Win win my friend!
Keffkas Coast Of Maine Line, TLO/LOS Style, Bagseed, Indoor Grow
- Thread starter Keffka
- Start date
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- #62
Got my mulch.. 6 bucks for 3 cu ft. Haven’t seen any bugs and the weather recently has sent most into hibernation. I’ve got it warming up inside now so I can make sure there’s nothing hiding.
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- #63
Seeds are in the water.. Filled each mason jar a little less than halfway full of dechlorinated water.. Enough so if I tap the seeds lightly they won’t hit the bottom, yet.
You can see a little debris in some of the jars.. This is cannabis trichomes or hairs or leaf parts leftover from a batch long gone. I wasn’t kidding when I said sterile doesn’t really belong here.. We’re here for fungus and bacteria, may as well get comfy from the start.
I took the jars and set them in front of my laundry room radiator. This radiator is always warm, and I have measured the temperature by IR thermometer at 76, and room thermometer at 74 in this spot.
I cut the lights off and they’ll sit in darkness until I’m convinced they’re ready
I’ll check the seeds in 12 hours to see if they sink. If they do they’re getting rolled and planted. I’ll keep my eye on them and not let them go longer than 24 hours in the water.
It’s getting late now so I’ll update more in the morning.
You can see a little debris in some of the jars.. This is cannabis trichomes or hairs or leaf parts leftover from a batch long gone. I wasn’t kidding when I said sterile doesn’t really belong here.. We’re here for fungus and bacteria, may as well get comfy from the start.
I took the jars and set them in front of my laundry room radiator. This radiator is always warm, and I have measured the temperature by IR thermometer at 76, and room thermometer at 74 in this spot.
I cut the lights off and they’ll sit in darkness until I’m convinced they’re ready
I’ll check the seeds in 12 hours to see if they sink. If they do they’re getting rolled and planted. I’ll keep my eye on them and not let them go longer than 24 hours in the water.
It’s getting late now so I’ll update more in the morning.
They don't need to sink. In fact I prefer that they don't. In nature they don't typically germinate at the bottom of a deep puddle, but rather in leaf litter or shallow soil where they have access to moisture and air.
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- #65
I should’ve been more specific. If they sink on touch.. I don’t want them to be sunken, which is also why I won’t let them sit for any longer than 24 hours. I just want them to crack slightly so I can try to get myco in contact asap.
lootznbootz
Well-Known Member
Yup that's what I do if they sink when I tap them, they go into my Rapid Rooter.
Love what you have going on so far! can't wait to see this play out.
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- #67
I’ve picked up so many little hints and tips in this place it’s absurd. Stuff I didn’t know I needed to know lol. It’s partly why I started journaling. The little bits of information that pop out in journals just over the normal conversation of a grow are so beneficial.
Plus this community is very different from most communities I’ve encountered. Here, respect and courtesy are valued while debate is encouraged, which typically translates into a more respectable and courteous people who have data to stand on, which in turn usually means people who are pretty serious and knowledgeable about their craft. There’s a clear difference between our forums and certain other places lol.
With that being said, any tips you’ve got along the way feel free to sprinkle them in. If nothing else we get conversation going. Personally I was sitting last night thinking about going straight into the solo cup. I started to wonder if it wouldn’t be better to use something like a rapid rooter plug or those small tray cells.
Going into the solo cup I have to wait for the tap root to hit the bottom which takes some time, this of course means less root branching while waiting, which means less myco spawning. I was wondering if it would be more efficient to start in a plug to get the plant up and then drop into a solo cup. I think my next grow I’m gonna give that a try on a couple and see what differences I’m looking at.
In case folks can’t tell, I’m really trying to get aggressive myco growth going asap lol. The amount of work myco can do along with the balance it brings and it’s ability to break organic matter down for the microbes to digest makes it the superstar in my show. Getting the bacteria going is relatively simple, it’s the fungi that seems to need a very specific hand. Also myco is much more efficient when it’s given the chance to establish itself in the container versus just feeding propagules to the soil as we go along.
