Big Bud Grow Op

natmoon said:

Ok i understand

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The roots will stretch out until they hit a wall, the whole purpose of leaving the "tape" on the at this early stage is to get the roots to fill the cube more before stretching out throughout the rockwool, by doing this you will build a better root structure I believe.

I'm going out of town for the weekend and have my camera in my other car so I don't have it here today but the babies look fine. The last seed to germ wasn't out of the RW so I pulled back the RW and coaxed it out and gently pulled the seed casing off. It and one other are very white and I'm wondering if maybe I should cover them up with something. The first seed (#1) is 1.25" high now; the others (other than the white ones) are about an inch tall, maybe slightly less. The water has black clumps in it.

potpimp said:

I'm going out of town for the weekend and have my camera in my other car so I don't have it here today but the babies look fine. The last seed to germ wasn't out of the RW so I pulled back the RW and coaxed it out and gently pulled the seed casing off. It and one other are very white and I'm wondering if maybe I should cover them up with something. The first seed (#1) is 1.25" high now; the others (other than the white ones) are about an inch tall, maybe slightly less. The water has black clumps in it.

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Hmm black clumps?? What are you adding to the water and what water has that? Also the seedlings are white when they pop out, they photosynthesize quickly as soon as you put some light on them. I keep them under a plastic cover for 1 day and then remove it. Works fine.

The only thing I added was a little pH down. It's all looking very nice; the #1 has grown a little over 1/4" the last 24 hours and one is maybe a little bit taller (stretching). I've got them under a 65w CFL as close to the plastic dome as possible, almost touching it. One of the white seedlings has sprung up but no seed leaves yet. The other is about to pop out.

potpimp said:

The only thing I added was a little pH down. It's all looking very nice; the #1 has grown a little over 1/4" the last 24 hours and one is maybe a little bit taller (stretching). I've got them under a 65w CFL as close to the plastic dome as possible, almost touching it. One of the white seedlings has sprung up but no seed leaves yet. The other is about to pop out.

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Hey pimp, A little thing I learned to do with the sproutlings is to help them a little. That is, If you see that it popped its head above the rockwool but has the seed shell on it, very very gently pull on it a few times until it becomes loose and falls off. After that, see if there's a sort of "phlegm" on the head of the seedling or the embryonic sac as I like to call it, gently pull that off as well, it comes off easily and the leaves will instantly separate....after that you can keep them under the plastic dome for 1 day.....remove it after that, they'll be fine.

Here's a pic of things this morning. From what I can tell, they have slowed their upward climb and are focusing on building root mass. One of the seedlings has a tap root that is about 3" out of the bottom of the rockwool. I made sure to tuck it under to keep it out of the light. Almost all of the water is gone. I made another trip to my hydro store and picked up a bunch of new goodies; spent another $470. It's time to put these babies on the 6" rock wool cubes now and maybe add a little nutes to the pH'ed water but I'll wait til my mentor advises me.

Looks like I'm on my own for now. I got the water pH'ed and nutes, beneficials and enzymes added. I soaked the 6" rockwool cubes in the water (actually I just poured it over them, reserving some for directly onto the plant roots. I took the plastic wrapper off the plants, cut a slight corner off the cubes, squeezed them gently to get out most of the water, put them in the hole in the big rockwool cubes then poured the rest of the water over the roots. One of the plants has about a 3" tap root; most of the others have taps showing. I'm going strictly by the Advanced Nutrients 3 part system. After that, I cut some mylar to keep the light off the rock wool then put some neoprene rubber covers around the little plants. These are some that I bought at the hydro store; they have a hole and a split to the hole to allow for putting on and removal. I also added another 65w multi-spectrum CFL. The 6" rock wool cubes are in black aquatrays. I didn't add any hydroton because I wasn't sure if it was supposed ot go under the rock wool or just beside it. I lowered the CFL's after taking the pic.

Hey PP, looks good so far...

You transplanted a little early, just make sure they take root.
How are you watering right now?

The hydroton goes under the cubes for the roots, so don't worry about
that yet.

I mixed up the pH'ed water, added the nutes and other stuff and poured it on them at the base. Basically, they stand in the water. I've been a bit concerned about root rot. Yeah I've got plenty of time before the roots hit the bottom, probably 2 weeks at least.

Do you ph the water before or after adding nutes?

Ahhhhh... Masta!! The first thing I do is pH the water then add the nutes.

Add nutrients first then ph, otherwise the nutrients will change the ph and cause you problems, you only need a small amount of nutes at the moment if any.

I'm going by the Advanced Nutrients reccommendations. If they're wrong then they can honor their money back guarantee. My collection of A.N. stuff looks like a frickin store. I'd better get a damn Christmas card from them this year, LOL. Of course I did it backwards; what's new?

Not much to tell this morning except the leaves have come out a little more and seem to be a deeper green. There is a tinge of yellow-brown on the edges and tips of some of the leaves in one of the containers but none on the other. The lights are pretty much down to the cubes but the babies are about 4" from them and it's not too hot. I have a fan blowing on them. Overall I'd say they are doing very well.

It looks like they're a bit hot. There shouldn't be any yellowing at this stage. What's the humidity and temperature? Humidity at this point should be 50-60%.

I've got the A/C back on; I turn it down at night to try and keep the electric bill down cause I know the lights are gonna run it up. It was 80 inside the grow cabinet when I opened the door. I had it cracked and the fan blowing in on them. I'll put the thermometer down at the plants and see if maybe they are getting too much heat.

Day 11: Here are the latest pix. I taped down the mylar so the light would not leak under it and I put hydroton under the rock wool. I think they are looking great. Whaddyathink? BTW, the humidity in the grow box is running around 34% and the temp in the high 70's / low 80's.

very nice little babies.almost to smoke... LOL your getting their tho..

where did you order seeds i dont remember if you already posted it im sorry

TY Cali; I got them from Nirvana.

Day 13: The RW is about dried up on the bottom and very much so on top, letting the roots get some well deserved oxygen. I know from past experience that you can over water you plants (love them to death!) and it's been a week since I've watered them but the RW holds the water very well and the mylar keeps it from drying out quickly under the lights. I mixed up all my nutes and pH'ed the water, poured it over the RW after removing the mylar. I took my pictures and replaced the mylar and the black rubber grommets. FYI the black rubber grommets keep the light from penetrating to the RW, thus creating a good environment for algae. It has a split in it to remove it when necessary.

BTW, I have one little blueberry plant from the former grow that I didn't put in the hydro killer unit. It got stunted a couple of times but it's a little fighter. It's about the same size as these 13 day old Big Bud plants and it's at least 3 months old. Time to flower it? LOL.
This is plants 1,2 & 3. Remember that I numbered them according to when they came up.

This is plants 4,5 & 6:

This is a closeup (sort of) of #1:

This is a closeup of #5: