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Old 06-27-2019, 02:59 PM
gdgdad gdgdad is offline
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Join Date: Sep 2018
Location: West Central FL (near gulf)
Posts: 75
Default Seedling issues again……..

Stan, I “fired up” the cloner again but…. as in the post from October of 2018 “This is where / when I seem to have the most problems…..” . I started 6 Rockwool cubes 5/29/19 from the seeds you sent - 3 of the 3 lb. seeds and 3 of the Cherry. By 6/15, 3 did germinate and 3 did not. So I re-seeded 3 cubes – all with the 3 lb. seeds (I am obviously anxious for those!). On the 3 seeds that did germinate, one exhibited the same issues I had in October, it got tall and fell over. I carefully, delicately propped up all 3 of the 1” to 2” seedlings with hydroton. Days later, 1 just fell over. I have 2 ~ 1-1/2” seedlings still hangin’ in there as of 6/22/19, though I noticed the tips of the cotyledons on one seedling had yellowed. (see pics). NONE of the new seeds placed 6/22 have germinated.
So…. Cloner setup and environmental conditions:
- 5/29 Rockwool cubes were pre-soaked (overnight) in 1/8th strength Miracle grow adjusted to 6.0 PH post nutrient
- 5/30: Placed 3 to 4 seeds per cube Rockwool cube (in 2” net cups), then placed cloner
- Timer set to 5 seconds on 15 minutes off per your October post. Note- every time I pull up a net cup, it is dripping – too much water? Top of cubes seems slightly dry, water from top occasionally?
- Same as last time, the cloner is on my covered Lanai, though is does get some direct sunlight after ~ 6:30 PM.
- Temps and humidity are HIGH. Low to mid 90’s and humidity 85% +
I’m wondering if I should cover the cloner dome with some type of cloth to minimize sunlight - would that encourage root growth? As of 6/25 I simply removed the cover, I can’t imagine a humidity dome necessary in this climate….
The reservoir water temp is running 79 degrees. I could make a batch of nutrient/PH balance ice cubes to lower the temp if we suspect that’s a problem.
If heat and humidity is stifling seedling start, what about moving cloner indoors until seedlings get to a certain point? This is frustrating – I have the greenhouse 90% done (see pic) and was hoping to have seedlings ready to move into Dutch buckets in a couple months. I'm ready to start from scratch…..
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