Hello all, i'm starting my first grow this week with seeds from attitude and was hoping to get some input from people much more experienced than I. So far i have just the germinated the seeds in rockwool in 5.8 ph water. The water reads right at 7.2 after soaking in the rockwool overnight. I have the seeds on a warming mat as well and the moisture inside is very high. The pictures below show the plants 72 hours after inserting into rockwool. The white bar is a temp gauge that has been holding steady at 83 degrees Fahrenheit. Maybe a bit warm? Also, i just realized I don't have the ability to upload images here. Is there something simple that I am missing. My concern at this point is that the seedlings look to be a little brown/weak. Not sure if this is normal or indicative of some over/under water or ph balance not being quite right. any help is most appreciated.
Headstomper
New Member
This should get you uploading
Photo Gallery Guide - How to Resize, Upload & Post Photos
F.A.Q.
Frequently Asked Questions
How to ask for grow support
How to Ask for Grow Support
This section should give you some answers too
How to Grow Marijuana
Hopefully this will provide you with some answers for now, wish i could help more but i'm a bit of a noobie myself
Photo Gallery Guide - How to Resize, Upload & Post Photos
F.A.Q.
Frequently Asked Questions
How to ask for grow support
How to Ask for Grow Support
This section should give you some answers too
How to Grow Marijuana
Hopefully this will provide you with some answers for now, wish i could help more but i'm a bit of a noobie myself
quick breakdown, then its time for you to go through those links above and educate yourself ASAP!!
1. 83 is ok but perfect would be 77-79 for germinating.
2. once the sprouts have broken the surface and have there first set of "true" fan leaves take that lid off and keep it off! too much humidity at this stage will cause you to get stem rot and your seedling will collapse under there own weight.
3. get rid of the heat mat along with the lid if you want your seedlings to survive.
4. only water your cubes when they start to get light. this will only be once a day to once every two days for the first wk, then once plant starts exploding its time to transplant into net basket with hygroton. and use drippers to feed the plant once to twice daily until roots are visible threw bottom of net pot, this is when you would introduce the net pot to the DWC bubble bucket.
5. make sure your res or bucket has LOTS and LOTS of airation!! this is ESSENTIAL to a happy and productive root system.
after big roots equals big fruits! =)
hope that litle it helps you out. also remember to always be there monitoring and overlooking your seeldings!! and be patient, dont overwater and you should be good. remember to keep humidity bellow 45% 50% anything higher and you run risk of getting stem rot.
1. 83 is ok but perfect would be 77-79 for germinating.
2. once the sprouts have broken the surface and have there first set of "true" fan leaves take that lid off and keep it off! too much humidity at this stage will cause you to get stem rot and your seedling will collapse under there own weight.
3. get rid of the heat mat along with the lid if you want your seedlings to survive.
4. only water your cubes when they start to get light. this will only be once a day to once every two days for the first wk, then once plant starts exploding its time to transplant into net basket with hygroton. and use drippers to feed the plant once to twice daily until roots are visible threw bottom of net pot, this is when you would introduce the net pot to the DWC bubble bucket.
5. make sure your res or bucket has LOTS and LOTS of airation!! this is ESSENTIAL to a happy and productive root system.
after big roots equals big fruits! =)
hope that litle it helps you out. also remember to always be there monitoring and overlooking your seeldings!! and be patient, dont overwater and you should be good. remember to keep humidity bellow 45% 50% anything higher and you run risk of getting stem rot.
- Thread starter
- #4
Thanks so much guys I didn't expect such a quick response. Headstomper, I will post pics immediately, that link was great. Prepodigy, I think all 19 have germinated succesfully and I believe the leaves that can be seen in the photos are the first fan leaves, so i will be removing the lid today. My rockwool has stayed rather moist. Thanks for the advice. I have tried to be prepared as possible. Ill post pics of grow room today. I have the lights, mylar, two 400w mh and two 400w hps bulbs. I also have the hyddroton and netpots to insert into the bubbler, where i will have a 5 gallon aquarium pump to oxygenate the h2o constantly. I only have two light fixtures though so im guessing ill need to snag some more. Two 400w on 19 plants seems to little. Sorry for the barrage of questions. I feel very prepared but very nervous at the same time. Just want to make sure I get it right on the first try. Again, thanks to everyone for their time and consideration!