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- #68
Tank is waiting patiently by the heater. He thinks the seeds are ready now, he probably knows something I don’t.
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- #69
This morning I got the soil and solos prepared for planting. After leaving the aerated seedling soil out it became almost hydrophobic, which was my intent. It’s a bagged starter soil so any FG and their larva have just been reset to zero. I do this so they don’t have a head start on the myco and bacteria. Anything left should be easily outcompeted.
The soil is pictured here before water
For 8 solo cups worth of soil and perlite it took 32 ozs of distilled water to wet it enough for my liking for planting. I slowly added the water and mixed it in throughly so that the soil would pull it all in.
Looks like it’s almost ready!
Maybe it’s not ready just yet, that’s not a lot of water being squeezed out.
No question, that’s not ready yet.. You can tell by how fluffy it still looks, plus my hands look awfully dry.
Ooo that’s closer, let’s see!
Darn! Not ready yet.. Still looks fluffy and crumbly, my hands are looking a little wetter though.
Ok, now THAT looks close, Tank looks like he might agree with me, let’s see.
Oh yeah! That’s what I like to see when I squeeze!
Tank likes it too, that’s a good sign! Fingers crossed!
Score! That’s a nice clump in my hand there. You can see the difference, it’s clearly clumping together more than it’s crumbling apart which is what I wanted. It also breaks apart easily when tossed or pressed on. Perfect consistency for planting the seeds. It’s a good idea to take note of the weight of the cups at this point, you can use this feeling with the lift method to help gauge when it’s time to water again.
Next I will cover the planting.
The soil is pictured here before water
For 8 solo cups worth of soil and perlite it took 32 ozs of distilled water to wet it enough for my liking for planting. I slowly added the water and mixed it in throughly so that the soil would pull it all in.
Looks like it’s almost ready!
Maybe it’s not ready just yet, that’s not a lot of water being squeezed out.
No question, that’s not ready yet.. You can tell by how fluffy it still looks, plus my hands look awfully dry.
Ooo that’s closer, let’s see!
Darn! Not ready yet.. Still looks fluffy and crumbly, my hands are looking a little wetter though.
Ok, now THAT looks close, Tank looks like he might agree with me, let’s see.
Oh yeah! That’s what I like to see when I squeeze!
Tank likes it too, that’s a good sign! Fingers crossed!
Score! That’s a nice clump in my hand there. You can see the difference, it’s clearly clumping together more than it’s crumbling apart which is what I wanted. It also breaks apart easily when tossed or pressed on. Perfect consistency for planting the seeds. It’s a good idea to take note of the weight of the cups at this point, you can use this feeling with the lift method to help gauge when it’s time to water again.
Next I will cover the planting.
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- #70
Alright so the seeds were ready to go. I went in and tapped each one. Most of them sunk, sat for a few seconds, then slowly made their way up. That’s perfect and exactly what I’m looking for. 2-3 sank to the bottom after being touched and stayed there for 20-30 seconds before slowly rising again. That’s a little bit too much and not what I’m looking for. I don’t want to drown the seeds, I just want to make sure they split slightly so I know their viable enough to plant, but more importantly I want myco getting root contact asap. This may not be any more or less efficient, I haven’t quantified the differences yet but I’ll get to it, I’m taking the necessary notes.
Here are the cups all filled with the starter, I have left space between the soil and top of the cup for mulch.
I sprinkled myco into each of the holes Im planting into.
I pulled the seeds out of the jar using a glass pipette I have for other extractions. The vacuum created as it fills with water pulls the seeds in easily. You can see here I just place them on a towel.
I use a small 40 ml beaker and place an 1/8 tsp of myco in it.
