Slow growing young seedling

Micro G.

Active Member
Hi guys,
my seedling is almost 5 days "old" or 4 days if we consider the beginning of her first day under the light as "Day zero". The problem is that it looks healthy but I really think it should have been bigger then it is.
Color is good, stem looks good. It didn't stretch because it's just 5 cm tall. She took less then 4 days from seed to seedling.
For germination I used coco pellet an then place the coco pellet in the final fiber pot(a home made smart pot) whit a mix of 33% peat moss 33% compost/humus 33% perlite/vermiculite. Temperature is around 23/24 °C humidity is 60%, there is a 4" fan to provide airflow and an inline fan that change the whole air of the grow room several times a minute. I'm only using bottled water since germination and I'm watering when soil feels less moist about 1 cm under the surface.

There are only two things that I can think about.

The first thing is that when I put the coco pellet in the final pot I decided to cut and throw away the "sock" that keep everything together. Doing so at some point the coco pellet kinda had a "land slide" half way up. The lower half slide about 1 cm than the upper part. Lesson learned; I will never do it again. Never. But that was day 0 and the next days I could see the cotyledons open and than the two first leaf growing...the first days looked normal.
If the problem was the accident during the transplant I think the seedling should have stun right then.

The second one could be the light. I'm using cheap led stripe from amazon. The led are 66% 6000K 33% 6500K for a total of 20 watt of real consumption but around 2250 real lumen. This should be the equivalent of a 130-150 watt incandescent light. I know it is not the best choice but this should be fine for only one plant in a 1x1 foot grow room. I had to chose something that could fit in the grow room and that can be kept really close to the plant because I have only 65 cm total in height not counting the pot and the carbon filter. It's around 35-40 cm of space for the plant.

Here she is from day 0(right after I took the seed shell off the cotyledons and transplant the coco pellet into the final pot) to today. One pics for every morning.
01.jpeg02b.jpeg03b.jpg04b.jpg
Today morning it "still" looks like this:
P_20200410_095555.jpgP_20200410_095614.jpg

I can see the new leaves coming out, but as you can see the first two leaves are kinda curved...
Any advice?
 
Only advice would be to water with normal water and wait... Just let nature do its jobs its absolutely normal for some seedlings to struggle as this is one of the hardest phases in growing for them :) Humidity could be raised to 70% btw but thats up to you
 

oill

Well-Known Member
Hi guys,
my seedling is almost 5 days "old" or 4 days if we consider the beginning of her first day under the light as "Day zero". The problem is that it looks healthy but I really think it should have been bigger then it is.
Color is good, stem looks good. It didn't stretch because it's just 5 cm tall. She took less then 4 days from seed to seedling.
For germination I used coco pellet an then place the coco pellet in the final fiber pot(a home made smart pot) whit a mix of 33% peat moss 33% compost/humus 33% perlite/vermiculite. Temperature is around 23/24 °C humidity is 60%, there is a 4" fan to provide airflow and an inline fan that change the whole air of the grow room several times a minute. I'm only using bottled water since germination and I'm watering when soil feels less moist about 1 cm under the surface.

There are only two things that I can think about.

The first thing is that when I put the coco pellet in the final pot I decided to cut and throw away the "sock" that keep everything together. Doing so at some point the coco pellet kinda had a "land slide" half way up. The lower half slide about 1 cm than the upper part. Lesson learned; I will never do it again. Never. But that was day 0 and the next days I could see the cotyledons open and than the two first leaf growing...the first days looked normal.
If the problem was the accident during the transplant I think the seedling should have stun right then.

The second one could be the light. I'm using cheap led stripe from amazon. The led are 66% 6000K 33% 6500K for a total of 20 watt of real consumption but around 2250 real lumen. This should be the equivalent of a 130-150 watt incandescent light. I know it is not the best choice but this should be fine for only one plant in a 1x1 foot grow room. I had to chose something that could fit in the grow room and that can be kept really close to the plant because I have only 65 cm total in height not counting the pot and the carbon filter. It's around 35-40 cm of space for the plant.

Here she is from day 0(right after I took the seed shell off the cotyledons and transplant the coco pellet into the final pot) to today. One pics for every morning.
View attachment 4529067View attachment 4529076View attachment 4529078View attachment 4529080
Today morning it "still" looks like this:
View attachment 4529113View attachment 4529114

I can see the new leaves coming out, but as you can see the first two leaves are kinda curved...
Any advice?
No problem here other than lack of patience.

Could maybe get the light closer
 

Micro G.

