It looks like you are off to a nice start!
One thing that I would be concerned about in your particular case is how far down inside the bucket your seedlings are. It might be a little bit harder for the seedlings to get light and they may stretch up a bit more if they are recessed in a container like that, rather than if the stems are stretching up above the brim of the bucket. Something else i should mention is that since the seedlings are recessed within containers, the plants will grow within the container as well - meaning that the size of your plant will be limited to the size of your bucket. I would add a lot more soil to those buckets if I were you so that the seedling sits at the top of the bucket, or pick a new container if adding more soil is not possible. If you don't adjust the container then expect your plants to be super small because they will be smooshed inside of the bucket! You should also get a small fan for the near future. A gentle but constant flow of air is needed to be blowing at the seedling and as the plant begins maturing in veg so the stems can become stronger & more rigid.
Now, I am new to growing too, but my friend and I are currently close to finishing what is our first ever cannabis grow using a GG#4 bag seed I had gotten last spring (it's currently on week 9 of flower - we started the grow early July this year). Attached a pic of the top part of the main cola so you can see some of my results.
We definitely made some mistakes along the way & I do feel comfortable giving a couple fairly general but solid tips. Here are some things I have learned thus far:
1.
Less is more when it comes to gardening - of course you want to take care of your plants, but one thing that is very easy to do is overwater and overfeed your plants. What i am saying is, it is possible to love your plants to death. In the grow I am doing w/ my friend currently, we made the mistake of overfeeding our plant with too many nutes, particularly nitrogen. Ideally, you want the least amount of excess nutrients sitting in the soil as possible - only giving the plant what it needs to thrive and nothing more. I'll add that you need to use proper nutrients based on the life cycle of the plant. A plant in a vegetative state needs a formula with more nitrogen, whereas when flowering you would switch to a bloom formula with more phosphorus and potassium.
2.
Know your medium - you are using soil, but what kind? Ideally you want to create your own soil by mixing together natural composts like chicken manure and substrates like peat moss or coco coir, then add in some aggregate like perlite to keep your roots well aerated. Now, I get that most newbies don't take the time to do this (hell, I sure didn't with my current grow), but it is important to keep in mind what soil you are using either way because it will influence your feeding/watering regimen.
For the grow we are doing, I just threw some miracle-gro soil in a fabric pot mixed with a bit of topsoil, which i do
NOT recommend. However, even though this is far from ideal it has still worked out alright and we have been adjusting our actions knowing that miracle-gro has time-release fertilizers in it (
ie. because we know it has time-release ferts we flush this soil extra hard near the end of flower; however, as I already said this is not ideal in any way) My point is that no matter how much attention you put into choosing or creating the soil for your plant, it is important to know exactly what is in your growing medium and what influence it will have on your plant(s).
3.
Balance is crucial - if you don't have a PH tester and some PH up/down, I would urge you to get some because cannabis is particularly sensitive to PH. Using water that is not PH balanced will not allow your plant to properly uptake all nutrients, and might even cause certain nutrients to be locked-out, meaning the plant can not uptake a particular nutrient because the PH of the soil will not allow it. We have been keeping our PH around 6.3 with our grow because cannabis tends to like just slightly acidic soil, but anything from a 6.0 to 7.0 is acceptable.
Temperatures and humidity are also crucial - the ideal temp range will change at every stage of the life cycle. For seedlings & through veg, the ideal temp range is between 68–86°F. Humidity ranges from 65-70% are ideal for seedlings, while around 40-70% RH (relative humidity) is ideal for the veg period. Providing these ideal conditions or as close as you can get to them will help your overall health of your plant and increase yield when it comes time to harvest.
4.
Patience, Patience, Patience! - many seeds are advertised as 8 to 9 week flowering strains but this does NOT at all mean this is always the case for every plant. Remember, every plant is a living being and unique, with a unique growing and maturing time. In the grow we are doing right now, the strain is labeled as an 8 to 9 week strain -- though judging by how things are looking I would bet this plant will not be harvested until week 10. The indicators you want to look for are mostly cloudy & some amber trichomes. By allowing your plant to mature naturally & fully, you allow the full potential of your plant & genetics to be expressed. Basically all i'm saying is don't rush it!
So those are 4 points that encompass not only my experience growing my first plant, but are also in my opinion, good points for any grower to keep in mind. Hopefully this helped because it took a while for me to type lol, good luck!
These photos were taken November 23rd. The 3 bigger sprouted October 11th (yes Ik they are shockingly small and the learning experiences has been fixing them) the seedling came up on the 23rd. What’s changed? New soil (first soil was bark heavy), this soil does have nutrients but I know it’s going to run out so time to learn. I initially had a 12w led and 1 CFL for 3 plants now o have 1 cfl 2 normal lightbulbs but high watt and proper light colour. Lowered lights. Increased bucket size (yes the buckets to big, and I didn’t fill the bucket up all the way because I didn’t want my roots to take forever to fill up the container after they were in a far to small container for far to long.) foolish yes. Drilling holes in the bottom of the bucket ASAP but have been over careful watering to avoid issues.
this update was less then a week after I went to the forum for help. My plants have already made strides and my seedling is growing faster then the originals I assume due to far improved light
