Hey hey hey!!! I know its been a bit, but I promise everything is looking great (Except for the single cotyledon plant....its not going to make it). Things are always slow starting out and its especially slow in the winter time grows. I grow in the New England area and our winter humidity level is extremely low coupled with lower than optimal temps make seedlings and young plants much slower to grow than the warmer and wetter months.
Now, Last we left, I had recently transplanted the plants into the half gallon pots. When I do that transplant, I won't water those plants again until they are completely dry. I might water very lightly in the top inch of the soil once or twice but thats it. I want the plant's roots to seek out any and all moisture in the soil.
It took almost 30 days for that to happen here. I picked up the pots and bam, no weight.....plant is dry. Time to water them. Its not easy to resist the urge to water them regularly, and its very hard to not touch a plant for almost a month. I would like to also point out that I prefer to use the dunk method to water plants after its second watering. DON'T DUNK with a new transplant. Nothing is holding the soil together and it will all wash out the holes and you will be left with about half the volume of soil as you started with. Now that I have gone through a wet to dry cycle, the roots will hold the soil together and I can dunk and get another thorough watering done. Its also much faster and an efficient method of watering.
Veg Day 24
Even with the pots being light and ready for a watering, you can see the health of the posture in the leaves. This is achieved through forcing the roots to expand and search out water. If you have a poor root system, your plant will be prone a lot more wilting when in drier conditions. With a vigorous and healthy root system, your plant is much more protected against drier conditions.
Wedding Cake - Veg Day 24
Dos-si-dos #1 - Veg Day 24
Dos-si-dos #2 - Veg Day 24
Once I get them watered/dunked, they will go a couple more days and then I will be looking to top all three and start training them out. The wet-dry cycle will start speeding up quickly going forward. I am guessing that I will likely get 5 days before needing watering again. I will take a peek at the roots at that point and determine when I will be looking to up pot. All in all, things are rolling along nicely albeit a bit on the slower side due to the winter environment .
