1st Grow: Grow Log / How do they look?

Hey,

My friend finally decided to give growing a shot. Did a lot of reading and prep work and now finally has a little something to show for it. Had 32 seeds total: 10 California Orange, 10 Ice, 10 Bubblicious and 2 Sour Diesel Seeds (found in a bag of sour diesel's... he'll keep an eye on these).

Anyway, he planted the seeds in rockwool almost 6 days ago. The rockwool was soaked in tap water for 15 minutes. Since then he found out you're supposed to soak it for 24 hours in a pH adjust, nutrient enriched water. So, he's been misting them a few times a day with water with a pH between 6-6.5 and .25/.25/.25 nutrient enriched with General Hydroponics nutrients (.25 teaspoons of FloraBloom, FloraMicro, FloraGrow per gallon, adjusted to the size of the spray bottle). The rockwool is very damp, but there's no water pooling underneath or in the tracks of the tray. He has slowed the misting to only a small amount (2-4 sprays) once or twice a day.

2 days ago the first seedling broke the surface and within the next 24 hours 21 more broke the surface. They grew fast for the first 24 hours and got to almost the size in the picture. At that point they were placed about 4.5 feet below a 1000w MH lamp.

During the next 24 hours (yesterday until now) their vertical growth seemed to slow down a lot, almost to the point of stopping. He thinks that it might be because they stopped stretching when they were moved from the 100w Halogen to the 1000w MH, which obviously puts out a lot more lumens). However, the first two leaves (which will, from his understanding, turn into the first node) have fanned outward and are growing slowly.

The temperature is around 70 degrees, not sure on the humidity. He has a thing to measure it but it's reading is --% right now, gotta figure it out.

I have a few questions (if you'd like any additional information or pictures he'd be more than happy to provide them)...

How do they look?

He just got a heating pad for terrariums to attached under the tray. On the package it says it heats a terrariums 5-10 degrees fahrenheit. He read this was a good way to raise the temperature if the grow room is too cold. Should he attach it directly to the bottom or place something in between? He said it doesn't feel like it's strong enough to heat through much, it's only slightly warm to the touch.

Is the slowed growth normal until the first leaves get bigger and, if so, when can he expect growth to accelerate?

Is the nutrient enriched misting okay, being I know you shouldn't give nutes for the first 3 weeks or so? He was just worried because he didn't initially soak the rockwool properly.

When should he transplant the seedlings into soil? The soil is ~60% Miracle Gro (he know the stories, but he already has it and a lot of people seem to say it's okay) 20% perlite and 20% vermiculite, just in case your wondering.

Images are attached below and this thread will be updated as they grow... hopefully! The first two were taken yesterday, the rest were taken an hour or two ago and the last one is of a seedling that didn't look so hot.

Thanks in advance for your help,

Sk8

Correction, the first one was taken yesterday day, the other four were taken an hour or two ago, the last one being one he thought didn't look so good (only one or two others have that brown, and this is by far the worst).

Also, they're under the light 24 hours a day right now.

First, it's far too early to give them nutrients man. I am just about my done with my first grow, things have gone very smoothly, and I am very appreciative of that. If I can give one single piece of advice, it's go easy on the nutes, be conservative. So many newbies ruin their plants by nutrient burn, or by over-watering. Also, 4.5 feet is WAY too close to have the 1000 watt lamp to those babies. Move it up a shit load, if not, honestly, I would just keep em under the 100 watt for a while. Just to give you an idea, I got clones from a friend and they were about 6 inches tall, lots of true leaves, and I put the 1000 watt lamp six feet above them for a little while. Also, you are going to waste a ton of energy using a 1000 watt lamp on seedlings. Why not use some fluros for a week or so? Best of luck

Indeed.

thanks for the input, he's gonna move the light up about a foot and a half and gonna use plain pH adjusted water with 1 tsp of h2o2/gallon

Atta boy, yeah post pictures in a week or so and we'll keep ya on pace doing things right.

Once again, thanks for the replies. Being his first grow trying his best to keep everything going in the right direction with the knowledge/supplies he has.

In sixteen hours he would have planted the seeds one week ago and the first seedling broke the surface 3 days ago (with almost all the rest coming up within the 24 hours after that)

The first true leaves are about 50-75% bigger than they were last night and all the seedlings poking through are now open and above the surface.

As for the nutes, they aren't getting any anymore. The only reason he was giving them was because the rockwool wasn't soaked any any at the beginning. Now they're just getting a mist of 1ml h2o2/gallon of water when the rockwool starts to feel dry (which it hasn't since yesterday).

The light is still a little over 5 feet away. He's nervous about moving it any closer in fear of burning the little guys. He'd rather waste some light now on seedlings than go to the store to get flouros (he got about a foot of snow last night). He knows that 1000w isn't enough for 22 plants, but he's only gonna transfer the strongest 20, and is assuming that in a week or two he'll be down to 16-18. And if a lot of them look strong, can always add another light a little down the road.

He sucked some water out of the rockwool and it had a pH ~8. He knows this is high, but is it okay until they're transfered to soil? From what he understands the pH is mainly for nutrient uptake and since they're not getting any nutes now, should it be a problem? He obviously wants to bring the pH down, but is not sure how to do it while they're in the rockwool without drowning the seedlings.

The temperature is now ~78, so seem to have that problem under control.

The pictures are from about a half hour ago, the last one being of the guy that didn't look good last night. And, once again, if there's any other info or pictures you'd like just ask.

I'll keep updating this thread as the guys grow up.

heh, they are little seedlings!

You do realise about half will probably be males? I mean him, not you of course ;)
They should start growing quickly in just a few 3-5 days.
You can easily put them into soil now, if you're concerned about the PH.

He does realize about half will be male (hopefully a little less than half), which is why he planted more than the light can handle, once they start flowering will kill half the plants so the females can soak up all the light :). Gonna transplant most of them into soil a little later today. A few are lagging behind the rest so he'll leave those in the rockwool for another day or two, but wanna get the guys that are getting bigger into soil with a lower pH. Will keep you guys posted and will post more pictures once there's something different to look at. And thanks for the support and continued help.

Quick question, should he transplanted them and then water them with pH adjusted water or flush the soil with pH adjusted water and then transplant the seedlings?

i would transplant them and not flush at all its too much stressing for the seedlings. chill out its a plant that grows fine on its own. noone cares for it growing in the wild doesnt need so many concerns so transplant water it sit back and wait

when he transplants them put them in the soil about 1/8th of an inch below the leaves and the rest of the stem that is buried will turn into root. since he is using mg he should probably flush the soil cause there are quite abit of nutes in that soil already