Once the seeds are no longer dripping I toss them into the beaker and shake em around a little
I pull the seeds out with a small tsp then plant them by hand. I just drop them in, I’m not concerned with the direction they’re deposited. Plants can sense gravity and light, they know which direction to go. I also sprinkle additional myco into the hole after the seed goes in. I have it out anyway and don’t want to risk putting anything wet back into the myco container so I just sprinkle the leftovers in the hole.
The voodoo juice called for 2 ml/L so I mixed up .5ml/250 ml. I used it to settle in 3 of the seeds with 10 ml each. The rest of the seeds all got 10 ml of distilled water to settle them in as well. When they pop up I will use spring water for 2 weeks, the minerals are a nice little added bonus while she works her way through her initial reserves. Once I transplant into the 1 gallon I will start using RO water.
I went back and forth about mulching the solos before they break ground and decided to go with it
If I’m missing something obvious as to why I shouldn’t mulch them please let me know because I’m not thinking of it and I have been known to miss the obvious lol.
I set them by the radiator again so they can be nice and warm while I get their new home ready.
Unfortunately, now is the lamest part. Sitting and waiting for them to say hello. It’s okay though.. I have this hps bulb I can mess around with for a bit.. I can also get some chores done lol.
Here are the cups all filled with the starter, I have left space between the soil and top of the cup for mulch.
I sprinkled myco into each of the holes Im planting into.
I pulled the seeds out of the jar using a glass pipette I have for other extractions. The vacuum created as it fills with water pulls the seeds in easily. You can see here I just place them on a towel.
I use a small 40 ml beaker and place an 1/8 tsp of myco in it.
Once the seeds are no longer dripping I toss them into the beaker and shake em around a little
I pull the seeds out with a small tsp then plant them by hand. I just drop them in, I’m not concerned with the direction they’re deposited. Plants can sense gravity and light, they know which direction to go. I also sprinkle additional myco into the hole after the seed goes in. I have it out anyway and don’t want to risk putting anything wet back into the myco container so I just sprinkle the leftovers in the hole.
The voodoo juice called for 2 ml/L so I mixed up .5ml/250 ml. I used it to settle in 3 of the seeds with 10 ml each. The rest of the seeds all got 10 ml of distilled water to settle them in as well. When they pop up I will use spring water for 2 weeks, the minerals are a nice little added bonus while she works her way through her initial reserves. Once I transplant into the 1 gallon I will start using RO water.
I went back and forth about mulching the solos before they break ground and decided to go with it
If I’m missing something obvious as to why I shouldn’t mulch them please let me know because I’m not thinking of it and I have been known to miss the obvious lol.
I set them by the radiator again so they can be nice and warm while I get their new home ready.
Unfortunately, now is the lamest part. Sitting and waiting for them to say hello. It’s okay though.. I have this hps bulb I can mess around with for a bit.. I can also get some chores done lol.
C'mon 8 great !
Nice job @Keffka .
I do the same with a bit of extra space at the top when planting seeds. It presents an added bonus if they get a little leggy, as it's easy to add a bit more soil to help stabilize them. I actually leave more space than most for that exact reason.
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- #74
Thanks Bode! One of the big issues I came across a bunch when I was first starting was so many images and explanations of what I was trying to look up were low quality, fuzzy and/or disjointed, or just straight up didn’t look like what I was seeing. So it was really difficult to tell if what I was seeing was what the pictures and explanations were showing. Also a lot of times I would see people explain what they were doing without any imagery. So I decided I would take pictures and explain everything I did even if it was something minor like putting myco in a beaker for rolling.
It meshes really well with the fact that I’m autistic af (literally) and have this innate desire to be excruciatingly descriptive and thorough.
Nice job @Keffka .
I do the same with a bit of extra space at the top when planting seeds. It presents an added bonus if they get a little leggy, as it's easy to add a bit more soil to help stabilize them. I actually leave more space than most for that exact reason.
Thanks Az!
