Hello growers.
Welcome to what I hope will be an informative and entertaining look at the lives of three little weed seeds from germination to harvest!
I'll be attempting to grow three different strains that I purchased from 420 sponsor @Weed Seeds Express.
These are the seeds I'll be working with:
My goal will be to keep them all at the low end of the height estimates. Three footers, or even shorter, would be ideal.
I've had some problems with bugs in prior grows and I hope that growing smaller plants will allow me to monitor the plants more closely for intruders. In addition, I'm not a young man and having to wrestle with plants that are 4+ feet tall is too much like "real work" to me!
The plants will be grow in a 4x4 tent that's about 6'7'' inches tall. It's loaded with 2 AC Infinity 6 inch in-line fans with speed controllers for intake (from the bottom of tent) and exhaust (from up top). There are also 2 nine inch fans inside for air circulation. Their heights can be adjusted as needed. A humidifier is available if needed.
I'll be using a light from 420 sponsor @Mars Hydro. The TS3000. It pulls 450 watts. I will not provide the detailed specs here as they are readily available on the Mars Hydro web site. (Their site can easily be reached via the Sponsor's link at the top of every 420 page.)
I've used this light before in the 4x4 and trust me (famous last words) it's a killer light for a 4x4 grow space. I haven't had to turn up to full blast on any previous grow! (Though that's partly due to plants stretching up so close to the light that full blast was just not necessary or advisable.)
Here's the set-up, all sanitized and nearly ready for 3 new tenants (need to tighten up those cords):
I'm still undecided about pot size. As I said, I want to keep these plants on the short side. But I also want them to have plenty of root space to grow to maturity and get sturdy. I had toyed with the idea of 3 gallon pots but now I'm leaning toward using 5 gallon ones (or maybe two 5s and one 3, just to see how the 3 gallon one turns out). Deep down, I don't believe a 3 gallon pot is sufficient for a photo plant. While I've seen others here do it successfully, I just don't think it's in my wheelhouse. Still I might try it for one of these plants.
If about now you're thinking that I'm sort of an indecisive person, you've nailed it!
The medium will be either Fox Farms Ocean Forest (FFOF), or Roots Organics Lush soil, or perhaps an interesting combination of the two. Again, I have not fully decided.
There's even more indecision on what nutrients I'll be using. It depends in part on which medium I settle on. As for nutrients, I have a few options available. (And that is part of my problem. For me, too many options leads to indecision.)
One thing I will be doing is including SNS 209 in their feeds as soon as they show a second set of leaves. I hope the 209 will deter my nemesis -- spider mites (aka "the Borg"). SNS (@Sierra Natural Science is another 420 sponsor that offers a variety of natural critter-fighting product.) If not, I have several other pest management tools at the ready.
I soaked the seeds for this grow on Jan. 31. They were soaked in shot glasses of distilled water on a heating mat.
By Feb. 2 all three had tap roots and were ready to be buried.
Grape Ape
Pinkman Goo
Black Domina
I typically bury seeds as soon as I see any part of a tap root. I don't care to wait on them to get a certain length.
Their first-stop solo cups were filled with FFOF with a one inch layer of Coast of Maine Organic Seed Start on the top surface. About 1/3 of a teaspoon of earth worm casting was stirred into the organic seed starter.
They went into the cups on Feb. 2.
As of today, I have some bad news and some good news about the germination. The bad news is that only 2 of the 3 seeds have emerged from the soil. The good news is that 2 of the 3 seeds have emerged from the soil!
The Black Domina came up first and paid a price for doing so.
You see how she's not center-cup? That's because when I first saw the helmet emerging I had a boo-boo and knocked her over. I was able to place the tap root properly back into the soil with only the helmet exposed but did not want to risk trying to position it back in the center of the cup. She's still in the process of shedding her helmet but she looks okay.
Next came the Pinkman Goo.
She's having a slightly harder time. She's got some membrane restricting her from opening up and she's still too small and frail for me to try and get it off. I've been putting drops of water on her to try and help it come off. Eventually I'll have to go after it with a toothpick.
There hasn't been a peep yet from the Grape ape.
And that's where things stand today!
I've got a few decision to make on how I'm going to proceed. And the Grape Ape seed has to decide whether or not she's going to join the party.
I hope you can tag along with me. All are welcome!
