Hi, Im going to start a new grow on a 5 gal dwc bucket soon, and my question here is, just out of curiosity, how long about would it take for the roots of a seeding to go past the bottom of the netpot, if you were using a 400MH? Id just like to have an idea of howlong it would take to grown down that far, so i can compare to my grow and see how things r going..by the way the strain is heavy indica if that helps answering the question better.. thanks a lot.
Roots down the netpot
- Thread starter A2007
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superstoner1
Well-Known Member
Not enough info to even guess on roots but using a 400 on seedlings is slightly overkill.
Sorry about the little information i provided, what i wanted to do was the same thing i did for my friend, we used a 135watt UFO light in the beginning for like a week, then after that the little seedling was already at 2" tall, so we switched to the 400MH at 50%, then 75% after a couple days, then a couple days more, and we switched to full power (after a total of about 2 week). And now it has been 18 days, and no roots yet down at the bottom of net pot. The ph has always been within the range of 5.5-6.5, tent temps from 77-82F, water temp from 66-72F, the strain was a free seed royal cheese. I hope this will help answer my question better, i know im a lil anxious because all i have to do is just wait, i know those roots will pop down there eventually, but i just wanted to know what the approx time is for most ppl, when they know what their doin and their doin it the right way. Im hoping to see some roots by friday, which will be 3 weeks, or by the end of week. What do u guys think 3 weeks is a long time to see roots? Should the roots have been down there already? Thanks a lot
Malevolence
New Member
4-5 days from sprout in 2" net pot with neoprene collar and rapid rooters.
Hitek
Member
As a quick start, let your clones get roots pretty long hanging into an aero cloner. I cut the bottoms out of the little 2 inch net pots for extra support. Then cut a hole in teh bottom of your basket. Put the clone in first with the roots hanging out of the bottom of the basket, fill with rocks/hydroton. This way your roots are contacting water immediately. Although a drip over the top of your rocks would probably achieve better growth rate and you wouldn't need the roots to be hanging into the water.
3 Weeks is a 'little' long... Are you giving it any nutes, which ones, and how are you applying them (dosage and method ie. top feed/your dwc system)? That being said, if the plant still looks healthy then just keep doing what your doing and wait, it will get there...
3 weeks is long no? its what i was thinking..yes ive been adding 1/4 dose nutes since the beginning, within the third day the vine head was already out and opened. I've moved my way up to full dose now, im using hesi kit nutrients . But i did start on a 10" netpot, maybe thats the reason i dont see roots yet? bigger pot, takes more time? Thanks for any info ahead of time. peace!
superstoner1
Well-Known Member
Seedlings dont need nutes for at least the first week or longer and now ur at full strength? I dont run full strength on mature plants.
full strength and my ppms are only 230, like i said, plant is lookin nice and healthy, and as far as starting with nutes, a lot of ppl will tell u they start with nutes because its good, and a lot of ppl will tell u they dont because its bad.. so what to believe? Personally i have always started with no nutes, and this time i started with 1/4 dose, the result to that was faster germination, and faster growth in the beginning. So you cant tell me that starting with nutes is bad, because it actually worked out great for me
superstoner1
Well-Known Member
Actually i can tell you it is bad just from you posting the question you did. When you feed a plants nutes too early it will stunt root and plant growth. Why do the roots need to grow if they dont need to look for food? By 2 weeks maximum you should have very nice long roots and when the seedling has used its stored food to grow these roots is when u start feeding them.
You're going wayyy off topic here, you sound so wise, but yet havent answered my simple question. Thx for all the info.
Now when you said wait two weeks for the seedling to use its stored food to grow, did you make that up yourself, or you read it somewhere? Because i was wondering what food does it have in store since u didn give any? lol
superstoner1
Well-Known Member
Are u kidding? Seriously? When a seed is germinated the first set of funny looking round leafs are called the cotyledon. This is the stored food source for the plant allowing it to concentrate on growing roots to discover a food source. Look it up, its good to know what you are talking about before u lol at people trying to help.
