First time growing, need advice ^^

Hey guys, I've been scouring the forum for abit and it's time to introduce myself! nice to meet y'all. I've been really curious about the different effects of different strains and finally decided to grow my own.

I've got seedsman white widow and germinated two of them exactly 2 weeks ago. Been growing them in a grow tent under 400 watt HPS son-t agro. I'm quite concerned because one of them seems to be growing much slower than the other one.



As you can see from the pics, one seedling is smaller than the other and ir has some crooked leaves. The little one hasn't shown much growth for the past 3 days. Can anyone take a look and tell me if they are okay? I suspect the larger seedling to be abit overwatered. Is there any signs of deficiencies at all?

they look good i think, one important thing to remember is when they are in the seedling stage there roots always have to be moist and dont burn them, if you look at trees they all grow at different speeds and in different directions, let the plants grow and try not to mess with them to much they know what they are doing

Thx officer, maybe I'm just alil paranoid. There are just so many factors affecting the smaller one like it was slower to germinate and the rockwool I put it in is broken in half so I have to hold it together with a rubber band. When I water them, should I water from the top or soak the bottom part of the rockwool?

doesnt matter really just as the cube stays moist but once the roots start coming out of the bottom drop it into the hydro kit and the roots will drop down into the water and explode from there

So I should transplant them to the hydro pot as soon as the roots are visible from the bottom?

Here are some pics from today. The last three pics look different cuz they were taken without flash. Are the leaves supposed to be curling downward like that? I look around pics of healthy plants and they usually have leaves looking strong and straight.

They look stretched and over watered to me. I'd suggest allowing your media to go from wet to dry. Officer doesn't know what they are talking about. Young root systems need to breathe too. Go from almost dry but still just barely moist to totally saturated. Young plants need VERY little water so you don't need to be adding some every day unless the cubes are going dry that fast.

Also, if you're using fluorescent lighting I'd suggest moving the bulbs a little closer and making sure you have a good breeze on them or they are going to fall over on you shortly.

I am using 400 watt HPS son-t agro. The stretching thing happened last week and the larger plant already fell on me. I've lowered the light to about 60 cm away, propped it up with toothpick and blow a fan on them. The stem's been strong now but can't do anything about the height. Do you reckon I can bury half of the stalk when I transplant it into coco later on?

I agree with you snow, they look somewhat overwatered. I don't totally saturate the rockwool but keep them moist by spraying on them and dipping the bottom 1/3 in water. The thing is ever since I start blowing fan on them, the rockwool has dried out so quickly (in a few hours). What do you think I should do? just leave them alone for now? turn off the fan?

haha obviously you are half retarded because clearly i said they need to be MOIST if you cant read, not saturated or soaked just moist which is the same thing you are saying and i was gonna say from those new pics they look a little over watered, if the young roots dry out they will die according to ed rosenthal and i am pretty sure he knows what he is talking about

also if you have a small oscillating fan on them the small amounts of air that hits them will help there stems stay strong so they wont break in the future, but just dont let them get hit with the fan too hard

They look abit streched, get the light closer to them. If heat is a problem put a fan on them, which i would recommend as it will keep the air moving around the plant and make its stems stronger. I would also second to waiting until the rockwool becomes near dry before rewatering it. Also putting a tad bit of nitrogen fert in it will help it become greener and healthier, only a very minute amount as they are very sensitive at there young stage.

I don't really understand the way you started your plants if you're going to coco. Next time just plant your seeds in a party cup of coco, place a 20ish watt daylight cfl bulb a few inches above when it's a seedling, and transplant when the plant out grows the cup (the roots should fill the media, 15 to 20 days or so). I suggest moving to a 2 gallon planter of coco to grow a plant that will finish around 24 to 30 inches in height. During flowering you'll be watering at least every other day, and possibly multiple times per day.

No need for rock wool or starter plugs or strange watering schedules. Plant it. Transplant it. Feed and water it.

