After sprouting water questions

[Bacondoggy]

I have one seed that sprouted from a bag. I but it 1/2" down covered it and watered it then put it in a cup size plastic pot. My concern is the soil mix is still soaking wet after 2 days. I take it outside. It must not be warm enough out to evaporate water from soil as normal, will this hurt the seedling? It has not broke through the soil. I don't want it to rot. Will it go through the soil, should I do anything?

 

[welshpony]

Have you got drainage holes in the bottom of the cup? It sounds like its not draining well if it is soaking there could be issues. Dont go digging round to check the seed though because if it is sprouting you could damage it by digging.
Ive seen seeds take up to 7 days to show through the top, at 2 days id say give it a few more days, but try and put some drainage holes in!

 

[Bacondoggy]

There are drainage holes in, it just seems like the soil is waterlogged despite perlite peat etc. When planting sprouts, how wet should the soil be, just damp?

The world does not CARE how much you know, until they know how much u care.

 

[Bacondoggy]

Have you got drainage holes in the bottom of the cup? It sounds like its not draining well if it is soaking there could be issues. Dont go digging round to check the seed though because if it is sprouting you could damage it by digging.
Ive seen seeds take up to 7 days to show through the top, at 2 days id say give it a few more days, but try and put some drainage holes in!

Another sprouted I'm going to put it in a cup you wash your mouth out with. May be overthinking it, but I have a paper one and a plastic one. Put holes in the bottom of both, will put it in the paper cup, then the plastic one for the outer part. Then when it grows, I can slide the plastic one out and the paper Dixie cup will biodegrade in the soil outside right?

 

[welshpony]

You can do it straight in the plastic cup then when its time to transplant you got a few options, either take the whole plant out and re pot (easy and quick) or you can carefully cut the bottom of the cup and the roots grow out of the bottom.

You could do it in the paper but it looks like its one of the cups with a waxy coating and possibly dyes in the print. Worst case scenario the paper cup turns to mush.

If the seeds in the pot in the first pic it looks fine from what I can see, it doesnt look to wet

 

[Bacondoggy]

You can do it straight in the plastic cup then when its time to transplant you got a few options, either take the whole plant out and re pot (easy and quick) or you can carefully cut the bottom of the cup and the roots grow out of the bottom.

You could do it in the paper but it looks like its one of the cups with a waxy coating and possibly dyes in the print. Worst case scenario the paper cup turns to mush.

If the seeds in the pot in the first pic it looks fine from what I can see, it doesnt look to wet

Okay cool. But I had another seed pop and was going to plant it. I guess I'll avoid the paper cup. When I plant it, does it even need to be watered as it's just a seed, or would moist soil allow the seedling to grow just as well, if not better?

 

[welshpony]

I tend to keep the soil moist, misting is good for it. You can do it every few days a few squirts will be good you want it moist but not overly wet. When it starts growing to 3rd/4th sets of true leaves start watering as you normally would every few days.

Remember the wet/dry circulation helps develop a good route structure so give it time to dry out before a water.

 

[Bacondoggy]

I tend to keep the soil moist, misting is good for it. You can do it every few days a few squirts will be good you want it moist but not overly wet. When it starts growing to 3rd/4th sets of true leaves start watering as you normally would every few days.

Remember the wet/dry circulation helps develop a good route structure so give it time to dry out before a water.

Wouldn't misting the plant be essentially keeping the dirt moist and not allowing it to dry out? Shoukd I worry more about misting it being SO SMALL or, keeping the humidity up (putting some type of clear plastic or glass so the humidity condenses inside, I don't think it will get too hot at least not with the Temps here in pa)? Do the first leaves even work? Is the plant even creating photosythesis, or not till it gets its first set of "real" leaves?

 

[welshpony]

Domes help I sometimes use them if i got a empty bottle that can be sacrificed. Yea misting helps the soil not dry outgot to be careful actually misting the plant itself as the light can burn it, I always mist just before lights out.

As for the first set of leaves from what I know they dont photosynthesize as the plant has all the energy it needs until first true leaves, when it gets to that point its got some root and small leaves the start creating its own energy.

One thing thats handy later on with watering is the lift technique, you can judge the amount of water in a pot by the weight of the pot. From what I can see the pot looks fairly moist but its all looking good

 

[Bacondoggy]

Domes help I sometimes use them if i got a empty bottle that can be sacrificed. Yea misting helps the soil not dry outgot to be careful actually misting the plant itself as the light can burn it, I always mist just before lights out.

