Dark Devil, Purple Lemonade & Zkittles Autos

[Grand Daddy Black]

Hello, growers!

I took about a week off after my last harvest and am about to get back in the saddle again. If you are kind enough to read my journal, please keep in mind that I am a low-tech grower who seeks low-tech solutions. I am interested in helping those growers who don't have a ton of money or technical/scientific knowledge. Why? Because that's what I am!

This will be an all-soil grow. And no, I am not done with DWC. But I grew one plant in soil the last time and thought it turned out really nice despite the fact that I knew little about what I was doing. However, due to that effort, I've got a few clues and ideas about how to improve things this time around. Plus, I'm hoping the 420 soil gurus will get me over the hump!

As I type this, I am trying to germinate 6 seeds:

2 Thin Mint Crack Auto (Thin Mint Pheno of Girl Scout Cookies xo Green Crack, THC 23%)
2 Sticky Fingers Auto (Thin Mint Pheno of Girl Scout Cookies x Gorilla Glue, THC 20)
2 Candy Cream Auto (Candy Cream x ruderalis strain, THC 18)

They were placed in cups of natural spring water yesterday and sunk to the bottom overnight. They're sitting on a radiator, nice and warm.

I've got six rapid rooter plugs soaking in a mild, starter nutrient solution.

When the seeds pop, they'll go into the rapid rooters and regular potting soil in Solo cups (and back to the radiator).

I'm still using my only 4x4x7 tent. I don't think it has enough room for 6 plants in 5 gallon fabric pots. So if all of these seeds sprout, I'll be growing four of them in 5 gallons fabric pots and two in 3 gallon fabric pots.

It will still be crowded (but from the look of the seeds, I'll be surprised if they all pop).

I'll be back with more information about the grow once the seeds pop.

Later!

 

[Old Salt]

It looks like a good show. I'm in.

Since you are interested in low cost, you might want to take a look at The Mega Crop Thread. It's costing me less than the just the Flora Bloom did, when I ran with the General Hydroponics' Flora Trio and supplements.

 

[Grand Daddy Black]

It looks like a good show. I'm in.

Since you are interested in low cost, you might want to take a look at The Mega Crop Thread. It's costing me less than the just the Flora Bloom did, when I ran with the General Hydroponics' Flora Trio and supplements.

Welcome, Salt. But I won't be using any nutrients this time around. It's a super-soil grow, only need is water!

 

[Old Salt]

Welcome, Salt. But I won't be using any nutrients this time around. It's a super-soil grow, only need is water!

Sounds good. I'm still in. I may give soil a try next spring/summer with the auto-flowering seeds I have.

 

[Grand Daddy Black]

Sounds good. I'm still in. I may give soil a try next spring/summer with the auto-flowering seeds I have.

I tried one soil plant in my last grow. I think I almost screwed it up from under-watering, but the results still blew me away (in appearance, any way -- haven't smoked any yet). I want to see what happens if I can get the soil grow right by better watering!

 

[Old Salt]

I don't know if you've found these yet...

You'll find lots of good information for soil growing in Emilya's current journal. Her paper, 'The Proper Way to Water a Potted Plant' is considered a must read for soil growing.

 

[Grand Daddy Black]

I don't know if you've found these yet...

You'll find lots of good information for soil growing in Emilya's current journal. Her paper, 'The Proper Way to Water a Potted Plant' is considered a must read for soil growing.

Thanks, Old Salt. I read and bookmarked the post. Very helpful!

 

[Grand Daddy Black]

Well, I only got 2 of the 6 seeds to germinate. The four that didn't germ were from a new seedbank I was trying. When I informed them of the problem they basically said, "tough shit." So that's my first and last time dealing with them.

Even the 2 seeds that germed have not popped out of the soil. (I put them in soil after they had a tail.) I don't expect that they will but they are still down there somewhere and I'm still waiting. Don't know what went wrong this time around!

