When to put the grow lights on?

[Fuzzy1981]

Hi, im just getting back into growing, after about a decade and a half break. i have had one moderately succesfull grow before. and have forgotten pretty much everything about it. now that my state has legalized recreational marijuana i am looking to grow again. my first question is, i have put some seeds in water for 24 hours and they sank to the bottom like they were supposed to. i have planted them in some wet fox farm dirt. the seeds didn't pop open yet but from what i have read 24 hours is about the max you want them in water. and i was wondering when do i want to turn on the grow lights, before they sprout or after? any help would be much appreciated.
Thank you!

 

[Cannamusic]

You will want to wait until the seedlings break the soil.
They will begin looking for light at that time.

The seedling stage is said to be the most delicate point of your plants life for obvious reasons.
Take care to keep them warm but not too hot. Proper watering and drainage is critical at this early stage as well as throughout your plants lives.

Much success on your grow!

 

[vyserage]

I personally use the paper towel method and let a nice half inch of tap root emerge before planting in soil. The moment I place in soil or rooter pods I have them under the t5 light in a humidity dome.

I use this method because older seeds take longer for the tap root, or otherwise fail completely. By being able to see how fast the tap root is growing I can assume a healthy seed over a more struggling seed. My issue with placing directly into dirt after the 24 hr soak is you don't know how the tap root is doing and could wait 3 or more days just to see it never took off and failed. With paper towel method you know the tap root has already started and can safely assume within a couple days it will emerge from the top of soil.

Just my 2 cents

There are just as many haters out there as there are those who use the soak and paper towel method.

 

[moderngroroom]

Hi, im just getting back into growing, after about a decade and a half break. i have had one moderately succesfull grow before. and have forgotten pretty much everything about it. now that my state has legalized recreational marijuana i am looking to grow again. my first question is, i have put some seeds in water for 24 hours and they sank to the bottom like they were supposed to. i have planted them in some wet fox farm dirt. the seeds didn't pop open yet but from what i have read 24 hours is about the max you want them in water. and i was wondering when do i want to turn on the grow lights, before they sprout or after? any help would be much appreciated.
Thank you!

Mine sit in glass of water in dark at 75 degrees for 30 hrs till i start to see seed split open and then i take the seed out wrap in paper towel and put inside a zip lock baggie for another 24hrs with the paper towel soaking wet..
Thats not true you can leave seeds in water for 48hrs and +... just no more then 4 days is the max after that the seed is a crappie seed and junk and at that point worthless..
now on the fox farm soil is it ocean forest, happy frog,etc.. which one you plan to use??

Also you should of got the room all prepaired vented , lighting, sanitized and all your planning done before popping seeds bc you want a stable and reliable grow room that you can depend on bc trust me and you know this yourself from previous grow your not going to have bud for atleast another 3 months rather it be autos, or photos.. so why not take the time to work on getting that all ready..

 

[Fuzzy1981]

hey thanks for the tips. i have fox farm ocean forest, (I bought the yield lab 2'X4'X5' grow tent kit that included everything except the propagation kit, and a 400 watt mh and hps lights.) Venting is completely took care of including 2 ducting speed controls that let me use the blower motors as slow or as fast as i want. some time im going to have to ask about how many cf a minute really need to be moving through there in a sixty degree basement with a constant humidity of 30 % i have to run a five hundred watt space heater on a inkbird thermostat to keep it at seventy five when the lights are not on, which also takes it's toll on the humidity in the tent. i have a holmes wick humidifier with digital gauge on it to compensate but when i have the fans up and running even at reduced speeds below what the blower motors stock settings are, it struggles to keep the humidity in the air. last night i checked and my first styrofoam cup i watered 24 hours earlier and it was completely dry. so i cranked the humidity up to seventy and this morning 12 after rewatering it, it was still wet. im sure it was dry cause it weighed nothing when i picked it up. so more than likely i feel like i probably killed my northern lights plant, a costly mistake but it happens when setting up your grow for the fist time i guess. there are so many questions i would like to ask like will a heater in your tent and a fan blowing the heat around dry out you plants within a day? but unfortunately im going to have to make these mistakes first. thanks for the tips if you or any more ideas of problems i may run into i would appreciate the help.

 

[Fuzzy1981]

I personally use the paper towel method and let a nice half inch of tap root emerge before planting in soil. The moment I place in soil or rooter pods I have them under the t5 light in a humidity dome.

I use this method because older seeds take longer for the tap root, or otherwise fail completely. By being able to see how fast the tap root is growing I can assume a healthy seed over a more struggling seed. My issue with placing directly into dirt after the 24 hr soak is you don't know how the tap root is doing and could wait 3 or more days just to see it never took off and failed. With paper towel method you know the tap root has already started and can safely assume within a couple days it will emerge from the top of soil.

