COCO COIR First grow baby step plans - does this sound ok?

[4202020]

Hi GWE, after lurking for what seems like forever I've decided to take the plunge and go for a grow.
Despite copious research and reading, the first time jitters are getting the better of me and I see potential disaster round every corner!
... to put this in perspective, it's been approx 12 hours since I put a seed into a Jiffy Plug and I'm already staring at them wondering if I've done something wrong and they're all good die

Setup:
2x4 grow tent
Mars Hydro TSL2000 (300 actual watts)
Jiffy plugs
Autopots 5 gals + tank
Coco+perlite
Canna coco nutes
Carbon filter

The story so far:
I think this method is correct so far:

1. I dropped my seeds into a glass of tap water where they floated for a couple of hours.
2. I gently stirred it with my fingers and they were sinking to the bottom so I promptly took them out.
3. I had some jiffy plugs hydrated with filtered tap water which I let absorb, then squeezed out the excess.
4. Made a small hole in the Jiffy plug and put the seeds in (1 per plug)
5. Put them into a dome where temps are approx 75 F and 82% RH
6. Waiting for sprouts.

What the plan is going forwards (please comment):

1. As soon as I see sprouts, I'll be happy, then when roots show I'll transplant into a big plastic cup. Water with a measuring syringe around the seedling rather than directly onto it (is this to prevent light spots/burns?)
2. I think that as soon as the first tiny petals (cotyledon?) are out I can begin using Rhizotonic, Cannazym plus Canna A+B at approx 1/4 strength - is this correct? My water is hard so I don't think I need Calmag
3. When first proper leaves show through, I'll bump this up by a little bit every feed - maybe 50-100ppm until I get to half strength which I'd expect at around 2 weeks.
4. Once roots are showing through the plastic cups, I'll transplant onto 1 gal fabric pots and repeat until they're ready to go into their final 5 gal autopots.
5. Hand watering the whole way until plants are ready for Autopots to take over.
6. Intending a Nebula Manifold with a scrog net for support.

Hope this sounds all good - means I learned something If not please do let me know what I've misunderstood...

Thanks for understanding my pedantic nature over this!

[405microgrower]

Uhh I'm pretty new to but like you have done more than enough research to get me started but the only thing I find a flaw in is chill bro seeds can sit in a cup of water 24-48 hours or untill you see the shell crack and tap root start to snake out but yeah still have a good possibility of germinating since the temp and him is good just make sure the jiffy plugsdont get dry but not dripping either well good luck

[Tersky]

Not gonna lie i had to look up pedantic. Everything you have done up until now is fine. The only thing i would ask is if you are using pre-buffered coco or are you going to buffer it yourself?

1) In the beginning you dont need to water often and i think the process of not watering on the seedling is to not disturb the seedling mainly but if you have a super intense light and leave droplets on the leaves they can get spots.

2&3) I wouldnt start feeding until it has it's first set of true leaves, not the cotyledons. Feeding too much too early can kill or hurt the seedling.

2b) Coco grows usually need cal mag supplementation. I dont know if hard water will cover that fully so just keep an eye out for cal mag issues. Also hard water is hard (no pun intended) to pH and pH is vital in coco.

4) Why all the transplanting? I would go straight from the jiffy pot to the one gal pot then from the one gal to the 5 gal. Seems like a waste of recovery time to put it in a plastic cup then a one gal pot ect

I dont use the nutes you are using so i cant comment on that.

[JohnEmad]

Sounds like you are set to go.
Curious - what type of seeds/plants you are growing. Auto's or photos?
If it were me I would not transplant from the 1 gal to the 5. just straight from the plastic cups to the 5 gallon. why chance damaging the roots more then needed.

[4202020]

Thank you for telling me not to feed it before 1st set of true leaves... I totally would have!
I was going to transplant that many times because I thought it was the right thing to do according to GWE. Additionally, due to Autopot usage, I wanted more root growth in the middle of the pot instead of just having a mass at the bottom, missing the point of the 5 gal pots. Am I incorrect in this? I'd MUCH rather go Jiffy -> Cup -> 5 gal pot.

JohnEmad Photos - Not sure if Autos can be trained/give good yields.

[SoOrbudgal]

I agree with JohnEmad especially if it's first grow keep it simple. Transplanting can be tough if you don't have experience and going out of fabric is really tough to me. I go solo cup to final pot hopefully it's a photo period.

[Gingerbeard]

Hey 4202020 The only things I didn't read are mentions that you oriented the seeds with the pointy side down, and fans. You're going to need plenty of air circulating inside the tent. Not just supply and return.

[4202020]

Pointy side down? Oops.. hope that doesn't matter too much and it's probably too late now!
I have 4 clip on fans for internal circulation... of which I'll probably only end up using 2 - 1 above the canopy and 1 below - I intend to do a Nebula Manifold.