Of course, I kept reading stuff on 420 while waiting for my seeds to pop. As a result, I ordered some Megacrop (couldn't help myself). So now my growing options have expanded. Jeezy Peezy, more decisions to make!

And since I'm in soil for now, I also bought some plants stakes so I can try to really train my plants.

New seed line up:

2 Zkittles Auto
2 Candy Cream Auto

I think 4 five gallon pots is near my limit in my 4x4 tent but I'm not too keen on using smaller pots to try to fill in the space.

Know what? After failing to get my last set of seeds even off the ground, I feel a little doofus talking about my current plans.

I'm going to wait until these seeds pop and then come back with more info. (I'll be doing comparison grows again.)

Sorry for wasting your time.

Later!

 

[Grand Daddy Black]

I'm posting so my journal will live on. I'm having a fit trying to germinate seeds and I think I know why. But I'm not going to say why this evening because this Packers v. Vikings game is too good.

I will discuss....

Later!

 

[Grand Daddy Black]

Hello growers, and Happy New Year to you all!

Like a man without clues
I've got the germination blues

I've been having a fit trying to germinate seeds
And so I'm behind in growing my weeds

I had a fool-proof method for popping beans
And I'll bet you all know what that means

I decided to try a new, different way
And I've been slapping myself since that day

Stop with the poetry, you say?
Okay.

Over the past 4 weeks or so I've gone through a dozen seeds and only got 3 to sprout.

I tried using the paper-towel method with a heating mat that I just purchased. I think the heating mat was more like a cooking mat. I say this because the 3 seeds that did sprout all had brownish tap roots, not pearly white. Two of those seeds never made an appearance after being placed in a soil/coco mix. The one seed that did start produced a healthy looking plant that is the tiniest thing I've ever seen after two weeks growth. I think its a Zkittles Auto, but I'm not sure.

So I'm going back to my hydro-pop method. It's a tote bin set up with drip feeders. I use either rapid rooters or rockwool cubes and a mild nutrient mix in about 10 gallons of water. I've had a 100% success rate with this method, to date. It looks like this:

Plants started this way seem to start and grow really fast. So I'm going to let them stay in the bin for a few weeks until they're a nice size and then put them in soil.

I am not happy about blowing through so many seeds. But, thanks to taking advantage of Black Friday sales I scored a ton of freebies in December. I've got so many beans now I might eat a few.

As you see I'm a big Auto fan.

Blue Dreamatic
StarDawg
Chocolate Skunk
Afghan Mass
Californian Snow
Purple Lemonade
Dark Devil
Glue Gelato
Black Cream
Blueberry
Onyx
Colorado Cookies
Northern Lights
Strawberry Cheesecake
Lemon AK
Peyote Critical

Haven't settled on what to try yet but I'll be doing 4 different strains in 5 gallon pots. I think when I repot that sprouted runt I'll just put her in a 3 gallon fabric pot.

Back to germinating. Wish me luck!

Later!

 

[Old Salt]

I started producing my own seed due to the high failure rate I was experiencing. Every darn seed I've dropped since then, both bought and home grown have germinated!

 

[Grand Daddy Black]

I haven't gone into seed production yet. I started out growing autos and can't seem to kick the habit. (I've got a need for speed.) I've got a bunch of regular and fem seeds that I don't even give a second thought about growing. Guess I need more grow space.

Happy New Year, Old Salt!

 

[Grand Daddy Black]

Hey, growers.

I decided to grow a Glue Gelato, a Pineapple Lemonade, a Chocolate Skunk and a Dark Devil. I'm back to my hydro-pop germination method and put the four seeds in the bin, enclosed in Rapid Rooters, on Friday the 3rd.

The Dark Devil popped out this morning (1/5), and I was really relieved to see it. When I said in a previous post that I had, to date, experienced a 100% germination rate using the bin, I really thought I had jinxed myself and that this would be the first time that it failed me. Of course, I'm still waiting on the other 3 seeds to sprout, but seeing 1 has lowered my stress level.

