Okay - so second seed sprouted. Figured I should do the same as sprout #1 and move her under the germ light. I have them sitting together right now due to only having one lower intensity light - it doesn’t have anything but an on/off switch.
Sprout #1 (an Auto Gelato) is leaning - still very taaall but I’m wondering how much of this is just from my earlier hesitance to introduce light too soon.
Sprout #2 (an Auto Super Skunk) is developing quickly - it was a funny leggy pair of cotyledons this morning (about 12 hours ago) and has already started showing me baby leaves.
The humidity in the room is around 36% - being overly cautious that might be too low for these babies with no other moisture except their rockwool, I popped a humidity dome over the top of the container they’re resting in. Now the humidity is reading 70%, 73°F. The humidity has been climbing steadily since I popped the dome on about 10 minutes ago - should I be worried it’s gonna get too wet in there?
The Gelato is sitting in her forever home of hydroton with VERY lightly nuted water with a PH of 5.9. There are 4 air stones in a 5 gallon bucket so I look positively insane with the vast bubbles in there. They do pop and splatter the hydroton but I doubt it’s getting far enough in that she’s able to get water from those just yet (hence the over worrying about the humidity)
I’d love a chime in to verify I’m on the right track.
As far as my Lemon Tree, she’s … looking unhappy with me. I gave a round of 2/3rd strength Fox Farms nutes but only after she waited around from a flush for a good 8 hours.
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You are definitely right to want to increase the humidity. I’ll tag in a couple of hydro growers to give better advice than I can.
@Myfriendis410 @peachfuzz
Keep it up. Good luck!
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New problem. Pests?
Not sure what I’m looking at, except for LOTS of black dots on the leaves today. Also the damaged leaves from before seem worse.
I’m afraid to take my seedlings out of their home and put them in the tent without addressing the probable pest problem first.
What’s the best solve to get rid of the little uglies?
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Progress update;
A spritz of Ivory Soap and water seemed to solve the immediate infestation. I have some Dead Bug on the way but cannot find Neem Oil anywhere (Covid related supply chain issues? Who knows). Anyway, I’ll be following up daily with a soap and water treatment til the Dead Bug arrives, then using as directed to make sure the uglies stay away.
Against my better judgment I’ve moved the hydro setup into my tent - the Sprouts needed more light than the 30 watt LED was capable of providing all 3 of them. I put them all into their forever net pot homes with hydroton. The two newest have ph’d water but no nutes. Baby Gelato has the same solution of 5.8 water with 1/8th strength nutes for another couple of days. She does have a beautiful root forming.
I’ve got two more seeds germinating still. My Lemon auto is nearly ready to pop up out of the rockwool - I have a White OG fem who is trying with all her might but honestly I won’t be surprised if it doesn’t make it.
I’ve got both VS1000’s on and about 12” from the canopy of the Lemon Tree - their light provides coverage for the seedlings and should be low enough they don’t stretch. Fingers crossed.
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Another progress update with photos this time; the hydro guard and calmag arrived so I got some hydro guard in the DWC buckets. Added the tiniest amount of calmag to my spray bottle and gave the Lemon Tree a light misting of calmag & Fox Farms nutrients. I came back to check on them for signs of pests and found an explosion of growth.
Not ready to call her happy just yet, but maybe on the right track. Soil ph is right at 6 and I have no idea about the nutrients - it’s still so wet from the flush I’m not going down that rabbit hole til the soil is drier.
The Sprouts look pretty happy - I’m afraid the light might be too intense for the Super Skunk auto. It might also be fine. 
I’m a nervous wreck this whole process.
The next one is tiiiiiny, she’s a Lemon Tree seedling - I think it’ll be alright but I’m also wondering about the light. It’s one of the VS1000 LEDs at 25% power, about 18” from the humidity dome. I’m simultaneously afraid of burning them and stretching them.
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I feel like this has largely become an accidental grow journal - feeling a bit at a loss trying to keep all my questions here without knowing who to tag to come help find answers.
My photo plant seems all at once happier and less happy with me and I’m not sure where to go from here.
Whatever had been munching is still munching while I await some Dead Bug and neem oil. I had hoped it’d be here today but it’s looking like tomorrow is the day. I just gave her a second round of ivory soap/water treatment hopefully to keep them at bay.
But the leaves have started behaving weirdly (?) particularly around newer growth.
Is this a sign of a deficiency? A surplus? Absolute beginner negligence? I have no clue.
I’ve got a branch that seems to have all the problems visible all at once - pest, former nute deficiency, current whatever is causing them to warp/twist weirdly… some extra browning because why not?
Soil PH is right at 6 - the former owner indicated it might be time to repot her- I got some FFOF and a 7 gal cloth pot. I’m nervous to transplant her to a new home while she seems in such weird spirits.
I have my VS1000 at 75% strength (was afraid to burn the wet leaves after bug treatment) and about 12” from top of the plant. Should I be raising the light? Raising the light strength? Both? Shutting up and just repotting her?
I need guidance. 
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Tagging in the moderators when you have clear questions or concerns will be best. There are some other growers that have tons of knowledge also.
@Myfriendis410 @imSICKkid @Hellraiser @Covertgrower @MidwestGuy
pH of 6 is too low for soil you’ll want to get that up to 6.5
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What size container is she in? And how tall is the plant? Do you have a side view?
