@Zee @Hellraiser @Cannabian @PurpNGold74 I don’t know much about the nutes for a plant this tiny or what to add or look out for so I’m tagging a few folks and asking them to take a look. Maybe it was something else besides being a little thirsty?
And those roots look just like what I’d want mine to look like when I transplant!
I like the “family’s last night inside” pic. So cute!
@Bow4Buck thanks for your thoughts. Yes it’s their very first time outside after 12 days above soil indoors under mostly 24 hour fluorescent light schedules. I hadn’t heard of hardening off before! In the past they’ve stretched for light and my hours of sunlight outdoors are 15hours maxxx so I felt like they’d need as much sun as possible. I’ll do some more research, but do you think they are in serious danger to be left as they are? The weather is clear skies/sunny but going to be cooler than avg like high of 70 / low of 50 F for the next couple days so I worry about them but maybe the direct sun at first is too much regardless. Had no idea! But i should also note that if you’re looking at plant 4, she’s been lookin kinda cooked even before she hit the sun. So maybe they’re okay?
@OlyBoy98503 that root chart from the other day was very insightful! Very glad I didn’t combine containers!
Your watering schedule sounds smart and effective, just curious how old your plants are? I can’t imagine my 12 year old girls being able to handle a similar 1/4-1/2 gallon watering at a time, but maybe you have given your girls that much since they were as young as mine?
I appreciate you tagging some fellow growers who may be able to help diagnose and prescribe for my poor plant 4 who’s gone through more than any of the others!
And lol I liked that too! It will be cool to look back on when they’re older.
No indoor lights compare to the sun. Plants raised under lights need to get into the sun gradually. Most say start with an hour in the shade increase an hour each day and more sun. Should take about 7 days. I find you can cheat this on cloudy days and let stay out all day. Just google Hardning Off or they a may end up like Cripple.
@Bow4Buck Hahahah gonna look into this right now, thank you! Maybe I was lucky they went out 4 hours after sunrise and that it got a little cloudy today 
but I very well may pull them into the shadows tomorrow - do you think it’s mostly due to intensity of UV rays or is it more of a heat thing? How intriguing…
Pretty sure it’s UV but I’m not a scientist. Plants grown under lights are accustomed to those wavelengths. Just not prepared for strong UV from the sun. Then again some peole just plop them outside with no ill effects. I’m not one of the lucky ones.
Just said this on my thread. They seem to stick better wet. I had no problems this transplant. But was slow n deliberate on purpose.
Ok now i gotta go ramble mode. Firstly hello. I think we met but formalities…
Huge issue. I couldnt even finish that post. I see no holes in buckets. Where does the water drain?
@Bow4Buck thanks for mentioning that. It seems it is a common strategy but I never came across it in all my research of growing into seedlings and transplanting. Sooo they’re staying in their final containers but in the future I could press them up against the house which will shade them at least for the morning into afternoon. I also set up some car-reflectors facing the morning sun as I thought more sun was better but I could put them up against that towards the evening in order to block sunlight into the night. So crazy I’m only just learning about this! But I suppose that’s what this forum is for huh
Hey purp! Yeah I wish I knew that wet stuck more, i read elsewhere not to water the day or two prior and that seems misled (it’s not supposed to be SOAKING but def should be moist/wetter than dry).
It’s an important factor so I respect the dramatic pause. I drilled a good 15-20 pencil sized holes in each of the containers, mostly on the bottom but ~5 to 7 on the sides like 1.5” from the bottom. I didn’t take pictures of the holes but they’re there. I have not watered until leakage yet as they are way too young to experience that much water I feel. But I have faith it will have drainage in the soil up until the hole-drilled bottom/lower sides.
I think with more room to grow, they could use a little more water spread in an ever growing circle to encourage the roots to grow out to the side. But I certainly wouldn’t give enough water yet to soak the soil more than that.
Your transplants look great! I think the only other thing I would do is make domes for them at night. Because they are so small still, they might look like a snack to a hungry pest while everyone is sleeping.
Great update. Maybe label the plants so we know which strain we’re looking at?
This was an Edit. I suck. Reading back. See u have holes. Dude ur writing and description is amazing. And honestly your knowledge foundation is solid as heck. I apologize for my abruptness 
. Now lemme finish the other post and ill delete that rubbish
That’s exactly what I thought when I first read Sweet’s log. I wanted to follow along because I knew I’d learn something with the detail the log contains.
