GDB Does Cosmic Lights & Other Photos

[Grand Daddy Black]

My photos and autos all tend to come up within 48-72 hours of dropping them (split) into my peat pucks. I keep them at 80º on a heat mat in a shoebox with a cfl directly above for more warmth. I like to have them pretty wet for the first 24 hours and then let the middle dry out and just keep the exterior damp while the tap root and stem grow.

And no matter how many diagrams show seeds twisting and turning, I put mine in the pucks tap root down!

I have had dud seeds though, and if I had one go over 4 days I'd start peeling back the peat to see what the heck was going on.

I have some things call Rapid Rooters. Are they the same a peat pucks or even similar to them?

 

[InTheShed]

I think they're similar but different. Peat pucks are just peat, and rapid rooters say they're made from "composted tree bark and organic materials," though they feel man-made to me!

They should be functionally similar though.

 

[Grand Daddy Black]

I think they're similar but different. Peat pucks are just peat, and rapid rooters say they're made from "composted tree bark and organic materials," though they feel man-made to me!

They should be functionally similar though.

Thanks, Shed. I used to use rapid rooters to start my seeds when I was growing DWC and they worked well. But then a had a hydro tank, drip-feeder set-up. If I use them now I'll be using one of those domed trays and a heating mat.

Trying a new method at this point, when I really need to get another seed going quickly is going to be quite stressful. I'd better clean all my pipes up. I'm gonna need them!

 

[beez0404]

@Grand Daddy Black do you have any perlite? I germinate every seed I grow in a hempy (perlite) cup and over the last two years has proven to be extremely reliable. I thoroughly scarify all my seeds in a small plastic cigar tube with 120 grit sandpaper glued to the inside of it with the grit facing the inside of course. I added about 1 - 2 tbs of white playground sand to the tube. I just drop in my seeds, put on the cap and shake shake shake the heck out of them. They go straight from the tube to the perlite cup. The vast majority of the seeds break the surface at day 4. I plant them between 1/2" and 3/4" deep. I am actually in the middle of testing if it makes a difference which way the tap root is pointed. Right now with limited experimentation I'm leaning to sideways. Once you plant the seed I spray the inside of a clear solo cup and put it over the cup as a dome. It will stay on till the second day after the plant has sprouted at which time I put it away till the next plant. To prep the hempy cup I pour water over the perlite spreading it out trying to get it all wet. Fill the reservoir completely and then put it on a seedling heat mat overnight. Next day scarify the seed/s and plant them in the perlite. Here is a photo of a hempy solo cup. Note the hole at 1.5" up from the bottom.

20200315_145450.jpg

• beez0404
• Mar 15, 2020

 

[Grand Daddy Black]

@Grand Daddy Black do you have any perlite? I germinate every seed I grow in a hempy (perlite) cup and over the last two years has proven to be extremely reliable. I thoroughly scarify all my seeds in a small plastic cigar tube with 120 grit sandpaper glued to the inside of it with the grit facing the inside of course. I added about 1 - 2 tbs of white playground sand to the tube. I just drop in my seeds, put on the cap and shake shake shake the heck out of them. They go straight from the tube to the perlite cup. The vast majority of the seeds break the surface at day 4. I plant them between 1/2" and 3/4" deep. I am actually in the middle of testing if it makes a difference which way the tap root is pointed. Right now with limited experimentation I'm leaning to sideways. Once you plant the seed I spray the inside of a clear solo cup and put it over the cup as a dome. It will stay on till the second day after the plant has sprouted at which time I put it away till the next plant. To prep the hempy cup I pour water over the perlite spreading it out trying to get it all wet. Fill the reservoir completely and then put it on a seedling heat mat overnight. Next day scarify the seed/s and plant them in the perlite. Here is a photo of a hempy solo cup. Note the hole at 1.5" up from the bottom.

20200315_145450.jpg

• beez0404
• Mar 15, 2020

Thanks, Beez. No soak before the perlite?

 

[ChefDGreen]

i was literally looking for the post in @beez0404 ’s Columbia gold thread for that exact method. If you want all of your germination problems to end for good, follow beez’s instructions to a T. Scarification and perlite hempy together never fails.

once your seedling comes up, it’s very easy to pluck the seedling from the perlite and plant it into soil. If you hold the cup in your hand and squeeze it to loosen up the perlite the seedling will come right out, whole with a gentle pull.

