Seeds all germinate, but don't sprout when planted?

[FrankC]

Today, I noticed that one of the first two true leaves on Blanca (the auto white widow) , is misshapen - it almost looks like it has been chewed on one side, although there are no insects that I can detect.

Does this look abnormal?

[SoOrbudgal]

Well sure it looks abnormal but if you don't see any other issues with the leaves in a couple days not to worry. If you have a magnifier i'd be looking at the soil.

[Bluey]

Also look for brown tips on the new leaves which indicates to me a bit hot. I think it's pretty normal also to get tears in leaves. It's never seemed to cause me any problems though.

[FrankC]

sorry, duplicated last post and then deleted it

[Bluey]

I get that a bit. Not sure what causes it. Maybe a bit hot medium.

[FrankC]

Update: Today is day 10 (if I count the day the first two plants sprouted as day 1 - the third popped the next day).

All three girls seem to be doing well yesterday - until I dropped Blanca on the floor while picking her up to photograph! She came out of the cup. The roots had grown down an inch or two, and remained mostly enclosed in a loose ball of coco. I quickly replanted her in the same cup with some new Coco, watered, and let's see what happens. Bummer!!!!!

Here are some photos - any comments on their condition?.

Tanya:




Betty:



Bianca:



Here is my current grow setup:

For now, in AC Infinity seedling dome with attached LED strip lights. I have a heat pad underneath (insulated by several layers of bubble wrap, to reduce heat transfer), but I only turn it on if it gets too cold inside the dome. Leaves are about 2" from lights, set on the highest setting, on 18/6 schedule.

Temp about 75F, RH fluctuates about 62-68%.

Grow medium is Coco/30% Perlite.

Currently watering with 1/4 strength nutes, 1/2 strength CalMag:. Per gallon: 1 ml CalMag Botanicare, 2.5 ml Fox Farm Big Boom, 1.25 ml FF Grow Big, pH about 6.2-6.5, EC 380.
I'm watering (until there is some runoff) about once a day, when the cup feels light and the top feels dry-ish.

I'm planning to transplant into 3 gallon fabric pots of Coco/30% perlite, when the roots start emerging in holes at bottom of cup, and/or the leaves grow well beyond the edges of the cup
I'll be using a 3'x3'x6' AC Infinity tent, Ionboard S33 LED light, inline 6" exhaust fan, oscillating fan, and humidifier (the air in the house is still very dry, RH 30).

Here's one issue: The three strains I'm growing are listed as short (White Widow), medium (Tangerine) and tall (Bruce Banner). They were sold as an autoflower assortment package by Seed Supreme. I hadn't thought about the plant size before starting the grow, but will it be a problem if they are growing at three different heights? Can I overcome this by using LST on the taller ones?

[SoOrbudgal]

I have topped autos and LST trained except when they are outdoors in summer. Yes that dropped plant may be needing ICU or a CT of it's head you'll know in a couple days if she's doomed.

[Ckbrew]

I had some clones that tried to take a walk and wound up on the floor out of their cups. They developed a condition which resembled nutrient lock out. They were revived by adding the juice from fresh squeezed aloe to the feed water. It contains hormones that stimulate root growth. That fixed them up well and the plants went on to become good producers. Watch for distress and try the aloe trick if you see problems.

[Mollisol]

Ckbrew how much aloe to water? I've crushed aloe and put it on sunburn and other skin problems and been amazed! No wonder plants like it too.

[FrankC]

Today (Day 11), Blanca (the girl I dropped on the floor 2 days ago) looks a bit under the weather - her leaves are slightly darker green than the other plants (this color difference doesn't show well in the photo), and a bit bumpy-looking. But her next set of leaves are coming in nicely.
Temp 75, RH 60-65.

Blanca at top, Betty at bottom: Any diagnoses?

[2by4Rich]

Sorry to hear you had issues getting the sprouts to break thru after planting them. I had the exact thing happened to me with Peetmoss and the Jiffy Cubes are very similar. This is what I did and it worked for me:
1. with the pellet very moist,
2. Use a FORK and loosen about 1/2 of its content. Like making a hole in the pellet but leaving the fluffy material that has been soften.
3. Then open a hole within the softer top, place the seed and cover it using a spoon without compressing over the seed.
I don't understand why our dearest plants are referred to as Weed when they are nothing like weed because they require allot of knowledge, attention, special environmental conditions of Temp, Humidity, Light, and Nutrients etc.

[FrankC]

Grow update 3/28/24. Today is day 13 since sprouting.

