[brown_thumb]

...

Eight of the seedlings look healthy like this one.



Two of the seedlings look less healthy like this one. Perhaps I didn't mix the soil well enough so they have 'wet feet'?

[brown_thumb]

...
As of 20180310... 8 are doing well but I don't think the 2 strugglers (under clear cups at left) will survive. Those two have stem rot which is my fault. I used a little weak cinnamon slurry on them to try and fight the disease but I'm sure it's too late for those two. I'm sorry, Mr B.


Critical Sour...


Outdoor Grapefruit...


A sick baby...

[Female Seeds]

Hey BT,

No worries mate, can happen. That's also part of nature isn't it? About the cinnamon slurry, I am not informed at all about it...so I can't really tell you if it will help them or not.

Anyhow, as far as I see, most of the seedlings are doing perfectly fine, that's what matters in the end. It's fine if 2 are struggling a bit, could also be that they are slow beginners too...basically you never know

Thanks for the updates BT, much appreciated.

And don't worry too much, everything is going smooth besides this little hiccup. So let's stay positive


Tale care,
Mr B.

Originally Posted by brown_thumb

...
As of 20180310... 8 are doing well but I don't think the 2 strugglers (under clear cups at left) will survive. Those two have stem rot which is my fault. I used a little weak cinnamon slurry on them to try and fight the disease but I'm sure it's too late for those two. I'm sorry, Mr B.
View Image

Critical Sour...
View Image

Outdoor Grapefruit...
View Image

A sick baby...
View Image

[brown_thumb]

Thank you, Mr B. More bad news though (my fault).

As of today...

1. The two sickly seedlings in the OP never had a chance.

2. As stated before, I'm out of the nutes I'm familiar with and am now using a different brand. So there are deficiencies I'm trying to mitigate.

3. I had medical appointments the other day which took much longer than I anticipated. I was away all day, so the seedlings were left in full blazing sun at 90F and 10% humidity. By the time I returned home, the plants were badly damaged... many leaves dried to crisps.

I know, I'm an idiot. I should have been more cautious but I want this to be an "outside grow" other than protecting the plants from extremes while they're young. I just didn't expect to be away all day.

Here are the "survivors". These were lucky enough to have been under varying amounts of shade. These all had to be defoliated to remove damaged leaves. The plant on the upper left also needed its few living leaf ends trimmed. Soil was added to all the pots to cover the bare stems and add extra support... from 12 to 25mm more soil per pot.

EDIT: I should have noted, the Critical Sour have green markers (top row) and the Outdoor Grapefruit have orange markers (bottom row).

[-BRR-]

Decent photos. Good luck for the season Mr BrownThumb

[brown_thumb]

Here's today's photo...

green markers = Critical Sour
orange markers = Outdoor Grapefruit



I've temporarily switched to inorganic nutes (generic Miracle Gro All Purpose). I'm also foliar feeding with the following mix.

(in one US gallon)
2 tbs epsom salt (full strength for foliar)
1 tbs (generic) Miracle Gro All Purpose plant food (1/2 strength for foliar)
1 tsp horticultural molasses
1/8 tsp citric acid
1 325mg Aspirin (normal dose)
1 B-complex vitamin pill (blended in warm water with the aspirin to dissolve)
4 drops blue Dawn dish soap (maybe not enough for proper surfactant effect but don't want to strip the natural wax)
5ml Humax (leaf staining worries me but I think the fulvic acid is beneficial)

[brown_thumb]

The photo immediately above was taken at 5:50 PM my time zone. The plants had been out of their little greenhouse and in full open sun for 50 minutes. I took another look at 6:30 (only 40 minutes later) and some of the leaves were beginning to curl and dry on the edges. I moved the plants to bright open shade and doused the leaves with the same foliar spray mentioned earlier. I'll know tomorrow what an extra 40 minutes of this hot southern USA sun did to some of my poor girls.

I bought a small greenhouse to keep these in from mid morning to early evening. I'm keeping containers of water in with the plants to add humidity. They did very well today. I thought late afternoon sun would be okay but maybe these are still too young for this climate. Tomorrow, I'll limit their full-sun exposure to 40 minutes, gradually increasing their unprotected full-sun time every few days.

Here's a pic of the little greenhouse sitting on its bench. It's in full shade after 5:00 PM so I have to move the plants into a brighter area. Next time I'll move them into the walk-in greenhouse built against my old trailer.

[brown_thumb]

The pic below is one of the tiny greenhouses I'm using for young plants. There are small tower fans located at the back to keep the air moving. I set the plants outside on the bench in full morning sun at 9:00 and water them at 11:00 to let them drain until 12:00 at which time I move them into the greenhouses. The soil is wet enough to raise humidity inside. I leave a small part of the door unzipped at the top to allow hot air to escape and pull fresh air in through the bench slats. They stay inside protected from blistering dry heat until 5:00PM, at which time the sunlight is blocked by the metal fence the greenhouses are located near. Then they're removed from the greenhouses and transported to the opposite side of the yard for more full sun. They may stay there until nearly sunset or might only be exposed for thirty minutes, depending on how hot, sunny and dry it is. If they stay out until sunset, they're moved into a grow box with 5K LED lights and a few incandescent bulbs (for a bit of long red light). There's a small window air conditioner to keep the box cool. The A/C is located at the bottom of the box to provide coolest temperature at the roots. The temperature/humidity differential between roots and leaves encourages transpiration. The box is very poorly sealed so there's plenty of fresh air exchange. If the plants are moved long before the sun sets, they're first moved into a lean-to walk-in greenhouse that only receives filtered late afternoon sunlight, then later moved to the grow box before the sunlight becomes too dim.

