In the beginning, there was..

yes remove the dome. once the seedlings pop through the soil, you remove the dome. you can lower the light a little. you need to make sure they dont stretch much more and topple over.

what i do is when i plant the germinated seed in the cup, i have an inch or so less dirt in there than you do now. when the seedlings stretch a little i can add that inch more dirt in the cup and it helps support the plant better.

It's been a week now since all of my young'ins broke through the ground so just a quick journal update.

As can be seen, they are all looking healthy and growing at a steady pace. Today I swapped out the CFL for the 400W MH.

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I accidentally thwapped the Fruity Chronic Juice a couple of days ago so that's why it's got the little twist-tie support thingamajig erected around it. No problems there though, she's continuing on doing her thing.

I'm not really sure how much I should let them grow in those party cups before I move them into something bigger. I have a variety of sizes of Root Pots from Aurora, 1, 3, and 5 gals that I could use but I'm thinking of taking them into the 1 gal. pots in 2 weeks while my Super Soil finishes cooking and then doing the final move into the 3 gal pots towards the end of veg. Now that I'm writing it down it sounds like a bad idea though.

The other alternative would be to put them into the 3 gal. pots in 2 weeks and let them go all of the way through veg in those and then into the 5 gal pots for flower.

I guess what is messing me up is how long Super Soil should be left to cook before using it. For this go-around I'm not going to use 50%.. probably more like 35-40% and also use teas, so maybe I should just go straight into the 5 gal. sizes and keep from disturbing them so much.. but I'm also thinking that the 5 gallon pots would be too much for 4 plants in my DR90II. I could save them for next grow when I'll probably just do two bigger strains.

Too much thinking going on here! Need

i go from a small container to 1 gal. and then to either 3 or 4 gal. containers, so i transplant twice. i have been thinking of 5 gal. for this year, but i have alot of the 3 and 4 gal. already.

i like them to get a decent root system to help hold the soil together when transplanting. not sure how long i wait. usually its when i can find the time in between everything else going on.

try and set the 5 gal. containers in your tent and see what fits. i am not sure what your dimentions are on the tent, but i imagine that if you use the 3 gal., the plants are still going to fill the tent.

Yeah that's what I'm thinking too. The tent is 3'x3'x5' minus the frame; plus I need room for a slim oscillating tower fan. Man I wish I had room for a bigger tent.

So I guess I'll stick to the original plan and go from the party cups into 1 gal, then 3 gal. If I top and try to get 4 main colas per plant then I'm guessing it'll be a bit tight in there.

I just had to pull the MH out and throw the CFL back in. I left it on for an hour and the temp at plant level was up to 85 degrees even with a decent sized fan venting the tent; things just weren't looking right so I erred on the safe side. If my inline ever gets here it'll be all good because the hood will be venting outside of the room, not just the tent.

Quick update, things are looking good overall.

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From top-left clockwise: Fruity Chronic Juice, Vanilla Kush, Jack Herer, Critical Kali Mist.

I put the MH back in, only I switched the Lumatek Ballast to its 250SL setting since the 400 position was putting off too much heat... Come on FedEx!!

A couple of things I noticed though that may or may not be cause for concern:

All of them are slightly yellowing from the tips, and I mean just barely, but it is noticeable, especially on the Vanilla Kush.

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Also, as can be seen, her second set of leaves look pissed off for some reason. I've been trying to narrow down the possibilities but I'm still at a loss as to the cause.

Q-Overwatering? A-I can't see how that's possible because up until yesterday I've only been misting the soil, twice a day. I've steadily increased the amount from Day 1. Yesterday I gave them all enough to have water dripping out of the drain holes in the bottom. The soil feels moist to the touch and in between the fingers (not wet). Plus, this is the only plant with the symptom.
Q-Underwatering? A-Perhaps. but the soil has remained relatively moist from Day 1. Only plant with symptom.
Q-Too much light? A-Not likely with one CFL. Again, only plant with symptom.
Q-Not enough light? A-Possible, but all have maintained a steady growth pattern.
Q-Humidity? A-Up to yesterday was steady between 60-70%. Yesterday a cold front came through and RH levels dropped down to 20% inside the tent. I poured some water into that tray to no avail. I'm not really worried about this because I live in a tropical region. We'll be back up to 70-80% when this cold front goes away. I WILL have to worry about high humidity in the near future though, so a dehumidifier will be on almost constantly.
Q-PH Issue? A- I honestly don't know. I've been trying not to concern myself at all with pH. The tap water I get is RO from the city and I've been letting it sit for 24 hrs before putting in my spray bottle. Again, only one plant is affected.
Q-Shitty Genetics? A- Fuck, I hope not.
Q-Nutrient Deficiency? A- Aaah, so this is what I've settled on as being the most likely cause for concern.