[Gingerbeard]

Rotate your plugs 180° if you went pointy up.

[405microgrower]

Yeah I'm you look at a seed close there's a point end and an end that's kinda blunt if you put it in upside down the seed doesn't know that and will still shoot it's tap root straight out and if it's upside down it can come out the wrong end of your jiffys lol also I agree with everyone else 9 times out of 10 when you transplant your plant will have to adjust each time before continued growth so the more you transplant the longer your veg cycle and I know it can be tempting but once you put them in a medium other than just jiffy pellets try to let them go for 2-3 weeks before go for another transplant so this is most people I know cycle they use jiffy/rapid rooters from when it pops up above ground to almost like 3-4 days then they either go solo cup- 1 gal pot some where in that range for 2-4 weeks then most people I know go from 1 gal to the final size pot unless they are growing outdoors and trying to grow trees in 200-1000 gallon smart pots then they might transplant a couple more times but if your final pot is 5-20 gal go from jiffy>small pot 8oz-1.5gal>final pot 5-20 gal just a side note some people tend to believe if you put a small plant in a large pot it will slow it's growth for a little but idk if that's science or opinion and honestly about the nutes I don't use the same ones so can't speak 100% but after first set of true leafs you can start like a 1/4 strength but I personally like to wait till my plant asks for it before they really start showing signs of deficiency if you spend enough time with them while they are growing you'll notice that it starts to kinda slow in growth and doesn't look as *happy* and that's when I usually give them there first nutes cause seedlings have enough built in to get them along the way a couple weeks after seed I usually give mine nutes around day 15-20 depending on the plant but everyone is different I do it this way cause I've had problems in the past with nute burn on seedling even completely killing some or stunting growth so bad wasn't worth trying to keep but these are plants there's tons of different methods and options of how to grow and tons of those methods work even though there not the same it's cause they all have 3 main things light water/food and medium so they don't just lay over but if you stick with it you'll eventually figure out what works for you and it could be step by step from a guide you read or you could put your own spin on things but either way as long as you can grow your own medicine that's all that matters it doesn't matter if you are good at training/ manifolding or if you let it grow to the moon as long as your happy in the end that's all that matters ohh and the hard water thing yeah most hard water does have calcium build up in it but 1 I don't know if that's exactly the right form of calcium for your plants to absorb but like I said idk but I would definitely do alot of research till you've either heard one or the other from multiple places either that it will be a good calmag sub or that it's completely wrong and wouldn't work cause I know if it was me if I had hard water like that I wouldn't even try it I would go buy clean water from somewhere pH adjust it add my nutes then feed the plants I used to live in a house that had hard water and I feel like if I would have been growing then and using that then I would eventually build up chunky white calcium on/in my soil and that's just gross imagining that lol but like I said none of us matter ultimately they are your plants so if you satisfied then great but don't let people tell you l " this is the only way you should do _____" you can't listen to there advice but figure out what works for you cause in my opion hydro is shit cause the bud never taste that great but I know tons of people that would never use anything but hydro it's like buying a car I might like sports cars your might like trucks but does that mean either of us has made a stupid choice to buy said vehicle just cause the other one doesn't like it no it's just preference but good luck man sorry for the novel

[Jordann]

Punctuation

[Tersky]

Thank you!!!

[4202020]

Alright thanks for the comments and help so far everybody, it's definitely improved my nerves a little.

I'm now freaking out just a little bit because I cannot recall which way I put the seeds into the Jiffies - maybe pointy down, maybe pointy up? Maybe even horizontally.
I'm REALLY tempted, roughly 40 hours in, to peel back the Jiffies just a little bit and check but a part of me feels like that's not a good idea.

Is there any huge detriment if they ARE the wrong way round? I'm aware that gravity will do the majority of the work in guiding a root vs a shoot and if I see a root I can always reorient the Jiffies when I transplant into the Solo cups. At least that's what I'm thinking.

Shout out to 405microgrower too for pointing out that everyone will have unique circumstances. I guess the first is always the most nail biting!

Going forwards then I'll wait until the first set of true leaves shows through and I'll make a decision then as to feeding vs not feeding, but the Rhizotonic for root growth is being used around then for sure.

[Jordann]

Could always out the jiffy on its side and see where the sprout comes out 🤞 I wouldn't worry too too much. It's always better to plant once the taproot comes out that way you know forsure where the root went.

[4202020]

Edit 2: I gave up with the propogator hood as temps were reaching 93F/34C. As soon as I did this RH plummeted to 33% but temps went down to a much happier 82F/28C.
Also, and this is pretty amazing, 2 of them are already showing their first set of leaves! Incredible growth! Just waiting on the last one to pop its seed shell off...

By the way I should have also introduced the strains.

