Mephisto Genetics UPDATED Seed starting advice in real time with slowandeasy

[slowandeasy]

@slowandeasy
Thank you bro for your quick reply. I feed half strenght right away ( 3/4 in the future!), bottom feed. After they break through soil I wait 3-4 days before I water/feed them for the first time so the top half of the medium gets quite arid. I guess I should start to water earlier and maintain a slightly higher moisture in the cups ... don‘t you think?

I judge by weight and how fast they are drying out. I personally look for my cups to maintain around the same moisture daily. So if you check your seedlings and they feel lighter, feed more or more often. You don't want it to get too dry or too wet at the seedling stage. Too dry will damage roots. Too wet slows root growth down. Bottom feeding cuts down on overwatering. Everyone has a different environment and you may need to water less often than me or vice versa. If your medium feels light, feed it. I have the ability to check on my plants whenever, so I can water as often as I want. It is better to water lightly, but more often...vs heavy and less often. Maintain a moist medium, not dry...not super wet. Good luck.

 

[gringuito98]

I judge by weight and how fast they are drying out. I personally look for my cups to maintain around the same moisture daily. So if you check your seedlings and they feel lighter, feed more or more often. You don't want it to get too dry or too wet at the seedling stage. Too dry will damage roots. Too wet slows root growth down. Bottom feeding cuts down on overwatering. Everyone has a different environment and you may need to water less often than me or vice versa. If your medium feels light, feed it. I have the ability to check on my plants whenever, so I can water as often as I want. It is better to water lightly, but more often...vs heavy and less often. Maintain a moist medium, not dry...not super wet. Good luck.

Thank you very much!
In the past I‘ve had some issues with overwatering so I watered less.... too less. Your friendly advice will help a lot!
Happy growing, bro!

 

[slowandeasy]

Thank you very much!
In the past I‘ve had some issues with overwatering so I watered less.... too less. Your friendly advice will help a lot!
Happy growing, bro!

I am not sure the size pots/cups you use? The smaller the cup, the more often you will feed. A 6oz cup should dry out faster than a Solo cup. That being said here is how I judge weight. What you precharge your Seedling pot/cup feed to slight run off. When I have the time I let this cup/pot sit overnight in my Grow space to soak up and warm up. I then use my hands and force some of the extra moisture out of the bottom. If it's very wet, it will pool on the top as well. You don't need it to be overly soaked, but some moisture should still come out of the bottom when forced by hand. Take a mental not on the feel/weight of the cup now. If your Seedling cup feels lighter when you check on it...water it a little. I use a clear cover cup over my seedlings to keep the top from drying out. You should not add water til your seedlings are above ground. Zero roots and a cover cup will prevent your medium from drying out. Moving forward watch for the top to look dryer than normal for obvious signs and lift the cup each time you check on them. If your cups don't need watering daily, you are giving them too much at once. Just use less. If you use 2oz of water...try 1oz. Not feeding for days will slow your plants growth down. Overwatered seedlings take a couple days to dry out, so don't soak them ever. Good luck

 

[lunarman]

I am not sure the size pots/cups you use? The smaller the cup, the more often you will feed. A 6oz cup should dry out faster than a Solo cup. That being said here is how I judge weight. What you precharge your Seedling pot/cup feed to slight run off. When I have the time I let this cup/pot sit overnight in my Grow space to soak up and warm up. I then use my hands and force some of the extra moisture out of the bottom. If it's very wet, it will pool on the top as well. You don't need it to be overly soaked, but some moisture should still come out of the bottom when forced by hand. Take a mental not on the feel/weight of the cup now. If your Seedling cup feels lighter when you check on it...water it a little. I use a clear cover cup over my seedlings to keep the top from drying out. You should not add water til your seedlings are above ground. Zero roots and a cover cup will prevent your medium from drying out. Moving forward watch for the top to look dryer than normal for obvious signs and lift the cup each time you check on them. If your cups don't need watering daily, you are giving them too much at once. Just use less. If you use 2oz of water...try 1oz. Not feeding for days will slow your plants growth down. Overwatered seedlings take a couple days to dry out, so don't soak them ever. Good luck

Good job explaining Slow. It's hard to put that kind of thing in to words.

I'm going to try to weigh my cups with a scale. A totally dry one weighs ABC grams. And then a perfectly moistened on weighs 2 times ABC or something like that.

 

[gringuito98]

I am not sure the size pots/cups you use? The smaller the cup, the more often you will feed. A 6oz cup should dry out faster than a Solo cup. That being said here is how I judge weight. What you precharge your Seedling pot/cup feed to slight run off. When I have the time I let this cup/pot sit overnight in my Grow space to soak up and warm up. I then use my hands and force some of the extra moisture out of the bottom. If it's very wet, it will pool on the top as well. You don't need it to be overly soaked, but some moisture should still come out of the bottom when forced by hand. Take a mental not on the feel/weight of the cup now. If your Seedling cup feels lighter when you check on it...water it a little. I use a clear cover cup over my seedlings to keep the top from drying out. You should not add water til your seedlings are above ground. Zero roots and a cover cup will prevent your medium from drying out. Moving forward watch for the top to look dryer than normal for obvious signs and lift the cup each time you check on them. If your cups don't need watering daily, you are giving them too much at once. Just use less. If you use 2oz of water...try 1oz. Not feeding for days will slow your plants growth down. Overwatered seedlings take a couple days to dry out, so don't soak them ever. Good luck

