Should I Plant These Seedlings Deep?

[rrog]

Seeds were started this past Monday. Put them in the soil pellets on Wednesday.

This was them on Thursday

Put under lights on Friday. Fluoros but maybe 15" up for first two days.

This is today (Saturday).

I'd like to insert these in the medium, but can I bury so much stem? The tap root would be quite deep, but there's plenty of air being pumped into the medium.

I would also drop the lights today.

Thanks for any opinions.

 

[jaykush]

yes you can

 

[rrog]

Wow that was fast as shit reply. I have a burn from it. Thanks a lot.

So no problems, then. I thought they shot up unusually fast, but in the past I have waited more days before planting them

 

[jaykush]

how close were your lights?

 

[maryjohn]

And what temperature was it?

 

[habeeb]

yeah you can, it will take weeks before it develops roots out the stem

plan on upgrading your seedling light or lower it as jay said ( if floro can do an inch above seedlings) . also could be old bulbs?

 

[rrog]

Well, they're in.

These things started getting very long while in the incubator. That's why I placed in soil pellets as early as I did. Then they kept getting taller.

Lights were at 15" above the leaves for 2 days. I've dropped them to 3", now that they're in their pails. Bulbs are new.

Temp is 70F

Light distance obviously didn't help, but not sure why they started out so damn lanky in the dark of the incubator.

I had apple / banana Ethylene treatment for 2 weeks, warm (80F) and humid. No supplements, but perhaps this is a function of the Ethylene hormone?

 

[BurnOne]

I push them down into the soil so the leaves are just above the surface. Seedlings falling over is NOT a good thing.
Burn1

 

[rrog]

Seedlings falling over is NOT a good thing.

One fell over today. Now it's upright buried up to 1/2" below leaves.

 

[rrog]

Follow up: The tall one that fell over on itself died. Being replaced.

Heavy Ethylene treatment for 2 weeks is the cause I'm going with. Never saw such bizarrely spindly stems like that.

 

[BurnOne]

Heavy Ethylene treatment for 2 weeks is the cause I'm going with. Never saw such bizarrely spindly stems like that.

WTF!!!???

 

[rrog]

Yes. Ethylene get seeds ready to jump out of the shell once wet. Heavy Ethylene really forces huge stem and root growth right out of chute.

 

[maryjohn]

i have never heard of this. ethylene is the gas responsible for ripening in many fruits. It also makes carrots lose flavor (don't keep apples and carrots together). a family member of mine works with a product that blocks the receptor. it's entirely possible it could have effects on seedlings, but I don't see how.

could you educate me?

 

[VerdantGreen]

hmm never heard of the ethylene thing for seedlings but cannabis seedlings do stretch very easily. they also burn very easily if you put them too close to the light to avoid stretch.

if you have buried the stem that is fine but try and keep the soil around where you have buried it fairly dry for a while to avoid the risk of rotting the stem. pehaps water from below for a while or at least dont pour water on the soil right by the stem.

V.

 

[happyherb]

heard before using ethylene gas to try and get all fems..can it /does it work?...cant be bothered to read up more on it or try it...im in the thinking the seeds sex is what it is...but others dont...but not getting into/starting that debate ..


"ethylene is the gas responsible for ripening in many fruits." yes...have an unripe pear? ect...put with some bananas and it will ripen faster .HH. =]-~

 

[rrog]

The plant hormones are a multi-layered onion in terms of what it does. In general, Ethylene can control the levels of other hormones. Ethylene itself can be controlled by the presence of other hormones.

Ethylene does a great number of things in plants depending on where the plant is at in its growth cycle and what other hormones may be present to potentially block or enhance the action of Ethylene. As well, the presence of Ethylene can suppress some hormones like Abscisic Acid or increase other hormones like Gibberillins.

I had these seeds soaking in high levels on Ethylene for two weeks. 85F and humid. I imagine those conditions were prime to really soak up the Ethylene, though not sure.

Side note: The exact same batch of seeds that were NOT Ethylene treated took far longer to germinate, and were significantly slower to grow roots after germination. Same seeds, same germination box, same temps, etc. Only variable was Ethylene.


For a seed Ethylene induces germination. The unwanted explosion I saw in 24-48 hours (I believe) was a result of that hyper germination. It is also possible that the Ethylene itself was not the cause of the growth, but rather the Ethylene increased other growth hormone or suppressed hormone regulators.

Sorry I don't have a more definitive answer, but I'm not spending a lot of time on this since it didn't provide me with the results I wanted.

Primarily I was looking to induce feminized males, and I'm not hot on that path any longer.

If anyone has better data, I'd sure be interested in hearing about it.

 

[h.h.]

Burying a lanky plant deeper in a pot leaves the roots with less room to grow. It's better to provide support or set the top half from another pot on top and build up. The added soil being allowed to dry out more to prevent stem rot.

 

[rrog]

Well, the long buried stem would eventually become root, but only after a while. Clearly the long stem is nothing that anyone wants. I debated scrapping them for that reason, but figured WTF, and at this point the two that I did this with are doing really well.

Not an ideal beginning, but I'm on a timetable and needed to use them.

I hear you on the supporting the top, rather than burying, h.h. That's why I started the thread. I wasn't sure. Folks said bury, and I did. And after a week, they really look great. Well, not the one dead one...

 

[h.h.]

No real problem health wise when burying them. When you pull them look at the roots. In my experience the stem may try to root and that is it. The roots grow down from where they are first placed. In essence you have a slightly shorter pot that's all.

 

[Chief Rbud]

if you have healthy living soil, burying deeper ALWAYS produces stronger plants. i do it every time i up pot or get stretchy seedlings, and i also scrape the stems a bit with a knife or something on older plants and mist the stem with rooting hormone, it absolutely will grow roots from the stem it is exactly the SAME process as cloning. in fact to test it, tie down part of a plant into another container and bury part of it and see if it doesnt root in that container and keep growing out of it. you could even cut it away where it comes from the other pot after it roots. about the ethylene glycol, i eat lots of bananas when im flipping to flower, and i always throw the banana peels below the girls as it also helps increase bud sites.