Greetings to all the Forum Aficionados!
It's Day 32 since my first post of the 10 young seedlings (on May 31). All are still kicking but I stunted their growth, sadly, by a couple inches, at least. Made a couple careless mistakes that cost me about a week of stressed-out slow growth.
First, they were up-potted to 1 gal trade nursery pots, from the 3 in. cubes, seen in post #1. The next up-pot is scheduled for July 4th; though it should have occurred at least a week ago, had it not been for slow growth, due to carelessness.
Being a "trade" size, it doesn't hold an actual true gallon, in volume, but only 9 cups of wet mix. On this run, I tried a new veg blend of: 5 cups Happy Frog, 1 cup of Pro-Mix BX, and 2 cups of DE (i e. diatomaceous earth); plus a few slow release amendments.
Since this was an untried experiment, it was unwise for me to try it on all my plants, save the one runt in post #1. So, due to not thinking the process through, clearly enough, I tried the new mix on all 9 plants, instead of just 1 plant, to test the waters.
Turns out the DE water retention is INSANE, and less than ideal for flushing, in an emergency situation; at least at that mix ratio of 6 cups amended veg mix to 2 cups DE. If I were to start over, I'd drop that to 1 cup DE to 8 cups of mix, in this pot size.
What compounded the problem for me was giving them too heavy a dose of Green Aminos, with too much water, too early in the journey, before really knowing how DE holds water. The claims about it holding water are not over exaggerated, imho.
I went a little heavy on the aminos hoping to stimulate root growth off the leggy stems that were trans-planted a little deeper than normal, due to their early stretch. Big mistake, due to taking a risk/ chance. The seedlings really hated the situation, and the leaves were clearly saying that. I gave them 3 full days to adjust but they just got progressively worse.
So, on the fourth day in that experimental blend, I took quick and decisive action; transplanting 8 of the 9 seedlings into straight Pro-Mix BX, 9 cups/ pot, amended with 3 tbsp of King-kashi (Gro-kashi). I left the largest seedling, that was the most tolerant to the blend, remaining in it, for close observation & data collection. It use to be the biggest but not now. Half the plants in the straight Pro-Mix BX, with Bokashi, have passed it.
The runt is slower than thick molasses compared to the others. I've allowed it to survive purely for the data, to see if it snaps out of its slumber and gets with The Program. It stayed a few weeks longer in the cube, because of another mistake.
There was a thick skin or membrane from inside the shell, that was binding closed the leaves; keeping them from opening on time. Took me a while to recognize the problem, and correct it.
When I finally unloosed its wings, the damage was done. Growth was seriously slowed; but since it was my mistake, I let it enjoy life a little longer, and time to persude me to hold it for the next run. We'll see how that goes.
Anyway, the root ball on 1 of the 8 seedlings that had to be rescued was accidentally damaged, in the process; and has been stunted by the stress. It's growth slowed down to a snail's pace, so slow that I expect the runt to catch up to it, before it fully recovers. It may survive until next run, if it shows merit over the next month.
The 1 plant in the DE blend is located in the top righthand corner of the blue pin, in the bottom photo. It was once the largest of the seedlings. Transplant date: July 4.
Cheers! - FF
, our mistakes and your girls are looking good. 
Very cool light, too. Quite curious how you get past 10 pictures per post limit. I continually try it but keep getting error message - 'only 10 pics per post allowed?
