Colorado High - Soil - CFL - Super Skunk - 2013

[CA215]

Seems like they should be breaking ground any time now CH never lose hope buddy
I have found that you don't want to have any big flakes of wood, rocks,, debris and what not on the top soil and below where you placed the germinated bean. These things may cause stress. If you want (I personally do this but be very careful) go ahead and move the top layer of soil to the sides and search for a upcoming seedling. I have done this with all of my seeds and have had 100% rate so far. I feel like moving that watered down thick soil around and creating gaps and crevices for the upcoming seedling to feel less stressed has kept all my beans sprouted. Another thing is it may be a tad cold for them, also noticed this where I had mine placed at another location. I opted to construct a smaller box with one 60-65~watt cfl above and literally made a perfect little warm box for the girls. I had 9 red party cups so figure the size was no bigger than 1'x1'. Just some thoughts CH, I am mad baked buddy. The main thing for seeds it they want that warm root zone to survive, humidity second. Just my 2 cents, stay well and Godspeed little beans :Namaste;

 

[David Bowman]

Nice clean set up! I am new to this, but I have seen it take up to 2 weeks to sprout...

Thanks Pinky! That's the thing, they've already sprouted 4.5 days ago, why the hide and seek for so long, but you're right, they can take much longer. I guess I was spoiled last time when they went from seed to seedling in just 6 days.

 

[David Bowman]

I your setup so much. Don't worry, they're gonna hatch.

Those pots are way overkill lol

Thanks b.real! Yeah, I like to minimize transplanting, only did it once last grow, this grow will probably come in with two.

 

[David Bowman]

Thanks CA for the sage advice. I moved all the heavy/solid stuff away from the seed sprout area. I did as you suggested and while all of the seeds appear to remain viable, the tap roots are growing in circles instead of straight down, every single one of them, we're talking full loops here. I lightly packed the soil back overtop no more than 0.25 inch deep. I've turned off the circulation and extraction fans to see if that won't raise the temps a bit.

Update: 1 hour later and temps are into 80's and RH is up to 40%. Only fan running is the humidifier fan.

 

[The303Stoner]

it a good time of year to have a heat mat the temps jump up around too much. keep the hot and wet. I like to start my seeds off right in the soil.

 

[David Bowman]

For just the few days of use a year, it doesn't really make sense to me to get a heating mat, especially when I can control the temps so easily without one. I have a 2 sensor thermometer and right now the temp at the bottom of the grow box is 78 degrees and the temp at the top of the right light fixture is 92, so that puts it at around 85 degrees around the peat pots, with 40% RH holding steady. We'll see if this is enough to get a rise out of them!

 

[CA215]

Good going CH, way to proceed. I am liking the humidity and temp, the seedlings should as well.
I have never dug deep enough to follow the tap root around I would mainly just scratch as the surfaces until the cotyledons were found pushing up. Sounds pretty interesting how the tap roots were growing in a swirl, were they hitting any debris and diverting to the sides?

Definitely a plus that you are seeing tap roots CH, I would say your conditions prior to the changes were good as they were still working on making their ways above ground just a little chilly. Again, way to get a good jump on em

 

[yuyo]

hang in there colorado
trying times for a new grower

 

[David Bowman]

Thanks CA and yuyo. I wasn't trying to dig that deep, it's just that when I would look for the seed, I often times found the tap root curling itself around the seed so I dug a little deeper to find out what was going on. There was no obvious debris blocking their way that I could find, just coiling tap roots. Maybe the cool temps were messing with the seeds' growth pattern or something. Hopefully within the next day or two I should see some seedling growth.

 

[CA215]

Gotcha, How often do you usually water your seedlings? & what are ya watering with?

I have found that the first couple days they don't necessarily need to be watered thoroughly, just mainly where the bean was placed, I take a spray bottle with 6.5 ro and give them a good 15-20 sprays on the top soil for the first each morning for 2-3 days, after I feel they have had some time to set in that soil I will then water the whole pot. Seedlings can get too much water. I tend to let the top dry abit around the edges before another watering Just some more thoughts whilst I wake n bake

 

[David Bowman]

They are watered from the bottom up using dechlorinated tap water. I lightly mist the top with dechlorinated tap water to keep it uniformly moistened. I only add water when the peat pots have dried out a bit. When I went exploring last night, the soil was moist and crumbly, there were no muddy spots or standing water so it definitely was not waterlogged.

 

[CA215]

They are watered from the bottom up using dechlorinated tap water. I lightly mist the top with dechlorinated tap water to keep it uniformly moistened. I only add water when the peat pots have dried out a bit. When I went exploring last night, the soil was moist and crumbly, there were no muddy spots or standing water so it definitely was not waterlogged.

