I'm not sure if I have a problem or not, so I'll ask the GC. First time grower, so everything makes me jumpy. I was only planning to run one plant, but I ended up germinating two different strains successfully. I used a #1 smart pot and a #3 smart pot filled with 100% coco coir. I literally have no experience growing anything with any size of container or any medium, so one was as good as the other for the sake of learning - so why not do both at once and learn twice as fast. The seedling in the small one looks great to my uneducated eyes. The seedling in the larger container looks to be a lighter green, bordering on yellowish (but not the sickly yellow I see in the sick plants section). The leaf tips look good, it's just the new stuff in the middle is definitely a lighter shade of green (a noticeable contrast against the green of the cotelydons). I suspect I'm just not dialing in the watering schedule correctly in the larger container, possibly over-watering. I didn't water today, but they both got a 400ppm nute drink yesterday (an almost immeasurably small amount of nutrients added to the water), pH'd tap before that. I think I've developed a good feel for what the small container will take, but the big one feels like the bottom never dries out, has been heavy since day one. With such small seedlings, should I work to maintain moisture throughout the entire container, or is it OK to let such a large container dry out for a few days at this stage? I think that #3 could go half a week before it started to feel as dry as the #1 gets every day, but I don't want to dry out or drown my seedlings. While the big container is three times the size of the smaller, I have definitely not given it three times as much water - it's not like the tiny seedling is gulping it down, I'm sure I'm losing most of it to evaporation. I know two strains in two different sizes of container will grow differently, and I welcome the learning curve - more to learn and know for next time, and if one dies then I'm still where I wanted to be when I started. If both live, it's a bonus. I know each strain will behave differently, but if I grew the green one first, then months later grew the more yellow one, I'd think I was doing something incorrectly the second time. Or hell, maybe I'm simply making a big deal out of a slight difference in pigmentation between strains that I'd never notice if they weren't sitting next to each other? Sorry to be jittery, just want to stay on top of things before they swing out of control, if that's the case. I was attempting to show both plants in one picture (with the same white balance), but it's difficult to discern a difference on screen. It's more prominent in person, and you can see better individual closeups in my journal in my signature. Any advice will be much appreciated.
New growth is lighter in color. It made me smile thinking about my first plants. You must feel so anxious right now, lol. They'll do fine
just had to kill one of my first two in three gallon smart pots with pure coco. They look good so far man, first time runs are stressful.
they look perfect just dont overdo the water in the pots....just keep pouring like 1 - 1 1/2 cups of water until theyre on their 3rd leaf set or so and start spreading out and increasing the amount of water...they look fine man
They actually look great! I would suggest watering every day or every other day and water to runoff. Even pre rinsed coco has salts. Doing this helps rid the medium of unwanted salts. If you have a TDS or PPM meter then you can test the runoff water after you flush(you did flush the coco b4 planting in it right?) with RO water(if available) you will see that the ppms are not at zero! The reason I always water to runoff even on sprouts is bcuz it really helps keep the medium flushed clean and gives your sprouts an easier environment to thrive in. If you don't have a ppm meter or TDS, I would highly suggest you get one! Your water sounds like it is extremely hard, high in ppm's. Also, make sure you are only giving tiny amounts of nutrients if you are already feeding them. You shouldn't need to feed them for first week or two. I always add a little liquid karma and nitrogen when starting seedlings, but very small amount bcuz they actually don't need it right away. Giving them light amounts, I mean less than (1/16) of the normal amount, it actually helps prevent the seedlings from being shocked by nutrients when you do start feeding more. Again, not nessissary, but helpful for sure! Sent from my iPhone using GC Forum
You'd have a hell of an easier time keeping the coco wet if you downsized them to something like solo cups for the first couple weeks until they get some good root mass. Do you have something on top of the coco? If not they look pretty dry in the pic. Your plants looks good man I'd move them into smaller pots to start. Just my two cents. Wouldn't start giving nutes until the leaves yellow up a bit. Ph'd tap should be fine
Some quality opinions here. I just want to stres to keep your nutes very light at this stage. I rarely go over 1/4 strength any plants in veg, includig my mothers, and seedlings need much less than that. 1/16 as suggested by mikezyg sounds about right till they start sprouting some real leaves.
The seedlings are 12 days old, they've been getting tap water so far, with only a couple random low concentration feedings (in the realm of 1/16th strength), mostly to satisfy my paranoia. And they look perfectly healthy to my uneducated eyes.
They look fine keep doing wot ya doing,next time try starting them Off in small plant pots and let them get a good root system before Transplanting em wots ya lighting?
Yea u shouldn't get no worries there mate keep ya pics uploaded Ile pop in now n then see how ya doing any worries gis a shout mate