Just my 2 cents

There are just as many haters out there as there are those who use the soak and paper towel method.

Thank you for the reply! I have put some seeds that i found (that look really good, better than the ones i bought from a seed company online) in a celophane cigarette wrapper, folded up in a magnetic key holder that goes under your vehicle from about fifteen years ago. i was looking for some other seeds i stored away years ago, and found them (in the house, not under the vehicle) while looking for the others. never did find the original seed stash i was looking for. but anyways im getting off topic. i put four of the best looking seeds in a wet paper towel at a ph of 6.1 and put them in a zip lock bag where it's 75 degrees. im using these as my back up seeds in case i messed up with my seed bank bought seeds. i don't know if any will be viable, but if they are, they are my back up to do my first run on. if i screw up on these it will be a lot less expensive than keep ruining the ones i bought till i get it right.
thanks again for the help!

 

[Fuzzy1981]

Mine sit in glass of water in dark at 75 degrees for 30 hrs till i start to see seed split open and then i take the seed out wrap in paper towel and put inside a zip lock baggie for another 24hrs with the paper towel soaking wet..
Thats not true you can leave seeds in water for 48hrs and +... just no more then 4 days is the max after that the seed is a crappie seed and junk and at that point worthless..
now on the fox farm soil is it ocean forest, happy frog,etc.. which one you plan to use??

Also you should of got the room all prepaired vented , lighting, sanitized and all your planning done before popping seeds bc you want a stable and reliable grow room that you can depend on bc trust me and you know this yourself from previous grow your not going to have bud for atleast another 3 months rather it be autos, or photos.. so why not take the time to work on getting that all ready..

hmm.. im a bit new to posting and forums i thought i hit reply to your post, but i guess not. sorry the post i wrote below is for you about having the fox farm soil. sorry about that :S

 

[Fuzzy1981]

You will want to wait until the seedlings break the soil.
They will begin looking for light at that time.

The seedling stage is said to be the most delicate point of your plants life for obvious reasons.
Take care to keep them warm but not too hot. Proper watering and drainage is critical at this early stage as well as throughout your plants lives.

Much success on your grow!

I appreciate the help, i wasn't sure if i was suppose to imitate sun up and sun down before they sprouted or not.

 

[Fuzzy1981]

I appreciate the help, i wasn't sure if i was suppose to imitate sun up and sun down before they sprouted or not.

also when they do sprout, about how far should i have my 400 watt mh light away from the tops of the plants i've heard around 12" to 19" but am not sure

 

[vyserage]

also when they do sprout, about how far should i have my 400 watt mh light away from the tops of the plants i've heard around 12" to 19" but am not sure

Not if you want to nuke them haha. Start with 36 inches from top of soil and after they have their first true leaves (not the little oval looking ones) thats when you can move to 24 inches. You will know of the lights too far away cause they will be stretching a lot which means it's safe to move light closer.

I've never used that type of light so it may be different for that light, hopefully somebody else with experience using those lights can confirm.

 

[Fuzzy1981]

Not if you want to nuke them haha. Start with 36 inches from top of soil and after they have their first true leaves (not the little oval looking ones) thats when you can move to 24 inches. You will know of the lights too far away cause they will be stretching a lot which means it's safe to move light closer.

I've never used that type of light so it may be different for that light, hopefully somebody else with experience using those lights can confirm.

my northern lights seed popped up above the soil overnight! now im just waiting on the critical mass seed to pop up.

 

[moderngroroom]

my northern lights seed popped up above the soil overnight! now im just waiting on the critical mass seed to pop up.

I just harvest a nice northern lights she turned pink purple and blue she was pretty.. northern lights is a good smoke

 

[GeOMaTTiC]

Every single seed I have planted, had lights on from the start. I do not see a point in waiting until they break surface, as that is not what occurs in nature.

 

[moderngroroom]

Every single seed I have planted, had lights on from the start. I do not see a point in waiting until they break surface, as that is not what occurs in nature.

Why? Its not going to hurt either way its just quicker with the lights off.. but gotta keeps roots warm is the key

 

[GeOMaTTiC]

The sun doesn't wait, so why should I? Your method leaves the rare possibility of it breaking surface and not getting light for my full shift at work, plus travel time (if I get stuck missing my lunch). Before I can see the seed break free, I guarantee a minute amount of light goes beyond the top layer of peat, through the cracks and crevices. Again, very very small space, but its space to allow light a mm or maybe even more.

That is just getting technical mind you, more so than the average person cares to delve into.

Now to you, how is leaving the lights off quicker, and how the other one slower? Now I am curious, as the best method is, well, the best.