The plants have always received a total of thirteen hours of light (13/11). It's just about time to move these outside permanently because sunlight has reach thirteen hours per day and is increasing. They'll continue to need some protection from blistering dry heat for awhile though.

The two smaller 8-15cm plants with green or orange markers are the 'Female Seeds'. These were started later than the larger plants. The other three from FS are in a different greenhouse. I'll post a better photo of those as a group tomorrow.

The color is uneven because there's a green shade on top of the greenhouse to minimized excess heat during midday sunlight.

[Female Seeds]

Hey BT,

Take it easy mate, that was not something you could predict unfortunately. As far as I see, the survivors are doing fine and that's what matters in the end.

About nutrients. I understand your situation, but maybe try to be extremely careful since all these babies are under shock and you don't want to shock them more

Originally Posted by brown_thumb

Thank you, Mr B. More bad news though (my fault).

As of today...

1. The two sickly seedlings in the OP never had a chance.

2. As stated before, I'm out of the nutes I'm familiar with and am now using a different brand. So there are deficiencies I'm trying to mitigate.

3. I had medical appointments the other day which took much longer than I anticipated. I was away all day, so the seedlings were left in full blazing sun at 90F and 10% humidity. By the time I returned home, the plants were badly damaged... many leaves dried to crisps.

I know, I'm an idiot. I should have been more cautious but I want this to be an "outside grow" other than protecting the plants from extremes while they're young. I just didn't expect to be away all day.

Here are the "survivors". These were lucky enough to have been under varying amounts of shade. These all had to be defoliated to remove damaged leaves. The plant on the upper left also needed its few living leaf ends trimmed. Soil was added to all the pots to cover the bare stems and add extra support... from 12 to 25mm more soil per pot.

EDIT: I should have noted, the Critical Sour have green markers (top row) and the Outdoor Grapefruit have orange markers (bottom row).

View Image

Originally Posted by brown_thumb

The pic below is one of the tiny greenhouses I'm using for young plants. There are small tower fans located at the back to keep the air moving. I set the plants outside on the bench in full morning sun at 9:00 and water them at 11:00 to let them drain until 12:00 at which time I move them into the greenhouses. The soil is wet enough to raise humidity inside. I leave a small part of the door unzipped at the top to allow hot air to escape and pull fresh air in through the bench slats. They stay inside protected from blistering dry heat until 5:00PM, at which time the sunlight is blocked by the metal fence the greenhouses are located near. Then they're removed from the greenhouses and transported to the opposite side of the yard for more full sun. They may stay there until nearly sunset or might only be exposed for thirty minutes, depending on how hot, sunny and dry it is. If they stay out until sunset, they're moved into a grow box with 5K LED lights and a few incandescent bulbs (for a bit of long red light). There's a small window air conditioner to keep the box cool. The A/C is located at the bottom of the box to provide coolest temperature at the roots. The temperature/humidity differential between roots and leaves encourages transpiration. The box is very poorly sealed so there's plenty of fresh air exchange. If the plants are moved long before the sun sets, they're first moved into a lean-to walk-in greenhouse that only receives filtered late afternoon sunlight, then later moved to the grow box before the sunlight becomes too dim.

The plants have always received a total of thirteen hours of light (13/11). It's just about time to move these outside permanently because sunlight has reach thirteen hours per day and is increasing. They'll continue to need some protection from blistering dry heat for awhile though.

The two smaller 8-15cm plants with green or orange markers are the 'Female Seeds'. These were started later than the larger plants. The other three from FS are in a different greenhouse. I'll post a better photo of those as a group tomorrow.

The color is uneven because there's a green shade on top of the greenhouse to minimized excess heat during midday sunlight.

View Image

This sounds like a lovely plan and a great schedule. Looks like you have everything well organised and that's nice to see. 13 hours is good, you could give them even more actually, maybe it can help them recover faster...
Good idea to keep a fan there, they need some fresh air indeed. But how about the temperature, is it already that high during the day?
And what about sunrise and sunset? I am just curious because I would like to understand the context

Anyhow, thanks a lot for the updates, much appreciated BT.

Let's be positive and optimist and everything will go smooth

Take care,
Mr B.

[brown_thumb]

Thank you Mr B, et al. I made the decision to leave these out last night, so they're now officially outside plants. They'll continue be moved into the greenhouses often until they're tough enough to take full south 'Te-x-as' sun. I'll also protect them from stormy weather until they're larger. I hope to have raised grow beds ready soon so I can transplant them into ground soil. I'll post a family group portrait in an hour or two.