I had never grown Autos before, nor had I ever once started plants in their final containers (I used to up-pot 3 or 4 times with photo-period plants). Nor had I used fabric container before. I made the mistake of soaking the entire container (5 gallon fabric bags), and, with teeny-tiny plants, they took forever to get back down to a reasonable moisture level. I let the top few inches get dry as dust, trying desperately not to over-water, and this killed the root structure. However, the darned things never drooped one iota, which is what fooled me the most. Still puzzling to me.
I can’t find the reference at this moment, but I read an article wherein the author suggested starting the seedlings in a party cup (think College kegger) with the bottom cut out. Set this atop your larger container filled with dry medium, fill the cup with medium, and for the first two weeks, water only inside the little cup. This will allow you to keep your babies feet moist, while not soaking the larger container’s medium. His contention was that this method will cause the tap root to shoot down quicker, and result in more early branching of the root system, and the bottom works it’s way through the drier (the dry medium will slowly get more moisture as you keep the cup moist with waterings) medium, searching for the water that the plant thinks must be deeper. Also, it seems to me that this method makes it more difficult to over-water, as the cup will drain easily into the larger container.
I learned -
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I was dealing with too many unknowns. It would be better to try one new thing at a time. - Newbie mistake - I did the same thing to all plants. Ergo, I killed them all, at the same time.
Wishing all a happy, safe grow!