Well dang. Why am i here . This here. You want to keep ur roots chasing the edges and water
You do want them to get sunlight, just not full on. Morning sun is good up until around 11 then it gets intense as the atmosphere is not deflecting it as well. From 11 to evening plants should he in partial shade for at least a few days. Extend direct exposure time a couple hours a day. Cloudy days are ideal for setting out.
Well, I’m glad I got at least one thing right when I started putting mine outside. LOL!
Day 13
I slept in today and didn’t check in on the plants until 1:45pm. After just learning about “hardening off” (shout out to @Bow4Buck for making me aware and @Cannabian for detailing!), I was just praying they didn’t break from yesterday’s winds or burn to a crisp on their second official day outside fully exposed to the sun.
Well here’s what they looked like when I checked:
I was happy they weren’t all burnt to a crisp but as you can see, the same plants that I had to readjust yesterday due to bending/falling from the wind were leaning heavy again after last night’s unpredicted winds. 
I used a similar method as yesterday where I softly dug my hands deep down, a couple inches away from where the old starter soil begins, and I gently turned/repositioned the whole chunk of soil mix to realign the stem vertically.
Then I softly packed soil building up like a hill towards the stem for support. The soil felt pretty dry. I realized that I may just not have enough soil in the container if the hill is gonna keep diminishing and spreading out. So I took a few hand fulls of the soil in my 10gal along the perimeter and filled the buckets of the two leaners a little higher so the hill would be maintained. This time I decided to pour a little water on that soil hill to maintain the integrity of that support (yesterday’s probably just crumbled/fell away because I didn’t wet that part). I had to do this for the only 2 plants with names - Harriet (Plant 1) and Cripple (Plant 4).
While I was at it, I decided to lightly drizzle the hills I already made yesterday for the other 3 who managed to stand through the night (couldn’t have used more than 1/2 cup water total amongst all 5 plants to reinforce the hill). So they should be hydrated and good to skip watering tomorrow.
Given the recommendation to harden off the plants, for which I clearly missed the memo 
I moved them all up against the side of the house, where they shall rest in the shade outside until tomorrow.
Yesterday was quite the stress test for them! Fortunately 3 of them seemed to hold up well. Today they all spent 8.5 hours in the direct sun after yesterday’s 11 which i now know is a lot for them. Luckily today it was calm, sunny and a little cloudy at times, there was only a pleasant gentle breeze and temps in mid/upper 60s. Nothing intense. I think I see a little growth on all except plant 5 (which is very relieving for Cripple who’s been in bad shape and still looks nutrient deficient) so I hope I’m right about their growth and that they are rooting into their new home 
Tomorrow I’ll probably only pull them out in the sun for an hour or 2, then back in the shade. The weather looks sunny/partly cloudy all the way through Saturday so I’m hoping they are able to adapt and strengthen entirely outside. I guess next we’ll be seeing how they handle hot weather (high of 90 on Wednesday Thursday and Friday).
Does anyone have any input on how I’ve been doing given their unique struggles? Anything I’m missing? Would love to hear. Additionally, any tips on getting them through hot weather especially as young vulnerable plants in large containers would be so appreciated!
That’s it for today - feeling better about them and hoping they are more established and healthier tomorrow 
thanks for reading!
@OlyBoy98503 thanks for the input. Next time I water (probably Monday) I will spiral out from the edge of the old container’s soil to the edge of the container to incentivize growth outward. Also appreciate your kind words as well as those from @PurpNGold74 regarding your enjoying and finding value in my descriptiveness.
Im happy to hear that the transplants look good! In regards to the strains these are all the same strain - Amnesia Haze Autoflower grown from seed. Everyday I have been posting pictures of the plants in chronological order (so plant 1 should always be in picture 1). Hopefully that helps!
Oh and in regards to pests, I don’t think that’s necessary because these are on an elevated balcony so I am pretty safe from ground animals. Just hoping birds don’t become a problem.
