taking care of seedlings

So i got my germinated seeds in some soil today and now theyre chillin in my closet in red solo cups but i need to know how to take care of them. Help me haha

78 degrees. In the dark until they pop out and up. I usually soak mine in water and then 12 hrs later plant them in the dark at 78 degrees. They pop in less than 48 hrs through the surface and in two days, when i open the doors they are all looking at me pale and ready for the sun. I usually give them low light like a couple t8s or t5s until they "harden" off to the light. Then i up the light and the container size based on growth. Make sure you dont drown them, they dont need much more than to be moist. Check on them twice or more a day and dont blow them down with air either. Good luck.

Be gentle. They're fragile.

Alienwidow said:

78 degrees. In the dark until they pop out and up. I usually soak mine in water and then 12 hrs later plant them in the dark at 78 degrees. They pop in less than 48 hrs through the surface and in two days, when i open the doors they are all looking at me pale and ready for the sun. I usually give them low light like a couple t8s or t5s until they "harden" off to the light. Then i up the light and the container size based on growth. Make sure you dont drown them, they dont need much more than to be moist. Check on them twice or more a day and dont blow them down with air either. Good luck.

Click to expand...

Sweet man thx

Put a weak light over them.. no need to complicate thing's.

* Make sure you poked drain holes in the bottom of the solo cups.
* Solo cups are small, means you need to dribble some water around each plant daily.
* A single 60-75 watt Fl. bulb is fine for the first week.
* Using toothpicks and pipecleaners make some small braces in advance to support thin new stems.
* Keep a log so you can chart everything you do to the plants.
* Generate individual numbers and mark each plant. A typical notation for me might look like this: "BG 3-29 - A" (blueberry Gum in dirt on 3-29 and the first of the group).

Good luck, BigSteve.

When you transplant - transplant into your final growing container

"When you transplant - transplant into your final growing container"

Wrong. When new seedlings go into dirt they spend most all their energy growing out a rootball to support the plant. There will be little or no growth above ground until the roots reach the inside of the pot. I transplant 2 or 3 times as the plant gets bigger. Solo cup for (maybe) 2 weeks, then into a 7-inch pot for a couple weeks then into a 3-gallon pot to finish.

If you TP straight into a large pot you will join the army of new growers wondering why their seedlings are taking so long to grow. You will spend weeks longer if you do not TP. Up to you.

Good luck, BigSteve.

bigsteve said:

"When you transplant - transplant into your final growing container"

Wrong. When new seedlings go into dirt they spend most all their energy growing out a rootball to support the plant. There will be little or no growth above ground until the roots reach the inside of the pot. I transplant 2 or 3 times as the plant gets bigger. Solo cup for (maybe) 2 weeks, then into a 7-inch pot for a couple weeks then into a 3-gallon pot to finish.

If you TP straight into a large pot you will join the army of new growers wondering why their seedlings are taking so long to grow. You will spend weeks longer if you do not TP. Up to you.

Good luck, BigSteve.

Click to expand...

unless it's an auto, then i start in the final pot...and yes it's slow out of the gate, but eventually kicks into gear

Opinions will vary ...
But I place seed ( germ ) into final pot. The idea of seedling taking longer is crap. Here I planted in ONE container ( 3 gallon ) . The root system will thrive just fine , actually better because " you don't handle " it to do Transplant.
The root system will have all the room it needs right from the beginning . Less handling equals happier plant.

I did that solo routine , looks cool but as you " move " seedling their early root tendrils are EXTREMELY FRAGILE . I can't tell you how many times I had broken tips and pieces in the soil from transplanting.

Note : There is 11 days between pics. In one container , no transplant , no drama.

I cover pot with Saran Wrap to " humidify " container briefly ( in dark ) until I see a minor seedling stretch then I run under 1 65w cfl to condition plant before hitting with regular light systems.

Soil is moist not wet , beginning nutes are already in soil and I don't have to feed her shit until week 3 . And as you can see she is fine.

bigsteve said:

"When you transplant - transplant into your final growing container"

Wrong. When new seedlings go into dirt they spend most all their energy growing out a rootball to support the plant. There will be little or no growth above ground until the roots reach the inside of the pot. I transplant 2 or 3 times as the plant gets bigger. Solo cup for (maybe) 2 weeks, then into a 7-inch pot for a couple weeks then into a 3-gallon pot to finish.

If you TP straight into a large pot you will join the army of new growers wondering why their seedlings are taking so long to grow. You will spend weeks longer if you do not TP. Up to you.

Good luck, BigSteve.

Click to expand...

That depends , when using chemical nutrients I noticed that the root ball doesn't need to be as established for the plant to grow vertically.





organics is a different story.

Question along these lines.....