Malevolence
New Member
The big 10" net pot makes it grow slower than just getting the roots in the water. I made the mistake of starting my last grow in 8" net pots full of hydroton and the growth was incredibly slow compared to what I'm used to. Like I said... I have 4-6" roots 7 days from sprout now.
Awesome, thanks for your help, that is the answer im looking for, unlike some ppl like to go off topic, but anyway, Malevolence do you eventually move your plants from 6" pots to 10" or do you keep em in 6" net pots all the way through? And if you do transfer, how do you go about doing that with the net pots? Because just like you said, with the 10" net pot i feel like is takin a while for those roots to go down there and start taking off, but then again i thought id be able to make a bigger plant in the bigger pot. Thanks
Malevolence
New Member
I thought the same thing after seeing pics of massive roots in giant net baskets... but the must veg that shit for weeks. I actually took superstoners advice and just use 2" neoprene collars with 2" net pots and no media. Just let the roots be in the water as soon as possible.
There is no benefit that I am aware of from using big baskets of hydroton and rockwool; the plants grow faster with roots submerged in water than they do in clay pellets. My thoughts were the hydroton would hold more air so the roots would grow faster... but turns out it doesn't work like that. Think about the delicate roots pushing through a big basket of heavy ass rocks.
I will post a pic later to show you what I mean. I too had to wait aboht 4 weeks from germination to see a couple root tips begin to pop through. Unfortunatly they were the ends of long thin strands and were damping off. I have about 40 pounds of clay pellets that I don't know wtf to do with now because I've concluded for my garden, they suck andno media is faster.
There is no benefit that I am aware of from using big baskets of hydroton and rockwool; the plants grow faster with roots submerged in water than they do in clay pellets. My thoughts were the hydroton would hold more air so the roots would grow faster... but turns out it doesn't work like that. Think about the delicate roots pushing through a big basket of heavy ass rocks.
I will post a pic later to show you what I mean. I too had to wait aboht 4 weeks from germination to see a couple root tips begin to pop through. Unfortunatly they were the ends of long thin strands and were damping off. I have about 40 pounds of clay pellets that I don't know wtf to do with now because I've concluded for my garden, they suck andno media is faster.
Sounds good, i was starting to think the same, thats y i started questioning myself. Now let me ask you this malevolence, after u start with the 2 inch neoprene collars, and the 2inch net pots, after the roots have grown big enough, do you move it to a bigger pot?
Malevolence
New Member
I will keep them in the 2" net pots the whole time; but you can easily transplant in dwc with no worries...
Fishing line tied to the sides of the lid, but I don't recommend fishing line because it can dig into the stalk if you are not careful.
My flower lights are off for another 8 hours so I can't take pics to show you but here are some old veg pics I have that illustrate what I'm talking about somewhat.
I started in this
Transplanted to neoprene collars.
with 2" net pots
Here you can see fishing line tied to the side of the lid on the bucket in the top right corner of the pic (click image to enlarge the view).
This pic of seedlings is 4 or 5 days old... all net pots now have a cluster of crisp white 6-12" roots. There are rapid rooters in the net pots that I planted the seeds in.
No media needed.
Fishing line tied to the sides of the lid, but I don't recommend fishing line because it can dig into the stalk if you are not careful.
My flower lights are off for another 8 hours so I can't take pics to show you but here are some old veg pics I have that illustrate what I'm talking about somewhat.
I started in this
Transplanted to neoprene collars.
with 2" net pots
Here you can see fishing line tied to the side of the lid on the bucket in the top right corner of the pic (click image to enlarge the view).
This pic of seedlings is 4 or 5 days old... all net pots now have a cluster of crisp white 6-12" roots. There are rapid rooters in the net pots that I planted the seeds in.
No media needed.
Thx a lot man, that is exactly what i needed to see to clear my doubts, perfect. U suggest i do the same and transfer from big basket to 2" or just finish what i started and try this on the next one?