My LR #2 seedling just popped above the soil yesterday with the shell still attached, and looked like a leaf was forming in between where the shell is. Last night when I came home, the temp had gone up from 77F to 87F at soil level and what I thought was a leaf looked darker, dried, and crisp like the heat had burned it. The stem appeared to have grown though so I thought it was still okay. This morning I took the other pot thats still germing a seed out of my cab and put the seedling solely under the 70W HPS (15" away) in my 26" x 26" x 14" cab because I thought it was stretching for light as the stem seems to be growing fast, but the shell is still attached. I also gave it some water as the soil on top was very dry and only semi-moist underneath. The temp seemed to be okay as it maxed at 81F w/ the light on for 3 hours and the stem had grown more, but now what I thought was a leaf forming looks as if it was melted to the part between the shell and now its just a little ball between the shell. Its almost an inch tall and the shell is still attached, is this normal? Also when do the first round leaves begin to form. Is it possible, that what I thought was a leaf was the first round leaves and I burned them off? If so, will I need to start over? It seems to still be growing so its definitely still alive. What should I do?
A 70w HPS is enough light for 1 plant isn't it? I thought it might be too much for the seedling, but its either growing really fast or stretching for light. At 1" tall for a lowryder that may only grow to 12", shouldn't it have some leaves on it at this height? Or is the rapid stem growth a sign that its not enough light? I swear it seems to be increasing in height every hour or so! but just the stem and the shell is still attached on both sides. What is the max temperature for a seedling anyways? I've read about 72F, but it is still alive and growing w/ the temps at 79-83F. Hum. is always 35-40% w/ light on and 50-55% w/ light off. Maybe I'm just being paranoid cause its my first grow and I've invested alot of money so far, but I want to make sure I'm doing it right, ya know.
70w hps is too much for a seedling... it will be great for it during the later parts of the plants life though. Do you have a fan going? That will help with temp
I have 2 fans, but I can't run them constantly because of the humming sound they give off. I'm able to run 1 right now and w/ the cab doors open it dropped the temp down to 76F. Would the 70WHPS be okay for the seedling as long as I keep the temps below a certain level? I have some cfls, is it too late to switch? About how many watts should I use? I have a few 42w warms and a few 23w cools. I can run them through the hole I have at the top where the HPS is mounted, but I didn't want to have to unwire the HPS. Also, should I try peeling off the shell thats still attached, its curling to that side a bit at the top and I've seen some people peel it off
I pinched mine off when it started to turn brown. Those CFL's would be perfect, 2 warms and 1 cool, 2" away from the plant. That would give it enough light for the first 7 - 10 days, then you can switch to your hps for the rest of your grow. You could keep your hps if you don't want to do all that work for the short time period, and just raise the hps to about 20". You can get computer fans that run completely silent from more then like a foot away.
Thanks for your help, I took out the hps and put 1, 42w warm cfl in there and am waiting to check the temps to see if I can put anymore. What is the optimal temp range I'm looking for? Strange it may sound, the 1 cfl looks brighter than the hps. Though I dont think that means its giving off more light cause 1, 42w cfl has 2700 lumens compared to probably 6000-7000 lumens in the 70w hps. The seedling seems to be doing fine though I can see where it looks like the actually leaf is forming in between the shell and little by little the shell seems to be working its way off. What I thought was a leaf before must have been something else form inside the seed cause this one is bright green and the whole size of the ball(I don't know correct terminology). I just had an accident though, my temperature gauge is a flat 4" x 4" panel resting inside the pot to check accurate temps and it fell over on my seedling. When I pulled it off the seedling was still straight as an arrow so I don't think it hurt it, but there is a little curve about half way down the stem now. Still I think its okay and I'm not leaving the guage in there anymore.