Seedling, dry out the roots or not?

garybo · May 10, 2021

Have a question for you outdoor farmers.
During the 3 - 4 week time frame, from the time a germinated seed emerges from the soil, and has not yet grown into the vegetative stage, should a farmer put the seedling into a "drying out" phase for a day or as one would do between feedings for a mature plant, or just keep the seedling damp and lightly fed until it reaches the veg stage?
Thanks

Madbud · May 10, 2021

Heres your root at one week, water deep once/week.

garybo · May 11, 2021

Madbud said:
Heres your root at one week, water deep once/week.

Nice, and what a good idea to put the seedling in a clear container to observe.
Thank you very much

Madbud · May 11, 2021

garybo said:
Nice, and what a good idea to put the seedling in a clear container to observe.
Thank you very much

Fits inside a red solo cup so the roots don’t get any light, no algae.

mysticepipedon · May 11, 2021

garybo said:
Have a question for you outdoor farmers.
During the 3 - 4 week time frame, from the time a germinated seed emerges from the soil, and has not yet grown into the vegetative stage, should a farmer put the seedling into a "drying out" phase for a day or as one would do between feedings for a mature plant, or just keep the seedling damp and lightly fed until it reaches the veg stage?
Thanks

Do not keep the seedling damp. Treat it like a big girl. The roots need oxygen just as much as they need water.

Also, don't feed a seedling for the first 7 or 8 days.

I'm not sure what you're considering the beginning of the veg stage. To me, they're vegging from the time they stick their heads up out of the soil/media.

garybo · May 11, 2021

mysticepipedon said:
I'm not sure what you're considering the beginning of the veg stage. To me, they're vegging from the time they stick their heads up out of the soil/media

I guess we all have different ways of reading our plants.
To me, vegetative stage starts when the plant completes growing its first set of true leaves (not counting the cotyledons) and the second set has started to develop, usually into the plants 3rd week of life. That is when I start feeding nutes at around EC 0.50 strength and by the time the plant has grown its 3rd set of leaves and working on its 4th set I have worked up in strength to a desired EC of around 0.81.
And hey, thank for the feedback.

garybo · May 24, 2021

Madbud said:
Fits inside a red solo cup so the roots don’t get any light, no algae.

I agree, have used solo cups in the past. As an experiment after seeing the pics Mudbug showed, I put 2 very young plants (maybe a week old) into a clear plastic glass and they did very well and watching the roots grow on a daily basis was outstanding. A few days ago I saw mildew started growing on the lower part of the pot where the perlite is. The pots had 4 holes at the lower edge of the container and 1 through the bottom, so water would drain.
I'm attributing the mildew to setting the little girls outside where their older sisters are growing in 10 gal containers, which are exposed to the hot and humid weather we're having down here in Florida.

Seedling, dry out the roots or not?

Seedling, dry out the roots or not?

garybo

Madbud

garybo

Madbud

mysticepipedon

garybo

​

garybo

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency