New Grower First Grow - ILGM Blueberry - Indoor

[Bruce Campbell]

The last one is just barely breaking the soil (78 hrs) - so that's 4/4 germination for ILGM seeds.

The main 3 are only ~1/4-in and still unfolding:

The tallest one looks like he's doubled in the last 8 hrs, and has his first fan leaves coming in already...he's gonna be a soccer player when he grows up!

Should try to raise RH soon. Maybe I'll reduce temps to lower VPD - I've seen guidelines of 68F - 77F / 65-70% RH for seedlings. Or just add some containers of standing water to try to raise RH inside the tent. Not gonna bother with getting an actual humidifier, since I expect I'll have plenty of humidity in a few weeks.

Should also try to adjust lighting levels a bit better. I'm just working off the manufacturer's height guidelines for now, but haven't actually measured PPFD or lux. I tried a few smartphone apps, but wasn't sure if they were working right and/or how accurate they actually were. Cheapest actual PAR meters (vs. just standard lux meters) I've found have been ~$150-$200, so...yeah, no thanks.

 

[olegren]

Congrats on 100% germ rate! They are looking mighty fine.

A bucket of water with a towel dipped in one end near your fan or even passive intake works a treat for humidity if you find the cups don’t do the trick. Cheers!

 

[Bruce Campbell]

Seedlings are 4 days old.

Three are doing decent, but have a bit of stretch (~3-inches tall):

Plus, the ones on the sides of the tent are leaning a bit to get more light. Turned on the main COB elements, but that raised temps in the humidity domes a bit. Should probably check actual PPFD levels - MIGRO has some good articles evaluating accuracy of phone apps and lux meters for measuring PAR levels.

One of the seedlings is struggling a bit - it's about half height and has some tip burn. Not sure what would be causing this since the other three are doing fine. Maybe using a coco starter plug with a peat-based soil is creating some issues. Not sure what I can do - I'll probably just wait it out and see if it powers through:

 

[Bruce Campbell]

Other notes:

- Got my Sonoff / Zigbee smart home devices & temp / RH sensor. Has a bit slower response time and reads consistently higher than my Inkbird controller, so not sure how useful it'll be. I now have like 3-4 different hygrometers, each reading a bit different. At least it's a bit small, so I have it taped inside the humidity domes so I can check from my phone without disturbing things.

- Using DIY humidity domes that are clear plastic cups with vent holes cut in the sides and top. Ordered a humidifier for once they outgrow those.

- Temp / humidity may still be a challenge for the next month until outdoor temps cool down a bit. My house AC is set at 75°F, and the room they're in can hit 80°F+ in early morning from sunlight. That means a good bit of cooling air flow through the tent, which may exhaust any humidity I add.

- Switched dark period to be during the day time to help reduce temperatures. I didn't specifically light-proof my tent (tape over zippers / seams / etc), but don't think that should be a major issue for autoflowers.

 

[Bruce Campbell]

Pics:



They're hanging in there, but I feel like overall they're straggling compared to other journals. I blame the coco starter plugs - I think they're keeping the seedlings from getting the soil nutes early on, and I'm seeing a number of potential nutrient issues:

- #1, #2, #3 haven't stretched anymore (staying at ~3.5-in tall), but I feel like their stems are a bit spindly (N). Two of them started to fall over with some leaf droop (high temp / low humid / overwatering), but have picked back up for now.
- #2 has some white-ish / dry-ish leaves and curled new leaves (K / micro)
- #3 just started with some minor intervein spotting / maybe necrosis (K / Mg / micro)
- #4 remains shorter (~2-in) with darker green and curled new leaves (P / K / micro)

I gave them their first feeding today, and they seem to be taking it well so far. I did a full veg/bloom/micro mix, since they seem to be missing a bit of everything, but at very weak strength (~10% recommended, ~100 ppm strength). I'll use that same "full" mix and slowly increase strength until they look to be getting past the coco plugs, then start following the vendor schedule.

