Germination

[estranged]

first time grower,, seasoned smoker,,

well i did the paper towel and plates on cable box with 8 7-year old bag seeds,,
and after 24 hours they all cracked and 5 of them have root tips about 8 mm long... do i plant these now or wait till like 1/2 inch to 1 inch long then plant,,

i planted 4 skunk seeds (supposedly) might just be bagseed in seed bank packaging. with out germinating ,,also roughly 7 years old ,, how long without seeing nothing till i give up on those,,,

also put 2 seeds from skunk into glass of covered water ,,, they have cracked but no tap roots yet,, do i wait till tap roots again are 1/2 inch to inch or just plant,,,

also i bought the some cheap soil which has has time release nutes,,
schultz i believe ,, anyways can i plant them in this for a bit then when moving to bigger pots change soil,,

thanks for any advice you might have for this rookie ,,

 

[Insider]

well i did the paper towel and plates on cable box with 8 7-year old bag seeds,,
and after 24 hours they all cracked and 5 of them have root tips about 8 mm long... do i plant these now or wait till like 1/2 inch to 1 inch long then plant,,

I would have planted them.

i planted 4 skunk seeds (supposedly) might just be bagseed in seed bank packaging. with out germinating ,,also roughly 7 years old ,, how long without seeing nothing till i give up on those,,,

Could take up to two weeks, not 100% sure about the two weeks but i remember reading it somewhere.

also put 2 seeds from skunk into glass of covered water ,,, they have cracked but no tap roots yet,, do i wait till tap roots again are 1/2 inch to inch or just plant,,,

Think you should take them out of the water and put them and use the papertowels or plant them, i planted two bigbangs recently straight from cups of water with only cracks and they came out fine.

also i bought the some cheap soil which has has time release nutes,,
schultz i believe ,, anyways can i plant them in this for a bit then when moving to bigger pots change soil,,

I would not have used this soil, especially not for seedlings, well not even for well grown plants. Time released nutrients can burn your little ones bad.

 

[estranged]

thanks for the info insider,, i guess maybe i will pick up some different soil to plant the others tomorrow,,,

as for the ones i planted i guess just wait and see what happens,,
how soon (if they grow) could i move them to different soil?
the mixture i used was,

Schultz Moisture Soil Plus
Complete potting mix
.o8-.12-.08
feeds 6months
about 2/3 of this used
a wet more damp soil

Schultz Potting Soil Plus
Complete potting and plant mix
.08-.12-.08
feeds 9 months
about 1/3 used
an airier more dry soil,,

hopefully this will do until strong enough to transplant,, i have been searching around trying to find the best soil to use that would hopefully be in one bag,, but not finding any luck,, guess just going to have to buy everything and make own mix,, but without a grow shop here and only one very nosy garden supply,, might prove difficult,.

 

[Insider]

I order my soil online, no problem as long as you only have a couple plants.

Couldnt tell about the soil you got as i only used this ready mix called all-mix from biobizz.
Although i think the npk values 8-12-8 seems a bit high for seedlings.

What i would do is get some online or buy somethinng without timereleased nutes and only low npk values. Then repot asap.

Im not sure of the npk being high though but i hope someone else does.

 

[estranged]

thanks again for the advice insider ,,

while i was out tonight i grabbed a bag of soil that has no time release nutrients,,
at least i don't think so ,, it doesnt say anything about it,,
just says weed free organic mix by Hortibec

ingredients list,,
Canadian Sphagnum peat moss
humus
compost
perlite

would this be sufficient for the other sprouts??
since that other schultz mix no good should i dig the seeds out and replant or wait till sprout up for like 5 - 10 days then transplant,,?

i also got 8 23w 6500k cfls,, and two 18" 15w fluorescent tubes fixtures,,
1600 lumens x 8 = 12,800 lumens
plus i might throw in the two 42w cfl 2700k to total 18,000 lumens
plus the 2 18" 15w inch fluorescent tubes i dont know what they would be,,

would 18,000 lumens be good to veg 4 - 6 plants in a 3x3x3 veg chamber? ,,

wow.. us newbies just full of questions huh,,
im sure thats just the start of them for me ,,
well thanks to those that help out im off to read about nutrients some more,,lol,,

 

[Insider]

That soil sounds good, very good actually. can you find soil ph or ec on the bag?
You could ruinthe taproot if you dig them up now but if you are very careful it would be the best thingto do, i know i would.

Think you can pull it of nicely with those lights, the more the merrier Keep them close.
You better add some 2700k for flower.

