New Grower New grower: third set of seeds...

[Mañ'O'Green]

I run about 50w at 25 inches 24/7 during germination. As soon as the first true leaves are about an inch long I turn on the main lights at 150w 18/6 and over the next week they go up a little each day until 330w which gives me about 50 DLI over 18/6. Many commercial operations start seedlings under fluorescent lights at 3 inches above the plants. Just watch the stretch. If the plant gets leggy give it more light.

The color of the light you give the plant will have a big effect on the inter-nodal length. Spectrums rich in blue are best for early veg. This will keep the plant shorter and bushier. Then as the plant just begins to flower a far red puck used for one week for 15 minutes at lights out will stimulate stretch and flowering. Then you want to run your red heavy lights for flower.

I do not think these "Blue" pucks are available any longer. This is the light I use for germination.

It is really simple and relatively inexpensive to add these pucks to your tent.

 

[Bill.de.Cat]

N

That's exactly what I mean with confusing, my light at 150 watt and 32 inches reads 350 - 400 umol,
Yet if you look for information about seedlings all you find is 200umol.
Maybe I'm just stupid and I'm missing something?

Naw, not stupid at all . I tried crunching #s and such as well and found it quickly took the fun out of it thru worrying too much.

 

[automan2]

Imagine if you will...a world without forums to confuse your efforts to grow a simple weed.
When I started, it was plant a seed in moist ground. No PPFD/DLI or any idea what the hell that even meant. Being in a large farming community kinda helped so we knew it wasn't rocket science.
40 years later, now we have all the complexities impatient growers think they must do to have something to smoke.

That's why I remain simple & conservative. I germ & veg under 96w T5 floros and flower under 550 watts of mixed qb/cobs.

As one said before me, one day it'll all get there.

 

[LearningMore]

Just to clarify: my “likely burned” seedlings were getting 30,000 lux (I think it was 30” and partially dimmed) and I was doing 24/0. I do believe I was also underwatering.

I am running an HLG600 Rspec, which I understand to be 600w at max power. I am now running 20/4 and monitoring light more closely. Will calculate the DLI as well as watching the plants to try to get the amounts more tuned in.

 

[Couch_Lock]

Imagine if you will...a world without forums to confuse your efforts to grow a simple weed.
When I started, it was plant a seed in moist ground. No PPFD/DLI or any idea what the hell that even meant. Being in a large farming community kinda helped so we knew it wasn't rocket science.
40 years later, now we have all the complexities impatient growers think they must do to have something to smoke.

That's why I remain simple & conservative. I germ & veg under 96w T5 floros and flower under 550 watts of mixed qb/cobs.

As one said before me, one day it'll all get there.

I don't measure DLI, Runoff numbers, par, lumens...none of that. I am not a scientist, I'm a stoner. I'm no fake, but I can grow weed just fine.
Common sense and familiarity with gardening help me. I observe and fix problems on my own.

 

[Fitzy]

I am still trying to get my first successful grow. My first seeds (ILGM) sprouted but were irreparably burned by too-strong of light (even dimmed at 25%). My second set of seeds (ILGM) grew well for the first ten days or so but then stunted. Thanks to the wisdom of several growers here (@Tom Bombadil , @Mañ'O'Green , @Fitzy @Bill.de.Cat , @Jaydot ), it appears that was a result of poor, alkaline soil (Kellogg organic soil ) and I suspect underwatering. Those seedlings are still alive but we’ll see if they were too stunted to recover. So, I am starting a new, and what I hope will finally be my first successful, grow!

Specs:
4x4 tent (for now - I have another to move some of them to for more space...I sure hope to need it!)
HLG 600Rspec light
Happy Frog soil +25% more perlite
5gal fabric pots, elevated in trays to not sit in runoff
Infinity T6 inline fan on 2 for air exchange
Passive intake
Oscillating fan (not on seedlings yet)
Cool mist humidifier in tent with rain bird setting of 75% for now)
trio nutes (eventually)
Seeds (doing two different breeders as I wonder if breeder played part in failures):
2 ILGM Gorilla Glue
2 ILGM Girl Scout Cookies Extreme
2 Mephisto Skywalker OG
2 Mephisto 3 Bears OG
Water: Filtered tap with TDS ~180 plain; pH’d to 6.3-6.5 range

Seeds have all sprouted in jiffy pellets (germed 3/7-8 in water soak). Currently under humidity dome and I’m lightly spritzing them 2x a day so they don’t dry out. Temps 77ish and humidity in tent ~75%. I ‘air out” the domes a couple times a day. Light is dimmed to 10% and raised ~30” to achieve Lux of ~4000 at seedling level. They’re starting to stretch, but I don’t see much taproot yet out of the pellet. I pre-soaked my pots (water pH 6.5) today and plan to transplant tomorrow if root growth is visible. I’ll transplant deeply so as to counter some of the stretch.

I plan to update regularly as I’ve seen how quickly things can turn. I appreciate any guidance, as I’m pretty disappointed after the first two runs. I am really looking forward to getting everything “Dialed in” such that this is an enjoyable hobby (rather than the rather stressful experience so far).

One question: how fast to increase light intensity?

Thanks for reading.

Sweet bro your going to nail it the only thing I would suggest when I used jiffy pellets I got a few batches that the peat was incredibly packed to where roots would have a hard time I then started to cut them open and remove the case which holds it and made a hole in my final pot in which I added the jiffy peat so I could make certain it was broke up anyway great to see the determination it's very refreshing. Can't wait to see and watch the progress

 

[LearningMore]

Sweet bro your going to nail it the only thing I would suggest when I used jiffy pellets I got a few batches that the peat was incredibly packed to where roots would have a hard time I then started to cut them open and remove the case which holds it and made a hole in my final pot in which I added the jiffy peat so I could make certain it was broke up anyway great to see the determination it's very refreshing. Can't wait to see and watch the progress

Thanks so much for the support. I CAREFULLY cut off the netting (but didn’t disturb any roots going through netting - just cut around the few roots going through). The peat didn’t seem packed at all when I placed them in the hole in the pot, so that part should be ok.

Definitely working to get better results! The failures are getting hard to bear (I’m growing for a spouse with severe insomnia and pain - hate delaying the benefits!).

 

[Bill.de.Cat]

Can understand the disappointment but once you get it down it's a wonderful feeling. Then you get to hunt strains that benefit the most. I do it for insomnia as well and haven't found one that gets me a full nights sleep.

 

[Fitzy]

Can understand the disappointment but once you get it down it's a wonderful feeling. Then you get to hunt strains that benefit the most. I do it for insomnia as well and haven't found one that gets me a full nights sleep.

I had Cali connections Louis da 8th which was 1 of my top picks when I get sick (medical problems) I can't sleep I just lay there not with that strain it also is great for pain aswell as nausea. I've not grown any yet personally but my buddy was pissed he didn't clone it. Autos 24carat and dinafems bubba kush are really good for sleep I've only grown the 24carat but tons of people on here love that bubba. Also not all autos will amber up but they are still very indica so ask around on here @pop22 has some great knolage on indica heavy maybe he can share wats worked best for him anyways good luck.
Ps. rso is my go to and for me strain isn't to relevant I use 00 capsules which is right around .4g to .5g or 400/500mg each work really well.

 

[Filthy_Casual]

I'm gonna go ahead and directly contradict what @Tom Bombadil said. Do NOT keep your plants sitting in run off. Thats not what you want. Thats the opposite of what you want.

Raise them up. You're rotting your roots and drawing bugs otherwise. Also if your doing it as a way to keep soil even and not build up nutes etc... why would you then want your plant to take a bath in that?

This is science, not opinion FWIW.