Other notes:
- Humidity domes are great until you drop one on a new seedling, then panic, overwater it, make it worse due to low humidity / high VPD, and almost drown it. Humidifier's now up and running, so no more domes.
- Improved temperature / humidity in tent by lowering temp in main room. Hadn't been using that room much, so I had closed the AC vent. Room stays a lot cooler now that it's open again...
- Got a dehumidifier in, so I can now make my own demin water for feeding. My condensate is actually pretty acidic (~5.5pH) for some reason, but I can mix it with tap water if needed.
- FYI: Was off on my math when looking at feed schedule (Post #3) - the actual vendor ppms are ~10x higher than I originally calculated. As a result, effect of N and K in tap water on feed amounts is almost negligible - using it is more an issue of considering pH, Ca, Mg, and other micro levels.

 

[Bruce Campbell]

Well, they're not dead yet!

Third set of sugars on #1 and #3 are coming along nicely and stems are thickening up, although #3 seems like it keeps shying away from the light.

I'm thinking the mangled leaves on #2 and #4 are B deficiencies - probly due to high soil pH (or high Ca). I didn't check the Si Boost I had been adding the first week - turns out it was raising pH quite a bit. So, now I'm checking feed pH each time. I'm likely stuck with those leaves and will need to wait for new growth to get them past it.

I doubled the strength of the remaining batch of feed I had (still only ~20%) and fed again today, even though that may be a day early. Also added a bit of borax I had lying around just to help get past any B issues. If they respond well, I'll switch over to the actual schedule for next feeding.

Here's what my actual feed schedule looks like so far:

 

[Bruce Campbell]

Well, I got tired of calling them by number, so I named them:

• #1 - Ashley
• #2 - Sam
• #3 - Briscoe
• #4 - Bubba

Ashley and Briscoe are chugging away. May be time to top / train next week, so need to read up on that. Humidifier's helping, but a bit small. Temp is set at 83°F and RH at 60%, although it's usually at ~45-50% most of the time with the fan running. I may try to dial that in a bit better this week.

Bubba and Sam look like they're slowly getting past whatever Cal/B/pH issues I had. Bubba's still a slow grower, but the new growth looks pretty decent. Sam has a good bit of new growth - still a bit twisted, but looks like he's slowly getting over it. I had been considering just starting over with new seedlings for those two...but, now that I named them...

Each got a 50% feeding of the actual schedule today, except Sam. Sam got a 1x flush with demin (didn't want to stress too much) topped with 8 oz of feed. If he responds well to that, Bubba may get that next.

 

[Carve]

The slow ones may well surprise you later. My plant that was the slowest seedling stopped growing for what seemed like a week but is now larger than the one that chugged along and got all the LST attention.

 

[Bruce Campbell]

- Sam is still ugly AF. I think I heard him ask for a Baby Ruth when I opened the tent this morning. Hard to tell if leaves are indicating specific symptoms, or just general pH fugliness. Did a slurry test, and pH pen said 7.0. Strips that came with the test kit said "you can't read a color chart". EC seemed on the lower end. Was still pretty wet, but gave a bit of nutes to try to lower pH again. Worried about overwatering at this point. May just leave him as-is as a warning to the others.


- Bubba has gotten past the initial pH issues. Still pretty short, although at ~4 nodes and new growth is doing great. ("It's our time! It's our time down here!")


- Ashley and Briscoe are flying. I started LST a few days ago, and re-tied them in their second position today.

Fed again today with same 50% strength as last time, except with some vit c to lower pH to 5.6. They're starting to smell nice, but I think I'll still leave the carbon filter off for a bit longer. In general, need to re-route / tweak some of the ducting and overall exhaust from the lung room.

 

[Bruce Campbell]

- Untied Ashley and Briscoe and let them straighten for a day before re-tying to the other side. They're lookin' a bit messy from the bottom branches trying to cross back up each time I switch tie-down position, so probly need to stop alternating positions and start on final training directions in a few days.


- Bubba's going strong, but still a bit squat. May top him late if needed instead of LST, but will likely just leave him be.


- Sam looks to be a lost cause. He's got new growth coming in, but still skinny under-developed leaves. Don't use coco starter plugs with OF, and keep your pH straight. Think it's time to just kill him with fire before he herms.

- Watered today, no feed to give them a break. They look to be getting a bit dark green (high N). Bubba's new growth is looking a bit pale and wrinkled - could be low K, K lock-out due to high N, or just because they were tucked down in the last training position.