Newbie, disaster in the making - help!

I've made a lot of mistakes. After previously trying to germinate 2 bag seeds and a UFO freebie, I decided to try one of my Lowryder AK47 dwarf seeds. I was very happy with the germination process - in ~36 hours the seed had popped and had a nice 1.5" tap root.

My first problem was that half of the seed casing fell off while putting it in soil.

I initially started it off in a "seed soil" inside of a peat cup that can be transplanted. The embryo leaves were peaking through after only an hour or so of being in the soil, and I began to think that I had not gotten it planted quite deep enough. I brushed a little soil over it and gave it some water, etc. 24 hours later I brushed the soil back a bit just to see what was going on, and the embryo leaves looked very healthy.

That was this morning. I left them exposed under a 6500 and a 2700 CFL...I could not find a definitive answer to the question of if the embryo leaves should be exposed. I could also see the first two little leaves in between the embryo leaves. I have been cautious on not over-watering...and over the course of about 5 hours this afternoon, things got pretty dry. The nice lush embryo leaves of this morning have started to turn to the waxy yellow color, shriveled some, not looking good. I was hoping that I would start to get some "vertical" progress rather than just embryo leaves lying on the surface.

Progressively bad decisions were likely made at this point. I first wanted to go ahead and get things into the final resting "pot" rather than the starter cup, for one reason so that it would retain some moisture. I am also questioning if this seed starter soil is at all appropriate - but the nursery was already closed tonight. Knowing it probably wasn't the thing to do, curiosity got the best of me and I took the "plant" out of the peat pot...and moved it into a larger container. In the morning, if there is any life left - I will go and get some general soil.

So at this moment I am left with...a no doubt stressed, but developing root...split embryo leaves that I am hoping will spring back to life a little with some moisture tonight. What advice can anyone give me on how to give this plant its best chance? It's a feminized autoflowering seed...so I would really like to get it past this stage. Given I just started germinating on Friday night, and just moved into soil on Sunday morning...I am hoping there is still a chance to get it on course.

My biggest question is given where I am now - should the embryo leaves be exposed on top of the soil to light? Sorry for the long post!

embryo leaves do you mean the cotyledons? the two round leaves? if so yes these should be exposed. what kind of seed soil are you using? you dont want to over soak seedlings. in the future i would not mess with seedlings too much. soak for 12 or so hours until they drop plant about a 1/4 inch in peat pot or medium and leave alone. nature will take care of itself. good luck!

cacamal said:

embryo leaves do you mean the cotyledons? the two round leaves? if so yes these should be exposed. what kind of seed soil are you using? you dont want to over soak seedlings. in the future i would not mess with seedlings too much. soak for 12 or so hours until they drop plant about a 1/4 inch in peat pot or medium and leave alone. nature will take care of itself. good luck!

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so having the cotyledons (i guess the same thing - i was getting embryo leaves from this specifically- http://www.amsterdammarijuanaseeds.info/from-germinated-marijuana-seeds-to-developed-seedlings.html) just lying on the soil....expected at this stage? I guess that's what i am really waiting for now...some vertical direction...an upward stem. seems like most of the journals i look at people tend to grow 'up' but maybe i just need some patience. i still have a good green color....if i still have that in 24 hours...i know it's not dead at least

sounds good! patience is hard especially when you know the seeds have cracked. if you plant them too deep sometimes you have to uncover the cotyledons ( i wasnt trippin on the wording just making sure we were on the same page) sometimes they do die at this stage though especially if over watered. got any pics? good luck!!

My setup for seedlings is the same as my veg 4 4ft T5 cab. Temps are 85.
I soak for 24hr then put in soil under light.
Soils Ive used and all worked good but these worked the best for me.
Fox farm OF/ Light warrior mixed 2 to 1
Pro MIx organic
Happy frog straight.
Anything with Myco's seems to work great....roots fire off and hit bottom of cup in good time.
I like to start mine in party cups and try to stay away from heavy peat moss mixes for seeds. They hold water too much and slows growth down.
Make sure you have a good mix of perlite keep it airy you will need to water a bit more but keep on it and just pick it up and feel if its light then water its the best method I think.
And I don't fill party cups up all the way with soil just in case I get a stretchy seedling then I can adjust and bury the stretched stem.
Most of the time you keep them close on cfls and flouros you will get stacked nodes.

TheOrganic said:

My setup for seedlings is the same as my veg 4 4ft T5 cab. Temps are 85.
I soak for 24hr then put in soil under light.
Soils Ive used and all worked good but these worked the best for me.
Fox farm OF/ Light warrior mixed 2 to 1
Pro MIx organic
Happy frog straight.
Anything with Myco's seems to work great....roots fire off and hit bottom of cup in good time.
I like to start mine in party cups and try to stay away from heavy peat moss mixes for seeds. They hold water too much and slows growth down.
Make sure you have a good mix of perlite keep it airy you will need to water a bit more but keep on it and just pick it up and feel if its light then water its the best method I think.
And I don't fill party cups up all the way with soil just in case I get a stretchy seedling then I can adjust and bury the stretched stem.
Most of the time you keep them close on cfls and flouros you will get stacked nodes.

Click to expand...

Thanks guys - this info helped a lot. I am heading out now for good soil...but she made a real turnaround over night and I feel at this point like I am back in the ballpark of 'on track' for 3-4 days in. The initial serrated leaves nearly doubled in size overnight.

I'm about at the same stage with my plants I have one that is about 4" tall and one that's just like yours, still just popping out of the ground with the cotyledons just laying there. So I want to follow your plants and compare how I'm doing to you.

Cool man I will see about getting some pictures up. I will tell you what I did last night though - and I am autoflowering so I am running a 24/7 light cycle (though I am not convinced I have enough wattage...need to look more into that now that I am off the ground)...

But last night I actually gave it a little 'push' so that instead of lying on the ground it was facing up, getting more full light - and as of 12 hours later or so it's finally starting to grow vertically. So I would say that essentially a little 'LST' by nudging it a bit and propped it up on a little pinch of soil...helped get her going.

yo! you still growing???