The current soil is 60/40 Light Warrior/Roots Organics, but only in the bottom half of the cup. The rest is LW. About 3 days ago, when I first noticed the symptom, I did a little top-dress with some EWC and misted thoroughly, but honestly I'm not too sure how effective that technique is since it's such a small amount and the roots have no contact with it. I think that if I were not keeping it organic I would have already started feeding them a bottled Veg nutrient, but I am so I won't, and I don't have the cash to pick up anything more than I already have right now. What I do have is this:

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Those are all of the amendments that went into the Super Soil mix I have sitting in a 30 Gal. can right now. There should also be a box of DTE Oyster Shell in that pic but they forgot to ship it; should be here any day though.

So my short-term plan is simple. I'm thinking of making a holdover mix for them until I transplant in 10 days or so. The mix would be 2 parts Blood Meal(N), 1 part Bat Guano(P + Ca), 1 part Fish Bone Meal(more P than N, + Ca), and a small amount of Humic Acid and Epsom Salt(Mg). In total I'd probably give each plant 1/2 Tbsp of the mix and then mist generously, let sit for 24 hours, and then do a full watering again, since they should be ready for that anyway.

Questions I don't have answers to:

Am I being a little paranoid here?

Should I just let them ride it out until I transplant?

Would doing this bring more harm than good?

The other girls look pretty happy but look close and you can probably see that all have the same minute amount of yellowing from the tips inward.

Fruity Chronic Juice (looking mighty fine)
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Jack Herer (weird wrinkly thing going on with the bottom set)
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Critical Kali Mist (I have high hopes for her)
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it looks like maybe the vanilla kush was overwatered a little and the roots didnt get enough air.

i think they are ready for a transplant soon.

they are all showing a nitrogen deficiency. start feeding in low doses until the plants get used to the nutes. make sure to let the soil dry before watering again. you should feel the difference in the weight of the cup before and after you water.


i am not sure of the nutes you have but just do maybe 1/4 strength for the first feeding.

That would make sense. I opened up the holes in each cup just yesterday. So transplant sooner than 10 days like I planned? There was no logic to that plan by the way. I'm not using nutes per se', the amendments in that pic are all I'm working with and the mix I outlined is my best guesstimate of what they may need.

Something else that just occurred to me is that I plan on putting them into the Aurora Root Pots, which are just like Smart Pots. They're made of a recycled felt-like material, but they're more porous than felt, supposedly to let the air in. Do you think that my roots could actually grow through that material? That would make transplanting to a larger pot prior to going into flower kind of sketchy.

i would transplant when the soil drys out some. so whenever your next watering is, transplant them then water them.

i have never used those kinda of pot, but i would say they are good to use. the roots may grow out of the bag a little, but the air and the light will make them prune themselves off.

rollinbud said:

There must be some weird setting, but you cant post replies to your journal...
Dont worry about seedlings unless it continues and spreads to all new growth. Be sure hand have drainage in cup bottom.

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Thanks man, I had already started discussions on this grow in the thread that is linked to in my sig when I figured out how to actually post to my journal. New growth from the VK is in fact yellow. I'm going to cut and paste this entry back to the discussion.

smoke and coke said:

i would transplant when the soil drys out some. so whenever your next watering is, transplant them then water them.

i have never used those kinda of pot, but i would say they are good to use. the roots may grow out of the bag a little, but the air and the light will make them prune themselves off.

Click to expand...

I think I'm going to go ahead and do the transplant then. I watered them yesterday around 5 p.m. or so and it wasn't much so I'm thinking it's a good time to do so. I'm going to cut the Roots Organics with LW again but it'll be more like 80/20 RO/LW, and also I'm going to use up the rest of my EWC; perhaps a tsp or two of this amendment mix I concocted as well, but just enough to compensate for their lack of N the last 12 days.

Oh yeah, +rep for all of the sound advice you've given so far. It's much appreciated!

I had the same concern about transplanting (using Smart Pots). Read some posts about leaving them in a 1 gallon and placing the entire pot into a 5 gallon. In the end, I decided to go for a true transplant. It was actually very easy, nothing to worry about. Basically just peal the bag down and transplant.