- Thread starter
- #5
And most seem to recommend the flora series gro, micro, bloom. Is this the preferred nutrient mix?
Sky Rocket
New Member
19 plants is a lot for just two 400 waters unless you plan on doing a sea of green.
soak rockwool in water ph'ed @5.5 next time for 24 hrs before you use it.
im using dwc i dont use drip not even when i put them in the dwc
i just start it so the water just touches the bottom of the rockwool about 1/4 of an inch so the water wicks up
and as pre said lost of aeration
im using dwc i dont use drip not even when i put them in the dwc
i just start it so the water just touches the bottom of the rockwool about 1/4 of an inch so the water wicks up
and as pre said lost of aeration
ok they are looking a little stretchy, how far is your light? are you using your 400w MH for seedlings?
recommended is a single bulb HO T5 fixture 2 inches above the tops of the seedlings. then once seedlings have root structure and are transplanted into net pots thats when you would introduce the 400W MH with bulb at least 4-5 foot above plants. then over the next week, as plants begin to adjust to the Bright MH you would gradually lower light until it is 2-3 foot above tops of plants.
if your rockwool is still moist thats ok, just leave lid off and dont water until they are feeling lighter, BUT, you dont want them to ever completley dry out. plus dont use a fan on these seedlings yet. as long as your grow rm is between 70-77 def F, humidity is between 45-50% your plants will be happy. dont introduce fan until you have transplanted.
also dont use that heat mat if your rm is at these conditions. heat mat is only needed if the rm is cooler and seelding tray is sitting on a surface cooler then 65 F.
how large is your res? if your pump will work as long as your using less then 5 gals. otherwise i recomend more water. remember rots are just sittingin this water so airation needs to be extreme!! you want the water to look as if its boiling, like your about to cook up some pasta. this will promote exsplosive root formation and prevent root rot.
quick tip, when you have transplanted rockwool into net pots. set cube as high up in the pot as possible with cube sitting ontop of hygroton. then have the water level so that it just touches the bottom of net pot, you will need to hand water for first wk until roots poke threw bottom of netpot.
you want to the roots to stretch for the water that why you leave the gap between top of watter and bottom of rock wool cube (using the hygroton in the net pot)
you DO NOT!! want your rock wool cube sitting in the water when you transplant into net pot. if you do let that happen your cube will stay too saturated and your roots will rot.
roots only grow when medium starts to dry out, roots grow because they are searching for water.
this means if you leave rockwool cube dripping wet 24/7 rots will never grow and plant will rot.
again be patient, transplant into netpot with hygroton as soon as roots develope from rockwool cubes.
than use bubble buckets or tote when roots appear out bottom of net pot.
i understand i might have said same thing multiple times but thats only because these are things ive delt with and have fucked me in the past. so by telling you over and over i hpe to save you the same mistakes ive made.
things are looking good though. keep it up. hopefully i've been able to help even just a little
recommended is a single bulb HO T5 fixture 2 inches above the tops of the seedlings. then once seedlings have root structure and are transplanted into net pots thats when you would introduce the 400W MH with bulb at least 4-5 foot above plants. then over the next week, as plants begin to adjust to the Bright MH you would gradually lower light until it is 2-3 foot above tops of plants.
if your rockwool is still moist thats ok, just leave lid off and dont water until they are feeling lighter, BUT, you dont want them to ever completley dry out. plus dont use a fan on these seedlings yet. as long as your grow rm is between 70-77 def F, humidity is between 45-50% your plants will be happy. dont introduce fan until you have transplanted.
also dont use that heat mat if your rm is at these conditions. heat mat is only needed if the rm is cooler and seelding tray is sitting on a surface cooler then 65 F.
how large is your res? if your pump will work as long as your using less then 5 gals. otherwise i recomend more water. remember rots are just sittingin this water so airation needs to be extreme!! you want the water to look as if its boiling, like your about to cook up some pasta. this will promote exsplosive root formation and prevent root rot.
quick tip, when you have transplanted rockwool into net pots. set cube as high up in the pot as possible with cube sitting ontop of hygroton. then have the water level so that it just touches the bottom of net pot, you will need to hand water for first wk until roots poke threw bottom of netpot.
