I used to start in peat and finish with coco with no problem. When I started using coco to start seeds I used the same theory and had runts even though I started feeding a little late. I think if you can do everything right for the first 20 days of the seedling you will have near perfect plants at harvest..... At some point depending on what the plant is saying, you will be raising the minimal nute (2-300 ppm ) by small increments around .01-.02 to satisfy the plant needs. I have been experimenting with different nutes and now am using Alaska Fish Fetilizer for seedling that cost less than 8$ a quart...This is a very safe organic nutrient and less likely to burn the young roots etc, if you over feed. I am using 1/4 strength to start and observe the plants if they need more so, will up that a little next week....This fert has been working very good so far.... I only use the AFF in the seedling stage and change to my regular nute schedule when I transplant. I still only start with 1/4-1/2 strength and observe the plants before I start upping the nutes. During the seedling stage you might want to use some cal/mag in place of fertilizer maybe once a week at a reduced dose. The cal/mag plus(botanicare) has 2% N and the cal/mag is a needed source for the issues coco is associated with. The plus has iron which is another needed secondary nuutrient.
Thanks again cola! I just watered them, they felt light. I feed them 150ppm nutes with base water at 125, so 275ppm total with a ph of 5.8. I also raised the temp a bit to 80f in the room. Hopefully that will give them a bit of a kick to start growing again! I'll update this thread and let you guys know. I have CalMag Plus so I will use that for the in between feeding waterings at a reduced level as well.
Good news gang, I see progress! The seedlings showed signs of their 2nd set of leaves yesterday. This morning they are quite obvious, but very tiny. At least I can see progression now. Hopefully there'll really start to take off with week 2 coming up. Because I changed 4 thing at once (added light nutes, warmed up the room a few degrees, raised my light, and just giving them more time) I am not sure which, or if it was a bit of everything, that helped. Still, they don't quite look like others I've seen at a week...maybe next grow. At this point I'm guessing they are a few days behind, which is no big deal. Hopefully the rest of this goes smoothly.
I've had strains that the sprout was small and takes a few more days to get going. I also find I have faster seedling growth when I use regular seeds and landrace strains.... I have 4 strains going now from seedling and they all sprouted different but, the weaker ones are catching up. It's all in the root development. Everything you to make an ideal environment for the roots the faster things progress. I concentrate on the roots and don't worry so much about foilage, because I know when the roots start expanding the foliage will come fast..... Everything you did helped......
If you use a clear plastic cup to plant the seed, then just put the clear cup inside a larger cup to block the light you can see the roots develop...
Good idea on the clear cup cola. I start in plugs. Then drop them in coco plug and all. Once I get thick white roots they go in. Works for me. I love liquid karma and hormex.