Slow germination growth?

[Laynexsiren]

Hello everyone,

Doing my first DWC grow. My babies are looking good, just growing slowly. I've seen some grow manuals showing daily pics and the growth between days 12 and 16 from germination are much faster than where I'm at. Here's my setup:

2 5gal black dwc buckets, air stones, mesh pot, standard dwc kit
40" x 40" x 84" tent
3 internal circulating fans
Humidifier set at 50% (pretty steady)
320w htg supply grow light @ 28" above plants, 18/6 schedule
Water is tap, run through an inline carbon filter. Comes out 80ppm clean
Exhale co² bag, running a closed system in my tent
Nutes:
Silicate
Calmag
Cyco:
-Grow A and B
-Ryzo fuel
Total ppm after nutes @ 400, ph @ 5.8
Seeds: Grow King white widow fem photo

I started the seeds right in my soaked and ph'ed rockwool cubes, under an LED bulb until I had roots sticking out from the cubes. Filled my buckets and placed rinsed hydroton until the water was just below the hydroton level, you could see the bubbling water still. Then inserted plants and filled the rest of the way. Fired up the grow light when I inserted into buckets. I'm manually top feeding my plants 2x a day, 30ml of the nute water right over the top on each. One of my babies got stunted because the inner seed sheath (not sure what it's called) got stuck around the cotyledon leaves, manually fixed it when I realized what was happening.

I'm on day 17 now, with the plants in the buckets since around day 12. Still no roots popping out the bottom of the mesh pots and my growth seems stunted.

I am having major ph creep upwards, in 2 days my buckets went from 5.8 to 7.0. Dropped back to 5.8, now checking daily and it's going up around .5 per day.

Am I just being a nervous nancy when it comes to the seedling stage, or is there something that could be holding me back? Thanks everyone!

Ps. Tried uploading pics from android, can't get them small enough even with a compression app. Any suggestions?

 

[Laynexsiren]

Figured it out, needed to resize. Pics attached!

The pic with both is 3 days ago, individual pics are from today.

 

[Bill284]

Hello everyone,

Doing my first DWC grow. My babies are looking good, just growing slowly. I've seen some grow manuals showing daily pics and the growth between days 12 and 16 from germination are much faster than where I'm at. Here's my setup:

2 5gal black dwc buckets, air stones, mesh pot, standard dwc kit
40" x 40" x 84" tent
3 internal circulating fans
Humidifier set at 50% (pretty steady)
320w htg supply grow light @ 28" above plants, 18/6 schedule
Water is tap, run through an inline carbon filter. Comes out 80ppm clean
Exhale co² bag, running a closed system in my tent
Nutes:
Silicate
Calmag
Cyco:
-Grow A and B
-Ryzo fuel
Total ppm after nutes @ 400, ph @ 5.8
Seeds: Grow King white widow fem photo

I started the seeds right in my soaked and ph'ed rockwool cubes, under an LED bulb until I had roots sticking out from the cubes. Filled my buckets and placed rinsed hydroton until the water was just below the hydroton level, you could see the bubbling water still. Then inserted plants and filled the rest of the way. Fired up the grow light when I inserted into buckets. I'm manually top feeding my plants 2x a day, 30ml of the nute water right over the top on each. One of my babies got stunted because the inner seed sheath (not sure what it's called) got stuck around the cotyledon leaves, manually fixed it when I realized what was happening.

I'm on day 17 now, with the plants in the buckets since around day 12. Still no roots popping out the bottom of the mesh pots and my growth seems stunted.

I am having major ph creep upwards, in 2 days my buckets went from 5.8 to 7.0. Dropped back to 5.8, now checking daily and it's going up around .5 per day.

Am I just being a nervous nancy when it comes to the seedling stage, or is there something that could be holding me back? Thanks everyone!

Ps. Tried uploading pics from android, can't get them small enough even with a compression app. Any suggestions?

Hello @Laynexsiren welcome to 420magazine my friend.
Your ph will naturally rise as salts fall out of your mixture.
They are a bit on the small side I agree, little one is a bit rough.
I didn't notice temp?
Temp could cause slow growth, only thing I can think of.
@Rexer does dwc maby he is around today and could have a look.

