btk

Hey Guys,

I've got my new seeds, and they are soaking as we speak. After 24 hours I will move them to a paper towel and wait for them to show tap root. I will then transplant the germinated seeds to 1" rockwool cubes which have been presoaked in pH 5.6 water for greater than 24 hours.

Here are my questions:

1. Should I keep the seedlings under a humidity dome for any initial period of time?

2. How often do I water/spray the new seedlings?

3. They will veg with drip irrigation. At what point do I start them on 50% nute soln. from a dripper?

4. Do I start them on lights (T5 fluoro) once the second set of leaves appear?

All help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

yingyangsoup

1. Well while they are germinating, keep them in darkness but make sure there is a heating pad underneath to provide the warmth they need. After they germinate and are in the rockwool cube, keep them underneath a dome until they break the ground/show the first true leaves. Don't give them light. Once they show their first set of true leaves, take the dome off and give it light!

2. I'm going by the hempy method but i'm not sure what you are doing. Once they are in rockwool and HAVE sprouted, water them once a day until the roots hit the resevoir. When they aren't sprouted, just "keep" the area moist.

3. I would apply 50% nute strength about 2-3 weeks after they've developed their first true leaves.

4. Any CFL light will work once they've sprouted the rockwool. Just don't use any high intensity light until a couple weeks into veg. I'd just use CFL lights for the first 2 weeks of veg. Once they begin taking nutrients, then apply the "big" light.

Zait

1. Keep em under the dome until true leave appear or a bit longer.

2. I think the best thing to do is set them in a tray which has the bottom covered in perlite and water covering about half the perlite. I never spray seedlings...although I've heard some people do. Keep the rockwool moist. I've heard its pretty much impossible to overwater rockwool.

3. Start the low dosage nutes when true leaves appear. Use dripper once you have transplanted. (do this when a good amount of roots are coming through the bottom/sides of the rockwool)

4. Turn the T5 on now...let those seeds know what way is up!

__________________
Happening NOW: Zait's Indoor Productions Presents Hempy Blueberry

Pics of my first outdoor harvest

metalgod69

1) A method that has given me 10 of 10 sucessfull germing results is...take some paper towel, fold it in 1/2, again in 1/2, and once more in 1/2. Run it under tap water and squeeze out the majority of the water. Open up the last folded 1/2 and place your seeds close to the crease from the fold. Place the folded paper towel in a large Zip-Lock baggie and fold it around the wet paper towel. Place the Zip-Lock on top of your cable/satelite box and cover with a dark towel.

Start pre-soaking your rockwool at 5.6-5.8 once you see your seeds split open. Once the white tail coming out of your seeds is the size of the seed itself, drain excess water from rockwool cube and place the seed in the hole. Place the rockwool in a humidity tray and keep warm.

Some will tell you to keep the seed/rockwool in darkness at this point untill it breaks surface, but i disagree. I place them in my grow tent with 1 90w UFO 1foot away and within a day they are breaking surface and searching for light. I keep my humidity tray on untill i see the 1st true set of leaves.

2) I do not spray the rockwool cubes. I place the 1.5" cubes inside a 16oz solo cup. the 1.5" cubes will get stuck in the bottom of the cup leaving a finger nail width between them. I dump water into the bottom of the cup untill i see 1/2" of the rockwool wet. I find this really makes the roots pop out of the rockwool alot faster in search for water.

3) I use no nutes for 2 straight weeks. I use 50% RO water 50% tap water, B1 and an Enzym enhancement, After 2 weeks i gradly increase from 1/4 strength, to 1/2, then right to full. The gradual increase lasts about a week and 1/2.

4) As I said above, I introduce light as soon as I place the germed seeds in the rockwool.

This is what works for me....in no way shape or form is it "the best" or "Correct way for everyone"......it works for me

Cheers!!!

big bud man

i put my seeds into wet rockwool cubes and keep them moist,they are under flouros at this time when they come up i move them under my 400w mh to avoid stretching

btk

Thanks Fellas!

I just took a look and I see some splits in the beans. Very nice!!! I have them between wet paper towel in a ziplock. Will look again tomorrow afternoon and possibly move to rockwool.

It's been a while, and it is nice to be growin again!

Thanks!

btk

So far so good...

10 for 10 on the seeds. I've moved to rockwool with the root tip down. I have them in a dome with my lights on. I will keep them moist until they sprout first true leaves and then start with some 1/4 strength nutes.

As of now, the timers are at 18/6. Would I benefit from 24 or should I keep them at 18/6?

Oh, and my dome is rather tall, about 5-6 inches above the rockwool cubes. That said, my lights are 5-6 inches above the rockwool. Will this be a problem with stretching. Should I remove the dome once they sprout and drop the lights a few inches?

Thanks!

bluecheese

Yes. yes, yes.

Once they sprout remove the dome and lower the light or they will stretch. Don't fry them.

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Zait

Good work on the seeds. I personally do 18/6 now. I used to do 24 and I didn't really notice a difference....so 18/6 is cheaper.

Your dome setup is exactly like mine...do like bluecheese says and you will be blessed

__________________
Happening NOW: Zait's Indoor Productions Presents Hempy Blueberry

Pics of my first outdoor harvest

btk

Quick question...

Tap root up, or tap root down. I placed the germed seeds tap root down, and I only have 4 of the 10 sprouting. The others look like they are moving slower, hopefully more above ground (rockwool) tomorrow.

When I searched the web I found many refs with both root up, and root down. What do you guys do?

Thanks!