The Seedling Stage Of Cannabis

     

Koffee seedling

      The seedling stage is when the cannabis plant is most vulnerable. Some precautions will be needed to ensure a smooth transition to the vegetative stage when the seedling appears above ground. The plant is still busy building out its root zone until they are well established below ground.

    The plant will grow slower since it can't take in enough water and nutrients from the soil to start developing. It can last about a week or two. During this time, the plant is most vulnerable to environmental temperature, mold, extreme temperatures, low humidity, and over and under-watering. These can all kill cannabis seedlings fast. The proper environment is during the first weeks of growth. It consists of a temperature range of around 70 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit and a high relative humidity of 60 to 80 percent to support the seedling development above the ground below ground. The soil shouldn't get too wet or too dry so that the roots have access to air that will help them grow at a steady pace pest will also need to be kept to a minimum because there's so little growth that almost anything from a snail to a small cutworm can make quick work of your seedlings right when the plant appears above ground.

Light will need to be introduced to the plants from 14 to 24 hours a day because the brightness of the grow lights only needs to be about half to a fourth of its max amount. Move the grow light within a foot of the seedling by bringing the brightness down to about thirty percent. You can raise it to about three feet from the seedling at the max brightness and let the plant grow into the light.

A simple option to do all these things is with a

humidity dome. You can manipulate the

environment's humidity. It's adjusted with the vent

tabs. Heat can be added with a seedling mat so the grooves in the plant tray when used in conjunction with a seed starter tray or nursery bags, will prevent water logging by removing all the excess runoff water so that the seeds are never in danger of drowning. A humidity dome will also, prevent pests from accessing your plant. High humidity can increase the chances of mold and mildew developing.

It's needed to lower the moisture in the humidity

dome by opening up the vents as the seedling first

appears and to slowly have the vents fully opened a week into the seedling stage.

It will also help the seedlings acclimate to lower

moisture. This process is known as hardening off. It will help the plants when moved into another planter, preventing some of the transplant shocks.

     There are also some not-so-obvious benefits to

starting growth in a humanity dome. The smaller

footprint means you begin the first week of growth anywhere, opening up the larger growth spaces to allow for multiple growths at once. It also means that there are no wasted utilities as you can

 use a smaller light to start since seedlings don't require much lighting initially

The first two leaves of every cannabis plant will be

round. These leaves are known as the cotyledons. They are embryonic leaves that store a good amount of nutrients for the seedling to live off of until the roots have established themselves.

                              Healthy Seedling in Jiffy Cup💪

    The second leaves that develop are known as the

true leaves. These fan leaves and also all the fan leaves that grow after will then start to have the serrated blades that we're all more familiar with

The first few true leaves will have only one to

three blades. Then as the plant transitions to the vegetative phase, the fan leaves will start to grow five leaves every fan leaf that grows on the stem is

also known as a node. 

    Every node can sprout a new

shoot right above the fan leaf once the first true

leaves start to appear. If your soil is deficient in any form of building-in nutrients, now's the time to begin introducing fertilizer to the plant

in small doses.

    You want to be using a growing fertilizer for this

which is anything nitrogen-rich. Using 25 percent of the recommended dosage is plenty during this stage. 

    If the tips of your true leaves start to turn brown when cut back even further as it can be a sign of nutrient toxicity, while if the cotyledon leaves

begin to turn yellow before the second set of true leaves has developed it might not be feeding the plant enough and will need to increase the

fertilizer amount

    Finally, while there is no exact time when a plant

is officially out of the seedling stage and into the vegetative stage, it's generally around when the plant starts to develop with five leaf sets or more or

when the cannabis plant has five nodes. One of the

key indicators is the explosive vegetative growth that starts happening to the plant as the root system is well established

Young Seedling