Growing from seed

Hi all. First time indoor grower here. Sorry if these questions have been posted somwhere already but i didn't see them in any of the FAQ's or the 101 questions post.

I have 2, 3x3 ebb and flow setups. A 400 w MH and 400 w HPS for my flowering.

I have germinated my seeds and transfered them into rockwool. I did all the rockwool PH preparations. They are soaked, on a tray, in the dark, on a heat pad right now.

Question Time:

How often do i need to water them while they are "pre-srout" and at what point do i put them under lights?

When should I start giving them nutes and at what strength?

How long should they take to sprout?

When it is time to put under lights, should I put them under my 400w MH or under some compact flourescants first?

If they need to go under CFL's, then for how many days or until what size?

Thanks,

My germed seeds haven't haven't sprouted yet so I guess I'm doing something wrong. They've been in rockwool for 4 days now.

I'm going to go ahead and put them under the some lights now. Is this the correct way to do his or should I wait until they sprout to put light on them?

I woulnt put the light against the cubes or anything, but I've used just 1 CFL 12" or so away, and had decent results. I always try to put the situation in nature and think of what it would be like. If seeds were just under soil, they would be receiving minimal amounts of light, correct? Im just assuming...=P

The light may also give the sprout a target to shoot for...towards the surface!

I have also had seeds in peat pellets or rapid rooters that just went kinda upside down...and it was too late before i realized it. Seperate your cubes and try it on half

Thanks for the info. I've watched several movies and have combed this site over and over, but nowhere could I find exactly to do with lighting between gemination and sprouting.

I tried planting the seeds directly in to rock wool but nothing happened even after 4-5 days, then i used two plastic flower pot bases one on top of the other as a lid and i placed paper towels two sheets folded up in the bottom plate thing and then i wet it with ph 5.5 water and then put my seeds in, then i place another folded paper towel, two sheets on top and i soak the whole lot, creating a paper towel seed sandwich effect and then i put the other flower pot base "the reservoir thing that you place unter a potted plant" on top and then place the whole thing on my router where its nice and warm and in 24hrs the tap roots have emerged up to 15 mm long so that worked very well for me ................ then i put them in presoaked rockwool cubes and they sprouted.... after another 12-24 hours in the dark?? i kept them on my window during the day and under lights during the night and now im the same as you i ca'nt find good advice about nutrients? when to begin... im familiar with the strengths but not the timing?

good luck

Thanks. They had geminated just fine. I think I didn't wait for the taproots to get long enough though before i put them in the rockwool. But they are finally sprouting. Not all of them yet tho. I may have been careless when I put them in the wool and didn't place them all at the same depth tho. The ones that have sprouted are starting to get a few "true" leaves on them so i'm going to start giving those ones a half strength nute solution.

when handle sprouts use tweezers,dont touch sprout.also when germinating keep paper towels moist,but in a dark warm place.once sprouted take a pencil and poke a two inch deep whole in soil.carefully placing with tweezers sprout down.then lightly cover wit soil.have your soil prepared 48 hrs before,water,mixed but dont pack the soil in.

Dude nooooo! No half strength nute solution!! Too strong for your little baby plants! If anything, do 1/4 strength. Seriously. I'm 99% sure that you'll get nute burn if you do 1/2 strength.

Thanks Kilik.

I read somewhere in a thread today that regular tap water has enough nutes in it to sustain a plant until it has 5 nodes on it. I have well water. By "nodes" i assume that they are talking about leaves but I am not sure. Should i wait or should i go ahead and give them the 1/4 strength solution?

Also i have them under 3 warm white, and 3 cool white 26W CFL's. At what age/size should i give them the 400w MH?