Seeds Popped: What’s The Next Move?

[Delps8]

The seeds in my germinator have popped. They germinated in the dark and on a heating pad (80º). The stems are about 2” tall. I’ve moved them from the closet to my dining room table which has windows on the east and south but there’s no easy way to put direct light on the germinator.

Other threads advise using a CFL light source but I’ve got a few CFL’s from years past but don’t have any CFL light fixtures anymore. The lights in the house are incandescent or LED and the only desk lamp is an LED. My grow tent is set up and it’s an 8’ tent so I can move the light well away from the kids (it’s a Kind XL600).

What’s the next move?

• Let them sit on the table for a few days and use natural light
• Use the LED desk lamp
• Buy a desk lamp and swap in a CFL
• Put them in the tent with the Kind

Thanks in advance.

 

[bluter]

congrats on the germination. put them in the tent with the light at the proper seedling height.

 

[Tokin Roll]

Before anyone can help or offer a suggestion; more information is needed.

What medium are you planning on using?

Indoor or Outdoors?

Tok..

 

[Delps8]

Tokin - rock wool with RWDC in a 2’ x 4’ tent.

 

[Delps8]

congrats on the germination. put them in the tent with the light at the proper seedling height.

“Into the tent with them!”, was the cry…

That’s what I think I did on the first/other grow (3 ½ year ago) but I didn’t record that step in my journal. :-(

Thanks.

 

[Tokin Roll]

Putting them in the tent should be fine as long as the light isn't to close.

Are you going to use hydroton, coco or a mix of both, gravel, river rock?

Do you have meters?

I take it your air pump is large enough?

Tok..

 

[Delps8]

It's a 35/28 gallon RDWC res and I'm using hydroton. The equipment is ready as best I can tell. I "unarchived" a grow setup that I used in 2017 and have cleaned, checked, tested, and replaced as needed.
The air pump is an EcoAire 4, with backup, and I've got backups for the water pumps (top feed and water chiller), as well.
I use a BlueLab meter in the res. I ordered a Vivosun combo meter and it was bad out of the box. That happened twice. I also had to return a leaky cistern.

I'm really glad to get this grow started.

 

[Reave]

You doing a journal for this grow?

 

[Delps8]

You doing a journal for this grow?

Just keeping notes. I used Excel last time but it’s pretty limited.

 

[bluter]

how to make a grow journal

 

[Delps8]

how to make a grow journal

That’s great. Thanks.

 

[Tokin Roll]

Looking good.

At least if you start a journal there will be plenty members here to help if you need it.

GL with your grow.

Tok..

 

[Delps8]

Well, that was quick…
The first set of seedlings bit the dust. After a week and a half, one seedling was about 1 cm tall, with a gnarled stem and a root that was about 1 cm. The next bigger one was about 1" and the tallest one was 2". They each had one set of leaves but they were < 1" across and none had exposed roots.
I tossed out the seedlings this AM and put a new set of seeds. 2 Gorilla Glue that I bought a few months ago and 3 AK-48 and 3 White Widow that have been in the fridge 2017.
I'm not holding out much hope for the 2 GG's since they're the remainder of the 5-pack that I bought. The AK and WW are 3 ½ years old so I might be pissing up a rope. Guess we'll know in a few days.

 

[Pat Puffer]

Scarring the outsides of old seeds is a common practice among growers.

Take a pill bottle and cut a piece of sand paper to fit inside the bottle. Roll up the sand paper and place inside the pill bottle. Place seed(s) inside, recap, and give a few shakes.

The abrasions on the seed casing caused by the sand paper increases the odds of old seeds getting the water they need to sprout.

For future reference.

 

[Delps8]

Thank you. If things go as I hope, I won't be dealing with seeds until the Fall. On the other hand, we plan and God laughs!

 

[Delps8]

The last set of seeds made it to seedlings but the seedlings "died". I was really careful to not give them too much light and I made sure to not overwater them. In fact, I did that so well that they died of lack of light (leggy and stems so weak they couldn't stand up) and not enough water.

As of yesterday, I've got 6 GG autoflowers (I decided to go with autoflower since I've got a SoCal summer coming up) in Rapid Rooters in a germination dome+T5 CFL+heat mat.

The RR's were soaked in RO water pH'd to 7.0, the dome is 78º and about 75% RH, and the light is an 18 watt T5 CFL. The CFL sits in a groove molded into the dome. The T5 has lots of blue light but it's only ½ the minimum recommended PPFD for seedlings. Soon after they sprout, I'll turn on the LED and dim it appropriately.

BTW, I've spent some quality time with a known-good PAR meter and an app called "Photone" (used to be Korona). I haven't tested Photone extensively yet but I've done a quick check of the CFL and a few settings of the SP3000 against the Apogee and Photone was very, very close. The one metric that comes to mind was for the T5 - 50 µm/second on the Apogee vs 52 µm/second on Photone. And Photone can be calibrated. And Photone costs $5.

As a couple of posters have suggested, I will start a grow journal but the first step is to have something to grow.

 

[Reave]

I use that app. Make sure you make the paper diffuser makes a big difference.

 

[Delps8]

I use that app. Make sure you make the paper diffuser makes a big difference.

Heh, that's good to hear.

Agree 100% about the diffuser. I've use 20 and 22# paper and settled on cutting a strip across the bottom of a #24 envelope.

How has it worked out for you? What light source are you using?

 

[Reave]

How has it worked out for you? What light source are you using?

Until I can compare to an actual par meter I’m really not 100% sure but I have been using it just to record what levels are working then can set it in the future.

 

[Delps8]

Until I can compare to an actual par meter I’m really not 100% sure but I have been using it just to record what levels are working then can set it in the future.

That's a sound approach.
A good way to get close to dead on accurate without a PAR meter is to calibrate Photone against a known good light source. If there's a legit review of your light on YouTube, you could use their PAR map to get in the ballpark.

I'd be interested in hearing how you use Photone. How has it impacted the amount of light that you're giving your plants vs when you weren't using it or were you pretty well dialed in?