wondering if things r going well...

[tbomun]

would like to get expert advice as to how my girls are doing. they are just over a week old. give or take a day or 2.


From left to right. AK47(easyryder), Smurfberry, LR2, Diesel. the AK and LR2 popped out a couple days before smurf and diesel. currently no nutes, other than FFoF that i reduced with perlite just ph'ed RO water.

do you guys see any issues, i dont wanna bone this like i did my hydro grow. lol thanks in advance.

 

[HippyInEngland]

Hello TB

You say you PH'd the water.

To what PH?

What are you using to measure the PH?

eace:

 

[tbomun]

sorry. all useful info i should have put in original post. sorry

ph 6.5
i use H&M Digital PH-200

current grow room temp and rh: 73 degree, an 57% humidity. they r sitting under 400w HPS. about 19inches from tops. on a 20/4 cycle.

 

[HippyInEngland]

How often are they being watered?

eace:

 

[tbomun]

well ive been reading and everywhere it says to water only when dry. 2-3inches deep dry. that sound about right? last water i gave them was on Saturday evening. gave them about a gallon each. read something about water til theres some run off. question, how does humidity play a roll in watering? more humid less i have to water or vise versa?

edit: they sit in 5 gallon smart pots.

 

[HippyInEngland]

A 5gal pot is very large for a tiny seedling.

The leaves are wrinkling, it may be because you are putting too much water in the pot.

The root system is very small at the moment so does not need much water.

The root will only be about 3 inches at the moment, so soaking all that soil until you get run off will simply leave the soil saturated because a tiny seedling cannot drink all that water still sitting in the sodden soil.

Half a pint (8 ounces) of water will be plenty until the plants grow bigger.

eace:

 

[tbomun]

oh my. thank you for that info! i will definitely not water so much. well i went with 5 gallon pot cuz im hoping to grow full size plants in future after getting my feet wet with few autos. also didnt want to hassle with transplanting from cups to pot. didnt think it would be a problem starting them off in the 5 gal pots.

 

[HippyInEngland]

The pot size will be perfect.

The plants are still babies at the moment though

eace:

 

[tbomun]

so would u recommend i let them dry out thoroughly before watering (lightly) again?

also the RH question still stands, how does it affect watering? more humid the less water needed or vise versa

 

[HippyInEngland]

Humidity
The humidity is the amount of moisture in the air, the warmer the air the more moisture it can hold. In a hot grow room even of a modest size plants could be chucking litres of water into the air every day. This water laden air won`t effect growth directly but it needs to be extracted or vented out to avoid problems with moulds and fungus. Ventilate outside if possible as the moist air will condense on cooler inside walls causing damp like problems. Aim to keep humidity levels between 40 and 60% all the time as lower levels will also invite problems. These range from dry air loving pests like spider mites to a slowing down in CO 2 and light uptake if the atmosphere gets really dry.

eace:

 

[tbomun]

ah i c. hehe thx again for the help. wish me luck.

 

[HippyInEngland]

You wont need luck.

Many experienced Auto growers here on the forum

eace:

 

[tbomun]

how do my auto girls look? they are 10 days old. they look a little droopy, should i be worried? im a novice grower so i dont know if im missing something glaringly obvious to a more experienced grower.

they are due for a watering. how much you think at this stage should i give them? they sit in 5 gallon, ffof/perlite, no nutes added, ph RO water only. last watering was on saturday night, but apparently too much, i had runoff so ive let them dry out pretty good. thank you.

current stats
temp- 80
rh- 45%
ph- 6.5-6.8



pic order: ak47, LR2, Diesel, Smurfberry

 

[hugs4nuggs420]

Yea man they look good, little droopy but it's still very early in the grow so you will have time to tweak with everything to get it right. I'm not saying you have to start small and transplant to bigger pots man cause it works for a lot of people, I just find that starting small is so much easier to maintain water wise and I like developing a healthy root ball on all my plants which makes transplanting a breeze. Do whatever works for ya man.

 

[tbomun]

that makes sense. being a first timer, i thought id save myself a potential f up by just starting them in their 5 gallon pots. hope it works out for the best. if you guys see anything wrong pls let me know. or something i should change. thank you.

 

[high before and after]

The soil/ soilless compostion looks great, since they're seedlings, the 2-3 inches dry surface advice won't work in this case, certainly it depends on the length of the seedling root. One inch of dry on the surface sounds better.

Not bone dry, but 'relatively' dry.

Perhaps at the moment just water around the plant, and not the whole pot.

Any excess water should be absorbed by the surrounding drier areas. This way you can water, and not worry about the medium getting too waterlogged.

HID lights do heat things up though and it a great danger to the seedlings if their roots dry out, feel with the back of your hand, can you feel moisture from the surface surrounding the plant, not too much, not too little.

But like the other posters pointed out, it's better, but not necessary, to grow seedlings in small 6 inch containers for the greatest control before transplanting when the root system is strong and stable.