Stay safe
Bill

 

[Laynexsiren]

Hey Bill,

Thanks for the welcome! My temps swing from 64 in dark to 76 when light. I'm in a basement, growing on a concrete slab so it's easy to manage. Water temps are ranging from 68-72.

 

[nivek]

My opinion. Nutrient managment with seedlings is key. They need some fairly soon after a week and oh so slowly increase the dosage

And it goes with saying that proper watering is required to get those nutrients to the plant

Karma sent to the wee one friend

 

[Rexer]

Hello everyone,

Doing my first DWC grow. My babies are looking good, just growing slowly. I've seen some grow manuals showing daily pics and the growth between days 12 and 16 from germination are much faster than where I'm at. Here's my setup:

2 5gal black dwc buckets, air stones, mesh pot, standard dwc kit
40" x 40" x 84" tent
3 internal circulating fans
Humidifier set at 50% (pretty steady)
320w htg supply grow light @ 28" above plants, 18/6 schedule
Water is tap, run through an inline carbon filter. Comes out 80ppm clean
Exhale co² bag, running a closed system in my tent
Nutes:
Silicate
Calmag
Cyco:
-Grow A and B
-Ryzo fuel
Total ppm after nutes @ 400, ph @ 5.8
Seeds: Grow King white widow fem photo

I started the seeds right in my soaked and ph'ed rockwool cubes, under an LED bulb until I had roots sticking out from the cubes. Filled my buckets and placed rinsed hydroton until the water was just below the hydroton level, you could see the bubbling water still. Then inserted plants and filled the rest of the way. Fired up the grow light when I inserted into buckets. I'm manually top feeding my plants 2x a day, 30ml of the nute water right over the top on each. One of my babies got stunted because the inner seed sheath (not sure what it's called) got stuck around the cotyledon leaves, manually fixed it when I realized what was happening.

I'm on day 17 now, with the plants in the buckets since around day 12. Still no roots popping out the bottom of the mesh pots and my growth seems stunted.

I am having major ph creep upwards, in 2 days my buckets went from 5.8 to 7.0. Dropped back to 5.8, now checking daily and it's going up around .5 per day.

Am I just being a nervous nancy when it comes to the seedling stage, or is there something that could be holding me back? Thanks everyone!

Ps. Tried uploading pics from android, can't get them small enough even with a compression app. Any suggestions?

Now that is probably one of the best, well thought out, and worded plans for a first time grower I've seen in a while.

You clearly did your homework and if you start a grow journal, please tag me as I'd love to follow along.

Hey Bill,

Thanks for the welcome! My temps swing from 64 in dark to 76 when light. I'm in a basement, growing on a concrete slab so it's easy to manage. Water temps are ranging from 68-72.

64f is a bit low for a seedling IMO.
How's your RH?
Have you seen the VPD charts?

72F is on the higher side for your buckets.

Check your ph daily, I do twice a day. Range 5.5 to 6.3
There is a link in my signature on PH, I'd give it a read over, it's loaded with info.

 

[Bill284]

Hey Bill,

Thanks for the welcome! My temps swing from 64 in dark to 76 when light. I'm in a basement, growing on a concrete slab so it's easy to manage. Water temps are ranging from 68-72.

Air temps are a touch low.
I've had slow seeds before, I found temps above 80f are more conducive to growth.
Raising day temps should speed things up.
As far as your nutrient temps I can't say not my forte.

Stay safe
Bill

 

[Bill284]

Now that is probably one of the best, well thought out, and worded plans for a first time grower I've seen in a while.

You clearly did your homework and if you start a grow journal, please tag me as I'd love to follow along.

64f is a bit low for a seedling IMO.
How's your RH?
Have you seen the VPD charts?

72F is on the higher side for your buckets.

Check your ph daily, I do twice a day. Range 5.5 to 6.3
There is a link in my signature on PH, I'd give it a read over, it's loaded with info.

Thanks buddy.
I'm flying blind here.