I have 7 feminized seeds that I started germinating yesterday. I am toying with the idea of getting the seedlings going good, then taking a clone from each one of them once they get about 4-6 inches tall. I figure to double my # of plants that way, and helpo a buddy get started with an outdoor grow.

Is this feasible?

freddfish said:

Question along these lines.....

I have 7 feminized seeds that I started germinating yesterday. I am toying with the idea of getting the seedlings going good, then taking a clone from each one of them once they get about 4-6 inches tall. I figure to double my # of plants that way, and helpo a buddy get started with an outdoor grow.

Is this feasible?

Click to expand...

No.. wait till your plants are bigger before you start cutting them..don't be dumb bro..it's nice of you to try and help someone out but you're in no position to help, worry about yourself right now..

"I have 7 feminized seeds that I started germinating yesterday. I am toying with the idea of getting the seedlings going good, then taking a clone from each one of them once they get about 4-6 inches tall. I figure to double my # of plants that way, and help a buddy get started with an outdoor grow.
Is this feasible?"

Not a good idea, here's why-- A major factor in rooting cuttings is the age of the donor mom. Years of experiments and tweaking have shown me that rarely will a cutting root when the mom is less than 5 weeks old. You know how larger branches get a hole in the middle of the stem? Ideally you should wait until the crown/main stem has the hole in it. The hole helps siphon water up the cutting. So, find a way to put off taking clones until mom is 5 weeks old.

Good luck, BigSteve.

mr sunshine said:

No.. wait till your plants are bigger before you start cutting them..don't be dumb bro..it's nice of you to try and help someone out but you're in no position to help, worry about yourself right now..

Click to expand...

Good point...he doesn't use the 'net, and I was hoping to get him statrted. Maybe I'll just buy him a few seeds.

bigsteve said:

"I have 7 feminized seeds that I started germinating yesterday. I am toying with the idea of getting the seedlings going good, then taking a clone from each one of them once they get about 4-6 inches tall. I figure to double my # of plants that way, and help a buddy get started with an outdoor grow.
Is this feasible?"

Not a good idea, here's why-- A major factor in rooting cuttings is the age of the donor mom. Years of experiments and tweaking have shown me that rarely will a cutting root when the mom is less than 5 weeks old. You know how larger branches get a hole in the middle of the stem? Ideally you should wait until the crown/main stem has the hole in it. The hole helps siphon water up the cutting. So, find a way to put off taking clones until mom is 5 weeks old.

Good luck, BigSteve.

Click to expand...

This begs the question, Big Steve....lets say they sprout tomorrow, and I keep them under CFLs growing for 5 weeks. That puts us in 1st week of May before I could concievably take clones, maybe 2-3 weeks more for the clones to establish themselves (I think).....June 1st if all goes well.

For an outdoor grow, would that be too late to get them in the ground, do you think?

(Obviously, he's a good guy, my friend is....although not wealthy enough to buy seeds for 8.00 a piece)

Gotta admit my growing experience is limited to indoors.

Maybe we can improve on your timeline. You can take clones from a flowering mom if she has been at 12/12 for a week or less. So toss her into flower at 4 weeks vegging. After 6 days at 12/12 take the top as a clone. I figure 8-12 days for cuttings to root. Rooted clones veg much quicker than seedlings. One of my rooted clones will typically veg 4-5 weeks before going to flower. Seedlings take an extra week or 2 to get to the same size. As you now know the plant type you can FIM or top the vegging next generation earlier. Like in week 2 or 3 of veg.

Good luck, BigSteve.

harris hawk said:

When you transplant - transplant into your final growing container

Click to expand...

If its an auto. Otherwise no. From two inch pot to 15 gallon grow bag? Id say no.

Budzbuddha said:

Opinions will vary ...
But I place seed ( germ ) into final pot. The idea of seedling taking longer is crap. Here I planted in ONE container ( 3 gallon ) . The root system will thrive just fine , actually better because " you don't handle " it to do Transplant.
The root system will have all the room it needs right from the beginning . Less handling equals happier plant.

I did that solo routine , looks cool but as you " move " seedling their early root tendrils are EXTREMELY FRAGILE . I can't tell you how many times I had broken tips and pieces in the soil from transplanting.

Note : There is 11 days between pics. In one container , no transplant , no drama.

I cover pot with Saran Wrap to " humidify " container briefly ( in dark ) until I see a minor seedling stretch then I run under 1 65w cfl to condition plant before hitting with regular light systems.

Soil is moist not wet , beginning nutes are already in soil and I don't have to feed her shit until week 3 . And as you can see she is fine.

Click to expand...

I dont think that they grow faster with multiple transplants. The opposite actually. They grow a little slower sometimes. But its much easier and cheaper on fertilizer when you water your plants in the appropriate sized container. If you run soiless with large containers your asking for problems. And personally i only see transplant stress when i go from the cloneing tray to the first container.