you want to the roots to stretch for the water that why you leave the gap between top of watter and bottom of rock wool cube (using the hygroton in the net pot)
you DO NOT!! want your rock wool cube sitting in the water when you transplant into net pot. if you do let that happen your cube will stay too saturated and your roots will rot.
roots only grow when medium starts to dry out, roots grow because they are searching for water.
this means if you leave rockwool cube dripping wet 24/7 rots will never grow and plant will rot.
again be patient, transplant into netpot with hygroton as soon as roots develope from rockwool cubes.
than use bubble buckets or tote when roots appear out bottom of net pot.
i understand i might have said same thing multiple times but thats only because these are things ive delt with and have fucked me in the past. so by telling you over and over i hpe to save you the same mistakes ive made.
things are looking good though. keep it up. hopefully i've been able to help even just a little
you need to be carefull doing this! it will prevent rockwool from ever drying at all and this can promote rot. it may work but usually only when your dealing with larger plants that already have an established root structure that exceeds the cube. you never want rockwool to sit in water too long. esp for younger seedlings, its just too much for them.
also you want your rockwool to be able to dry out slightly, this promotes root development, and larger roots equals larger fruitS!! so making it so that the root zone is 100% submerged in water is not the beast idea, as plant roots grow you actually want to lower water levels slightly so that 1/3 of root mass is not under water! again 1/3 of root mas is not under water, this leaves 2/3rds of roots to be soaking up nutrients, but because a portion of roots are completely dry your roots will want to keep growing to make up for the roots that have been dry. and again. the larger the root system the bigger your buds can get because your plant is able to uptake more nutrients through those larger root structures.
but again you are just starting out so keep things as simple as possible. but never stop learning!
your doing great so far and there are plenty of knowledgeable people here to help out.
- Thread starter
- #10
- Thread starter
- #11
Sky Rocket
New Member
Your seedlings are stretching for light. How far is your light from them. Some of them are real lanky?
- Thread starter
- #13
- Thread starter
- #14
Sky Rocket
New Member
Yes. Fluorescent lighting is good to use for seedlings. Good job with finding a solution for the holding up the lanky seedlings
- Thread starter
- #16
that seedling that looks like it "Broke", did NOT break. that is a perfect example of something called "damping off" or "stem rot" which is what i was explaining in my first posts. its from excessive moisture in the root zone, excessive moisture plus higher then tolerable humidity promotes the perfect growing environment for bacteria. this will cause the plants stalk to collapse in on itself, then the plant falls over and dies.
you should google "damping off of seedlings" this will give you a detailed explanation as to the cause and prevention. but before you do that, check your inbox. i just pm'ed you.
you should google "damping off of seedlings" this will give you a detailed explanation as to the cause and prevention. but before you do that, check your inbox. i just pm'ed you.
Glad to see you got yourself a nice little H.O. single bulb T5 fixture, very nice! =)
also do me a favor if you dont mind. take a picture of your water aeration?, fill up your buckets with amount of water you will be using during the grow cycle, water just barley touching bottom of net pots, and have your air stones running, i would just like to see how much aeration those air stones are going to provide. you want your water to look like a HARD BOIL. lots and lots of aeration. you dont want your roots to drown, and you DO want explosive root growth. in order to make this happen you need your water to look like a pot of boiling water (also the smaller the air bubble the better, cuz it covers more surface area of the water this way and will also get into the harder to reach areas of your roots zone.
this is an example of good aeration, notice how there isnt much space between the bubbles and there are LOTS and lots of those very tiny bubbles? this is waht you want to see, the surface of this bucket would look like a pot of boiling water.
you dont need to run that large of an airstone or that large of an air line to get these results, all i use is a single "micro pore" air stone with a 1/4" line and i get the same aereation with a 5 gal bucket. ill have to take a picture and post it up for everyone, the difference between regular air stones and micro pore air stones. it really does make a huge difference. oh my my air pump is an auqua 40lpm with a 6 port aluminum splitter for 6 individual air stones. works like a charm
However this is an example of insufficient aeration. notice how air bubbles are larger and farther apart. NO GOOD!!
the surface of the water in this bucket would look normal, with very few bubbles actually breaking the surface tension of the water. this will promote slow root growth, not what we as DWC growers are looking for.
