Life is unfair

The process of moving to the new "houses" has begun.

First two seedlings were moved today from 3"x15" PVC tubes to 6"x24" tubes. Some seedlings are luckier than others to get there first, but the luck can be deceiving. One seedling, #4 got destroyed in the process but the procedure is now well understood:

Status update, so far so good

Nothing major to report. A few young ones died, all older seedlings doing fine.

Two leaders are #39 and #72. The former is leading in overall needle count and volume, while the latter keeps going up and more up.

#39 March 10, 2013. 3+ months.

#72 March 10, 2013. 3+ months.

Planning for the future

Now that at least a dozen plants established solid roots and bushy canopies, it's time to get ready for summer.

Current 4x4 arrangement at 2'x2' space is not going to work by the end of summer. Looking at the pictures of a year old GS it appears I need at least 8 inches of space between plants. Since my target is two rows of ten sequoias (while planted outside, ofc), I need to start modifying the holding grid. Given the fluorescent lights I currently have (18"x24"), it makes sense to arrange them in 2x3 cells so that the light would be evenly distributed and there would be enough space between plants:

I will start making new grids and then re-planting biggest plants into 6" PVC tubes starting this spring (now!) The idea is to have 4 or 5 six-plant cells by end of summer.

The Spring is here! Full capacity achieved

This week both 4x4 grids have been filled with seedlings for a total of 32. Four more seedlings are available in the temporary cups as replacement. After all this time, there is little rhyme or reason which seedlings would survive and which wouldn't.

For example, #104 had such a sickly looking root during the movement from its starting brown cup to the white patch that it was all but discounted for dead.

#104 January 4, 2013. 11 days old.

A much "stronger" #103 was a favorite. Fast forward two months, #103 is all but history, while #104 is doing better than a lot of older plants:

#104 March 2, 2013. 2 months and 1 week.

The second white patch B (clear plastic tubes), have another unusual specimen, #72. It continues to grow vertically significantly ahead of any other plant:

#72 March 2, 2013. 3 months old.

#72 is beginning to looks like a next leader after still dominating #39. It is now becoming difficult to decide what "leader" means. If #72 starts adding some volume in the near future to the already existing branches it will jump ahead with ease. I can see this as a more likely scenario than #39 all of a sudden starting to grow taller. As #39 continues to add a lot of volume as it literally pushes needles into the soil and into the container walls:

#39 March 2, 2013. 3 months and 2 weeks old.

At its current lateral growth rate, #39 will start to interfere with neighboring seedlings. At that point I will need to build a new grid with larger spacing.

Here is a view at the two 4x4 grids:

Patches A and B March 2, 2013.

General observations on patch A (top): #39 continues to dominate landscape with many more seedlings quickly adding lateral volume as well. Oldest seedling #4 keeps looking healthy but shows barely any growth. On the second patch, patch B (bottom), #72 stands well above all other seedlings. #39 remains one of the top three, at least in overall volume.