how do these sprouts look?

[dustydundee]

today is day 11 since these jack herar sprouts came up from the soil. I watered them with ph'd water on day 7 using 10 squirts out of a spray bottle, and it looked a little dry yesterday so I gave them 3 more squirts each of water. Do they look overwatered or otherwise unhealthy? Anything I should be doing at this stage? They stretched a little in the sprouter box so I'm propping them up with toothpicks a little but I think they probly don't need that anymore. I'm wondering at what point should I replant them into their final pot, which will be a 3 gallon pot? I always like to start out in a solo cup and then move to a pot to help with watering and am always wondering at what point to transplant, so I figure I'd ask and see what everyone thinks.

[9fingerleafs]

Transplant when roots get all over the pot. Remove the support toothpicks. If you provide support now the plants will always be flimsy and weak. They need the motivation to harden up

[dustydundee]

when you say roots get all over you mean when they fill up the cup on all sides? how often do you water in these cups? how long you think they should stay in the cups?

[9fingerleafs]

Yeah i mean when you can roots going around, dont need to fill The cup, watering is another clue, if you have to water too often (daily or more) it's probably a good time to trabsplant. Lift the pot before and after watering to get a sense of when to water using weight

[JeffInCanada]

Here is a grow podcast that covers when/ how to transplant to the final pot. Have a listen....good luck. Plants look good so far.

[Catfish22]

When mine are in cups I weigh them to determine if it is time to water.

[quirk]

If they were mine, I would do this.

Time to transplant. Get your 3 gal pots ready, filling with a nice light, fluffy, airy, well draining medium, building up around one of your solos (to form a mold.) Slowly water until a slight runoff and let them acclimate to grow conditions (24hrs min) then transplant, bringing medium to within one inch of first one fingered leaf. Keep your medium moist, not wet, by not watering too often. I hope you have more watts to throw at them to prevent further stretch.

[dustydundee]

this overwatering problem is plaguing me. I did not water them since I posted the picture above yesterday, and now they look droopy and overwatered? how that possible? looking thru the clear plastic cup, it appears more dry since yesterday but what the hell is going on with the leaves now? will this return to normal? I'm on day 12, i drenched the cup when I planted the seed, did not rewater again until day 7. I watered again a little on day 9. Not sure how I overdid it. is it too late? I wanted to wait until they are dry and thirsty until replanting them is that the right thing or do I replant now?

edit: the dark wet cup on the right is a new seed that I just planted, not a plant yet.

[9fingerleafs]

Yeah because they do, too much water and too dry both make leaves droopy

[9fingerleafs]

They are not overwatered

[dustydundee]

well, I watered two of them last night. they first shriveled a bit and I thought they were gonna die, then this morning they are opening back up and looking a lot better, so I watered the rest of them. seems weed is always lying to me on when it needs water or not....

[MeEasy]

Another thing is roots don't like light at all. If you're not repotting right now I would get a colored solo cup and cut the bottom off completely for drainage and put the clear one inside of it

[dustydundee]

great idea!

[Canuck147]

And there's your problem - the roots are not happy cuz they are being abused by any light coming into that clear plastic cup. Transplant to get your roots happy and the rest of the plant will follow.

[dustydundee]

9fingerleafs and all, thanks for the help and suggestions. I watered em, a few hours later, they looked like they were gonna die, about 12 hours later, all was well and all are happy. I went and replanted them in their permanent homes, in a nice moist medium of ocean forest with extra perlite that has been sitting for about a day in that warm space. hopefully they'll take to it. The soil was moist and heavy but not packed. gave them just a little water to settle them in. I know you're gonna tell me to lift the pots, but what do yall think, I figure at least a good week before the first watering? Anything else I should be doing that comes to mind?

i've been growing for almost year and recently my bad habits have caught up with me. Ive been overwatering and not realizing it the last couple of harvests and it seems that it has gotten into my head. I'm second guessing myself at every turn and I've lost my weed mojo . I appreciate finding this board to bounce ideas off of.

[SoOrbudgal]

Hey man you ain't the only one with the " weed mojo blues " it's all around us LOL. Just keep doing what your doing now, i got a shitty mess going in my tent but it's keeping me from thinking of some of the outside world events going on. And it's winter don't know where your at but try and stay focused your getting this grow under control i hope and we all wish you luck. It will get easier you will get better just follow good advise, learn from mistakes. You can do this.

[dustydundee]

appreciate the kind words! I feel i've already learned a lot just from the few questions and back and forth I've gotten on this board. great to converse with like minded people.

[PLreef]

I find some plants to be super emotional. They pout when they get watered, they pout if they're dry, pout if they're hungry, pout if they're roots are exposed to sunlight and so on. Long suppressed mommy issues? IDK?! Some plants are just like that. Just can't keep them happy.
over all they look pretty decent.

[Farmbuck]

PLreef they call them feminized seeds for a reason hey..!

[PLreef]

Lol your on a roll today! 🤣

[dustydundee]

I replanted those 6 sprouts into my 3 gallon pots with a ton of holes in the bottom and sides. ocean forest with an extra 20% or so of perlite mixed in. They were replanted 4 days ago.

pot with fresh soil/perlite out of the bag, moist and fluffy, without any watering = 8lbs
I watered to runoff = 11 lbs
planted sprouts, 4 days later with no watering = so far dried to 10lbs 2 oz

With that said, today at 10 lbs 2oz, I'd say the top inch is dry, then it gets moist. soil has great consistency, still real fluffy. so far, i think I'm pleased with how they look unless something jumps out to people.

They look like they are developing their 4th node. I plan to top them when the 5th node starts to form between 4th and 5th node. They are on day 17 today since they sprouted and on their 4th day in the big pots.

How much longer should I wait for the first real watering?
Do I water the next time to runoff, or just a little in the middle?
If it was out of the bag at 8 lbs, should I let it dry till it is pretty much like it was out of the bag back down to 8lbs? or get down to 9 lbs? hell that may be another week.... looking for feedback!

[MeEasy]

You don't need to water to runoff until you start feeding em, the purpose of runoff is to wash away any of the nutes left over from before so that it doesn't build up and cause problems with the ph. As they grow so will the roots I always watered about an inch further around where the leaves reach to about an inch from the stem, at this point you want the water to get to the bottom and make sure you let the pot dry pretty good not completely but keep in mind roots don't like to look for food n water in dry soil and if where the roots are never runs out of it there's no need to go looking for more

[dustydundee]

good advice. what i'm hearing and reading is that they need to dry out well and I'm just wrapping my head around how long that should take. Based on dropping 14 oz in 4 days, i'm thinking it will be at least another week until the soil dries out. that'll be about, i dont know 10-12 days after replanting for the first watering. does that seem normal? seems like too long.

[MeEasy]

It takes 4-7 days in the beginning but once your plants start drinking it it will be 2-4 if it's drying before 2 days you are not watering enough. Overwatering doesn't happen because you give them to much water, it happens when you water when they don't need it yet. Weed likes the cycle of wet dry wet dry and hates staying wet that's why most of us use like 30% perlite in our mix including in coco. Check this out so if I missed or got something wrong

https://www.growweedeasy.com/how-often-water-marijuana

[SoOrbudgal]

You gotta figure it out dustydundee there's nothing anyone can do to help you with watering that's not been said. I don't want to sound harsh but somethings are learned and by mistakes, i know you don't want to mess this up. What is the light your using and watts from the wall? How far are they away from the lights?

[dustydundee]

I apologize. I did not meant to be repetitive with my questions and I guess I was. In my professional life, i'm a technical guy. i like to look for technical answers. so i was trying to tie something vague like "dry pots" with a number of exact days to go, or weights, to try and add some science into it. basically try to make it more tangible in my head. MeEasy's reply above is very helpful to the kind of info I was trying to get my head around. I'm not so afraid to mess up, I've been messing up, i just want to learn a little more and I appreciate all the feedback.

I got my veggies in a 2x2 with a 130W from the wall, visparspectra LED, about 20" away. good breezy air with good circulation. i'm keeping the tent at about 72F. soon to go into a 4xe4 flower tent with 700W from the wall.

[SoOrbudgal]

I apologize back at you sorry for sounding off. Try not to over think this too much, you'll relax more as you become more confident and watch others growing in here. A year from now you'll be kicking back. and showing us how it's done.

[dustydundee]

its all good man. we stoners are all in this together. so far my sprouts are looking awesome in their new pots. it been 7 days today since I repotted them from the cups to the pots. I just watered 2 of them for the first time in 7 days. The others are on day 7 with no water, pots are still moist, maybe another day or 2 for those. I will try to err on the side of too dry vs too wet, I guess thats the main takeaway for now

[dustydundee]

I have been following everyone's advice, and so far the results speak for themselves. thank you all for getting me on the right track. These guys here, its been 8 days since I replanted them from the cups to the pots, and i have not watered them since the initial replanting. It has taken every ounce of willpower NOT to water them, but its easy when they look good. The pots are still about 1 lb heavier then they were out of the bag so I'm getting close. Can anyone tell by looking at the leaves if they are starting to look dry at all? is there any visual cues besides the weight? the leaves don't appear droopy at all, hard to believe they gone 8 days. the top 1 inch of soil is dry, but you can feel a little moisture deeper than that.....

[MeEasy]

They're probably ready for a drink, I don't do the pickup thing because of my back problems I stick my fingers in the soil and if it's dry not moist I water. The pickup method is probably better though. You'll get it. Just remember if your leaves droop it's overwater if the stems droop with the leaves they want water