When to start using fertilizer?

[Fuzzy1981]

Hi i was just wondering when i should start fertilizing my northern lights plant. it sprouted ten days ago and i have it planted in fox farm ocean forest potting soil. im assuming i should be using a quarter of the recomended strength for the fertilizer, which is general hydroponics flora series performance pack, which recomends 2.5 ml per gallon of the flora micro, grow, and bloom. this is my first time growing in a very long time so any help would be greatly appreciated. also for being ten days old is it looking healthy and about how much bigger should i let it get before transplant to a three gallon pot so it don't get root bound. Thank you all very much for the help. also one last thing when i do start to fertilize, how often should i feed them, i heard every other watering or twice a week. thanks again!

 

[fanleaf]

In FFOF soil you shouldn't be feeding anything. Since you are going to be transplanting to a new pot soon you should especially not add any nutes because it will have fresh soil. A plant dont really start feeding on any nutrition until roughly 10 days old so even the soil in your cup still has PLENTY of nutrition in it for now. Once transplanted into your 3 gallon you can go roughly 4-6 weeks before adding anything but water.

 

[Fuzzy1981]

In FFOF soil you shouldn't be feeding anything. Since you are going to be transplanting to a new pot soon you should especially not add any nutes because it will have fresh soil. A plant dont really start feeding on any nutrition until roughly 10 days old so even the soil in your cup still has PLENTY of nutrition in it for now. Once transplanted into your 3 gallon you can go roughly 4-6 weeks before adding anything but water.

how much bigger do you think i should let my plant get before transplanting?

 

[fanleaf]

Personally I'm positive if you were to moisten the soil and tip the plant upside down and slide the cup off that you would see a bunch of roots. Myself, I would transplant in just a few more days. You know it's time when you give a full watering and 24 hours later its dry. I know yours isn't quite there yet but it wont be long. Honestly you could transplant anytime as long as you understand it's going in a 3 gallon pot so you need to water carefully until the plant gets bigger. Since you are a newer grower, I would wait until the plant is at least a node higher. The most common mistake that new Growers make is over watering their plant. And it's really hard even for some experienced Growers to water a real small plant in a large container correctly so if you can hold out and make yourself wait a little longer it will help Ensure that you don't make that mistake.

 

[Fuzzy1981]

Personally I'm positive if you were to moisten the soil and tip the plant upside down and slide the cup off that you would see a bunch of roots. Myself, I would transplant in just a few more days. You know it's time when you give a full watering and 24 hours later its dry. I know yours isn't quite there yet but it wont be long. Honestly you could transplant anytime as long as you understand it's going in a 3 gallon pot so you need to water carefully until the plant gets bigger. Since you are a newer grower, I would wait until the plant is at least a node higher. The most common mistake that new Growers make is over watering their plant. And it's really hard even for some experienced Growers to water a real small plant in a large container correctly so if you can hold out and make yourself wait a little longer it will help Ensure that you don't make that mistake.

Thank you very much, i appreciate the the help. i'll wait until the next set of leaves are about the size of the second set and then transplant (if that sounds about right) to my 3 gal pot. one last question i have a five foot tall grow tent with a 400 watt mh light, at what node should i top it so when it gets older it doesn't grow into the light. im assuming only after then transplant should i top it, maybe a week or to for the plant to take root in the new soil. im just trying to get some ideas ahead of time so im not having to ask all these questions last minute.

 

[fanleaf]

I would top it after the 4th node, then again after 2 more nodes on both topped branches if you want to veg for 30+days. If vegging for only 30 days or so just the 1 topping would be plenty. You can always top once and do some low stress training to the outer branches too.

 

[Fuzzy1981]

I would top it after the 4th node, then again after 2 more nodes on both topped branches if you want to veg for 30+days. If vegging for only 30 days or so just the 1 topping would be plenty. You can always top once and do some low stress training to the outer branches too.

i've been doing some research on why my leaves look the way they do, and so far it looks like it's from over watering, what do you think? if so im thinking maybe i should only water them every three days or so? thank you for all the help!

 

[fanleaf]

i've been doing some research on why my leaves look the way they do, and so far it looks like it's from over watering, what do you think? if so im thinking maybe i should only water them every three days or so? thank you for all the help!

You cannot put a time on it. When you water, you water enough to saturate the soil. In between watering you wait until fully dry. You can tell when it's fully dry when you lift it up and it feels like there is absolutely no water weight in there or you wait until the first sign of the leafs sagging down. However long it takes oh, it is very important to let the plant fully dry between waterings. Please be sure to practice this, as your plant gets older and in a larger pot this will be vital to your plants health. When ty hey are seedlings like yours it's not so bad to water in smaller increments. Just know that however tall your seedling is right now, the roots are 2 to 3 times as tall and you dont want to leave some parts of the container and roots dry all of the time.

 

[Fuzzy1981]

You cannot put a time on it. When you water, you water enough to saturate the soil. In between watering you wait until fully dry. You can tell when it's fully dry when you lift it up and it feels like there is absolutely no water weight in there or you wait until the first sign of the leafs sagging down. However long it takes oh, it is very important to let the plant fully dry between waterings. Please be sure to practice this, as your plant gets older and in a larger pot this will be vital to your plants health. When ty hey are seedlings like yours it's not so bad to water in smaller increments. Just know that however tall your seedling is right now, the roots are 2 to 3 times as tall and you dont want to leave some parts of the container and roots dry all of the time.

thanks for all the help i really appreciate it. i feel like the first grow is going to be the hardest, and that after i make mistakes i can learn from them. hopefully i don't make to many mistakes. figuring out the right amount of water for a three gallon pot is going to be a bit trickier. but i'll wait till the pot is dry before watering again.

 

[fanleaf]

thanks for all the help i really appreciate it. i feel like the first grow is going to be the hardest, and that after i make mistakes i can learn from them. hopefully i don't make to many mistakes. figuring out the right amount of water for a three gallon pot is going to be a bit trickier. but i'll wait till the pot is dry before watering again.

Once the plants are pretty much to size and grown into their 3 gallon pot ( which I grow in all of the time), I find exactly one gallon is about the perfect amount for feeding. This thoroughly saturates the soil and I usually end up with about a cup running out the bottom which is about perfect. That is with using promix as my medium so that amount could vary slightly depending on the medium but it will be somewhere around a gallon.

 

[Fuzzy1981]

thanks for the tip! what is the best way to have the soil in the cup before transplanting to the 3 gal? should i water the plant before transplant? or try to take it out of the cup dry to move it over? Im not doing it yet for a while, but i figured this is something that some one with more experience would know. like which would be the easiest or best i guess. i'll post a picture when i think it might be a good time to transplant if you wanted to take a look at it and give me your thoughts. thanks again for all the help.

 

[Gadfly]

Repotting dry is easier. I try to time transplants on watering day. A dryer root ball will break away from the old pot easier and won’t be so heavy. After transplant, a good watering.

 

[Fuzzy1981]

whoops posted this one in the wrong spot meant to reply

 

[Fuzzy1981]

Repotting dry is easier. I try to time transplants on watering day. A dryer root ball will break away from the old pot easier and won’t be so heavy. After transplant, a good watering. [

Hey i just started a journal, and posted all my pics up there if you wanted to take a look at it.