A Hydrofarm Jumpstart T5 system... My goal for this is to start my seedlings and transplant them outdoors when they are ready. A few questions though, I will be germinating my seeds and then putting them into a SOLO cup or a real tiny pot. Once it is in the pot... how long should I keep the light on it for.... 20 hours on and 4 hours off? Also, how do I know when to transplant it to the outdoors? When the roots are about to grow out of the cup? Also, I picked up Roots Organic 707 soil from my local gardening store and the employee recommended me starting the seedlings right in the 707. He told me that it will not burn the plant and it will be fine. also, he mentioned that it will be easiest to transplant that way since it will be traveling to the same soil but just a different pot size. I plan on finishing in a 15-20 Gallon pot outside. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thank you
I've been doing 18/6 with my T5's and it works fine. Electric rates are here are like .45 per KWH which is the highest in the nation so I try to keep it to a minimum. When the weathers nice I turn the lights off and put my buddies outside and just run it for 6 hours in the evening. I dont know where you're from but a lot of people wait till late april/may to transplant out doors so the plants dont flower immediately and then revert to veg once the days get really long in the sumer. Where I am at, this is not much of a concern because our longest days of sun are around 13.5 hours and shortest are 11, so pretty much everything flowers right away.
I start with 18/6 than usually adjust to match the hours that they will be dealing with outside.Works for me.
Okay thank you. I just started the germination yesterday. I live in the central valley of California. So once the sed pops out a sprout I will then put it into a tiny pot with the 707 soil, any disagreement to that? I will do the 18/6. I want to get them outdoors as fast as possible but safely. About how long do I let it grow before its ready for the 20 galloner outside? Thanks again.
I'm unfamiliar with that soil but it sounds pretty legit from what i just googled. You wont have to feed the seedlings anything for a while just let them work with what they got. How big is your light setup? I have 2' 4 bulb and a 2' 8bulb T5 system and it kicks ass, very low energy consumption. I think the LST technique is a must for t5's or your lower branches will suffer when the plants get tall.
I have 1 T5 bulb, I believe it is 2'. Mind you that I am only using it to start my seedlings then I will put them outside. Last year I did some LST and I enjoyed it, I think this year I want to do some more from the get go. I checked out the threads you posted in and they have a pretty good illustration. I think tonight I will start my journal after work. I will post a picture. The man at the store also supplied me with some other stuff from Roots Organics.... "Oregonism XL" it says it is a soluble root growth enhancer, endo/ecto mycorrhizae. It says to sprinkle on the seedlings and cuttings during transplanting it also gives directions for feeding an "existing plant." Should I use it when its time? It says primarily with young plants or at the beginning of the growing season... He also hooked me up with "Uprising Foundation" also from Roots Organic, ingredients are: Fish Bone Meal, Oyster Shell Flour, Kelp Meal, Greensand, Soybean meal, Glacial Rock Dust, Alfalfa Meal, Feather Meal, Bat Guana, Langbeinite, Rock Phosphate, and Leonardite. It says to apply this every month. When should I should use that? When the potting soil runs out of its nutrients? Should I just add that as a top dressing?