Lil help on on day 4

K pro's I'm coming to you for a lil advice. I just want to make sure everything is looking good so far. I'm not really sure what problems I am looking for at this point but a cpl of them look good and a cpl look weak to me. If some pro's could check out these pics and give an opinion I will gladly take it

A couple of things I am working with:
- I don't have a ppm meter
- Ph is at 5.9 and I keep it between 5.7 and 6.1 only had to adjust it twice
- temps run a lil high from 75 to 85
- Humidity is kinda low and ranges from 30% to 45%
- I have passive intake
- 6" inline fan for exhaust with a 600W air cooled hood
- Keeping the light about 13" away from plants ( I could probably lower it because its not hot on my plants at all but am scared to get it any closer)
- 5 plants nirvana autoflower northern lights in a 2x4 tent

I figured I could come on here a get a lil help as always! Thx all

for one you need a meter! but for now there so small you dont want to feed nutes, id watch how wet they stay you dont want them
to dampen off! and get a therm to check water temps should stay bellow 75F

Thx yeah i forgot the res. temp is around 75 I put some ice bottles in their to try and cool it off, but they don't last to long!

No nutes yet from research on here I was going to wait a week or two.

They haven't been drying out. I was scared they were getting to wet b/c my drip is more of a constant flow but I have it on for 15 min. and off for 15 min so it regulates a little. Just didn't know what the signs were of to much water.

well if they damp off its to late, I think as long ad the growdan stays moist and not soaked you will be fine try baking off on
the watering little by little to find the right watering times.

I'm sry by damping off you mean drying out? Should i try 30 minute intervals? Seems they stay pretty wet and I'm sure thats just as bad as to dry right?

Also, should I be concerned with the one that has the roots coming out of the top? For some reason it curled around and is coming out the top. I put them all in with the root tip down. Thx alot for all the help. Just want these babies to grow up strong!

its where at the base of the stem it shrinks and choke off the rest and the upper falls over!

I would try to get the plants a little bigger before putting them in the hydroton,I grow them until I get roots growing out the bottom of the rock wool before I put them in my hydro set up,then I just hand water them twice a day until I see roots comeing out the bottom of the net pot,I think you may be watering to often,set the dripper so its not getting the rock wool wet just the hydroton and just wet the wool when its dry or just hand water,over watering is probebly the biggest killer of small plants and seedlings,and you need to get your humidity up for veg that helps to,you say your temp is 75 to 85 that is the air temp if so thats not real bad but on the high side if your nutes are that warm your going to have problems,at 85 your plants will have nute lock out. good luck

Look at that soaking, puckered rockwool!

I think that's the most common mistake made by newcomers. Ease back on that drip feeder big time. In fact turn it off!

You've already gotten some great advice so far. Just stick to it and you'll be fine!

Happy growing!

thx all! I started just putting the water on the hydroton then got scared it would dry out.

-How long do I just keep it on the hydroton before more focus on the plant?

- How long will the rockwool retain the water?....don't want to let it go to long

That's the first thing I noticed..

I wouldn't put a 600w light 13" from seedlings, go much higher like 20" or more and then work your way down to 16-18". You should also look into getting a propagation tray for the first week or so until the roots visibly poke through the rockwool. Then I would set your water pump on a timer so it isn't constantly running on the rockwool. maybe start out 15-30 minutes on out of each hour.

Don't get me wrong though, the water/nutrient drip is vital to early root system development so do not turn it off, just cut back. as long as you have a fan running it won't be a problem. But soaked rockwool= root and stem rot

My bad, just saw that your light was air-cooled. That is great, in that case 13" is good but I would still start higher and work your way down.

I did the back of the hand test and I've seen on here they could get it like 10" away but that seems like its to much for seedlings. Although when I put my hand directly under the glass it isn't very hot at all, but i figured 13" was close enough

Instead of a prop. tray cut 2 liter bottles in half and stick them over the net pot area. Cheap and it turns your DWC system into its own prop. tray.

How long should I do this for?....thx a ton never heard of this...jus to make sure I have this right....do this in my current setup as is?

Also, I stopped watering all together about 2hrs ago and they still are wet. How long will the rockwool retain the water. I am grateful for everyone! I think I was about to destroy these lil plants....the rockwool was far to flooded...the roots look real skinny and lookin rough. Hope they pull through

You can use the 2 liter bottom halves if you want to.. it's really only necessary for cloning. Just don't let that rockwool get that wet, the cubes will drain out fully over 12 hrs.. maybe less. I don't use top feed at all when I DWC.

Get rid of the drip feeder like Lordjin says...

I'd let the rockwool dry out completely and never wet it again lol. Just make water level around 1 inch up the net pot and leave it. Your roots will grow down into the water...