Stay safe
Bill

 

[Laynexsiren]

Now that is probably one of the best, well thought out, and worded plans for a first time grower I've seen in a while.

You clearly did your homework and if you start a grow journal, please tag me as I'd love to follow along.

64f is a bit low for a seedling IMO.
How's your RH?
Have you seen the VPD charts?

72F is on the higher side for your buckets.

Check your ph daily, I do twice a day. Range 5.5 to 6.3
There is a link in my signature on PH, I'd give it a read over, it's loaded with info.

Thank you for the kind words!

My RH is set at 50%, it fluctuates between 43-60%. Lows mostly just come from when I open the tent up.

I've been looking into ph much more since going DWC, but I thought it would start swinging once the roots were actively pulling nutes out of the water. I was surprised to see the jump when I don't have any roots touching water yet, at least outside the mesh pot.

The only grow journal I have currently is the old school notebook and pen... took a look at a couple apps for it but wasn't thrilled with the interfaces. If you have suggestions that you like, I'm all ears!

 

[nivek]

Rexs suggestion for a lower ph range is on the money imo

Ph ing in the 5.5 range for me stopped all of my premature leaf loss

The drift up is key

I am hempy but thats clise enuf for me

 

[Rexer]

Thank you for the kind words!

My RH is set at 50%, it fluctuates between 43-60%. Lows mostly just come from when I open the tent up.

Do you have a humidifier you can use? There's other ways to raise rh, it's just the easiest.

I've been looking into ph much more since going DWC, but I thought it would start swinging once the roots were actively pulling nutes out of the water. I was surprised to see the jump when I don't have any roots touching water yet, at least outside the mesh pot.

Honestly, here's the link for the ph post I put in my grow journal. Take the time to read through it, its a one stop read and you'll understand ph much better- and that's key with hydroponics.
Rex's Sponsored Test Of The ViparSpectra P4000 In A 4x4

The only grow journal I have currently is the old school notebook and pen... took a look at a couple apps for it but wasn't thrilled with the interfaces. If you have suggestions that you like, I'm all ears!

It's basically a section on the forum that you update on a regular basis. If you are up for it- do it. Seriously it's the best resource you will ever have, members follow along and can ask or advise along the way. I linked my last one above (for the ph), it'll give you an idea of what they're about. There is no set format for it, but the more you update and talk the more people can give insights.

Rexs suggestion for a lower ph range is on the money imo

Ph ing in the 5.5 range for me stopped all of my premature leaf loss

The drift up is key

I am hempy but thats clise enuf for me

Hey nivek, good to see you again. I've been a big advocate for the 5.8 ph, but as you said 5.5 just does better and the science backs it.
Other growers like smokin moose, West Hippie and yourself have done it, and so from now on I that's my ph target as well.

Hope you're staying safe and doing well brother




Edit- here's the VPD chart

 

[Laynexsiren]

Do you have a humidifier you can use? There's other ways to raise rh, it's just the easiest.

Honestly, here's the link for the ph post I put in my grow journal. Take the time to read through it, its a one stop read and you'll understand ph much better- and that's key with hydroponics.
Rex's Sponsored Test Of The ViparSpectra P4000 In A 4x4

It's basically a section on the forum that you update on a regular basis. If you are up for it- do it. Seriously it's the best resource you will ever have, members follow along and can ask or advise along the way. I linked my last one above (for the ph), it'll give you an idea of what they're about. There is no set format for it, but the more you update and talk the more people can give insights.

Hey nivek, good to see you again. I've been a big advocate for the 5.8 ph, but as you said 5.5 just does better and the science backs it.
Other growers like smokin moose, West Hippie and yourself have done it, and so from now on I that's my ph target as well.

Hope you're staying safe and doing well brother




Edit- here's the VPD chart

I gotta figure out how you're segmenting the message for replies like that, tried this from desktop and still wasn't successful.

Okay, I have a digital humidifier in the tent. It was set at 55%, which my hygrometers were reading at 50%. I just upped that to set at 75%, so hopefully that will climb to 70%. That VPD chart is awesome!

