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--- cultivation:germination:acclimatization [2026/06/27 06:07] – created vaugith
+++ cultivation:germination:acclimatization [2026/07/08 13:12] (current) – vaugith
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 Your next role in raising these babies into maturity will be gradually acclimating them to normal conditions that adult plants experience. First, you'll want to start ramping up the amount of light they are exposed to. Next, you must get them used to ambient humidity, then bottom watering, fertilization, and finally, if you decide it is in their cards - the great outdoors.
+<WRAP right 400px>
+{{ :cultivation:germination:seedlingsready.webp?400&direct| }}
+//Seedlings ready for acclimatization//
+</WRAP>
 ===== Watching for stress =====
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 As to which of the other factors is causing the stress, the best way to determine is to use context. Did you just turn up the light? Have they been very dry lately? Is it getting too cold at night? Rule things out and correct the issue. Stress compounds with multiple factors so try to only push one variable that could stress them at a time.
+<WRAP clear />
 ===== Acclimatization =====
 === Light ===
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+{{ :cultivation:germination:fatseedlings.webp?400&direct| }}
+//Fat Seedlings that received plenty of light very early//
+</WRAP>
 Starting at about one month after germination, you should start making small (~10%) incremental increases to light amounts. This can be done with a dimmer dial, by moving the light closer to the seedlings by about an inch, or increasing hours of light per day by a half hour. Let them adjust for a week and a half to two weeks, making sure they don't turn red in the first couple days, then repeat. Continue as long as they are not stressed until you can get them outdoors or under artificial full sun equivalent. Increasing light intensity early and as quickly as they will tolerate is the key to growing fat seedlings that can support their own weight and don't need to be staked up later.
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 When I have my small underpowered germination light as close as it can get to them, I have my timer set to 20 hours per day, the seedlings are uncovered and are looking healthy, I move them outside. Even if the light was pretty strong, jumping straight to full sun is too much because the spectrum of light is different. I start them under 4 or 5 layers of 30-40% shadecloth and remove one layer every two weeks or so. Keeping them covered by one layer of shadecloth may be required to prevent stress in very high UV areas in summer for their first season
+=== Up potting ===
+The next step will be up potting. Once the seedlings touch each other they will slow in growth as they compete for nutrients and space. The roots will also start to get tangled which can make future uppotting more challenging. If you followed the recommended 4-6 seeds per square inch of substrate surface and managed to space them very evenly they may get to half an inch or more before this is required but if you sowed more densely or they got clumped it may be optimal to space them out sooner.
+You can up pot them from here into a larger tray or into individual cells or pots. For a larger tray, I would aim for 3-5 inches of depth. Potting the soil line at the top of the tray is optimal to allow airflow, reduce humidity, and reduce pest and fungal issues. If you want to try out cells or individual pots, 2.5 x 2.5 x 3" work really well at this stage.
+Prepare the substrate for the next step per the guidelines laid out in [[:cultivation:soil|the mature soil discussion]], with the considerations that inorganic particle size should be proportionally smaller for smaller plants at 1/8"-1/4", and slightly more organic per inorganic might be better for small seedlings because they have less internal moisture reserves and prefer their soil to stay moist a little longer. From this point out, you can treat your seedlings pretty much the same as mature plants.