Since watering from the bottom up the pots should be very moist and ready for these girls to get set I would personally hold off on the watering for a day, and tomorrow if the tops looks dry give them some sprays to evenly moisten but don't water through just yet.

Take into consideration the temps before you changed and after, with 85f you are going to get a quicker drying pot. I am thinking the colder weather wasn't allowing the girls to dry out well or the tap roots to thrive, of course the cold weather comes cold medium.

The conditions look well for them now, hoping to see you update here shortly with the girls breaking ground

 

[David Bowman]

I had already given them more water before I read your reply CA, the evacuation fan is still off but I turned on the circulation fans to even out the temps/RH throughout the grow box and it is now 85 degrees with 60% RH.

 

[canabinerd]

I would suggest a seedling heating mat, they're cheap and you can even free up room in your veg area if you take em out and stick em' somewhere with the mat in a humidity dome with a cheap fluorescent on the top. It's been getting so cold at night lately that even with a light running in my room, sometimes my temp's have been dipping into the low 60's and you're probably quite a bit north of me. If I was trying to sprout beans that way right now, I'd be using my mat.

 

[David Bowman]

Thanks, canabinerd! Actually, once I adjusted the grow environment, the temps/RH are much more suited for germination than before. What I forgot about last time was that it was during August and the general environment was pretty much right on for germination, mid 80's and relatively high humidity so not much had to be done to get the environment right for germination. The grow environement feels right now and I have high hopes for these babies however, if this doesn't work, then I might have to do as you and The303Stoner suggest and get a heat mat.

 

[David Bowman]

We're at 50% with 1 already popped and 2 that are just about to make an appearance. Nothing yet from the other 3 but chances are good that they'll pop soon as well. Thanks to CA and everyone else, I learned a lot about germination, especially in cold/dry weather. It was real convenient to be able to transform my grow box environment on such a short notice, that alone has opened up a possibility that I thought was not possible with my setup.

Since day 1, I've always had some form of extraction in my grow box and it was always running when lights were on. This is the first time I've had extraction off with lights on. The temps rise well into the 80's, and I can get the RH to hit 60% or more, but it is a very stable environment. I think it is a prime candidate for supplemental CO2. Once I get these babies popped and raring to go I'll add one of those DIY sugar/yeast machines to the grow box and see how that goes.

 

[Christine Green]

Hi ColoradoHigh,

How high are you? I am at 8,500 feet. Really hoping for a white Christmas, but they are only giving us a 10% as of today. I deal with the same issues you do with the dry cold. So far I leave the doors open when the lights are on so they get additional airflow, that keeps it between 77-82. The humidity is around 25%. At night, when the lights are off, I don't run a fan, and I close the doors. It gets a little cold in there. It's usually around 65-68 degrees. I noticed on of my strains didn't seem to like the cold, and the leafs all curled upward, like little boats. About an hour later when I checked on her, the leaves were perfect again. So I assumed it was the cold?

What is this "DIY sugar/yeast machines", how does it work, and where can I get one! LOL!

Thanks for your time CH!

Time to wake and bake!

 

[David Bowman]

I'm just over a mile high, 5300+ ft. and doesn't look good here either for a white X-Mas, there is no snow on the ground at the moment and a 20% chance on Christmas. IMHO, heat and humidity are the 2 hardest to control factors of growing around here. While I personally love low humidity, it can be hard on the plants. During late flowering on my last grow, the grow box was experiencing 20-25 degrees temperature swings throughout the day/night and humidity would go from 15% to 85% and back again within 24 hours.

As for the CO2 generator, I'm using the instructions on eHow under "How to Make a Homemade CO2 Generator". It's quite simple really, a 2-liter bottle with cap, some tubing, yeast and sugar. It safely creates CO2 to supplement the grow environment. This is really only beneficial in a closed environment, i.e. no extraction, and in temps above 85 degrees. This is the environment I currently have for a least a little while.

 

[Christine Green]

I love the low humidity myself! I'll check out eHow. Thanks so much.

At night the humidity is very high, up to 90%, and cold 66.
During the day it's pretty steady around 78-82. Low humidity then, 25-30.
So far my grow seems very happy. Will these numbers affect me? Or is this acceptable?
Thanks so much for the info!

 

[KingJohnC]

I love the low humidity myself! I'll check out eHow. Thanks so much.

At night the humidity is very high, up to 90%, and cold 66.
During the day it's pretty steady around 78-82. Low humidity then, 25-30.
So far my grow seems very happy. Will these numbers affect me? Or is this acceptable?
Thanks so much for the info!

you should either boil off a couple large pots of water in your home to increase your relative humidity and/or get a cool mist humidifier. your plants will grow much better with less stress with higher humidity. you want from 70°-90° Fahrenheit and 50%-70% humidity for vegetative growth and 30%-50% humidity for flowering.