I also turned the heater back on to not let the tent drop below 70 degrees for now. I've read that mid 60s are good for vegetative plants, but it's probably too early for that.

I also added another liter of water to each bucket and balanced the pH again. Figured encouraging the roots to meet the water wouldn't be a bad thing... I had 15L in each bucket to begin with, covering probably the bottom inch of the mesh pots, but more can't hurt it. PPMs raised to 450, down to 430 after water addition. Still what I'd call tolerable for seedlings.

I took a peek at your post on pH, definitely informative! I think I'll dig deeper into the ability to journal here as well, as I really don't mind writing down my thoughts and issues with the plants and posting pics is never a bad thing.

Thank you everyone for the prompt and informative responses! I'm enjoying the hell out of this, it's just the minutiae like this that's challenging. Great learning experience!

 

[Rexer]

I gotta figure out how you're segmenting the message for replies like that, tried this from desktop and still wasn't successful.

Easy peasy. Click on the reply button. Then click on the part within the quoted section you want to start replying at. Then hit enter to start a new line and it should split it up automatically.

Okay, I have a digital humidifier in the tent. It was set at 55%, which my hygrometers were reading at 50%. I just upped that to set at 75%, so hopefully that will climb to 70%. That VPD chart is awesome!

The VPD is idealy done by taking the leaf temperature (most use a cheap laser one). But I don't to be honest (I only mentioned it as it's the proper way).
takes the guess-work out, and keeps the environment dialed in for maximum growth.

I also turned the heater back on to not let the tent drop below 70 degrees for now. I've read that mid 60s are good for vegetative plants, but it's probably too early for that.

You want to keep it about 64F. Under 62 can cause nutrient uptake issues, and over 68 you start to enter pathogenic danger. And higher water temps hold less oxygen.

I also added another liter of water to each bucket and balanced the pH again. Figured encouraging the roots to meet the water wouldn't be a bad thing... I had 15L in each bucket to begin with, covering probably the bottom inch of the mesh pots, but more can't hurt it.

Kinda wrong, it can hurt. Lower it to below the net pot please, the airstone splashes should wet the bottom of the pot if possible.

PPMs raised to 450, down to 430 after water addition. Still what I'd call tolerable for seedlings.

It really shouldn't take long to get root growth. If your top feeding, don't let too much touch your rockwool, wet the hydroton around, the roots won't go searching just yet without some encouragement.

I took a peek at your post on pH, definitely informative! I think I'll dig deeper into the ability to journal here as well, as I really don't mind writing down my thoughts and issues with the plants and posting pics is never a bad thing.

Thank you everyone for the prompt and informative responses! I'm enjoying the hell out of this, it's just the minutiae like this that's challenging. Great learning experience!

Glad to help, that's the spirit of this place, feel free to tag me anytime or if you do get your grow journal up and running

 

[Laynexsiren]

Easy peasy. Click on the reply button. Then click on the part within the quoted section you want to start replying at. Then hit enter to start a new line and it should split it up automatically.

The VPD is idealy done by taking the leaf temperature (most use a cheap laser one). But I don't to be honest (I only mentioned it as it's the proper way).
takes the guess-work out, and keeps the environment dialed in for maximum growth.

You want to keep it about 64F. Under 62 can cause nutrient uptake issues, and over 68 you start to enter pathogenic danger. And higher water temps hold less oxygen.

Kinda wrong, it can hurt. Lower it to below the net pot please, the airstone splashes should wet the bottom of the pot if possible.

It really shouldn't take long to get root growth. If your top feeding, don't let too much touch your rockwool, wet the hydroton around, the roots won't go searching just yet without some encouragement.

Glad to help, that's the spirit of this place, feel free to tag me anytime or if you do get your grow journal up and running

Hey Rexer, I started a grow journal. Link's here:

LaynexSiren's DWC White Widow Fem Photo Grow, 2021

Hello everyone, After some expert assistance with my initial post and prompting for this, I've decided to start logging my grow journal here. This is my first grow in over a decade, and my budget and poor enviro conditions in the past led to poor yields, so I'm hoping to up the game here now...

www.420magazine.com

Thanks!