 

[Grand Daddy Black]

i was literally looking for the post in @beez0404 ’s Columbia gold thread for that exact method. If you want all of your germination problems to end for good, follow beez’s instructions to a T. Scarification and perlite hempy together never fails.

once your seedling comes up, it’s very easy to pluck the seedling from the perlite and plant it into soil. If you hold the cup in your hand and squeeze it to loosen up the perlite the seedling will come right out, whole with a gentle pull.

Thanks for looking out, Chef!

 

[Grand Daddy Black]

Hello growers.

I found bugs on my plant today, so now I'm back to the real world with my Cosmic Lights.

Little microscopic black things. I don't think they've done much damage...yet. I sprayed the underside of the leaves with Neem oil. I then went to 420 sponsor @Sierra Natural Science and bought a bottle of their Spider Mite stuff, 'cause that's what I think they are.

I also set off some bug vapor bombs in my grow space. All of these plants will need to be washed at the end.

On a more positive note, the germination issues I thought I was having with the new photo seeds I dropped turned out to be more a matter of impatience on my part. All 3 of the remaining seeds I buried are now on the right side of the dirt.

The Fatkid's Cake and the Jack Herrer are now in play! They arose a full 13 days after they had been buried. (The Strawberry Grape Banana showed up days ago).

Still, 13 days is entirely too long to wait (and too stressful when you're trying to maintain a schedule). When I was getting frustrated about waiting on them (as I have done with many seeds recently), I sought help from you guys on germination tips. @beez0404, @InTheShed and @ChefDGreen were kind enough to weigh in. Thank you guys so much!

After considering their input, I did a little further research looking for what I thought was the right method for me, a lazy person. I settled on Pro Mix in a solo cup topped by about 2 inches of vermiculite.

I had already dropped 2 more seeds into water (a Grand Daddy Purple and another Alaskan Purple to replace the one that didn't make it). So off to the Grow store to get some vermiculite and try it on them.

Both seeds sprouted tiny tap roots overnight. (In the rush to drop them, I completely forgot to scarify them - something I always do.)

I put them in the solo cups last night after making sure everything was nice and damp. And I covered them with humidity domes (more solo cups) and placed them on a heating mat.

This morning the Alaskan Purple was out! That's less than 24 hours after being buried.
The downside: the helmet on her is fully affixed. It's gonna be a chore getting it off safely. I think I'll follow Beez's directions next time and not soak the seeds because this AP came up too fast.

The reason I went with the Pro Mix underneath was because I didn't want to have to take the seedling out of the cup (of vermiculite or perlite). I want it to start growing there, undisturbed, where I can observe the root development.

This is a big deal to me. My last seed order (original GG#4s) comes with 8 freebie, single seeds. Some of the single-seed strains sound awesome and I'll only get one chance to germinate each one. I needed to find a better way!

If you made it to the end of this post, I am grateful for your interest. If you didn't, then I can say just about anything I want about you, 'cause you'll never see it!

Thanks for stopping by!

 

[InTheShed]

Sorry to hear about the bugs but you certainly got your arms around that one fast! And total congratulations on getting sprouts after 13 frickin' days...


Patience obviously pays off. Nice to hear your vermiculite sprout bucked the recent trend and popped up so soon! Helmet-heads in pervermiculite is a known issue though. I'm looking forward to hear how the layered system works for you.

 

[Heavenly Hybrid]

Hi GDB! Looks like I’m just in time for some new babies, congrats! That Cosmic Lights is a beauty!! Good luck, hopefully you can get those bugs dealt with quickly.

I’m curious how deep you’re burying the seeds? Two weeks is crazy long and I wonder if they were buried too deep and the helmet head was too shallow? If that’s a known issue with vermiculite, it must not give enough resistance to push the casing off?? Anyhow, it’s good to see things workin out in GDB gardens.

 

[Grand Daddy Black]

Hi GDB! Looks like I’m just in time for some new babies, congrats! That Cosmic Lights is a beauty!! Good luck, hopefully you can get those bugs dealt with quickly.

I’m curious how deep you’re burying the seeds? Two weeks is crazy long and I wonder if they were buried too deep and the helmet head was too shallow? If that’s a known issue with vermiculite, it must not give enough resistance to push the casing off?? Anyhow, it’s good to see things workin out in GDB gardens.

Hello, HH! So nice to hear from you.

Down to business, I may have planted the seeds to shallow or too deep. I need to pay more attention!

