Seedling Update

[gasmeter]

Hi guys,

 

Thanks for all the advice yesterday from my intro post Wha Appen? I tried to post an update but a message was displayed about 5 posts, so I decided to create a new thread here in the appropriate forum to provide an update and increase my post count.

Well after moving the seedling outside to give it more light I was worried about the wind damaging it when it is so vulnerable and weak, anyway I found an old veggie steamer in the shed waiting to be taken to the tip, so I have used one of the clear plastic veggie containers and the lid to form a cover to protect the seedling.

When I checked it this morning it has survived the night and looks OK, fortunately living at the coast the climate is quite mild.

I have been doing some research online and I have found a local hydroponics supplier so hopefully later today I can get some better substrate and some nutrients.

Thanks again for the warm welcome and advice.

Pete

 

[Dust]

Hello man, one good tip to hold your seedling is to take a plastic glass cut the bottom and put it upside down around your plant and you can feel it with soil to have a minipot above your pot, it will hold the stem firmly and even grow roots and when you will repot you can burry it.

 

Have a good grow and good luck

[gasmeter]

Hi Dust,

That is a good idea man, will it be OK if she leans on the side of the glass/plastic?

I got some substrate today ready for when I repot the seedling, the substrate is called BioBizz All-Mix that contains 20% sphagnum peat moss, 35% garden peat, 10% worm manure, 30% perlite and 5% pre mix whatever that is.

And I also got some Canna Start, it is supposed to be for root developement and can be used on various substrates, but the instructions are oriented towards hydroponics.

Will it be OK for me to use this in soil in a weak solution?

Oh I also got a PH teesting kit so I can check the water I am using, which is simply tap water.

Thanks for the tip Dust it is much appreciated

Small mercies gratefully received

Gas

[gasmeter]

I followed your advice Dust and cut the top and bottom of a clear plastic soda water bottle, placed it over the seedling to sort of form a new pot around it and then I added some substrate to cover around 2/3's of the exposed stem and placed a little stick in there for support, then I made up a solution of the Canna Start and fed and watered it.

I tested the PH of the feed solution with the testing kit and according to the colour chart the feed solutiion has a PH of 6, I placed a little tray under the pot to collect the run off, and then I left it for ten minutes while I had a coffee and a smoke then I check the PH of the run off.

I filled the little plastic vial with run off and add 3 drops of the PH testing liquid shook the vial and the colour of the solution was a very light hue of blue, like faded denim, rather than a hue of green, as per the colour chart, the darkest green denotes a PH of around 8 or 8.5 so I am thinking the PH is somehwere in this region.

There were a few bit of substrate in the run off solution, maybe this cause the blue hue or not enough test solution, from reading lots of other posts I knew the PH from the run off would probably be higher after passing through the substrate and that the soil will balance things out so I am not too worried at this point.

It has also started to sprout a couple more little leaves too.

[Cannabissapean]

Light Situation Looks better, but slow down on the water.  Longer drying period between waterings.  Soil is still so dense that the roots cannot breathe.

[gasmeter]

Yeah in the images the soil looks damp because I had just watered it, yesterday it was wet and we had a light rain most of the day, fortunately the veggie steamer cover kept the rain off it and the soil, today it has been nice and sunny most of the day so I took the lid off and the soil at the top is starting to dry out now, so I will not water it tomorrow I will leave a couple more days.

The things is now I have made a little pot as it were within the existing pot the soil will dry out at different rates, I suppose the bulk of the soil is in the main pot so I need to check how dry that is rather than going off how dry the soil in the plastic bottle is, because there is less soil it is bound to dry faster, but at the moment the roots are developing within the soil in the plant pot below.

It is in direct sunlight until mid afternoon, then I move it a couple of feet so it remian in the light for a couple more hours as the sun moves across the sky, and I can see that today the little leaves are getting bigger, so hopefully things are moving in the right direction.

Thanks again for all the advice it is much appreciated.

Small mercies gratefully received

Gasmeter

[gasmeter]

When I last posted I was using weak solution of Canna Start to feed my sad looking seedling and it started to thrive, then I got some Plant Magic Soil Grow and root stimulant and started to feed a mild solution, I also used some black plastic to cover the clear plastic bottle, so that no light got to the roots, which also allowed me to have a peep and monitor progress.

Last week I waited until the soil was dry and carefully repotted her into a 10 inch pot and watered her with extra root stimulant in the feed solution, her leaves drooped a bit but she soon perked up, the main stem is now about 4mm thick and it is pushing out new growth all over the place.

A bloodclatt slug chewed a couple of leaves at the bottom of the main stem and then it had a chomp on a couple higher up the next night, so I sprinkled some little blue slug and snail pellets on the soil, during the evening I leave it on a larger planter so I sprinkled some pellets on the soil aound the base or Mary's pot and this morning I found a dead slug on the soil in the planter.

I realise I also need to keep an eye out for other types of pests that will want to have a chomp on her, I watered her tonight without any feed or root stimulant the water PH was 6 I caught the run off and checked it and the PH was about 4

When I water and feed her again in a few days when the soil has dried out, should I make sure the feed solutions PH is higher to compensate for the PH drop in the run off, or feed as per normal and check again and see what happens?

She looks happy enough considering her rough start, so I don't want to over do anything.

Gasmeter