broke the cube and only 1 inch tall... 4 45 watt cfls 2 inchs off tops
 

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datguy

Well-Known Member
You can try to pull down lower into clay or stack more pellets up around base. A fan will def help to sturdy up the stem
 

lahadaextranjera

Well-Known Member
Dont feed seedlings fertiliser for the first few weeks. Just use rhizoctonic or similar and keep the EC low. Keep ur PH between 5.5-6.2 , EC 0.3
 
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