 

[estranged]

right on ,,,
thanks for the once again excellent reply,, answered all my questions,,

i got stupid and eager and started carefully (or so i thought) digging in some of soil that i put the seeds straight into to see if germinated yet,,

well the first one i got too rather unscathed and it was not cracked yet,,
so i picked it up with fingers and squeezed it to see if was still hard,, lol,,
out came gooey whiteness,, oopps,

but if stupid and eager wasnt enough i moved onto the next one and as i was digging to find it ,, i dropped the cup and well ya,,, oops,,lol

so i next went to a bagseed one i planted straight without germination and well i found it unscathed seen it has tap root and just covered back up and left it alone,, but now you say maybe i should transplant all them into new soil now,, i think i will move all 6 tomorrow as well as plant the other 4 i have germinating now with 4mm tap roots,, and start germinating the other 6 seeds i got too,, lol,, i gotta get at least a couple of plants that will at least hopefully give me one female,,

oh ya im not going to flower under the cfl's ,, those are just for 3x3x3 veg chamber,,
eventually will have 2x3x3 mother chamber (hopefully)
and 3x3x6 flower chamber with hid ,,

any help on nutes would be great,, as i cant find much info for stuff other than at grow shops,, which is 3 hours away,,
im thinking black strap mollasses,, and i dont know what else,, worm castings maybe,,?
but man im rambling now,, thanks again insider,,

 

[estranged]

oh ya no there is no ph on the soil,, i dont know,, i think i should just make a 6 hour round trip and go get some fox farms,, lol

here is pics of the soils,,
the first two are what i already used ,,
the last one is what i think i might use now,, or maybe moves the other seeds to this stuff to i don' know,, lol,,

 

[Insider]

Ok i see now that the npk values are 0.08-0.12-0.08 which isnt much (thought it was 8-12-8), maybe they could do fine in this soil. Then again the nutes are timereleased, its really up to you, think id let them go in that and use better soil at repot.
If you choose to go get some foxfarms it will be easier for people to help you cause i get the impression many in here uses it.

The second soil you got there i would never use cause it holds moisture in some way, good draining is what we want. The last pack there got the ingredients we need, it also has some compost in it, I would repot into that when the time comes for bigger pots . I think you should be good with that for a couple weeks, or until you see signs of defiency. You should get a grownute high in N, a bloomnute high in P-K and some epsom salts. That would be a basic kit to start out with. (i would get nutes designed for this purpose) The grow and bloom nutes should be complete grow and bloom nutes with micronutrients.

I might be sending you the wrong way here but this is what i would do

Hope someone with more experience could put in their 2cent so you wouldnt be dependent on a noob like me

 

[fineas]

Hi Estranged,
I took a spindly little seedling growing in a rock wool cube and put it in a peat pot with that Schultz type soil. The peat pot looked like a brown dixie cup made of peat. The seedling grew very nice and full under a cfl and was very vigorous and healthy. When I saw roots coming out of the peat pot (and the roots were thick and white just lovely...), I put the pot and all in a pot covered with hydroton and put in my E&F garden with one 23 or so W daylight (6700K) specifically for it. I have other plants growing in there...tomatoes, basil, chives all in straight hydroton. The seedling is now a beautiful foot tall very nice youngling. (and growing under the community lights all 6700Kdaylight cfls.)The peat pot keeps the soil from escaping and all is well.
The point I am making is that that soil is ok for now. I would NEVER remove seeds once they are planted for the reason the roots can be very easly damaged and then you cut off the umbilical cord so to speak, that provides nutrients to the plants. Look at the root of a plant under a mag glass You will see tiny tiny hairs that are the capillaries of the root. You can then see just how delicate they are.
When the plant is strong and big enough to start using its leaves for photosynthesis, then very gently transplant them into the growing medium you will choose for your plant. As always do this in the cleanest environment with very clean hands and pots and all with very gentle hands... Why give your plants more to fight when you dont have to by a little infection control anf TLC?

 

[estranged]

hey thanks for the help guys,,

i thought maybe those levels were low enough not to hurt too much,,
well i guess just see what happens,,
plant the rest in that other soil,, then when time to move to bigger pots just make sure have ffof by then,, how long roughly till rootbound in 500ml pots?
just curious ,, cause i gotta make 6 hour round trip for ffof,, unless i order online but im pretty sketchy when comes to order that stuff online,, or for that matter anything online really,, but would really save time and gas money,,

anyways if they do start to grow for me,, most likely will start a journal just cause i will be a very happy noob, needing all the advice he can get so his dream to never have to pay for smoke again can become a reality,,
(i guess if im going to start a online journal might as well order online,, )

im hoping to get at least 5 females out of 12 seeds,,
pick best for mother,, and flower other 4,,
and continue taking cuttings from mom to veg and flower,,
havent got it all figured out as i dont have any idea how its going to go or grow should i say,,

i just would like to have new crop every month if possible of at least 4 ounces for personal smoke,, is this possible
any ideas of how i can set this up would be greatly appreciated,, have gone through countless journals and online info on growing for the last 4 years,,
but when comes down to it there is so much info and so many different ways,, i cant make up my mind,, like i still think i should just chuck these ones start the other 8 seeds and do hydro or aero,, but then they say soil easiest first time,,

i dont know,, i need to smoke a joint,, man i blab on here,, i gotta learn how to write shorter freaking posts,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,