Hello. This is my first grow, and so far things have gone terribly wrong. I planted 8 seeds, all of which germinated fine. Then I had my agro-lite way too close to them hoping the extreme lighting would speed up growth, not knowing how damn hot the thing got. 7 died, 1 survived. I nurtured the survivor and he seemed fine after a couple days, a nice healthy green. I keep him under a cooler CFL and put the agro-lite far enough away so little heat reaches him. I then planted 3 more seeds, they started to germinated, but with my impatience I over watered them and they dampened off unfortunately. With little hope left, I still want to proceed with my grow because this may be the only time in my life that I am able to grow. (Moving in with my girlfriend at the end of the summer in a small townhouse, and she dislikes the thought of such prohibited activity. So unless I convince her to let me grow indoors, then I'm boned. So, this seedling has recovered for about a week, with the round leaves (cotyledon?) still slightly curled, but healthy, and the first serrated leaves about half-inch out and also a nice healthy green. But, I've read that seedling growth should be rapid, and this guy has grown maybe 1/16" in the past week or a little more. Not wanting to hurt him i'm postponing fertilizing until the second leaves appear, and to avoid burning him I'm leaving him in sunlight instead of artificial lights. SO, heres where I need the help. I want this puppy to survive and GROW. This slow growth is concerning me and I'm unsure what the best course of action is. Should I resume my growth under a few CFL's, or is sunlight the safest route? Should I add some nutes? etc. ANY information would be greatly appreciated. I was truly looking forward to my grow for a couple years now, and It finally got to the point that the idea of growing was consuming me. SO please help! Thanks.
since you have only the cfl (the other so far away isnt sending enough lumens & only creating heat) how do you intend to flower, outside? or buy lites? thats expensive for 1 time, 1 plant grow. get this pup in the window, start scouting a secure, sunny outdoor place to do her thing no nutes for 4-5 weeks from cfls to window lite & from indoors to outdoors acclimate the plant slowly so it doesnt suffer sunburn
u might be over watering . remember its very easy to over water very hard to under water. usually in the first week or so I water once a day indoor every 2 days until roots are well established . roots require oxygen to grow and stay healthy ,too much water or clay like soil limit oxygen intake resulting in slower growth. adding hydrogen peroxide improves oxygen in soil and hydroponic . careful add to much and ull fry the roots.
it also kills the benificial micro herd living in your soil. peroxide is better used for plants medical emergency use in my opinion (oxygenating badly overwatered roots)
Well, I measured it today and she's grown a bit, maybe another quarter inch. I forgot to mention I'm growing her outdoors, and I've been leaving her in the sunlight on nice days, and under the CFL's at night and if its a cloudy day. My watering routine shouldn't be the issue, as i only water when the plant needs it, making sure the soil is dry before hand. Hopefully i'll get a few good says of sunlight in, cause that seems to be speeding her up a bit. My camera won't zoom in close enough but I've noticed the round leaves are still partially vertical, is this normal or should the be horizontal and growing as well?
Thank you ganja, I forgot about them coty's! However, the one appears to be going yellow, and I cannot remember whether or not this is normal because it has had all of it's nutrients used up, or if this is a sign of a problem. Everyone is right about leaving the plant alone to grow, I wish I had listened in the first place and none of this trouble would be necessary. Nevertheless, I thank all of you for your help, and I do hope this little thing turns out okay. Even if it's not a girl .