Start seeds in grow tent?

Whats everyone's take on starting their plants by seed when growing in a tent? Put them in the grow pot with soil and let it go? Or start it elsewhere and place it in the grow pot/soil at a certain point?

BPB said:

... Whats everyone's take on starting their plants by seed when growing in a tent? Put them in the grow pot with soil and let it go? Or start it elsewhere and place it in the grow pot/soil at a certain point? ...

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I am a "seed in the soil and a little water daily until she opens up in about 5 - 6 days" kind of grower. That's how Mommy Nature does it.

You should be able to start in the tent no problem you just have to be mindful of the light strength at first. The tent environment should be dialed in before you pop a bean. I second seed straight to media

I do a 12 hour soak for old seeds, anything older than 3 years, then just straight into a solo cup of Roots Organic fairly heavily watered and into my tent with my main grow light as the light source. Newer seeds go right into the soil. I get sprouts in 2-3 days usually. I get some stretching as they're pretty far from the light source at first so I leave a little room in the cup to add about an inch of soil after a week and by then I can move them closer to the light and stop the stretch. I use cob LEDs and their usually up high for other plants in the tent. Here's three I just sprouted that way a week ago, right before adding soil to the cups.

I usually start them right in the soil of their final 7G fabric bag pots. Place the seed a knuckle into the moist soil, lightly cover, moist the top layer and repeat keep the moist until they pop. I also use the same method for starting my outdoor girls in solo cups, if my tent is too full. Handy thing is that they don’t need the light to pop and place them on top of my QB lights to act as a heat-mat for the cups. Worked great for me this year . . . for a first try at that method.

You leave the lights on 24/7 while sprouting?
These will be for autoflower plants

BPB said:

... You leave the lights on 24/7 while sprouting? ...

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18/6. For sprouting and cloning you can use a 23W Cool White CFL. Not an intense light source - good for popping seeds and rooting cuts.

StareCase said:

18/6. For sprouting and cloning you can use a 23W Cool White CFL. Not an intense light source - good for popping seeds and rooting cuts.

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So I'll be starting from Seed. If I use my BlackBird light and raise is up and turn it down they should germinate in the moist soil.
Then bring the light down close to the plants once the pop?

BPB said:

... If I use my BlackBird light and raise is up and turn it down they should germinate in the moist soil. Then bring the light down close to the plants once the pop? ...

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Yup ... turn it all the way down and raise it up at least 3' above. As they show they have adjusted to the light you can gradually lower the rig and increase the light intensity.

That how my young plants start out under the BSpec's.

I know photoperiod plants need light-off cycles to fruit.
What about these autoflower?

BPB said:

You leave the lights on 24/7 while sprouting?
These will be for autoflower plants

Click to expand...

It's up to you, you can do 24 or 18/6. For autos I usually do 24 for the first week or two and then switch to 20/4 or 18/6 depending on if I'm just growing autos or if I'm vegging photos and have an auto in the tent just for fun. The switch won't bother them at all. Just transplant them around the two week mark or once they have a decent enough root mass to get transplanted. I also top my autos which some say not to do but I've had great success doing if it's done early, like as soon as the 4th node is available. Here's a small auto I have with the babies right now. It's a Nurple auto that really helps with my wife's medical needs. I just tossed it in while I'm growing these seeds. It was stunted pretty bad as it was left in a 2" nursery cube for 21 days at a buddies house while I finished my last flower run but really took off once it was transplanted. It went from 4.5" untopped to this in week 2 of flower. Not transplanting it early enough hurt it as far as the ultimate yield for sure, but it's still nice and healthy looking and going to be good meds.

BPB said:

I know photoperiod plants need light-off cycles to fruit.
What about these autoflower?

Click to expand...

Autos will flower under 24 hours of light but most will grow under 20/4 or 18/6

Just stick the seed in your lip for like 12 hours then straight into soil.

For autos 18/6 is the minimum light most people run. Autos only need a short dark cycle and you can get away with none.

I use those Rockwool type starter plugs then transfer into dirt air/smart fiber pots once I see those pure white fuzzy roots popping out!



Frost em up!
Happy growing!