IT'S ALIVEE!! Not well, plz help!

this baby has just pushed its way out of the soil during only midway of its second day (2nd light cycle of 20/4).

As shocked as I am, I'm glad she's up BUT I worry for a couple visible reasons.

a) She's got a brown spot on her (first leaf, second is very green but still emerging from under the first one).

b) If you see in the picture I marked with a red circle, I'm not 100% even with my own sight but I think there might be exposure of the top area of the root, just below where the stem and the root meet at the seed shell.

Please note:

1. When I touched the top soil it was quite dry, however with the clear plastic cup I could see lots of moisture and water on the sides and bottom of the cup. Unsure, yet impatient to ask you guys, I watered it hopefully not too much (stil tryna get a hang of that).

2. She has been sitting under a 23w 1600 lumens CFL as seen in a picture, but the lamp is made of metal (says chrome on the box, looks like stainless steel though and is not reflective). It is SURPRISINGLY quite hot to the touch, let alone light bulb itself.

3. I turned the light back on 14 hours ago, after +4 hrs of dark but that was after 21-22 hrs of light, which was immediately after plantation.

4. She was germinated in paper towel. In relation to

5. Excluding the light, it should be about 75 degrees in there, very max. 80.

6. PHOTOS: Red circle shows the possible root exposure; Blue circle shows the brown spot; Yellow circle shows the little nug I placed to cover that 'root' (please further advise!)

ANY THOUGHTS OR SUGGESTIONS AT ALL would be GREATLY appreciated! And PLEASE... I don't mean to be rude but, reliable/experience-proven info only if you may. I'm panicking here!

Thanks A BUNCH!

Do you have good drainage from the cup?

Spots look pretty normal if im looking at the right thing. those leaves will eventually fall off

yes there several slits on the bottom and theres a hollow ring platform style thing holding it on a plate; I also have several pieces of small gravel mixed in with the soil.

Well those are the facts, I can't really say how well its actually draining, I have nothing to compare to.

should i create actual small holes as opposed to these slits? I feel like water would have a difficult time going through with only the help of gravity.

Use holes.A boat will sink a lot slower with a leaking crack then a hole.If you think there is root popping out put some soil over it.Cant wait to see how you act when something big happens during your grow.

when you water what happens? does it take a while to drain throught the bottom or
does it go right through?

shylas said:

when you water what happens? does it take a while to drain throught the bottom or
does it go right through?

Click to expand...

hmm thats why i feel the slits arent working.. water barely goes through =S i will widen those immediately!

How long should it take to go through? couples minutes?

And can anyone give a nice rule of thumb or advice for HOW MUCH water to give and HOW to give it... pouring out of a water bottle seems harsh and heavy.

I feed hevy (about half the size of my container in water + nutes) Then I water hevy (like 1-1.5 times the size of the container in water only). This way your doing like a mini flush in between feedings but not so much
you wash your nutes away. I agree with jimmypot. holes all the way

shylas said:

I feed hevy (about half the size of my container in water + nutes) Then I water hevy (like 1-1.5 times the size of the container in water only). This way your doing like a mini flush in between feedings but not so much
you wash your nutes away. I agree with jimmypot. holes all the way

Click to expand...

oh wow, i didn't know the drainage should be that durastic. It makes sense though because its only been a couple hours and the soil is dry already

OH MY GOD. I JUST REALIZED I'M USING TOP SOIL. NO WONDER THERE WAS NO NUTRIENT INDICATION ON THE BAG.

WHAT SHOULD I DOOO!!!

kka said:

Here's a few more pictures about how much water to add and the holes on the bottom. As for how to add the water, i guess it depends on how it was seeded. Apparently it works very well if you allow the seed to become a little mature in the wet paper towel ( let the cotyledon leaves show that they are growing) then transfer to soil (or soil mix). Placing the root in the finger size hole and placing the cotyledon so it can shoot out of the soil (not too deep in, so it doesn't have to exert a lot of force to get out of the soil). After planting, add water until soil is wet, and check the placement of the cotyledon leaves, just making sure that they were not buried under the soil when the water went through. After the soil has soaked up as much water as it can hold, the water should start draining out the bottom fairly quickly. I'd recommend about 1-2 cm more of water in the tray than what shows in these pictures. And make sure to keep your light, if you're using cfl's VERY close to your plants, like 2-3 inches away, because they are not very hot and so that your little one does not have to stretch).

Click to expand...

Wow, all very super helpful thank you so much for taking the time to do that. I really appreciate it. I don't really understand how i could allow the seed to sit in there for long because in the past two times when I left it in the paper towel for 24 hours after it first sprouted, it died. I thought it was from too much water and no soil, but now I'm guessing, in relation to your suggestion, that it was actually not enough water to keep it going? I never added water to it, it just looked like it rotted or something (the root died, the part closest to the seed shell). I had actually planted the first one and after 4 days nothing happened then I dug it up and saw it was compeletely dead, shrunk to almost the size of a hair.

Anyways thanks again I really needed that. But so, are sure I should put the light so close so soon? I know the 2" rule with CFL's but this thing is hottt to the touch and the lamp is metal all though not very reflective, and its almost just as hot... together giving off lots of light. I have it at least 3 inches diagonally away, and since my first post in this thread it is growing and I can see the tiny set of new leaves coming under the first two.

Ahh, I see now. That leaf with the brownspot was basically upside down... its flipping upright and its nice and green

i will fix this drainage situation and make sure I get some soil with sponge rock for when I transplant.

ANY ADVICE THO? is "top soil" going to cause a problem for the first two weeks?

When you transplant use a good potting soil.If you can only go to walmart use mg organic or m.g moisture control.Home depot black gold,try to find fox farm ocean forest.