How Long?

[gunja]

Hey there! My question is this :

If i germinated a seed, set it up in an hydro enviroment with satisfactory lighting and ONLY plain pH'd water - how long would it survive??

Has anyone ever tested this??

I think my problem is that I over nute my seedlings, I have no EC/PPM meter so I basically go off what the bottle says e.g for seedlings 1/4 strength/Gal

I have 20 seeds on order + 10 freebies. Im thinking I might start a journal using the freebies as test subjects with differing levels of nutrients vs time and see what works best as im sick of killing my sprouts!!!

 

[BWC BayArea]

Get a meter

im sick of killing my sprouts!!!

Then instead of buying beans, invest in a decent PH meter. I hear the Milwaukees are affordable. Go to ebay. Honestly ur wasting ur time and beans doing what ur doin IMO. Have u had a good harvest like that yet? I'm sittin here talkin bout I did what u did b4 (I must be tired). I never even did hydro, lol. I did the water and nutes with no meters b4 I meant. If I were U i'd get a 3 part hydro nutes system, PH, and TDS/EC meter, and just do it the tried and true way. Listen to Ms. Fox. i need to goto sleep, lol. Good luck.

 

[Ms.Fox]

How are you germinating? Rockwool? Seedlings can survive without nutes for a short period of time, but this in not recommended. The will grow very slow and be unhealthy. With soil, seedlings do not need nutes for 2 - 3 weeks depending on the soil you are using. Hydro grows are different. The seedlings need nutes from the start. I would start lower than 1/4 strength at first. You should soak the rockwool overnight in a very weak nute solution with the ph adjusted to 6.5 before you add your seeds.

 

[gunja]

How are you germinating? Rockwool? Seedlings can survive without nutes for a short period of time, but this in not recommended. The will grow very slow and be unhealthy. With soil, seedlings do not need nutes for 2 - 3 weeks depending on the soil you are using. Hydro grows are different. The seedlings need nutes from the start. I would start lower than 1/4 strength at first. You should soak the rockwool overnight in a very weak nute solution with the ph adjusted to 6.5 before you add your seeds.

Have been germinating in 1.2gal pots of coco but next round will be in oasis cubes so I can pack em in humidity dome under t5 fluro instead of 600W MH (3 feet away) Yea I totally agree with you on the UNDER 1/4 strength think this is where my problems arise. Think the superthrive I added was an overkill as well.

Then instead of buying beans, invest in a decent PH meter. I hear the Milwaukees are affordable. Go to ebay. Honestly ur wasting ur time and beans doing what ur doin IMO. Have u had a good harvest like that yet? I'm sittin here talkin bout I did what u did b4 (I must be tired). I never even did hydro, lol. I did the water and nutes with no meters b4 I meant. If I were U i'd get a 3 part hydro nutes system, PH, and TDS/EC meter, and just do it the tried and true way. Listen to Ms. Fox. i need to goto sleep, lol. Good luck.

Again your totally right. I've got my eyes on a bluelab pH/EC/TDS meter. Kind of counter intuitive but my partner isn't happy with me investing more until I get a decent yield.

Think I might have to go back to soil with my lowrider2 beans and get a decent crop then try coco/hydro again

Thanx guys and gals

 

[BWC BayArea]

Coco is tricky. I still haven't gotten the hang of it quite yet. I got a couple n coco side by side with soil in my journal. Click the follow my grow link in my signature. I'm wrestling with deficiencies with the coco now.

 

[Bulldog3500]

Dude Hydro is cool but I think you will get better plants with some really good dirt (it is also cheaper). Ocean Forest is the best dirt to start with (it is already set up with all the nuts your young plants will need for the first 3 weeks after planting it also has ph balancers so you never have to mess with that).

As for the seedlings the best way I have found is the paper towel method(make sure you keep the seeds in a darker and cool spot well they are sprouting on the paper towle) then you need to put them in a rockwool cube and wait for the plant to sprout out of the cube then plant it in the dirt.

The only other thing I can say is have LOTS OF LIGHTING it does not matter if it is cfl's or HID's or HPS just make sure you have enough for the plants to grow well.

Good luck.