You can get 1qt of Botanicare CNS 17 Soil/Coco Grow, Bloom, and Ripe for about $8 per bottle. That's all you'll need for 5-6 plants. $25 and you're set. You can also consider getting ~$5 bag of Organicare Pure Bloom and amending with 1/2 ounce per gallon of coco when you transplant to the larger planter. This allows the CNS 17 to last twice as long because it is suggested to be used at 1/2 strength after amending the coco with Pure.

Figure $50 for up to 12 plants grown in two gallon planters with the cost of the coco and the planters (cheap). You could do several of these smaller grows for under $65 in Nutrients, media, and planters even with shipping costs.

Don't make it more complicated than it needs to be. You're adding in all these steps. Leave rock wool to the systems it belongs in. Personally, I think there are better medias.

thx for all the advice guys, really really appreciate it. One question, how long should I let the rockwool to be dry before it starts damaging the root? It still looks droopy today but the medium is like totally dry, I'm scared of watering it but also scared it might dry out the roots.

Snow: I was told to grow this way by the guy in the hydro store.....which I've learnt not to trust everything he says. I'm using the drip system and he recommended watering for 1 minute every 3 hours when the light is on (18/6). Is this right? 1 minute just sound quite little compared to what I read other people do. Also, how long does it take usually till the roots are visible in such 4*4 rockwool?

1. They look a bit weak to me, I would've hoped for a thicker stem by now. EXERCISE, get that fan on them, they need to rest too though, put it on the timer.
2. Fishy water from a fishtank, or get the merk stuff, that's a good starter with pretty much zero risk of overfeeding, you can almost see growth after adding.
3. If you cant see roots by now, cover the rockwool with tinfoil so that light don't hit directly and prune the roots.
4. If I were you, I'd do one hydro and the other one in soil. If you fuck one up you'll still have hopes of smoke. Only a thought.
5. Read Cervante's Bible before you do anything regarding grass farming, another 2 cents.

pax

You don't let the rock wool go dry.

I said almost dry. Just barely still moist.

You need to be keeping the rock wool going from wet to ALMOST dry. Never all the way. It'd take minutes to dry the roots out.

You should put them in your hydro setup now, the longer you let that rockwool be exposed to light the more problems you will have with algae growth.

Snow: to keep it moist i need to water it like twice a day cuz they dry up so quick. Would that be overwatering?

No drama: so its okay to transfer it to the hydro setup even if the roots arent visible yet? Another question, cuz im growing in a growtent and i will have to put the bucket of water for the recirculating drip system, will algae growth be a problem? I've read that im supposed to keep the water at low temp and outta light but at the moment its not possible to do that.

rizou said:

Snow: to keep it moist i need to water it like twice a day cuz they dry up so quick. Would that be overwatering?

No drama: so its okay to transfer it to the hydro setup even if the roots arent visible yet? Another question, cuz im growing in a growtent and i will have to put the bucket of water for the recirculating drip system, will algae growth be a problem? I've read that im supposed to keep the water at low temp and outta light but at the moment its not possible to do that.

Click to expand...

Bummer! Light and high temps in hydro waters = ROOT FUCKING ROT

fix it now, or go soil m8 the more I read your stuff the more I feel that way

That's pretty surprising that your cubes dry out so quick. The cubes I've used before hold their water well enough. Two waterings a day isn't bad.

What I suggest doing is allowing the cube to wick what it needs. Water the "bottom" of the cube and let it absorb to the right level. You should be weighing the cube in your hand to determine how much moisture is left in there.

turtle: I might be able to put the hydro water outside the tent, I was wondering if the temp is about 26 degree celcius but the water is not exposed to light, will that also cause problems?

snow: Can you explain to me what you mean by water the bottom of the cube and let it absorb to the right level?

Place the cube in a tray, plate, cup, whatever...
Add water to the container the cube is on. The cube will pull water into itself. Hydrolysis, osmosis, capillary action... [d] all of the above.
This will take the cube to a point of moistness.

You really only need to make it through the next couple of days. It's not too complicated. Just don't kill the thing and get those roots growing. Do a little more research, there is a different way of going all about this that makes it easy.