Day 14
The girls stayed in the shade until 3pm, and i moved them into the sun until 5:40 so just over 2.5 hours of direct sunlight today. Hoping they’re adapting and possibly recovering from any sunburn they may have endured on their first two days outside. Here’s what they looked like this afternoon when I checked on them and moved them into sunlight:
Fortunately they were all standing today but I feel like I can see slight discoloration on some of them, probably from sunburn. But nothing crazy, and I’m seeing small new growth on almost all of them, but growth nonetheless so feeling good about their future. Even plant 4 (Cripple) has shown new growth that looks healthy. Still seeing droop in her so I’m a bit confused as to if she’s still drooping from overwatering because the soil is not really wet at all yet her new growth is drooping now too… anyways gonna probably water them tomorrow and see what happens. Plant 4 Cripple has deeper darker bruising on her old leaves too so it seems whatever nutrient deficiency she experienced is worsening… not sure what to do with her but hoping all the new leaves will be healthy and the old ones will just die off.
I had set up some car reflectors up against the balcony walls/banisters to reflect the morning sunlight that the house naturally blocks and to minimize any onlookers view of the girls. This evening I moved the plants into the shade of these reflector panels so they can assimilate to the outdoor environment easier (which is perfect because it blocks the evening sun but will not block the morning sun, which isn’t too intense). So the plan is to leave them shaded behind these panels overnight which should not block the morning sun and then tomorrow around 12pm noon, I’ll move them up against the house for shade after 3 hours of softer morning sunlight. I may bring them out again at ~5pm to catch the tail end of sunset light but that will depend if they look further burned at all.
That’s it for today! Any input or thoughts are always appreciated!
Day 15
After spending the evening and night in the shade, the ladies spent their morning in direct sunlight from sunrise around 5:15AM until 11AM. That gave them just under 6 hours in the light (as opposed to the 3 hours I said in my post last night while I was half asleep 
). I could see a little bit of sunburn on some of them but hopefully the extra shade time is helping them. I watered them all today with about 16 fl oz filtered tap water, spiraling out from the edge of where the old starter container was placed outward to the outside of the large container. Left them in the shade at 11AM where they’ll remain until tomorrow morning.
Here’s what they looked like this evening:
I can definitely see a little sunburn on each of them to varying degrees (some leaves look a little bleached or slightly white-faded on top). Hoping another day of 6 hours of sunlight tomorrow won’t be too much for them! Do you think that’s still too much given they’re a little burnt already?
The other thing that I’m noticing, which maybe someone can help me diagnose? On plant 2, there is a more severe discoloration going on and it seems almost peach colored and spotty. Is this sunburn too? It’s on the older leaves only which could be nutrient related…but I theorize that it might be severe sunburn and perhaps was magnetized by the water droplets left on the plants the first day they went out in the sun because i naively sprayed them with a spray bottle before they went out. What do you think is causing the peach/tan spots on plant 2?
And then of course there is plant 4… poor girl. Clearly those old leaves are dying more and more each day. I’m leaving them on because they still have green and are probably still helping the plant gather sunlight and store nutrients for now. The interesting thing about this one is the vibrant light green/almost yellow color of the new leaves. I’ve heard yellow leaves can be a symptom of sunburn, which would make sense since they were rather green on transplant day (day 12). But i also see this little brown dot on one of the larger newer leaves and i can’t help but think of potential nutrient problems again. So confused why those leaves are slightly droopy too - after she was overwatered over a week ago, her good lower leaves have risen/stiffened after drying out so why would the new leaves have a droop? Maybe this time I’m UNDERWATERING? I gave her the driest container to combat the previous overwatering but those new leaves have drooped since they formed and developed outdoors. Any theories on why Plant 4’s new leaves look like that? They are her hope for survival so I want to see them as healthy as possible! Maybe it’s just heat stress…
Anyways that’s it for today. Seeing new growth on all 5 ladies since transplant so it’s nice to know they’re settling in their final homes! Any advice or input on these girls is so appreciated (especially plants 2 and 4)! I hope to have them out in the sun all day by Friday. Then I need to house them without good lighting during storms starting Sat and possibly going for 3 days
Here’s my theory. None of that is light burn. Your plants are showing signs of early phosphorus deficiency (especially #2). That’s all.
My theory with Cripple is that those leaves got water on those leaves and something in the water burnt the leaves. They won’t grow back. But the living part will keep working.
Like this
And here’s an idea to help when it rains.
