I've seemed to notice that many seedlings of many types of plants seem to stall for a while after getting their first few true leaves. It seems like well they were growing fine for a while and I've noticced almost nothing new in a while. Then after a while the growth gets explosive. During the slow time, they were probably working on their roots and those aren't as noticeable unless one is dealing with clogged troughs.

Are there any signs of other problems with the plants or are they just kinda idle?

they were only 1 inch high
the nutrients okay
I think it is the lighting

I'll start a new one for my project.
when i use the paper towel method, how big does it have to be before i transplant it and does the bag need to be sealed up entirely or open for air. If sealed do i need a bubble of air in it or not? How should I transplant them to an NFT system with perlite?

Plz reply quick

I found that bright white rayon mop head strings work well for this. Cotton mop strings don't seem able to wick as high, probably due to the natural oils in the cotton fiber.

I have use wicks like this in my DWC set ups, I found trying to keep the water high enough for small seedlings was a pain and the whole transplant process was time consuming too.

One thing that can kill off small seedlings for no apparent reason is "damping off" it is something of a fungal disease and seems pretty prevalent with paper towel germinated seedlings transplanted into potting soil and some other media.

I would definitely say go ahead and germinate directly in the perlite, in your system, using wicks to make it possible. Just keep the nutrient very dilute or even plain water until you get the seeds germinated. Then you can very slowly increase the nutrient strength.

If you light levels are too dim, the seedlings will probably seem very tall and spinldy as they search for light. If the light was too bright, then they were probably cooked.

Following is a link with some pictures of how I did wicks in my hydro set up.

Does the tip of the wick have to be in the water or most of it? I have fox farm grow big nutrients. How much is required for each gallon of water to make it dilute? Another problem of mine is that perlite keeps falling out the net pots. Is there anyway to fix this without harming the roots? When i use lights, how high should it be off from the pot and how long should it be on a day? I am using regular long flourescent lights. I will be doing this indoors and what does the temperature has to be in in both celsius and farenheit.

Thanks for your help.

Keep a close eye on water temperature, if your root zone is kept at 65-70 for germination and seedling development, after which, you then transplant these seedlings into a system that has a water temperature less than that (even if the air temp is good) your plants will stop growing (check water temps both day and night). If this has happened your plants will need a few days upto 2 weeks to aclimatise. This is a common problem at this time of year especially if the seedlings are started indoors and then moved outdoors.

If you suspect that water temperature is the problem then I suggest you purchase a titanium water heater (a 100w type with a temperature thermostat control - $30). This will allow you the ablility to accurately set your desired water temperature.

Hope this helps.

PS - water temperature changes will be greater and will occur at a faster rate with smaller reservoirs.