Thanks again for sharing your knowledge. I appreciate a lot , that you are taking your time to help me out.
Before I used your way to germinate seeds I planted them directly into 3gal airpots and overwatered them in my first grow. Then I changed watering and evidently went from one extreme to the other. Now, thanks to your kind advice, I know what to do in my next grow. (I use 5oz cups and transplant them after more or less 9 days into 3gal airpots)

 

[slowandeasy]

Thanks again for sharing your knowledge. I appreciate a lot , that you are taking your time to help me out.
Before I used your way to germinate seeds I planted them directly into 3gal airpots and overwatered them in my first grow. Then I changed watering and evidently went from one extreme to the other. Now, thanks to your kind advice, I know what to do in my next grow. (I use 5oz cups and transplant them after more or less 9 days into 3gal airpots)

If you go directly into 3 gal pots, I suggest precharging and letting your medium sit for 2-3 days before planting. When you plant your seed, water around the very outside of your pot when you do. This will promote outward root growth. Many people water around the base of the stem. This does nothing but slow root growth down. You want roots to seek moisture. Hence bottom feeding cups. You want the roots to grow fast, not slow. Wet medium creates thin/slow growing roots. Moist medium will produce thick/White roots, that will chase moisture. If you feed from the top, they do not "need" to look for moisture and will not grow as fast.

 

[gringuito98]

If you go directly into 3 gal pots, I suggest precharging and letting your medium sit for 2-3 days before planting. When you plant your seed, water around the very outside of your pot when you do. This will promote outward root growth. Many people water around the base of the stem. This does nothing but slow root growth down. You want roots to seek moisture. Hence bottom feeding cups. You want the roots to grow fast, not slow. Wet medium creates thin/slow growing roots. Moist medium will produce thick/White roots, that will chase moisture. If you feed from the top, they do not "need" to look for moisture and will not grow as fast.

Thank you again for sharing your experience. I will follow your advice and report you the result (which will take a while.... Next round with 2 new seeds will start in 3 weeks).

 

[gringuito98]

@slowandeasy

You changed my plants life!
When you gave me your kind advice, I had 2 ladies in my tent, both 14 days old. I started to water on the very outside of the airpots (15 l = 3,96 gal), changed a little bit the dosage of my feeds and imported Recharge from the U.S. which now I use every week. The plants exploded! They are currently at day 57 and got a lot bigger and better than my plants before. A Forum Stomper (branchy pheno) 95 cm (37 in) and an Orange Diesel 82 cm (32 in) .. to compare: the biggest OD I had before was just 58 cm (22 in) tall.
But there is also an additional change to observe: they stretched for a longer time (more or less until day 50), so they started to flower later and buds are still smaller than they usually are at this stage of grow. I guess the ladies will take approximately 2-3 weeks more to mature than before and hopefully fatten up nicely

But I also followed your advices regarding the seedling stage. I raised the general level of moisture as you described ... with better and faster development of my little ones!

With the combination of both (higher level of moisture / watering on the very outside of the pots) now I‘m able to grow a lot better plants than before.

Thank you again for your priceless advices!

Cheers,

Gringuito

 

[Beerhunter CDN]

@slowandeasy

You changed my plants life!
When you gave me your kind advice, I had 2 ladies in my tent, both 14 days old. I started to water on the very outside of the airpots (15 l = 3,96 gal), changed a little bit the dosage of my feeds and imported Recharge from the U.S. which now I use every week. The plants exploded! They are currently at day 57 and got a lot bigger and better than my plants before. A Forum Stomper (branchy pheno) 95 cm (37 in) and an Orange Diesel 82 cm (32 in) .. to compare: the biggest OD I had before was just 58 cm (22 in) tall.
But there is also an additional change to observe: they stretched for a longer time (more or less until day 50), so they started to flower later and buds are still smaller than they usually are at this stage of grow. I guess the ladies will take approximately 2-3 weeks more to mature than before and hopefully fatten up nicely

But I also followed your advices regarding the seedling stage. I raised the general level of moisture as you described ... with better and faster development of my little ones!

With the combination of both (higher level of moisture / watering on the very outside of the pots) now I‘m able to grow a lot better plants than before.

Thank you again for your priceless advices!

Cheers,

Gringuito

Now we’re going to have to see pics or it isn’t true!!

 

[R_HIDIA]

@slowandeasy

You changed my plants life!
When you gave me your kind advice, I had 2 ladies in my tent, both 14 days old. I started to water on the very outside of the airpots (15 l = 3,96 gal), changed a little bit the dosage of my feeds and imported Recharge from the U.S. which now I use every week. The plants exploded! They are currently at day 57 and got a lot bigger and better than my plants before. A Forum Stomper (branchy pheno) 95 cm (37 in) and an Orange Diesel 82 cm (32 in) .. to compare: the biggest OD I had before was just 58 cm (22 in) tall.
But there is also an additional change to observe: they stretched for a longer time (more or less until day 50), so they started to flower later and buds are still smaller than they usually are at this stage of grow. I guess the ladies will take approximately 2-3 weeks more to mature than before and hopefully fatten up nicely

But I also followed your advices regarding the seedling stage. I raised the general level of moisture as you described ... with better and faster development of my little ones!

With the combination of both (higher level of moisture / watering on the very outside of the pots) now I‘m able to grow a lot better plants than before.

Thank you again for your priceless advices!

Cheers,

Gringuito

@slowandeasy truly is a blessing to our community. He has helped me a great deal... both directly with my own specific issues, and helping others out with issues that I was able to overcome/avoid by following the advice he was offering up to someone else who was struggling. Can’t say enough good things about this member! Thanks again slow!