August 15, 2020
There’s no doubt that growing indoor plants can be a complicated process, especially if it’s your first time giving it a try. However, if you follow the right process and guidelines on how to grow your own indoor plants, then you can take pride in knowing that you can achieve a good and quality harvest every time. Bear in mind that growing indoor plants is not something you do in the spur of the moment. Buying the right kind of seeds and growing your crop requires a lot of careful planning. The indoor plants, like any other type of plant, also needs the right amount of preparation and ingredients for it to flourish and meet a certain standard of quality.
The seedling stage of growing indoor plants follows the germination stage. It is the stage when your shoots start to grow a second set of leaves, which look slightly different than the embryonic cotyledons. While your indoor plants are seedlings, you will have to keep a careful watch on them as this is one of the most vulnerable stages in the growing process. Seedlings are more prone to disease and damage than they are at any stage in the plant cycle.
There are three very important steps to mastering the indoor plants seedling stage. Let’s take a closer look at them below:
The Pot For The Pot
It’s important to choose the right container and growing medium for your seedling plants. Soil has always been a popular choice to germinate indoor plants because it’s the simplest and most familiar medium.
Before you choose, you also have to take into account whether you’re using autoflowering seeds, or feminized seeds:
A Pot For Autoflowering Indoor Plants Seeds
When you choose to go with autoflowering seeds, you need whatever pot you choose to be able to accommodate the full grown plant. By choosing the right pot for your autoflowering seeds at this point, you will begin to see substantial growth within the first three weeks of your seedlings’ lives.
Regardless of the strain you use or what growing method you choose, the size of your pot should be between 1-5 liters. In this case, size does matter as the pot has a huge impact on the size of your indoor plants, how often you need to water it, and most of all, its overall yield. We suggest choosing airpots, since they will offer the roots of your seedlings more oxygen than a standard pot might. The result of more oxygen is a healthier plant that will producer more buds.
Pots For Feminized indoor plants Seeds
Starting pots for feminized seeds to not need to be full sized, as it is extremely easy to transplant feminized seedlings from pot to pot.
Seedlings have very particular needs when it comes to temperature, humidity, and lighting, and missing the mark in any of these areas can prove fatal for such small plants. For best results, we recommend growing seedlings in a propagator where you can easily create the perfect environment for them to flourish in.
• Temperature
indoor plants seedlings like daytime temperatures of 20–25°C and nighttime temperatures that are roughly 4–5°C cooler. High temperatures will stress your seedlings and stunt their growth, which, at such an early stage, can prove fatal. Dry leaves with curled up edges are a telltale sign of heat stress. With time, your seedlings might also develop other symptoms, including pale foliage and red or purple stems. Heat stress can also cause weak, wilting leaves with downward folding tips.
Cold temperatures, on the other hand, can freeze a seedling’s cells and affect its ability to transport and use nutrients, water, and oxygen. This will result in stunted growth and eventually death if not dealt with properly. Wilting foliage, slow growth, and poor plant turgor are some signs that the temperature in your grow room or propagator is too low.
• Humidity
While their roots are young and still developing, indoor plants seedlings absorb water via osmosis in their leaves. To optimise this process, it’s super important to keep relative humidity levels at 40–60%.
Humidity levels below 20% will seriously stunt the growth of your seedlings and may cause them to develop symptoms similar to some nutrient deficiencies (yellow or spotted leaves). Humidity levels above 60%, on the other hand, will cause your plants to develop wet spots that can cause foliage to wilt or rot, as well as attract fungi and/or other pathogens and pests. Once your seedlings enter the vegetative phase, you should keep relative humidity at 50%.
• Lights
Seedlings are sensitive to light and will burn under strong HID or full spectrum LED grow lights. Like adult plants, seedlings will develop burnt, crinkled leaves when suffering from light stress. Alternatively, seedlings that don’t get enough light will grow tall and lanky and topple over(If you grow your plant in the indoor grow tent, you may need a indoor grow light at the beginning.).
For best results, we recommend growing your seedlings under an 18/6 light cycle using CFL bulbs with a blue light spectrum for the first 10–14 days. Once they’ve developed healthy true leaves and at least 2–3 nodes, you can move them under stronger HID or LED lights to start vegging.
Your indoor plants will not yield quality and potent buds without the help of the proper set of nutrients. Indoor plants seedlings, however, do well in producing their own nutrients without having much interference. That said, as your plant grows, it will need more nutrients than what soil alone can offer.
Do not overfeed your seedlings. Doing so will end your indoor plants seedlings’ life prematurely. Check that you are supplying the right nutrients as some of the well-meaning nutrients available in the market could poison the seedlings.
Embarking on this new activity is both fun and rewarding if you simply follow the guidelines.