P.S> im not sure as to the exact details of your (flow and grow) setup, but make sure you have an air stone in each bucket. from fitting on side of your bucket it looks like that one bucket is the res. and the rest are the actual grow buckets???
just making sure that each bucket, along with the res. gets its own air stone. this is crucial!!
also do me a favor if you dont mind. take a picture of your water aeration?, fill up your buckets with amount of water you will be using during the grow cycle, water just barley touching bottom of net pots, and have your air stones running, i would just like to see how much aeration those air stones are going to provide. you want your water to look like a HARD BOIL. lots and lots of aeration. you dont want your roots to drown, and you DO want explosive root growth. in order to make this happen you need your water to look like a pot of boiling water (also the smaller the air bubble the better, cuz it covers more surface area of the water this way and will also get into the harder to reach areas of your roots zone.
this is an example of good aeration, notice how there isnt much space between the bubbles and there are LOTS and lots of those very tiny bubbles? this is waht you want to see, the surface of this bucket would look like a pot of boiling water.
you dont need to run that large of an airstone or that large of an air line to get these results, all i use is a single "micro pore" air stone with a 1/4" line and i get the same aereation with a 5 gal bucket. ill have to take a picture and post it up for everyone, the difference between regular air stones and micro pore air stones. it really does make a huge difference. oh my my air pump is an auqua 40lpm with a 6 port aluminum splitter for 6 individual air stones. works like a charm
However this is an example of insufficient aeration. notice how air bubbles are larger and farther apart. NO GOOD!!
the surface of the water in this bucket would look normal, with very few bubbles actually breaking the surface tension of the water. this will promote slow root growth, not what we as DWC growers are looking for.
P.S> im not sure as to the exact details of your (flow and grow) setup, but make sure you have an air stone in each bucket. from fitting on side of your bucket it looks like that one bucket is the res. and the rest are the actual grow buckets???
just making sure that each bucket, along with the res. gets its own air stone. this is crucial!!
- Thread starter
- #19
Damping off. Yea i googled that today and sadly realized that two of my other plants are exhibiting the same symptoms. I replanted one in dirt just to see if it comes back. But i still have 13 that are strong. Here is a photo of my bubbler. And all the bubblers will look the same when finished. They are just "under construction" for the time being. Other than that, ill post some close up pics later tonight and hopefully they'll continue to grow stronger. Any chance for the one that have damped themselves off? And im not exactly sure when to plant the rockwool in the hydroton. Oh and the bubbler in the pic is only moving at half speed. I need a t-valve to enable the second air stone
unfortunetly plants that exhibit first signs of damping off usually never make it. but remember that with every (so called) failure is a million dolar lesson! the only time a failure is truley a failure is if we dont learn from those mistakes and correct them in the future can I get a halleluiah?!! haha
but anyways you def want tuo upgrade in the future to strong pump and better stones but for now that will work good, i started off with way way way worse haha.
as soon as you get the first set of tap roots poking out of the bottom of the rockwools wait 2 days, by now you should have a few nice tap roots poking through the bottoms, you need to ping off the very tips of all those root tips poking through and place them back into the tray with moist lower pan1/8 strength nutes) now wait another 3 to 6 days and check to see root growth, if you have a bucnhc of roots poking through at this point you want to transplant. and start your DWC thing, but just make sure you dont let the rockwool cube sit in the water, make sure its an inch or inch and a half above the surface of the water. this will make the roots grow and stretch looking for the water. this will prevent root rot in the rockwool.
can I get a halleluiah?!! hahabut anyways you def want tuo upgrade in the future to strong pump and better stones but for now that will work good, i started off with way way way worse haha.
as soon as you get the first set of tap roots poking out of the bottom of the rockwools wait 2 days, by now you should have a few nice tap roots poking through the bottoms, you need to ping off the very tips of all those root tips poking through and place them back into the tray with moist lower pan1/8 strength nutes) now wait another 3 to 6 days and check to see root growth, if you have a bucnhc of roots poking through at this point you want to transplant. and start your DWC thing, but just make sure you dont let the rockwool cube sit in the water, make sure its an inch or inch and a half above the surface of the water. this will make the roots grow and stretch looking for the water. this will prevent root rot in the rockwool.
