When to put seedling in direct sunlight?

[cybergenesis]

Hello.

 

My seedlings had grown above the surface for 4 days and I decided to place them in direct sunlight.

 

I noticed within a few hours, 2 of them had "collapsed" and totally fallen over onto the soil.

 

I immediately removed them from the sun (it is 40c today here in Adelaide) and gave them water. One of the damaged seedlings is standing up again by itself (just) and the other one I have supported via a small stick and some string.

 

How long after raising above the soil should they be ready to be placed in the harsh Australian summer sun? I was thinking of trying again in another 10 days, which would be +14 days after they pocked through the surface of the soil.

 

Any advice would be very appreciated- I am totally new to this, but I need to get another 20 seedlings going in the next 2 weeks!

[Frazz]

yea thats a bummer aye ... see problem is cause they are so young they havent developed a decent root network capable of supporting themselves in such extreme heat , remember in the wild they naturally pop up in the mild spring weather

 

so now i would give them a few days until they have 2-3 sets of leaves before full day's exposure

if you have the time you could slowly expose them to direct sunlight in small doses like from 6am till 10am and again from 4pm till 8pm, each day incresing the exposure by an extra hour each day

on the 40 degree day it might pay to have some 50% shadecloth directly overhead shading them for the hours from 12 noon till 4pm (or just in shady situation) but only on the 40 degree days or they will stretch too much

when temps get back down in the 30s there shouldnt be a problem, its just the combination of 40 deg. , tender babies and not sufficient root system that caused this hiccup

 

once they have a good root system it should be direct sun all the time and keep the water up to them even if it means pot sitting in a saucer of water

 

also whatever artificial light you have them under keep it the same as the daylight hours so they dont get confused

 

[cybergenesis]

Thanks for your excellent advice! Was very useful to me!

[cybergenesis]

but only on the 40 degree days or they will stretch too much

 

Oh just one quick question what do you mean by stretch too much?

[Reverend]

By stretching = going lanky instead of a nice bush.

 

What I do sometimes is break a piece of shrub off that has some nice fat leaves on it and poke it in the ground next to the plant for shade and as the leaves fall the plant is slowly exposed to the sun, but as Frazz suggested maybe a piece of shade cloth on those extreme days and mainly in the heat of the day.

[Frazz]

yea i like gills idea of the detached branch from a bush shading the plant , cause that will allow gradual exposure to the direct sun as the branch wilts

 

yea if Cannabis finds itself in a shady situation it thinks by stretching out its growing branches that it will become taller than the surrounding plants that are shading it and eventually find itself in the direct sunlight which it craves so much ..

 

in domestic cultivation we must be careful how we manipulate the plants' growing environment, if plant is shaded to often and allowed to stretch and become 'lanky' then when it comes time to pack on flowers the stretched out branches cannot hold the weight and buckle an fall down requiring stakes as supports , its not a good thing

 

[cybergenesis]

Wow thanks for the advice everyone, this is all very useful. I still have a lot to learn!

 

I didn't realize about the stretch, it seems I suspect some of my plants are stretched.. They are taller than the others, with thin stems, and smaller amounts of leaves, unlike some of the other plants which have thicker stems, are more short and stocky. This could be stretching or it could be natural variation.

 

I'll try and get around to posting some pictures up later today. I am babysitting today though, so I might not get time to do it until tomorrow. I'd do it now but the camera is in my housemate's room and she is asleep!

 

Thanks for everyone helping. I think one of my plants is highly likely to die, that will leave me with 5 left, but I have another 20 germinating as we speak (they are not feminized seeds).

 

Oh and I have time to implement suggestions such as gradual exposure to the sun (which is what I am now doing!)

[TheTreeBoundRat]

Good luck with it. Frazz was spot on

 

Also theres nothing too stop you using a fan outside on the seedlings to improve the initial growth structure. IM going too start employing this myself on the next run...

[Livo]

sorry, no doubt a noob question but the fan outside on the seedling? how does it improve the structure?

[Miss_Cold_Ember]

By having the constant wind on it, it will strengthen the stem, and help the root system develop faster - all natural survival responses.