I get that the roots develop faster with the heat mat in the beginning stages of growth from seed. but at what point do you typically pull the mat out of the equation? My 2 girls have been going for about 3 weeks now, just moved them from the Jiffy pods to big solo cups. Going to transplant once more into 3 gallon pots for their final home. Im growing Gorilla Glue Auto and Bruce Banner Auto if it makes any difference.
Do i keep the heat pad going at this point? Pros? Cons?
You won’t need it after jiffy’s , heating pad helps to stimulate and tell the plant is summer and safe to get growing , after that the actual heat won’t help, wait for more advise …
I usually keep the heat mat on during the 7 days in rooters through the 7 days in cowpots. Once in their final homes, I remove the heat mat.
The heat, as long as it’s in a safe range, will keep encouraging your roots to get going, as well as helping to dry out the medium a bit around those tender baby roots.
You should have moved them from Jiffy starter pods to the Solo cups as soon as the roots came through the peat pods, there are no nutrients in jiffy peat starter pods so your seedlings have probably struggled to thrive. After three weeks your plants should have outgrown a solo cup and should be ready for their final transplant.
Thank you. Thats exactly what I did. I had the peat pod in a cup. Pulled it out to get a good look at it and was like “Crap, thats a root, theres another one” None had pierced the cloth of the pod but were right up against it. I very slowly and gently cut the cloth off the pod and transplanted it in to a 16 oz cup.
You are correct, at 3 weeks they should way bigger. But I had a less than adequate light set up for germination so I take that into account.I upgraded to an HLG 65 a week ago, but am returning that to get a HLG 100 now.
One thing I learned is that even though the top is slow growing, the roots are doing there thing. A few white tips were all the way at the bottom of the pod, and its the big 2.5" or 3" pod.