Seedlings

[MrGiggleBush]

1) What’s more important for a young seedling, having a fan on it to promote a strong stem, or having high humidity?

The reason I ask is because currently I have a very low humidity (20%) in my box and I am not sure if I should put a humidity dome on them to try to raise that or if im better of having fans on them.

2) If I start some seedlings in peat pots should I put them straight to 2 Liter soda bottles/milk jugs once their roots poke through? Or should I put them in 16 oz solo cups and let the roots fill those in before transferring to the bigger containers?

 

[Phillthy]

humidity

let the roots poke from the pots then place them in the cups. you can go into a 2 liter without issue but will notice faster growth in the cup first from my experience.

i germ, then cups, then 1 gal, then 3 gal.

 

[facelift]

With 2 liter bottles cut at top of label, you're looking at 20-25 grams per plant after vegging for 3-4 weeks. Go will gallon jugs and up.

Your results may vary, my results are over a 6 year period growing the same way.

 

[FreezerBoy]

Neither. Both are unneeded and the dome is deadly. High humidity is unnecessary, dangerous and once plants get used to it, they're loathe to give it up. Using domes to keep substrate damp prior to sprouting is OK but, once they come up, get them out of the dome ASAP.

I beat my plants up by hand to simulate wind and passing animals. You can use a fan but you don't need one.

 

[Phillthy]

i would like to see at least 40%-45% humidity. it doesn't need to be high but with little seedlings you don't want the soil to dry on you too much by surprise.

 

[FreezerBoy]

Dry soil bad. Very, very bad. 15% rh is fine for seedlings themselves. Not recommended but, sufficient. I admit to being dome sensitive. Dome weaning has been my #1 cause of death. Once I threw out the dome, death went with it.

 

[Phillthy]

yeah i use domes sparingly. mostly for clones.

 

[KolorBlind]

I beat my plants up by hand to simulate wind and passing animals. You can use a fan but you don't need one.

HAHAHA, thanks FB for that hilarious mental image. Im imagining you getting home to check on your lovelies and strapping on a pair of boxing gloves just before opening the freezer

I totally agree with you on the humidity FB, in fact, after reading your grows is when I decided to just stop using peat pellets and start the seeds in soil. I was keeping all my pellets in the mini greenhouse they come in and not removing them till the last one sprouted....MISTAKE! I have had GREAT results growing from soil so far. I just plant germinated seeds in a clear 16oz solo cup, saturate the soil, then stick the clear cup inside a red one so I can pull the inner clear one out anytime I wish to look at the roots. I put plastic wrap over the tops with rubber bands, and as soon as I can see green ANYTHING I take those covers off ASAP. Then I'll just go to 6" pots, then finish in 10" pots.

KB

 

[FreezerBoy]

HAHAHA, thanks FB for that hilarious mental image. Im imagining you getting home to check on your lovelies and strapping on a pair of boxing gloves just before opening the freezer

Boxing gloves? feh! Try brass knuckles, chains and zip guns ... ok, sorry bout that. Actually your comment is an excellent reminder to watch my language and humor in threads of this type.

I should have said I pet my girls. I caress them. Dance with them, lovingly dipping them from side to side. The closest I come to beating would be the peace sign. Slip the stem between your fingers and wiggle back and forth.

 

[KolorBlind]

ROFL, the "peace sign".

You mark my word, that is going to get filtered around and eventually be used as a sexually demeaning term in all the new Seth Rogen movies or something

I hear ya though, Im the same way. My wife likes to sit in front of the fridge with sunglasses on and talk to the girls & blow on them. If we didnt live in a world where GROWING AN EFFING PLANT was illegal, Id have taken pictures of her by now, its hilarious. I love when I cant find her anywhere then I open the garage door and shes in her underwear, in a lawn chair just chatting away at them haha! Plus I bought the cheapest old lady gas station sunglasses and they look hilarious on anyone!

KB

 

[customelement]

While neither are manditory, I have always loved having fans on my plants. I put a fan on them as soon as they pop, and it doesnt get turned off till they are harvested. The airflow helps, but mainly I do it to stiffen up the stems as others have stated. I usually just have it on a low ocillating setting, but if I see one of my plants starting to sink down, I crank it up. I just actually upgraded my fan to nice squirrell cage type tower fan as it uses less space, and better air movement.

As to dome's.. I'm with the others that they are pretty useless with some rare cases.. I use them for the first little bit of clones to help keep my pucks moist (just spray inside of dome once a day) but as soon as I see roots, into soil they go. If I had better RH, I'd skip it all together.

My big problem I've had with seedlings was I used the peat cups for a bunch of my seeds, and with my lower RH, and fan circulation, they dried out REALLY fast. I was only using CFL's, but I still had to re-water them uptwo twice a day... Lost several seedlings that way, but thank god they were all just bagseed. Once I got rid of the peat cups and went with dollar store plastic ones, 100% success