Seedling Questions

[CannNewbie]

My plants have been in the red solo cups for 7 days, and are getting good leaves. Germinated in Rapid Rooter Plugs, and transplanted to Fox Farms Happy Frog soil with Perlite mixed in 70/30. I have been watering with just non-ph'd water.

My questions are:
1. When should I transplant to their forever home?
2. When should I start adjusting the ph of the water?
3. When should I add nutrients to the water?

Please help, Im a newb and I don't know what to do!!

 

[OdlaFett]

1. They can easily stay in those red cups another 2 weeks, transplant to early before the roots have conqoured the cup and you risk dameging the roots

2. Wait about one more week before adding nutes and then at about 1/4 of the strenght every 2nd watering. The intesinty of the green colour of the plant tells you if you need nutes or not, if they become pale, very light green you start adding, they become dark green you back off. this is were you learn to read your plant and what its telling you.

3. I never ph water in soil, i feel the microbes change the ph for the plant in a symbiosis relationship.

 

[CannNewbie]

Thank you very much! I appreciate the information!

 

[Aqua Man]

Nothing to add but nice looking start

 

[Dan789]

Suggest you make a few more holes in the sides down low on those solo cups... any roots that far down (and peek out) will tell you that they’re ready for a bigger pot. I graduate to 1 gallon, 3 gallon, then 7 gallon for the win.

 

[CannNewbie]

Thanks dan789, I have roots coming out of the bottom holes now, I went ahead and ck Ed the root ball, bottom 1/2 of cup could see quite a few roots, top half not so much. Thought I’d give them another day or too, and then consider transplanting?????

 

[Chris Mullen]

Good luck on your journey.

 

[Dan789]

Thanks dan789, I have roots coming out of the bottom holes now, I went ahead and ck Ed the root ball, bottom 1/2 of cup could see quite a few roots, top half not so much. Thought I’d give them another day or too, and then consider transplanting?????

Do it, your plants will appreciate the new space, also you may use some mycorrhizal inoculant sprinkled into the soil.

 

[CannNewbie]

I have some, didn’t use it when I transplanted to solo cups, so you think I would be fine to transplant now?

 

[Chris Mullen]

I have some, didn’t use it when I transplanted to solo cups, so you think I would be fine to transplant now?

Give it a try thats all you can do, if your plant looks healthy and is needing the a bigger size pot/container then upgrade it, transplant it when you think its ready, give a a couple days to adjust to the new container, you would be suprised how much a plant can actually take before it goes wrong, im not a pro, but its my 2 cents, at athe start of my grow with ittle equipment and low budget i have used what is ever to hand at the time so ive transplanted a plant 3/4 times and still went on to be a good plant. Youll be fine, if you see my other post u will see a ph chart, go by that adjust from there, im using cannazym and rhizotonic, canna a and b and black treacle for veg and using bud candy during flower, make sure to get a Tds/ppm meter and a ph meter.

Avoid liquid ph testers as they wont be down to the dot.



Everyones different and im still a noob too but hope somthing helps

 

[CannNewbie]

Thanks for the info, this is my first run, just want to get it right!

 

[4plant]

Plants looks good! I would get them into 1 gallon plastic pots for veg within the next week or so. Final transplant should be a week or two before you flip to flower depending on your light and space at least a 5 gallon smart pot would be my recommendation.

Ph your water every time. If you want your plants to uptake synthetic nutrients you need to ph within a range around 5.2-6.4
If you look at a ph chart that explains nutrient availability you can dial in ph to accommodate up taking more N in veg or more P-K in flower.

 

[CannNewbie]

4plant, was thinking I’d transplant to final pots now, have 7.5 gallon cloth pots. Is there an advantage to going to 5 gallon pots now and 7.5 gallon pots before flower, other than having to feed more nutrients. Was thinking less stress on plants???

 

[4plant]

Honestly I’ve never stressed plants by transplanting. I find if a small plant is in a large container, you water to 10% runoff and have to wait like a week to rewater otherwise your overwatering. In this time a plant let’s say that’s vegging quickly will deplete all the available N but you can’t add more without overwatering.

I’m sure some people will disagree but I think having a properly sized pot for your plant is more important. It allows you rewater and feed more frequently and to properly flush out the old nutes when you do.