Blanca (dropped on floor 3 days ago) is still in a Solo cup the seedling dome (75F, 64% RH), and not looking great, compared to the others. Her first two leaves are ratty-looking (with a few small brown spots), but the newer leaves look better - if slowly growing. She just sprouted a few roots at the bottom
of the cup, which I guess is a good sign.



Tanya and Betty had a few roots protruding from the cups yesterday, so they were transplanted into 3-gallon air pots with Coco/30% perlite, and are now in the 3x3x6 grow tent. The tent is at about 70 degrees and 60% RH. I am running a humidifier inside the tent, because the ambient RH in the room is only 35%. The light (AC Infinity IONBOARD S33 240W LED) is 18 inches above the canopy, set on 50%. I gave them a dose of Great White Mycorrhizae today, to promote root growth.



Two of Betty's leaves look curved downwards, which I understand could be a sign of overwatering?? There is also a bit of algae on the perlite.


I need to figure out a watering/nutrient regime for the 3 gallon pots, and will try this one:

https://budbuilders.org/threads/cann...-aqua-man.207/

It says:

1. Feed 5% of the pot size as your nutrient solution.
2. Of that we want 10-20% to come out as run off.
3. If you get more you can lower the frequency.
4. If we get less we need to increase the frequency and for that feed we need to add more to get our run off.

[SoOrbudgal]

Hey just FYI my potting mix on seedlings gets greenish algae too just lift the pot feel the weight. Your's are still small water in a circle around the outer leaf tips go outward don't water to run off YET they are too small just give them about 12oz slowly in a circle, watch that light being so low they still are young and will lower their leaf as a hot spot these are very young don't burn them. It's not always overwatering it's too bright on young seedlings.

[Bluey]

What SBG said and a bit of green especially on the perlite is fine.

Investing in a conductivity meter might help with nute dosage, Apera and BluLabs make good ones.

[FrankC]

Bluey,

I have a conductivity meter for testing solutions - is that what you mean, or one to measure conductivity directly in the soil?
What conductivity should I be shooting for at this stage?
The nute solution I've been using for the past week or so is a 1/4-strength solution of Fox Farms "Big Bloom" and "Grow Big", with 1/2 strength CalMag. The EC of that is 380. According to the FF schedule, I should start gradually increasing the nute levels during the veg stage.

[Bluey]

To just measure the nute mix. In soil none, just water, in coco around 0.4 or 0.5, maybe 0.6 to 0.8. Depends on root development and genetics.

[FrankC]

SoOrbudgal: You wrote: "don't water to run off YET they are too small just give them about 12oz slowly in a circle",

When would you start watering them to runoff? Isn't there going to be buildup of salts, eventually, without any runoff?

[Bluey]

You can do a whole grow with very little to zero runoff, but problems do arise.

It's quite okay to go the first month or so without any. I'd go first runoff around the time roots protrude from the bottom of the pot. It's not something I really manage for. It happens when it happens

[FrankC]

"I'd go first runoff around the time roots protrude from the bottom of the pot."

Do roots protrude from a fabric pot? These are in 3-gallon fabric pots.

[FrankC]

These autos are now at day 15 or 16 since sprouting (day 17 or 18 since germination).

Does their size and leaf number look ok for this age?

[Bluey]

Yes and looks like they are doing ok too. What EC are you giving them?

[FrankC]

I just switched from EC ~380 to EC ~600, two days ago.

[Bluey]

Cool. Thats ppm. I only use EC.. I bring mine up a bit more gradually. I'd be around 0.6 about there and maybe 400 PPFD

[FrankC]

Actually, my nute solution reads 289 ppm and 614 us/cm (which I thought was the EC ?). This is a solution of about 1/3 of the recommended dose of nutes: 5 ml/gallon of Fox Farms Big Bloom , 3 ml/gallon of FF Grow Big, 2 ml/gallon of CalMag (Botanicare), and pH adjusted to 6.0.

[12HourPower]

614 uS = 0.614 mS. Bluey is using mS units. That is an EC measurement, which is what the meter uses to calculate the ppm.

When he said 400 ppfd he was talking about light intensity.

[Mollisol]

Which one of these girls is called Abby? Abby Norml. Haha! I'm just kidding, they look good.

I just thought it was funny you gave them girl names. Then I started thinking about an earlier post when you asked, "is this abnormal?" Then I started thinking about the Mel Brooks classic: Young Frankenstein. Starring, Gene Wilder & Terry Gar.

I think some of you will get the reference.