Active Member
Thank you Butter for the advice. I can raise humidity if that is the case.
And thank you Oill. I know I'm impatient but I've seen a lot of grow diaries where at day 5 or 6 they already have the the first two leaves like 1" long.
Until yesterday the light was a little bit closer to the seedling about one inch closer. Now the light panel it about 2 and a half inch from the seedling.
I moved the light because I was worried the it could be part of the problem. But maybe if the seedling is to close to the light it should show signs of burn..
Seeing the two leaves curved made me a bit nervous... I don't think I'm over watering...
 
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oill

Well-Known Member
Thank you Butter for the advice. I can raise humidity if that is the case.
And than you Oill. I know I'm impatient but I've seen a lot of grow diaries where at day 5 or 6 they already have the the first two leaves like 1" long.
Today seeing the two leaves curved made me a bit nervous... I don't think I'm over watering...
I cracked seeds about 10 days ago. They dont look much different to yours.... relax.
 

Micro G.

Active Member
Thank you Oill. After spending so much time in choosing and design the best light setup for my situation I really thought I did it wrong.
This is my Veg light setup. It's about 450 led 6000-6500K and around 2250 lumen. My flowering setup it's 600 led 2700-300K around 3000 lumen.
P_20200410_112240.jpg
As you can see now the light pannel is 2,5 inch or 7 cm away from the seedling but since yesterday it was 2 inch away.
P_20200410_112331.jpg
I will follow your suggestion and keep the seedling closer to the light.
 

Micro G.

Active Member
youll need, at least, 30k lumen to support even small plants through the process.
30.000 lumen at least? You sure?
I knew that the best is 10.000 lumens per sq/ft but then 3000 to 5000 it's considered ideal for growing and maybe 5000 to 8000 lumen for flowering should be optimal.
 
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Kassiopeija

Well-Known Member
I'm sorry but you've got the terms "lumens" & "lux" mixed up and that threw me off track. It's still does...

Personally I veg seedlings under 20k lux coming from CFLs. Later under HID veg it's 50k lux and in flower under Cree + HID it'll be 70k lux.
 

Micro G.

Active Member
Then it should be ok because I have 24K lux on my seedling... I should add some other strip to rise that a bit...
In flowering I have 32.3 K lux I should do the same here.
Anyway I'm not interested in maximize my yield, not yet. That's why my grow room is so tiny. I was just worring that the light wasn't enough for the seedling to thrive.
 

Micro G.

Active Member
The leaves now, about 9 hour later, look even more curved down...
I'd love to relax but it doesn't seems right...
P_20200410_173102.jpg
 

Micro G.

Active Member
I've just added 7 more led stripe. Now I should be around 3000 lumen or 32K lux for vegetation...
I'm starting to think the problem is that these led might be good when the seedling become bigger. Now that she is so tiny, a light pannel 35x 35 cm gives a too diffuse light. The seedling is directly under maybe 10% of the led of the panel and that means that it maybe has just 300 lumen of direct light for her...

I don't know if this makes any sense to you...

Anyway I've found 2 old CFL light 24 watt each with the perfect 6400k light. I'm thinking to give them a try because the leaves of the seedling are now even more curved down.
P_20200411_130350.jpg
 

TreeFarmerCharlie

Well-Known Member
During this stage of their life they are focusing on building their root foundation more than growing out their leaves. If it seems to go dormant for a long period, then you are may possibly be over watering it, and that is can cause it to struggle with building the roots.
 

Micro G.

Active Member
Thank you for your suggestion. I don't think I'm over watering...last time I did it was two days ago and the leaves start to curve just yesterday. Today I've checked if the soil is still moist under the surface and it is. But it is just moist, not wet. So I'm going to wait before the next watering but it is now 6 days since transplant and I think I've watered it 2 times, just a little, around the seedling.
I decided to try with the two 24W CFL because it is a much concentrated light and those led might generate a light which is too diffused. If that is the case I think that there will be a clear improvement from now to tomorrow...
 

Ted2015

Member
You could put a dome over it to increase humidity, usually clones are done this way and the theory applies to seedlings too. a very weak root growth simulator added to the water might also help but you do not want to shock it in any way at this stage. But like what has been said already, sometimes its just patience, the beginning is always the slowest, I know from growing many chilli plants over the years, it can sit still for what seems like weeks and you thin this will never turn into a big plant and then bang the roots take hold and it breaks, and then growth just continues to get faster and faster until it flowers.
 

Micro G.

Active Member
Nope, no CFL. The temperature rises of about 8°C and my grow room setup it's not ready for that and i haven't time for testing right now...
 

Micro G.

Active Member
Don't think I've mentioned that the led strips I'm using are "home led strip" not COB, not growing light, just simple amazon led strips. This might change your opinion...
 
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