Peace.
Welcome to what I hope will be an informative and entertaining look at the lives of three little weed seeds from germination to harvest!
I'll be attempting to grow three different strains that I purchased from 420 sponsor @Weed Seeds Express.
These are the seeds I'll be working with:
My goal will be to keep them all at the low end of the height estimates. Three footers, or even shorter, would be ideal.
I've had some problems with bugs in prior grows and I hope that growing smaller plants will allow me to monitor the plants more closely for intruders. In addition, I'm not a young man and having to wrestle with plants that are 4+ feet tall is too much like "real work" to me!
The plants will be grow in a 4x4 tent that's about 6'7'' inches tall. It's loaded with 2 AC Infinity 6 inch in-line fans with speed controllers for intake (from the bottom of tent) and exhaust (from up top). There are also 2 nine inch fans inside for air circulation. Their heights can be adjusted as needed. A humidifier is available if needed.
I'll be using a light from 420 sponsor @Mars Hydro. The TS3000. It pulls 450 watts. I will not provide the detailed specs here as they are readily available on the Mars Hydro web site. (Their site can easily be reached via the Sponsor's link at the top of every 420 page.)
I've used this light before in the 4x4 and trust me (famous last words) it's a killer light for a 4x4 grow space. I haven't had to turn up to full blast on any previous grow! (Though that's partly due to plants stretching up so close to the light that full blast was just not necessary or advisable.)
Here's the set-up, all sanitized and nearly ready for 3 new tenants (need to tighten up those cords):
I'm still undecided about pot size. As I said, I want to keep these plants on the short side. But I also want them to have plenty of root space to grow to maturity and get sturdy. I had toyed with the idea of 3 gallon pots but now I'm leaning toward using 5 gallon ones (or maybe two 5s and one 3, just to see how the 3 gallon one turns out). Deep down, I don't believe a 3 gallon pot is sufficient for a photo plant. While I've seen others here do it successfully, I just don't think it's in my wheelhouse. Still I might try it for one of these plants.
If about now you're thinking that I'm sort of an indecisive person, you've nailed it!
The medium will be either Fox Farms Ocean Forest (FFOF), or Roots Organics Lush soil, or perhaps an interesting combination of the two. Again, I have not fully decided.
There's even more indecision on what nutrients I'll be using. It depends in part on which medium I settle on. As for nutrients, I have a few options available. (And that is part of my problem. For me, too many options leads to indecision.)
One thing I will be doing is including SNS 209 in their feeds as soon as they show a second set of leaves. I hope the 209 will deter my nemesis -- spider mites (aka "the Borg"). SNS (@Sierra Natural Science is another 420 sponsor that offers a variety of natural critter-fighting product.) If not, I have several other pest management tools at the ready.
I soaked the seeds for this grow on Jan. 31. They were soaked in shot glasses of distilled water on a heating mat.
By Feb. 2 all three had tap roots and were ready to be buried.
Grape Ape
Pinkman Goo
Black Domina
I typically bury seeds as soon as I see any part of a tap root. I don't care to wait on them to get a certain length.
Their first-stop solo cups were filled with FFOF with a one inch layer of Coast of Maine Organic Seed Start on the top surface. About 1/3 of a teaspoon of earth worm casting was stirred into the organic seed starter.
They went into the cups on Feb. 2.
As of today, I have some bad news and some good news about the germination. The bad news is that only 2 of the 3 seeds have emerged from the soil. The good news is that 2 of the 3 seeds have emerged from the soil!
The Black Domina came up first and paid a price for doing so.
You see how she's not center-cup? That's because when I first saw the helmet emerging I had a boo-boo and knocked her over. I was able to place the tap root properly back into the soil with only the helmet exposed but did not want to risk trying to position it back in the center of the cup. She's still in the process of shedding her helmet but she looks okay.
Next came the Pinkman Goo.
She's having a slightly harder time. She's got some membrane restricting her from opening up and she's still too small and frail for me to try and get it off. I've been putting drops of water on her to try and help it come off. Eventually I'll have to go after it with a toothpick.
There hasn't been a peep yet from the Grape ape.
And that's where things stand today!
I've got a few decision to make on how I'm going to proceed. And the Grape Ape seed has to decide whether or not she's going to join the party.
I hope you can tag along with me. All are welcome!
Peace.
