Hello, it looks my little baby is growing fast and it stretches up, i did a mistake for not putting it in a smaller pot and now because its a lot of soil it takes more time to dry out. I want to dry it out so i can move it to a smaller pot and shorten it too so i took it outside, (we have a heatwave of 35-37C right now but its not directly under the sun and im continuously monitoring) so i did this to make the soil dry quicker so it doesn’t stretch too much. Is this a good idea? It looks like the stem stretches real quick when its in the grow box. I am aiming to keep it short and make it bushy.
@anon11529179.
Add some more soil to your pot.
Up to the bottom leaves. This will give support and form new roots under the soil.
If you can. Get your light closer to the pot. This will help keep the nodes tighter together.
Not really. Drier soil has nothing to do with the amount of stretch. Light is the key ingredient to a full tight node plant.
I’d also leave it in that pot. Way more chance of doing damage by transplanting now.
Best of luck with your grow.
Thank you for the reply. Okay i was a bit confused, i thought putting it deeper instead but since adding soil will work too i ll do that to avoid damage. So i am filling around the stem and lowering the light, then goes back to grow box with the dome. I start some air movement after about week when i remove the dome. Does this sound right? Thank you!
Thanks man i appreciate the advice. As stated above im planning to make it bushy to make the best out of my small grow box. I realise i ll do that through low stress training, but is there anything i have to start doing before the training stage? Perhaps now? Thanks
I don’t think it needs to be domed for that long unless your humidity is very low. I usually remove the domes after they successfully break the surface and look ok for a day. The dome is mostly to aid in getting them above ground.
No, not yet. It’s too early for anything like that. Once she’s a couple of weeks old and you see what kind of shape she takes naturally you can start to plan how you want to train her.
Hey thanks for the reply, thats what i thought about training. I ll check humidity and see how it reacts with the dome and plan from there. Problem is the first leaves are higher than the pot itself so i can fill with soil up to a point, probably about 1cm lower than the first leaves even less. Will it grow tall again like this? Cause then i ll have no option but transplanting. What would be the ideal solution to this? Thank you all so much for your help! It is greatly appteciated
You don’t have to fill the pot all the way up to those leaves. I don’t think @Oldguy meant you “had to” fill it that high, he was just suggesting you add more soil (and I agree with him) to counter the stretching that she’s done. If you added an inch or two of soil that would be fine. Most important thing is getting the light a little bit closer so she doesn’t stretch anymore.
Don’t consider transplanting her, it would do more harm than good, by far.
She looks freaking awesome, my suggestion is to try to settle your nerves, lol. Do you know the humidity level? At most, I might SLIGHTLY dampen the new soil right around her, but extremely slowly and carefully, and just a tiny bit. She has no root system yet, so she can’t take up water from the soil. The last thing you want is saturated soil right now. Keep a close eye on the stretching. What kind of grow light are you using, and how high above the plant is it currently?
Thats a good advice overprotective parent here lol. I am waiting for the main light to arrive today. (100w LED) was the best I could find locally due to covid i dont have many options. so now i have it under 1 cfl 20w and i ll put another in a bit to keep it until the light arrives, maybe i can run both later. im still builidng the box because this baby came unexpectedly so i got everything i could cause options are pretty limited. I dont have a meter for humidity right now but i ll get one in the next couple of days. But i do have an air conditioned room, fully insulated too. By the way the box is really small, measures are 40x40x42cm. Again it was urgent and i used whatever i had at my disposal.
Those CFL bulbs will cause a lot of stretch naturally. I would add another bulb or two and keep them about 4 inches above the seedlings to try and help counter the stretching. Thats just my experience and opinion on CFL. @dbrn32 or someone with a lot more experience than me can give you better advice
Ok i was mistaken the cfl is 14W. I have a few and i must put on the wrong one, i do have a 20w too tho. I am waiting for the 100W led to arrive so it wont be under just 1 cfl for long. I placed it a couple of inches under it to avoid stretch until the led arrives. Heres a pic. Screenshot_20200521_185823_com.android.gallery3d|230x500
Ok that seedling looks great! Now when you water it, get a syringe from your local drugstore… no needle! that will hold at least 10 ml of water. Suck up your water and draw a circle with it an inch away from the stem, empty all 10 ml in that circle. As your plant grows double the distance from the stem and double the water. This is for seedlings up to the 3rd set of true leaves. It will prevent overwatering and getting damp off. It will also encourage the youngster to reach out for water thus increasing root mat stability. Wait until the material looks dry between each watering. In a large container it is very easy to overwater. By time the plant has the first set of 5 fingered leaves it has a good amount of feeder hairs and can be watered a glass full at one go, again stay away from the stem a couple inches.
. But yeah thats what i did