As for the first set of leaves from what I know they dont photosynthesize as the plant has all the energy it needs until first true leaves, when it gets to that point its got some root and small leaves the start creating its own energy.

One thing thats handy later on with watering is the lift technique, you can judge the amount of water in a pot by the weight of the pot. From what I can see the pot looks fairly moist but its all looking good

First time and first set of real leaves! Sry I'm excited lol. I guess now is when I put them on a schedule? 20 on 4 off?

The world does not CARE how much you know, until they know how much u care.

 

[Bacondoggy]

 

[welshpony]

Yea getting the schedule going now wont be a bad thing I run a 16/8 in veg, helps keep the bills down!

 

[Major PITA]

I go the opposite route.
I plant into solo cups filled with Promix. I water the soil until it won't hold another drop by watering from the top while dunking the cup. I let it drain. I plant the seed. Done. Next watering is usually about two weeks later when the seedling is ready for transplant. The soil in the cup has dried out and is easy to remove for the transplant. Up-pot and repeat by completely drenching. I never use a cover or dome. This has worked 100% for me, indoors or outdoors.

 

[Bacondoggy]

I go the opposite route.
I plant into solo cups filled with Promix. I water the soil until it won't hold another drop by watering from the top while dunking the cup. I let it drain. I plant the seed. Done. Next watering is usually about two weeks later when the seedling is ready for transplant. The soil in the cup has dried out and is easy to remove for the transplant. Up-pot and repeat by completely drenching. I never use a cover or dome. This has worked

Crap. Well what of I have it outside right now and it's pouring down rain? I thought (hopefully ) she would like rainwater and while it was getting dried out a bit, I also figure plants planted outside wouldn't mind a rain obviously, but is this not a good idea with natural only 5 day old sproutling? maybe less I forget already lol. Shoukd I run out there and grab it it's been in the rain a couple hours now. Soil I'd not compacted and I know it will drain ; but will this hurt it?

 

[Major PITA]

I can't say. It is probably fine. It all depends on how wet the soil is and how much more water the rain will give them. I keep mine outdoors, but under a roof overhang so they get sun but no rain - unless they need more water. Then I move them over a foot so they get the rain.

 

[Bacondoggy]

It only rained for an hour or so, so yeah ur probably right. I don't know how crappy the public water is here where my gf lives, but when it rained today I got all excited and was like "here's some REAL water little plant" lol. I put the public water in a plastic milk jug, but I dunno if they use chlorine or that other crap that can't be off-gassesd like you can chlorine. It's only like 60° here, I have it in cheap organic potting soil (my mom got it and it was either that or steal the neighbors lol (I wouldn't do that but he's got a freakin' pallet of miracle grow so far only one came up out of all my bag seeds and and was considering a perlite sprout bc I hear it's good for the root structure I was doing the paper towel method to try to sprout them bc the seeds are old. This Alaskan fish emulsion says it won't burn can I use it on my plant yet? I dunno how many days old it is I hear the seed has enough nutrients for 2 weeks and I have earthworm casings in the soil. It's a crappy overcast day I WANT IT TO GROW FASTER lol debating on waiting or making a solution with the fish stuff and water and give it a couple squirts in the morning and at bedtime. Can you tell by the size if it's ok? (I did cover the stem up a bit, I'd say about 1" to 1 1/4"). Still haven't decided to grow indoors eventually, plant it in my garden, (its a trailer park of old people it's kinda close to each other's houses and old people around here can be nosy) or just find a place where I could just plant and visit it to make sure deer or people haven't destroyed it... I hate decisions like this

This is what my g/f's neighbor has going on lol are the blue bags of MG seed starter?

NOTE TO A MODERATOR, CAN YOU MERGE THIS WITH MY (I ACCIDENTALLY OMITTED THE WORD AND) " TITLE OF I'M GETTING GOOD READY FOR MY FIRST GROW" -- IF NOT, NO BIGGIE!

 

[Major PITA]

Aren't they only about 1 week old? If so, I wouldn't give them any nute's yet.
You want them to grow quick - and they are. It's just that most of the new growth is below the surface right now. That's what you want.

 

[Bacondoggy]

Cool. Thanks. I only have one sprout so I'm over analyzing things

The world does not CARE how much you know, until they know how much u care.