Hello, first post here, trying to get some piece of mind while I navigate through this grow process. This is my first legitimate effort grow where I have the means to do things correctly.
I will try to be methodical as possible on this post with as much data as I can provide. My concern is as titled, based on what I'm gathering through research I may be running into slow growth issues with my 3 seedlings. Germination process I followed was soaking seeds in glass of water, for 24 hours (all sunk and had protruding tap root) planted directly into 2.2G Air pots, 3/4" deep on Jan 11, 2021. First sprout surfaced Jan 13, 2021. Growth for first week appeared normal and healthy, all produced first set of real leaves and all began to slightly start second set of leaves. I've noticed over the last 5-7 days there is no new growth or size increase, perhaps 5% increase. Plant coloration on leaves towards center is the smallest fraction of lighter green. Also noticed first set of real leaves do not appear all that perky or aimed towards light.
My initial thought processes are potentially the seedings are still establishing their root system and will soon start to grow vertically. My lights potentially are too strong causing then to stunt or not encouraging vertical climb? pH of initial soil too high? Lastly potentially incorrect watering (over watering)?
I suspect I am being impatience somewhat as the seedlings do look healthy for what I have seen and gathered. Could be setting up roots before growth. I do not really believe my lights are too strong as the plants do not show signs of overheating or curling in anyway, they appear strong and firm. My soil PH is something I am a bit concerned about, I made the mistake of not measuring pH of soil while I was creating the mixture and intended on tuning the soil with properly pH'd water to gain within range. What I've found is my pH of the soil is high 6's to 7. My tap water is 8 pH that I adjust down to 6.3 pH. Ive been having a difficult time getting my water schedule down as I really haven't found a concrete answer to match my scenarios. I'm trying to trust the methodical process for determination of watering but keep second guessing. I've read and experienced the air pots dry out quickly, so I believe my watering schedule may differ from a lot of available information. What I have been doing is circling the seedling and using my water sprayer to saturated closely around the seedling, be frugal with how much water I have given them. I'd say maybe around 50ml every 2-3 days with maybe a quick mist shot each day. Once I felt like they had stopped and waiting for the soil to dry and gave them each a large 500lm water around day 8 until I had 20% runoff. I tested the runoff and found each to be around 7.3PH, higher than I was hoping. Seedlings responded well and the slight light green seemed to darken a bit but returned to a lighter color the following day.
Currently I am monitoring then and waiting for the soil to dry out from the larger watering. It's been 11 days since ground break and the seedlings are only 1" tall. My hope for this is to identify if there could be a soil concern, ph concern or watering concern. Perhaps a nute deficiency concern even though its quite early for nutes. OR I just need to sit back and let them go to work!
I hope I have covered everything, thank you for reading !!!
Background information on the environment and plants:
Purple Kush Fem Autos (quantity 3)
Container is 2.2Gal Air pots
Soil is 3 parts Peat Moss, 3 parts CompostHero Compost, 2 parts Coco (brick), 1 parts Vermiculite
Water is dechlorinated (24+hr) tap water 8 pH adjusted to 6.3 pH. 26PPM
Nutrients is "pH Perfect" Micro, Grow and Bloom (Not used at this stage yet)
Grow Room is 3x5' full shower with Mylar interior with a sealed roof.
Ventilation is (2) 6"intake fans, (1) carbon exhaust fan exchanging air 2x sqr ft and (1) 9" oscillating fan within the grow space
Lighting 18 hours on 6 off (1) Viparspectra P2000 LED, (200 wattage wall usage, 600w HPS equivalent) upto 1600 PAR (running 100% power around 26" height)
Temp (Temp weekly average is 79*F with a night time low of 62*F)
Humidity (Weekly average is 48%RH, night time low of 28% RH) ( running humidifier during daylight hours set to 70% full blast)
Here as some photos to help show my progress and setup.
These are 5 days apart and have seen no growth difference, just variation in color
I will try to be methodical as possible on this post with as much data as I can provide. My concern is as titled, based on what I'm gathering through research I may be running into slow growth issues with my 3 seedlings. Germination process I followed was soaking seeds in glass of water, for 24 hours (all sunk and had protruding tap root) planted directly into 2.2G Air pots, 3/4" deep on Jan 11, 2021. First sprout surfaced Jan 13, 2021. Growth for first week appeared normal and healthy, all produced first set of real leaves and all began to slightly start second set of leaves. I've noticed over the last 5-7 days there is no new growth or size increase, perhaps 5% increase. Plant coloration on leaves towards center is the smallest fraction of lighter green. Also noticed first set of real leaves do not appear all that perky or aimed towards light.
My initial thought processes are potentially the seedings are still establishing their root system and will soon start to grow vertically. My lights potentially are too strong causing then to stunt or not encouraging vertical climb? pH of initial soil too high? Lastly potentially incorrect watering (over watering)?
I suspect I am being impatience somewhat as the seedlings do look healthy for what I have seen and gathered. Could be setting up roots before growth. I do not really believe my lights are too strong as the plants do not show signs of overheating or curling in anyway, they appear strong and firm. My soil PH is something I am a bit concerned about, I made the mistake of not measuring pH of soil while I was creating the mixture and intended on tuning the soil with properly pH'd water to gain within range. What I've found is my pH of the soil is high 6's to 7. My tap water is 8 pH that I adjust down to 6.3 pH. Ive been having a difficult time getting my water schedule down as I really haven't found a concrete answer to match my scenarios. I'm trying to trust the methodical process for determination of watering but keep second guessing. I've read and experienced the air pots dry out quickly, so I believe my watering schedule may differ from a lot of available information. What I have been doing is circling the seedling and using my water sprayer to saturated closely around the seedling, be frugal with how much water I have given them. I'd say maybe around 50ml every 2-3 days with maybe a quick mist shot each day. Once I felt like they had stopped and waiting for the soil to dry and gave them each a large 500lm water around day 8 until I had 20% runoff. I tested the runoff and found each to be around 7.3PH, higher than I was hoping. Seedlings responded well and the slight light green seemed to darken a bit but returned to a lighter color the following day.
Currently I am monitoring then and waiting for the soil to dry out from the larger watering. It's been 11 days since ground break and the seedlings are only 1" tall. My hope for this is to identify if there could be a soil concern, ph concern or watering concern. Perhaps a nute deficiency concern even though its quite early for nutes. OR I just need to sit back and let them go to work!
I hope I have covered everything, thank you for reading !!!
Background information on the environment and plants:
Purple Kush Fem Autos (quantity 3)
Container is 2.2Gal Air pots
Soil is 3 parts Peat Moss, 3 parts CompostHero Compost, 2 parts Coco (brick), 1 parts Vermiculite
Water is dechlorinated (24+hr) tap water 8 pH adjusted to 6.3 pH. 26PPM
Nutrients is "pH Perfect" Micro, Grow and Bloom (Not used at this stage yet)
Grow Room is 3x5' full shower with Mylar interior with a sealed roof.
Ventilation is (2) 6"intake fans, (1) carbon exhaust fan exchanging air 2x sqr ft and (1) 9" oscillating fan within the grow space
Lighting 18 hours on 6 off (1) Viparspectra P2000 LED, (200 wattage wall usage, 600w HPS equivalent) upto 1600 PAR (running 100% power around 26" height)
Temp (Temp weekly average is 79*F with a night time low of 62*F)
Humidity (Weekly average is 48%RH, night time low of 28% RH) ( running humidifier during daylight hours set to 70% full blast)
Here as some photos to help show my progress and setup.
These are 5 days apart and have seen no growth difference, just variation in color
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