A couple attempting our first grow since it’s now legal in Virginia! Woot! We educated ourselves, got some basic equipment and now we’re just hoping for the best. We are currently on day 11 for four plants, and feel like we are on an island alone. We have been silently stalking the forums, but committed and signed up today and hoping to make some grow friends. Thought we would share our grow and see what we can learn.
Grow Details:
Zkittles- fem/photoperiod from ILGM
Vivosun 4x4 tent
Vivosun VS4000 (400w)- set to 25% at 24 inches.
6 inch fan blowing just above seedlings.
Cheap organic soil - what we had on hand. Had an ADD moment and forgot to add the perlite. We have FoxFarms Happy Frog and the perlite ready for when for transplant.
Tap water- treated with a couple drops hydrogen peroxide and left out for 24 hours. Then ph balanced to 6.2. Watering about every 2 days when pot is almost completely dry.
Everything looks… ok. Growth is slower than what we wanted/expected. Thinking it’s because we forgot the perlite or because we had some humidity stabilization issues the first few days. One plant is very short and low to the ground. Another one seems a little droopy. Will make sure they dry all they way out before next watering.
Welcome to the community Growmies, and you and the seedlings are doing great. The 1st few weeks are slow…like watching paint dry and the most critical stage to sprout and keep them healthy and alive. Well done, personally I transplant around day 14 above ground but no harm in letting them grow longer in the solo cups to let more of the roots gain structure for photo period cannabis
Sooo things have changed a lot in 24 hours… and not in a good way.
We got fungus gnats. We had some… um… marital level disputes over watering frequency. Obviously we watered too often. We spread a layer of worm castings on top to prevent egg hatching and I have those fly paper stake things coming any minute from Amazon. Only seen 2 flying around and smacked those suckers dead. Pretty sure we have fungus gnat damage on one. Pic 1 for reference. We used existing potting soil we had that we think was tainted lol.
One of our plants is just so droopy and it keeps getting droopier. Temp/RH is averaging 77/70%. Night is 71/62%. Could it be an issue with either of those? Been drying it out for almost 2 days now. Soil not dried out yet. Pic 2 for reference.
All look a little too light green for my liking as well.
The worm poop won’t have any affect on Kill’n the gnats…lady bugs are ferocious pest exterminators. Seedlings require very little water like a shot glass every other day or 3 seeing as your soil is absent of perlite to help with drainage. Make sure you have several holes in the bottom and sides of the solo cup and let her dry out for a few days. Dampening off a fragile tap and tiny roots can drown them
I’m thinking it will be beneficial to transplant on the sooner side. Going to try to bounce the plants back a little and take it from there. Luckily 2 are doing OKish. Here are the other 2. First pic is slightly droopy but looking good other wise. Second pic is the girl that is low to the ground. Looking slightly wonky but we will see.
They’ll do great, just be careful with the watering frequency. Good plan to let them recover before transplanting, sometimes they can experience transplant shock and need to be healthy and you’re growing a photo period so you have several weeks before needing a final transplant
Day 13: still trucking. Still don’t think we should throw in the towel yet. All issues point to overwatering; the slow growth, the yellowing, the drooping. Put some holes in sides of our pots. The soil is just too dense without the perlite. For some reason the temp and humidity stayed kind of on the higher end last night, but we don’t think it was anything that was harmful. Here are the updates:
Temp/rh avgs: Day- 77/ 68% Night- 74/65%.
PLANT 1: always been the runt and low to the ground. A little yellow. Think there is hope.
PLANT 2: Fungus gnat damage. Gnats are gone, but that poor leaf just keeps getting worse. Should we only be concerned with the new leaf growth? Also on the yellow side.
PLANT 3: Ms Droopy. Also on the yellow side. Drooping keeps getting worse even though it’s been 3 days without water. We suspect root rot. We’ll see. Yellowish.
Sooo even with trying not to overwater (we did it every 2-3 days), we still overwatered. It really is as easy to do as you all warned lol. Sigh. First grow is definitely all about education.