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@Covertgrower Her pot is about 9 inches in diameter and 8.5 inches tall - not very large. She’s approx 22.5 inches tall (including the pot, since I don’t know how deep she was planted) - not including the pot she’s about 16”. I wish I had a clue how old, but I can ascertain older than 4 weeks because the prior owner had her for 3, I’ve had her for 1, and she was about 18 inches when I inherited her.
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Should not be spraying plants with the light on, turn off light before spraying and don’t turn back on til plant is mostly dry.
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@Hellraiser Thanks for the heads up. I had planned to turn off the lights when using a legitimate pesticide, since I’ve seen a fair bit about neem oil crisping leaves. The water/soap mix dries in a few minutes so I assumed it wouldn’t create an issue, but could that be the reason behind the strange leaf contortions? - or is that something else?
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It certainly could, soap can be pretty harsh on plant leaves and could be getting some in the soil as well.
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@Hellraiser thank you - I’ll be more cautious. Hopefully Dead Bug will be in my hot little hands today. Last follow up question - would it be better to wait until she’s been pest treated to re-pot her, or get her into a fabric pot and fresh soil so there’s room to grow and nutrients available to help her heal from the bug (and now soap) trauma?
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Wouldn’t hurt to pot her up, no need to wait on that.
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She’s been put into a 10 gallon fabric pot - I think it was just in time. The roots hadn’t crept down and out the drainage holes just yet but they had started. I just moved her into FFOF with the recommended dosage of Dynomyco - about 2 tbsp for the actual amount of soil used. I did water (6.8ph, since her existing ph is so low) in a ring around the outside of the root pack from the first pot - hopefully the moisture a little further out and into the fresh soil will encourage her to stretch. I’m also hoping the fabric pot will breathe better and dry out more quickly. I’m fairly anxious to water and get a good read on TDS/ppm.
The roots:
Anyway, she’s back in the tent and under the light. I’ll check in tonight when it’s pest spray time and make sure I didn’t properly shock her to death. Thanks for the advice across the board @Hellraiser @Underthestairs @Covertgrower - learning a lot in a short timeframe.
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Spraying her tomorrow night not be a bad idea after the stress of a transplant. May not even matter. Should be a great move for her.
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Progress update after uppotting the lemon tree - to say she’s thriving would be selling her short. But seriously after being forcibly evicted from my house I’d be pretty mad but she didn’t miss a beat. Literal overnight explosions of new growth.
She’s perky. My pup seems to think she’s much smellier today than before - he came right into the room and shoved his nose in the tent before the zippers were open. I can’t tell. I’ve got some bad allergies so 75% of the time I’m relying on my wife to tell me it’s aromatic.
The sproutlings seem happy enough. I’m keeping plastic coverings on them because the room’s still reading out at 38%ish humidity. Thinking that’s too low for the babies without their roots yet. I’m hoping my auto Gelato will develop some nice roots soon. The water in their buckets is about 1 1/2” below the net pots. Lots of water still seems to bubble up onto their bottoms. Water temp’s between 68-70°F, ph was way high at 6.9 and I adjusted it down to 5.9 yesterday. Seems okay for now.
Here’s the Gelato:
And the Super Skunk:
I need a more intelligent way to connect and disconnect the air pump- I “customized” a generic DWC kit to fit 2-4 air stones per bucket but it was not designed to have any air stones at all. Right now I have to disconnect all 8 air hoses (yeah, it’s a mess) from the air pump and carry one bucket at a time to the bathtub, disconnect the air stones from inside the bucket, hold the extra two feet of tubing that stay connected to the bucket, and clean everything. Then reconnect it all, hoping my barbed T’s didn’t snap in the process. This is all for the educational purpose of, don’t be me and just make something “work for now” and get stuck with a bad solution.
All that to say - it seems to be working well, water changes aside.
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Okay ladies and gents, growers of magical medicinals - it’s water change time and what I suspected would happen has certainly transpired. The Gelato bucket has tubing that prevents the lid from sealing all the way, thus light is creeping in and the top of the water is not scummy but … pre-scummy?
I am already going to re-rig up the tubing so my air stones can pass through the lower holes and not inhibit the lid seal.
BUT, the question is this: Do I use just Hydroguard, just H2O2, or a combo of both? I can follow the directions on the bottle for my Hydroguard but could use advice if I should be doing something else in addition. @Covertgrower @Hellraiser @peachfuzz @Myfriendis410 @MidwestGuy @Underthestairs @imSICKkid
So that was a two hour endeavor from scrubbing buckets clean to doing a bit of searching around the forum for info to checking and adjusting my ph. 
I bet this gets easier as time goes on and I get a feel for how much it takes to get my PH down. It’s at 6.2 right now, and my ppm is only at about 200 (it was 130ish before adding hydroguard and 1/4th strength Fox Farm nutes - I’m still afraid of murdering my seedlings with nutrient burn if I go too heavy, but I’m also concerned that 200 is waaaaay too low)
The conclusion to my own question seemed to be: use H2O2 or Hydroguard but not both. I went the hydroguard route this time and will monitor the water closely. All light seepage has been sealed up, including shifting around the rockwool cube for one of the seedlings and adding more hydroton.
If I’m wrong, someone pipe up before I murder these baby autos. If not, I’ll keep on keeping on til the next daily existential crisis about plant parenting.
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From what I remember seedling stage requires between 100 and 400 PPM. With autos I think I would go much past 200, but again as a current soil grower that’s not a veteran answer based on experience.
Sit tight, you might get a better answer soon.
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