Cotyledon leaves curved up

[Growth]

hi, big time noob here and first time grower. i have 2 plants 1 week old. 4 40w 5000k cfls 1inch away with reflective material throughout grow area. 1 small fan not hitting plants directly. using fox farms ocean forest soil.

I had an issue with humidity(not enough) causing the seed shell to not fall off, after adjusting humidity and light misting, the shell fell off.

My concern now is that the cotyledon leaves are curved up while the the first set of "true leaves" are growing. (as pictured) Is this a problem?

Any advice is greatly appreciated!

 

[SLHLover]

Hi and good luck with your first grow! I wouldn't worry too much about the curling - new sets of leaves will grow. I've had many new girls sprout in a seemingly weird way only for them to develop into catwalk mod3ls

 

[Scientific]

Not what you're asking about, I know, but four, 40-watt CFLs an inch away from a seedling are probably going to get it too hot and give it too much light. Just one of them up close (not too close) should be fine for now. A $16 lux meter from Amazon could tell you more. (You want about 20000 to 50000 lux. I'm going to guess you're over 100,000 with those 4 bulbs that close.)

Like SLHL, I think your plant looks ok. Freaky cotyledons (from the too-close CFLs?) the the true leaves look ok.

 

[Jacobxgloria]

It will be fine. Those leaves dont matter you could even cut them off and it won't hurt it

 

[CaliOGhead]

I'm a rookie grower myself... so take this with a grain of salt..

From my understanding, those leaves are crucial and packed full of nutrients for your young plant. I would not cut them off until they look wilted and die.

With that said, the cotelydon leaves curling up wouldn't concern me. My current grow did the same and they are doing fine now 3 days into 12/12. They are huge and robust. I did my seedlings under a 1k mh bulb about 30in away.... they are bad ass now 5.5 weeks later.

Good luck bro. They should be cool.

 

[SLHLover]

Not what you're asking about, I know, but four, 40-watt CFLs an inch away from a seedling are probably going to get it too hot and give it too much light.

Yes, Scientific has a point about too much light. I have only used CFLs once to grow from seed (all my grows are now LED) and found 80 W in CFLs sufficient for one young plant for the first 2 weeks of life. I kept CFLs around 2.5 inches from the plant and it did very well. After the first couple of weeks, the minimum should be 120 W for moderate growth rate. I use a 220 w LED after week 2 (or 3rd set of true leaves) and the growth is explosive.

Re the cotyledon: they do contain the plant's food for the first couple of weeks of its life. I grow in coco and would never remove cotyledon (my plants only get fed nutes after 3rd set of true leaves have developed). Even though you are growing in soil and the nutrients are available, your young'n will not be able to use them until it has developed a stronger root system - so no, do not remove cotyledon.

 

[Growth]

Thanks everyone for the input! I've done enough research to know not to mess with or remove the cotyledon leaves...lol.
As far as lighting goes, of the 4 bulbs, each plant only has 1 bulb 1 inch away from the top and the other 2 bulbs are a bit farther away and more to the side of the plants. Is that still too much? And ill definitely be looking into a lux meter.

 

[Scientific]

Thanks everyone for the input! I've done enough research to know not to mess with or remove the cotyledon leaves...lol.
As far as lighting goes, of the 4 bulbs, each plant only has 1 bulb 1 inch away from the top and the other 2 bulbs are a bit farther away and more to the side of the plants. Is that still too much? And ill definitely be looking into a lux meter.

Do you know about the "back of the hand" test? You put your hand the same distance from the bulb as the plant is. You should be able to leave it there comfortably for 10 seconds. Fans moving air mean you can move lights closer, but that can be dangerous if the air flow stops or lessens.

I just went over and took a measurement with my lux meter. 1" away from a 23 watt, 1600 lumen CFL, I'm getting 25,000 lumens. That's a good light level for a seedling. A 40 watt will put out more light, but probably over a bigger area so I imagine the reading wouldn't be too much higher--maybe 35,000 to 40,000? Still probably not too much (though getting close).