This is my very first grow, and I have to leave town and won't be back for 36 hours and am nervous. Here's what I did: I used the water glass method of germination. After about 48 hours, I got a beginning of a sprout on two seeds and a cracked-open, white-root-about-to-burst-out on the third seed. I ordered a Low-rider stealth grow box that came with a small hydroponic unit and what appears to be 6 jiffy peat pellets. There was no label or box for them, so I don't know exactly what they are but they look and act just like the jiffy pellets in all the youtube videos. I soaked them to expansion, squeezed them until they were moist-but-not-sopping and put my seedlings in them about a half-an-inch or so deep and covered with jiffy matter. But I do not have a dome or anything to place over it. I don't have a particularly dark and warm place to put it either. I put the newly-planted jiffy pellets in the 2-inch netted cups that fit these expanded pellets perfectly and placed them in the small DWC hydroponic unit, one quarter-inch submerged in tap water. I have not added any nutrients and I have no way to check the pH right now (those kits are in the mail). I then took a sandwich-sized tuppaware container bottom and placed it over the top of the netted cups, while covering the tops of the unused holes with aluminum foil. My plan was to keep the 3 CFL lights of the box on, but keep the fans off, and get it to about 80 or so degrees. Due to extenuating circumstances, I have to leave town and won't be back for about 36 hours. This worries me as a new inexperienced grower, so I'd like to ask: Will this method keep the jiffy pellets moist? Or must I continuously add water to the top? Will the lights bother my seeds? I thought lights would help? I'm simply using them for heat/humidity effect.
Well lets find out. Im predicting you will get home with moist little pellets and some happy seedlings. How far away are your CFLs?
Put a ziplock over it if you can..remove when plant sprouts.. Honestly this has to be one of the worst times in a plants life to not be there to tend to it if it needs something
Don't keep them submerged, even that little! Soil needs to dry completely before watering to avoid root rot. If you leave your soil in water you can expect drowned seedlings or retarded root growth. My advice would be to just leave it alone. Make sure it's damp before you go and just leave it under the lights. You take way less of a chance this way because chances are that thing wont dry out in 36 hours. Never water plants if the soil is still damp at all up to 1" under the surface. Trust me, I've had to deal with my share of plants that got off to an over-watery start.
Thank you for your responses! I changed the process to mimic the typical peat pellet method of germination using tin foil and a small 3 qt. plastic bin with lid. In my closet, I found an electric heating pad (for humans). So before I got any of these posts, I took the netting cups out of the hydro unit and placed them in aluminum foil formed to cup around the bottom of the netted cups, mimicking the plastic trays that store-bought peat pellets come in. I put a little amount of water there at the bottoms. I then placed that construction into a plastic storage bin, which is on top of the heating pad, inside of a duffle bag, with a blanket wadded on the top. I placed in the closet on the "high" setting and went to sleep. This morning there were some beads of water on the ceiling of the bin and the pellets looked dark and moist. It was pretty warm, but without a thermometer I couldn't tell if it was too warm. Nothing was hot to the touch, maybe it wasn't sweltering, but it was definitely much warmer than room temperature. You're right Sammyy, I really don't want to leave, but I've had this appointment (for 3 mos.) to take this test to get this job. Need that income to support my new hobby! And yet still, Travel plans have changed. It's Thursday morning here (US EST). We got a blizzard last night, and I can't get a ride out until Friday afternoon and can't get a ride back in until Sunday late morning, 48 hrs. later. By Friday afternoon, the seeds will have been planted in the pellets for 48 hours! So my new questions are: (1) Do I leave the pellets in my aluminum foil/plastic bin structure with heating pad? -OR- (2) do I go back to my first set up in the DWC grow box? Also, (3) what modifications should I make to your preferred option, if any? It's cool to know that the cannabis I'll be smoking this summer was conceived in the middle of a blizzard! Har Har Har!