I'm in my first grow, and only advice I can give ya is micro-managing these things will drive you nuts and probably end up doing more damage than good. They seem to be a lot heartier than this place makes it seems sometime. I'm guessing by the time you make it through this first one, it'll be a piece of cake....good luck!

mick3025 said:

I had the same concern about transplanting (using Smart Pots). Read some posts about leaving them in a 1 gallon and placing the entire pot into a 5 gallon. In the end, I decided to go for a true transplant. It was actually very easy, nothing to worry about. Basically just peal the bag down and transplant.


I'm in my first grow, and only advice I can give ya is micro-managing these things will drive you nuts and probably end up doing more damage than good. They seem to be a lot heartier than this place makes it seems sometime. I'm guessing by the time you make it through this first one, it'll be a piece of cake....good luck!

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Thanks man, good to hear. How's your grow coming along?

So far so good. Put the Kali Mist into flower last week (42 days veg from seed, no topping or training). Had a Jack Herer that turned out male, and the others were either topped or LST'd and need some more time before flowering. As a newbie, just trying out some different techniques to see what happens.

I'm Subbed!

Is it just me or does Greners.com have the slowest shipping department on planet earth?

Ok, well anyway, it's day 15 since the ladies broke ground and everything is looking good with the exception of this bitch..

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It's really my fault so I shouldn't dump on her like that :he's so insensitive: but she's kind of the one that sticks out in the crowd.

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So I had definitely been overwatering and I f'd up by not giving those party cups enough drainage, Even though the medium was so loose I guess the roots weren't getting enough oxygen. If I had opened up the drainage a little more I don't think there'd be an issue because for the first 10 days or so all I did was use my spray bottle to mist the soil, but all of that water drained straight to the bottom where it sat, and when the roots touched down they didn't have enough O2 in the mix.. double whammy

Anyway, so three days ago I prepared a new soil mix of 8:2:2 / Roots Organic:Light Warrior:EWC and prepared the nice new Aurora Root Pots. In each of the holes I sprinkled about a tsp of 12-0-0 Blood Meal, a tsp of 0-7-0 Bat Guano, and a sprinkle of Azomite. In go the girls and I watered thoroughly, perhaps a little too thoroughly... perhaps

They all got about a quart of water.

All haven't really bitched too much except for the Vanilla Kush, and she was already bitching, so the mistake doesn't really hurt but it does in the sense that instead of her airing out and getting more oxygen she's in the same situation almost, just in a bigger pot.

Fruity Chronic Juice

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Jack Herer

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Critical Kali Mist

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There's a little evidence of over-watering on a couple of the others as well but I have a simple plan for that... Don't Fucking Touch Them!

I transplanted and watered on Sunday afternoon so I really don't plan on giving them anything else until this coming Sunday. The soil is still moist on all starting from about 2 inches down right now.

I'm going to visit the Hydro Shop before then though and probably pick up a couple of things. Number one would be a quart of freshly brewed AACT. The shop I go to has a nice Vortex brewer that's constantly churning up fresh bacterial/fungal soup. I think I'll give each of them some of that with their water and do a nice foliar as well.

The other thing I was considering is some Superthrive. I've never used it but from what I've read in various places that's the stuff to use when a plant is struggling a little bit and is great for transplanting situations.

If I lose the VK it's really not a big deal but I'd much rather see her grow up so I can chop her ass down and smoke her

Agree with you on the Greners! It was a struggle to get info and shipping was a week later than expected. Mostly just a lack of communication...I can handle the truth as long as I know what it is!

Looking good! Hands off for awhile and let them do their thing!

Yeah they have really good prices and selection but I've had a couple of 'iffy discussions with their support guy over shipping and quotes.

If the VK starts to make a comeback and the others are hitting their stride I might do a semi-aggressive top on all but her to let her catch up.

damn i subbed up for this one

Interested to see how it turns out... seems like those nutes might potentially burn plants that small together with the roots..? hope not curious to see what happens...

Senseimilla said:

Interested to see how it turns out... seems like those nutes might potentially burn plants that small together with the roots..? hope not curious to see what happens...

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Are you referring to the soil amendments? Not likely, especially in the small amounts I gave them during transplant. There's been some significant growth since my last update. was going to wait until Tuesday evening to post again but I might do it sooner. I'm also going to top soon so I'll probably just do a before and after with the update.