 

[Grand Daddy Black]

Sorry to hear about the bugs but you certainly got your arms around that one fast! And total congratulations on getting sprouts after 13 frickin' days...


Patience obviously pays off. Nice to hear your vermiculite sprout bucked the recent trend and popped up so soon! Helmet-heads in pervermiculite is a known issue though. I'm looking forward to hear how the layered system works for you.

Thanks, Shed. 13 days I think because I was not giving them enough water. Once I started using the GDB Dribbler, things started to happen.

 

[InTheShed]

®

 

[Heavenly Hybrid]

Thanks GDB, it’s good to get back into the swing of things in here and see what you’ve got going on. I have a chopstick that I marked with how deep to make the hole with. I think I got that idea from @MrSauga? Anyhow, it’s better than me trying to wing it or remeber how far I went last time.

 

[Grand Daddy Black]

Thanks GDB, it’s good to get back into the swing of things in here and see what you’ve got going on. I have a chopstick that I marked with how deep to make the hole with. I think I got that idea from @MrSauga? Anyhow, it’s better than me trying to wing it or remeber how far I went last time.

Thanks, Ms. H. However, if it's a SaugaStick I probably can't afford it.

 

[Grand Daddy Black]

Sorry to hear about the bugs but you certainly got your arms around that one fast! And total congratulations on getting sprouts after 13 frickin' days...


Patience obviously pays off. Nice to hear your vermiculite sprout bucked the recent trend and popped up so soon! Helmet-heads in pervermiculite is a known issue though. I'm looking forward to hear how the layered system works for you.

Thanks, Shed. With regard to the layering method, what could go wrong?

 

[InTheShed]

For science!

 

[Grand Daddy Black]

Hello grow pros!

Time for a quick update on my Cosmic Lights. She's on day 28 post-flip (day 81 from birth). I am holding her at 4.8g of Mega Crop and today I'll begin adding 1.25g of Sweet Candy.

The Neem oil treatment from a few days back seems to have at least killed of some of the little critters.

I took her to the back porch today to try and get some better pics. (Not sure that worked. )

I was really pleased with the shaping I was able to achieve on this plant.

Lastly, her buds are stacking up nicely, and they are sticky, smelly and frosty!

My only disappointment thus far (aside from the bugs) is that I'm not seeing any of the colors like those shown in the seedbank's pics of this strain. Their flower has a beautiful sort of pinkish color. Guess I got another pheno.

@New420Guy Seeds Pic of Cosmic Lights

I know bud color is a somewhat of a minor quibble. But I was really looking forward to seeing those colors!
I suppose it still could starting changing colors at some point!

Thanks for stopping by!

Later!

 

[Grand Daddy Black]

Hey growers. I have shrunk the text below because I posted this update in the wrong thread. This should have been posted -- and has been posted -- in my auto thread.

Sorry about that!

Hello grow consortium!

I've got a lot on my plate today, but I'll be trying to provide updates on all of my autos today.

I'll begin with my problem child. (I should say my 2nd problem child. The first, my small Stardawg, was tossed a while back.)

Another disappointing Californian Snow is the remaining problem. I was checking her trichs a few days back because I believed she was close to done. I was shocked by what I saw under the microscopic lens. Bugs! Tons of little red Spider Mites crawling among the flowers.

I immediately took her out of the tent and gave her a nook and cranny spray with Neem Oil, covering every area of the plant. I then put her on the back porch where she would be in the dark or in the shadows for the short remainder of her life.

That was 2 days ago. Today, I've set up a set of buckets for bud-washing. I'll be taking the plant down and washing her shortly.

I messed up with this plant at the outset, giving her a bit too much water at an early age. She recovered, but as a result, her growth was stunted. She didn't produce much but her few buds are rock-hard and sticky (hopefully not from spider mite semen .) I know from past experience that her smoke will be on point (though I'm not sure I'll smoke any).

Que sera, sera.
The last time I grew this strain, I got some kind of genetic mutant that barely grew at all and ended up yielding about 3/4 ounce of straight fire.
According to my seedventory, I have 1 more of these seeds left. Maybe the third run will be the charm!

Be back in a bit!

 

[InTheShed]

Cosmic Lights looks terrific, and great structure! Keep any oil sprays off the pistils or it will turn them brown, and my feeling is it stunts bud development as well.

And I dare say that their pic of the pink buds was not without a bit of color correcting.