I'll be growing 1x Seedsman Bubba Kush and 2x Seedsman Gelat.OG - I figured they're both indica dominant and *should* remain fairly short.

This is so exciting!!

Edit: I moved the LED controllers to outside of the space and put some higher power fans - this has brought the temps down to 85F/29.5C. I read that this should be an OK temperature so I'm hoping this will suffice.


Hi everyone, today I'm excited to see that the girls have sprouted! It seems nature will pretty much always do its thing.

A new issue has come up. There are fans inside as well as a carbon filter fan blowing out but I was struggling to control the temps and humidity during my dry run. Temps get up to about 90F/33C and as high as 94F/34C. Humidity remained at around 30-40 which would be great if it were flowering. I'm hoping once water is introduced to the space the temps will come down and RH up. Other than AC, I've done as suggested on heat control guides on GWE.

Hoping tubs of water be left in the space to evaporate and level things out, but we'll see.
How has the GWE community overcome this in the past?

[Jordann]

Humidity is an afterthought for me. Only drying buds do I pay attention. Right now me tent is at 95. Outdoor temps 85. 2 10 inch fans in the tent along with a 4 and a double 6. It's a vortex plus the 6 in exhaust. I took the filter off for better flow. I haven't had problems with this temperature, well aside from trying to sleep in the room I grow on the other hand with80percent humidity and my room stays at a comfortable temp of 80 to 90. All night long. 3 air-conditioning units in a 3 bedroom house. I have 3 fans blowing on me in bed as an air-conditioner in my bedroom window. With my door closed I can get it down to mid 70s. I miss winter. Supposed to be the hottest dryest summer ever for our location. Bring it on 110 f. In the summer and minus 70 f in winter. We get the best, or worse, of both worlds lmao here in Canada we go through the summer begging for winter to return for the sole purpose of begging for summer to return through out every year. It's the best if both worlds. 4 months of squarching heat then 8 months of crippling cold. I love where we have 4 months of hellish heat then 8 months of horrible cold weather. But I would never leave. Unless the right price came up in the right area maybe. Fuck this roasting sun. We need slouds the sun is just beaming down on us. I'm all sunburnt good morning I well here. How's your weather where yallsyalls reside currently? Happy growing. Hope your in a cooler climate than me xoxox

[405microgrower]

I mean the weather were I'm at suck I like in Oklahoma in the states and winter's are usually kinda mild with the occasional 20f and below but usually from 25-50 till mid Jan to Feb then doing starts kicking in but then the summer we can get long periods of 100f+ like a couple years back we had no rain and temps 110+ for almost 2 months if that happens this year idk if my outdoor plants will make it

[4202020]

Wow, from all the forums/guides/lit it tells me that RH is an issue as is temp, but I guess when you're dealing with temps and weather like that... damn!
Sounds like you've got a handle on it. Weather here is temperate, but can be pretty moderate to extreme in either direction. Generally it's ok.

All my girls have popped through and have cast aside their shells! The Bubba Kush needed a little help with her shell.
They're all displaying the first set of true leaves. Here're my first pics of them.

My question: should I begin to feed them yet at 1/4 strength or is this still too early?



I also prepped the 5 gal containers - I think this was premature however they're now ready. I mixed roughly 60/40 coco/perlite and rinsed it through with water. They're now sat in the tent hopefully raising my RH and ready for transplant in about a week or so. I'm hoping I did the right thing and that this isn't an issue.

Temps are under control for now, but still struggling with RH. Still, if you guys say it doesn't matter then..

Time to put these girls under 18/6. Gonna hang the lights about 24 inches away and monitor for stretch/stress.

[405microgrower]

Leave the light on for 30-60 mins then hold the back of your hand right under the light for like 5 mins if you can if it gets uncomfortable then your plants won't like it but that's a good way to check unless you have a really strong light I'd go by feel I have a 32w 3k Lum red white blue spec and it sits like maybe 3 inches above my seedlings cause since it's so weak if I put it any further than like 6 inches they start trying to stretch but and when you tranplant you want there to be enough roots that the soil doesn't fall apart during the swap maybe it's just me but I like to wait atleast 2 weeks maybe longer depending on growth or one way I can tell there ready is if you have big enough holes on your container and you see roots trying to grow out the bottom then yeah I'd say they want a bigger home

[405microgrower]

This sunset sherbet poped the soil on 5/15 and I'm just starting to see the tip of a root or 2 through the holes so I'll probably transplant her tonight or tomorrow

[405microgrower]

And yes temps and rh are important if your really worried about quality and weight but outside where these plant have grown for.......ever changes all the time and they do fine and produce great weight and amazing bud but that why people always argue about indoor vs outdoor being better but for me atleast my main goal is to get my plants to harvest super dank and alot of weight would just be a bonus