Glookies

8/19-8/25 Seedlings are still in the fabric pots. They have been sitting on the AC Infinity pot base and I am absolutely blown away by it. I still don't know how it will work for a 5-gallon pot, but I do know that I will never again start my seedlings without one. The coco medium has been kept at an ideal moisture level without any intervention from me. As you can see in the pic, I have five little pots sitting on the base and all are in great condition. For new growers: The seedling stage is the hardest part for most people, and the difficulty almost always has to do with getting the moisture levels right. Too much water or too little can really impact a seedling's ability to thrive (and even kill it). This setup solves that issue 100%: First of all, it's almost impossible to overwater a coco/perlite mix because the medium density is low enough to retain enough oxygen for the roots no matter how much water you throw at it. Second, since the ACI pot base works by capillary action, it is only going to drink as much as it wants. I'm going to transplant into the final 5-gallon pots at the start of next week when there will be three fully developed nodes. The two seedlings on the left side of the photo are my winners so far--they look slightly larger and healthier than the others. There's a little leaf variegation on a couple of them, which is cool. Stripes! The roots coming out of the sides of the fabric pot are thick, fuzzy, and bright white. Just beautiful so far. Recharge notes: Today, I cleaned the pot base and refilled with new water. I added 1/2 teaspoon of Recharge to the basin. I hope that doesn't mess anything up in terms of bacteria or mold growing in the basin--going to keep a close eye on it. I have read that people have issues when they add organic material (molasses or other sugary boosters) to the basin, but I don't think a half tsp of Recharge is going to matter. Recharge does have a tiny bit of molasses in it to feed microbes. The reason I added to Recharge is to boost root production and nutrient uptake. Although they don't advertise it on their website, Recharge also includes humic and fulvic acids. I am also adding silicon to the reservoir. 8/22: Well, I changed my mind about the pot bases. I decided to try out the Blumats and just use the bases as a runoff catcher for now. There shouldn't be much runoff, so I'll probably switch to a saucer when the plants are bigger for more headroom. I transplanted into the 5-gallons today. The Blumat system is set up. Hope I can dial in the right water flow rate. I covered the top with a thin layer of hydroton as a mulch layer. I haven't done that before, but I figure they're light enough that they won't compact the coco. Seedlings are looking a little yellow. I thought the worm castings would take care of what they needed until the Grow Dots kicked in, but I guess not. I have used a CalMag foliar spray a couple times to try to correct a slight Ca deficiency (as seen in the misshapen lower leaves). Lights have been increased to 300 PPFD (18hrs). 8/22: Lights increased to 350PPFD Tent staying steady at 80F and 60RH. Blumat Reservoir has 5.8pH H2O with Armor SI (silicon) at 1/2 tsp per gallon. I hope it's okay to add silicon to the res--no other way to get it in there right now. 8/25: Tomorrow will be end of Week 3 since the seeds popped (the 21st day). So, my diary is a week behind. There is no way to edit the week numbers on this website, so I'm going to put in a dummy week and jump to week 4 for updates. What I learned about Grow Dots: They don't kick in immediately, so I've been feeding GH trio nutes for a couple days. Seems to have taken care of the slight yellowing. Disappointed that the worm castings I added to the medium seemed to do absolutely nothing in terms of feeding the plants. Guess I'll go with 60/40 coco & perlite next time. I realized that I prefer the control of hand watering at this early stage.