When should I give my seedling lights? First grow

[bdn317]

Hello everyone,
About 5 days ago I germinated my seed straight into rockwool and misted the top daily to keep it moist but not damp. Today it officially peaked out of the rockwool and I was wondering if I should turn the lights on right now or do you guys think its still too early?

The strain I am currently trying to grow is:
Critical Purple Autoflower SeedBank Link

Current Setup:

• 4x2x2 Grow Tent
  
• 2ft, 4 Bulb, T5 Fixture w/
  ([2x Powerveg FS+UV] ~ installed in slot 1 & 3 [2x 6500k] ~ installed in slot 2 & 4)

Its only 1 Plant, 1 picture is with flash obviously and the other one without

Any insight would be great, Thank you again in advance!

 

[The Germinator]

Turn on now. Good luck with your grow.

 

[The Germinator]

The rock wool will grow algae if you don't cover it with hydroton or something. Assuming your going to grow dwc you'll want to not keep the rock wool wet once the roots hit the water. Once you put into the hydroton ,water around the cube till roots hit the water.

 

[Pterostychus]

yea give it light or by tomorrow youll have a 6 inch seedling

 

[Pterostychus]

btw welcome to the forum and GL on your grow

 

[bdn317]

The rock wool will grow algae if you don't cover it with hydroton or something. Assuming your going to grow dwc you'll want to not keep the rock wool wet once the roots hit the water. Once you put into the hydroton ,water around the cube till roots hit the water.

Thank you for the advice. Honestly, I was going to transplant this 1.5" rockwool cube into a 4" Cube rockwool and then stack that on top of the 8" Grodan Rockwool Block before the roots grows surpass the bottom of the 4" cube and continue watering it and feeding it by hand.

With this method I'm loophole-ing my way out of transplanting and shocking this autoflower and just giving the plant more depth and room to expand its roots downwards. If that makes any sense at all?

For the Algae issue, I purchased some of those white Algae free cover sheets. Something Like This

Also, Should I turn all 4 bulbs on? With all 4 bulbs on and a decent 100 cfm duct fan booster I still get like 80 to 83 degrees Fahrenheit in that small tent. I also got a Fan blowing in the tent as well. I currently have the T5 Fixture 22"(inches) high. How high or how close do you think it should be away from the plant because I don't want to fry this baby!

I also got a dome on top of it as well. Do you think I should take it off now or should I keep it on for another day?

Thanks again for replying and helping me out! Appreciate it!

btw welcome to the forum and GL on your grow

Thank you!

 

[Chris Scorpio]

My t5 are like 3"away from the tops...and I have all the bulbs on and mine are autos as well

 

[bdn317]

My t5 are like 3"away from the tops...and I have all the bulbs on and mine are autos as well

Ok, Im about to lower my lights to probably up to 6" above the seedling and lower the distance based as they mature.

 

[Chris Scorpio]

Ok, Im about to lower my lights to probably up to 6" above the seedling and lower the distance based as they mature.

I've never had my t5 as high as 6" yet.....fyi

 

[Darkscotia]

With t5s you can basically get right on top of plant. 3inchs away would be good start then keep gradually moving away ever few days to let the plant chase the light

 

[bdn317]

I've never had my t5 as high as 6" yet.....fyi

With t5s you can basically get right on top of plant. 3inchs away would be good start then keep gradually moving away ever few days to let the plant chase the light

I want to put it closer, but I thought I read it somewhere saying that I should put PowerVeg FS+UV higher than normal T5 tubes? I'm not 100% sure though. That's why I took half of your advice and wen't for 6" which I ended up not doing. (I bitched out and put it at 12" high lmao.) instead of 3" haha!



The picture above was taken at 7:00AM, its currently 8:00PM right now, and this is what it looks like:

Here is my setup, I just lowered the fixture, It is currently 8" above the ground and 5.5" away from the seedling. Seedling is currently 2.5" tall (With Rockwool).

For those wondering why I have fans on top of my fixture?
At fist it was because I thought it wouldl decrease the the heat of my grow tent by cooling the tubes in close contact. However, today I learned that there is a difference between Radiant and Air Temperature. I had my Thermometer under my T5 next to my baby, thinking that it was 82 degrees in the tent. So, All is good, and the fans do cool the tubes by a ton!