That’s actually a really good idea. It’s a lot easier to add to than it is to take away. Yet another sweet piece of advice I’m gonna store. I prefer to bury legginess over supporting it. I’ve found in my experience burying legginess will create a stronger base/stem than trying to support it with soft wires, etc. I really try to avoid physically supporting the plant as much as possible to force it to grow stronger stems/limbs to support itself.
From my understanding of plant biology, it only makes sense to want thicker stronger stems, that’s how you get larger xylems and phloems. Although that part gets a little murky for me. A sort of chicken and the egg argument, which comes first, stem thickness or xylem/phloem thickness.
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- #75
@Grand Daddy Black I’ve been thinking at length about your “shot glass” technique for seeds. Is it as simple as I am thinking, and you just place into a shot glass of water for 12ish hours? Your seed(s) that spilled their guts, were those in a shot glass both times they spilled? Do you see any correlation between the spilling and shot glass, possibly temperature related or just bound to happen after so many sprouts?
I was looking yesterday at the incredible amount of water I wasted filling 3 mason jars halfway full for 8 seeds. It seems a shot glass would both reduce my water usage AND make it easier to grab the seeds without having to play a modified bobbing for apples game to get them. A shot glass would also probably be much easier to keep at a warmer temp.
I was looking yesterday at the incredible amount of water I wasted filling 3 mason jars halfway full for 8 seeds. It seems a shot glass would both reduce my water usage AND make it easier to grab the seeds without having to play a modified bobbing for apples game to get them. A shot glass would also probably be much easier to keep at a warmer temp.
The water's just there to provide moisture and the quantity only matters in that its enough that it doesn't dry out. I use about two ounces in my small cups. As long as there's still water in the glass, more doesn't help.
I've only been using the shot glasses for about the last 3 grows (just got them about 6 months or so ago). But I'm fairly certain the gut-spilling had nothing to do with the shot glasses.
Before shot glasses I used solo cups for the soaks and that's where the other gut spills occurred. But as I said before, in those instances I was to blame. I left the seeds in the water for too long in an attempt to get lengthier tap roots.
I typically soak seeds for 24 hours and then place them in paper towels if no tap root has emerged. If a tap root has emerged they go straight into peat-pucks or soil-filled solo cups.
You definitely do not need a large container to soak your seeds. It only requires a little bit of water!
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- #78
That’s what I was thinking as I was pulling them out of the jars yesterday. I’m not sure how I even got started using the jars in the first place, most likely out of necessity I imagine.
With growing organics and utilizing the soil food web it’s changed my outlook and has forced me to confront my excesses and resource usage.
I've only been using the shot glasses for about the last 3 grows (just got them about 6 months or so ago). But I'm fairly certain the gut-spilling had nothing to do with the shot glasses.
Before shot glasses I used solo cups for the soaks and that's where the other gut spills occurred. But as I said before, in those instances I was to blame. I left the seeds in the water for too long in an attempt to get lengthier tap roots.
I typically soak seeds for 24 hours and then place them in paper towels if no tap root has emerged. If a tap root has emerged they go straight into peat-pucks or soil-filled solo cups.
You definitely do not need a large container to soak your seeds. It only requires a little bit of water!
The gut spilling has me so intrigued for some reason
I kept thinking about it all day.. Were you able to rescue the first one that melted on you?
I've never had success at saving any gut busters. I put this most recent one in a peat puck I don't expect it to survive. If it does, believe me, ERRBODY will hear about it!That’s what I was thinking as I was pulling them out of the jars yesterday. I’m not sure how I even got started using the jars in the first place, most likely out of necessity I imagine.
With growing organics and utilizing the soil food web it’s changed my outlook and has forced me to confront my excesses and resource usage.
The gut spilling has me so intrigued for some reason
Highya Keffka,
For me, stem thickness is of upmost concern! I use horsetail (apply lots of those plant pieces) to give extra silica to limbs so they can carry the bud weight until harvest! I still end up tying many limbs to guard against losing limbs/plants to high winds and hurricanes during the last stage of developement! The innards take care of themselves, I guess! Happy Smokin'