First Grow - G13 Labs "Blue Venom" - *Input Appreciated*

Alrighty, I don't know when most people start their journal, maybe I am doing this prematurely. I think that I am doing this more for therapeutic reasons as I am not being very patient and this will help calm down my excitement.

I used Attitude Seeds, the pick and mix (which I don't think I'll do again simply because I would rather buy more seeds at a time in case germination fails). I got Original Skunk #1, The Church and the Blue Venom which was the freebie.

After 18 hours of soaking in a shot glass full of water the seed cracked. I put it in soil Saturday (March 27) around 6pm. The first day I left the room dark and yesterday I went ahead and popped on the lights. The timer is running 18/6, the lights are the Hydrofarm 4ft T5 x 6 lights @ 6500K.

Anyway, I am patiently (or trying to be patient anyway) waiting to see growth above the soil. I have been keeping the room at about 78F so I turned off the heating pad.

Any help you can all give me through this process will be greatly appreciated.

Here are the pics of the setup right now.
In the third pic (after examining the cup thoroughly) it looks like some growth may be getting close to popping up. Is that what I am seeing? I gotta admit, I'm nervous about messing up.

 

Also, my plan is to make this the mother. My first crop I plan to have 3 clones with a [somewhat] short veg (the wife and I decided that maximum yield isn't the priority in our first grow).

I held off on germinating the other seeds simply because I want to make sure I know what I'm doing before I waste them.

 

Look what came up today! Say hello to my little friend.

 

Definitely new growth today. Just snapped some macros. One of the cotyledon leaves has what I can only describe as "gunk". When I saw the leaves begin to split it had a "gummy" look to it and the "gunk" remained on the one which you can see here.

I know a lot of people do updates after more significant growth, but I rather enjoy the daily updates (even if my thread is being ignored).

 

Okay, so this morning I put in some more dirt as I realized that I was not thinking when I started my first grow (commonsense overshadowed by excitement) and didn't fill the cup up enough.

I also raised her up last night to about 4-5 inches from the T5s. Today I noticed some small spots towards the center of the new leaf growth. I don't know if I should be concerned or not. I backed her off from the lights a couple of inches in case it was being caused by heat (those T5s do put off some heat).

The "gunk" is still on the leaf and I'm hoping that doesn't contribute to any issues.
She also has a bit of leaning going on and I'm uncertain what is causing that or if I should be concerned. But her leaves are still growing everyday and I think I'm not doing too bad so far. I suppose I'm just looking for some guidance/reassurance.

 

Is it possible that it's leaning due to what is on that leaf? If the other, normal, leaf is getting more light it might be leaning that way for the light...possibly? I assume it will straighten itself out in due time.

 

I was able to retrieve the seed early on in the process. I watched the growth progress and before those leaves split apart, the only way I can think to describe it is gummy. After the leaves separated I very lightly tried to knock it off of the leaf and it wasn't happening. I figure it won't be too much of a problem.

I've had a fan going pretty much the whole time. But, again, I'm starting to relax about it and I just assume it's going to work itself out.

Thanks for the comments.

 

Thanks for the advice, but I only tried it the one time and I only did it VERY lightly, as not to damage it. I have left it alone since and figured it would be fine.

And thanks greenladylover, I'll be checking out your grow.

 

Day 4 (since she broke through the soil)

Not a whole lot of updating here, just some new growth. I noticed the perlite is starting to turn a bit yellow, after a few searches it seems there is nothing wrong with that. She still has some gangsta lean going on but I think it's still fine.

She still hasn't peaked above the cup though so I'm not having any real stretching issues. And here are today's pictures.

 

Day 5

Exciting new growth, both the wife and I love how big it seems to be getting (even though it's still small). How funny us first time growers are, huh? You'd swear these were children.

Turns out those little spots towards the center were new leaves, and the edges look purple. I am not sure if I should be concerned about that or not...but I think it's fine.

 

I'll have pic updates in a while, I have some stuff to get done around the house. I have pics of yesterday, today and I'm going to get some in a bit as well.

I ended up transplanting it already. It seems the general consensus is that transplants shouldn't normally happen that soon but I had roots coming out of the bottom of the cup already.

Unfortunately, there was some root damage during the transplant. I'd be heart broken if this lead to severe problems in the next few days. I'm nervous. Transplanting is/was definitely something that made me nervous.

 

Let's play catch-up:

Day 6


I noticed that yet another leaf set is starting to grow, but it's still really small.

 

Day 7

Today I noticed more growth, however I also really noticed that, in addition to the stems being purple (which I have read is normal for "some" plants), the bottom of the leaves is also slightly purple. I'm watching it closely to see what it does. It's hard to see the purple in the pic, but there is a little bit. In the mean time, I'm just making sure it's getting good water and care.

So, today, as I mentioned I transplanted. Some root damage seemed to occur but I've been checking up on it ever since that happened and I see no signs of shock at all. I transplanted at about 7pm and it is currently 11:30am

The third photo is about 45 mins after transplant. Looks pretty much the same now.