If all 4 seeds sprout, I'll have 5 plants for my 4x4 tent. I've never done more than 4 in there and have my doubts about the fit. I have no other grow space option so I'll have to try and make it work. I'm going to use 4 five gallon pots and 1 three gallon.

That's all for now. I ran out of rolling papers and have to go to the corner store.



Later!

 

[Grand Daddy Black]

Hey growers.

Here I go with the daily posts again. No, I'm not going to go there this time, though I do love posting on this site!

I just want to get some info out and ask a question or two.

First, I had a second seed sprout. It's the second of the four I dropped on 1/3 after a brief visit to germination hell where only 3 of a dozen attempts was successful (and 2 of those died in the soil). The purple lemonade looked out at me this morning. I'm happy to see her! So now I have that, a Dark Devil and a Zkittles (2 weeks old, from the previous germ effort) to work with. There's a Glue Gelato and a Chocolate Skunk that hopefully will be added to the mix soon, if they look out at me.

Its a good time, I guess, to provide a little more info on my plans.

This will be a soil grow using Foxfarms Ocean Forest, Mega Crop (MC) and, hopefully, very little else. I'm excited about the MC because it sounds so much easier to use than the numerous bottles of stuff I've used before.

I had planned to do a comparison grow between concentrated super-soil and Ocean Forest/MC. But I'm going to save the super-soil for another time. I'm too curious about the MC and the super soil doesn't need it. And I really just want to concentrate on what MC can do. My only comparison during this grow will be the plants that get Bud Explosion (a supplement made by the MC folks) and those that don't. This comparison is triggered by an intriguing debate I recently read on this site's Mega Crop thread regarding whether the supplement is helpful or not. I don't know if I'm proficient enough to find out, but I'm gonna give it a try in the cause of world peace!

Now that my journal title is totally misleading (I'm not growing any of the strains in the title), does anyone know if there's a way I can change it? Or, can I get an admin to change it?

And now to tag all of the folks that helped me with my first few grows and a few others as well. Please check in if you have time because I'm sure one or all of you will have some useful input! I'm getting more comfortable with growing, but I'm not ready to fly solo yet!

@West Hippie @Rifleman @InTheShed @Emilya @Chris Scorpio @Grandpa Tokin @John Wick @Canuckush @Van Stank

I feel like I'm almost back in the saddle again!

Later!

 

[Emilya Green]

Welcome back! I will be watching your experiment with great interest.

 

[Rifleman]

Front row dontcha know.

I've also been in germination hell ever since I garbaged the 27" console TV. My best luck since has been directly into rapid rooters and then straight into the dwc buckets. Still only running about 50/50.

Was going to do a photo plant run myself but the germ probs screwed my garden too. Two tents and eight buckets, still 65 days away from harvest and only have 4oz on hand. Rationing and frustration are my life currently.

 

[West Hippie]

Thanks for the tag , about time you cranked it back up . Love the choice of seeds ! And you know I’m in .

 

[Grand Daddy Black]

Welcome back! I will be watching your experiment with great interest.

So glad to have you, @Emilya ! I'm starting to feel warm and fuzzy.

 

[Grand Daddy Black]

Thanks for the tag , about time you cranked it back up . Love the choice of seeds ! And you know I’m in .

Welcome back, @West Hippie !

 

[Grand Daddy Black]

Front row dontcha know.

I've also been in germination hell ever since I garbaged the 27" console TV. My best luck since has been directly into rapid rooters and then straight into the dwc buckets. Still only running about 50/50.

Was going to do a photo plant run myself but the germ probs screwed my garden too. Two tents and eight buckets, still 65 days away from harvest and only have 4oz on hand. Rationing and frustration are my life currently.

Welcome back, @Rifleman ! You've been to germination hell, too? I'm surprised I didn't see you there! I wouldn't want to live there and it's not even a nice place to visit.