Smartfood's Chrystal Grow Need Pro Advice!

So after waiting one month and five days my Chrystal seeds have arrived from WWMS. I'll be putting them in a CD jewel case/paper towel here in a few hours. For the first grow I think I'm going to go with soil. We'll see how that works out and I may switch to hydro/aero for the next one. Since I can't seem to find Fox Farms anywhere in my city, I think I'll be going with MG moisture control. Any advice during this process would be greatly appreciated! I've been doing my research for the last month and have a basic idea, but really want the pros' advice. That means you VV, FF, FDD, Al BF!

hmm.. not exactly sure what you need advice on, but good luck hah

First Grow, I'm nervous!
Okay here are the questions I have so far:
Should the seedlings be put under daylight CFL's or Soft White CFL's and what's a good wattage per square foot for seedlings?
How long should they be under CFL's before moving to Metal Halide?
Should I have a perlite mix with the MG? If so what ratio?
Any help is greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!

smartfood said:

First Grow, I'm nervous!
Okay here are the questions I have so far:
Should the seedlings be put under daylight CFL's or Soft White CFL's and what's a good wattage per square foot for seedlings?
How long should they be under CFL's before moving to Metal Halide?
Should I have a perlite mix with the MG? If so what ratio?
Any help is greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!

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1)daylight and they recommend one cfl per leaf
2)depends on the wattage of the MH, probably a few weeks after sprout
3)yes, the mircles grow is known to burn plants, so i'd say maybe a half and half mix

hope that helps you out! good luck
Stem

Do the seedlings need to be covered with plastic or saran wrap or something for the first few days? I've seen this in pics before, but don't understand the reasoning behind it or even if it's necessary/beneficial.

humidity helps them root

Ah, I see. I have a 3x2.5x5h space for Veg/Flower plus a super stealth clone/mother box at my girlfriend's place. I am quite proud of the stealthiness of the box. Pics coming soon.

Had my girlfriend take a couple of pics to give you guys a progress report. Out of the original 11 seeds, 9 have sprouted. I had to go to work so my gf took over. Somehow one of the 9 disappeared. She may have double planted.. guess we'll find out in a couple of days, otherwise it got lost in the rug. Ah well. Waiting on the last two... They're planted in seed-starters in jiffy pots (couldn't find rockwool). The water was PH'd to about 6.5 (is that about right? Should show a sprout in a couple of days?

Well 11 out of 11 Chrystal seeds popped (one straggler had just barely cracked). All are in Jiffy pots now, just waiting for them to surface. Here's a pic of the stealth box for germ -> veg and maybe a mother next run, plus the flowering box.

Five of them have broken the surface with small leaves and are looking good. Others are one their way. Anyone want to weigh in on when seedlings should be put into soil? They're just in starter moss right now (no nutrients), sitting in Jiffy pots. How about the switch from Flouro to metal halide (400W)? When do you guys switch them over? I've heard after 2-3 weeks, as soon as they have their first set of true leaves. Just wanting to clear that up! Thanks!

Went to the hydro store today and bought some nutes and soil (both Fox Farms) along with some 9-inch pots (2-gallon).
First mishaps of the grow (I'm sure there will be more). 8 of the 11 had broken the surface and I was wondering why the other 3 hadn't, so I did a little bit of gentle digging. Two of them had turned themselves around, while one had apparently died (root was grayish and limp). So I righted the two plants, root down, leaves up. Noticed what looks like mold growing on the sides of jiffy pots? Figured that couldn't be good and took the plants out and put them in the green pots without the jiffy. Can't imagine mold helping... Any extra precautions I should be taking on the mold front? Anyways here are a couple of pics of the progress thus far.

Okay, lowered the light today and went to work. Shit went downhilll fast. The seedlings are looking bad. They're about 6 days old, here are pics. Did I burn them? Will they recover? Should I order new seeds now?! Can't believe it! AHHH!!

smartfood said:

Okay, lowered the light today and went to work. Shit went downhilll fast. The seedlings are looking bad. They're about 6 days old, here are pics. Did I burn them? Will they recover? Should I order new seeds now?! Can't believe it! AHHH!!

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Don't worry about the cotelydons, they die off when the true leaves emerge and grow out. If you think the temp is too hot, place your hand under the lamp at plant level. If it's too hot for your skin, it's too hot for the seedlings.

Based on your photos, all is well for 6 days growth.

Those were the pics of the ones I figured would probably pull through. How moist should the soil be? I've been watering quite a bit, but the moss dries up fast. Temp feels fine... Here are the pics of the ones that I'm doubting will pull through...

your doin the jiffy wrong i think.. i have those to but i soak them in water for a little and they get all big and fat and absorb all the water for atleast a week with no watering

Ya, I'm really not sure. I soaked them in PH'd water, they got all swoll up and i put the germ'd seeds inside. I then covered them and put the under CFLs. They looked pretty good for a few days then started looking bad. Not sure if it was too hot in there, not enough water, or what. Just got a thermometer/hydrometer and it's been about 83F in there, which is a bit hot from what I've read. I also took them out of their humidity dome (saran wrap) when the shit hit the fan. They seem to be doing a bit better but are growing really slowly. Only 10 days old and they've just barely popped their first true leaves. They're really frail looking... I'll post pics when I get the chance.

dude the peat cups suck my dick, bought some tried one n toook allll my seeds out, there to low of a pH but thats just my opinion, hope it works out

Ya, I'm thinking the same thing. I'm gonna go straight to soil with them next time... see if that makes a difference.

smartfood said:

Those were the pics of the ones I figured would probably pull through. How moist should the soil be? I've been watering quite a bit, but the moss dries up fast. Temp feels fine... Here are the pics of the ones that I'm doubting will pull through...

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these will probably still grow.. dont give up on them

bluntastic said:

these will probably still grow.. dont give up on them

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Thanks for the encouragement! They may pull through, we'll see. The growth on all of them is very, very slow. Could be the temp, I dunno. Not really sure if they should be covered right now or not for increased humidity. It's about 35% where they're at and 80F. Some of them have their first true leaves coming out, but I'm going to wait until all of them have them out before throwing them under the MH. Not really worth running 400W for one or two seedlings that may be males.
Once they get in there my plan is to pull two-three clones off of each plant and label them, then flower. When they show sex, kill the males and the clones off of them. Then I'll have a couple of hearty mothers hopefully.