I'll start off with saying WOW what an informative site. I've read as much as I can and a bit overwhelmed at times with the amount of information that is available.
I've done a bit of hydroponics for tomatoes and soil growing in a small garden for beans, tomatoes, squash etc.
I now have a need to grow my own medical crop and live in a state where that has not passed into law yet, tho there is an active group and a supporter in the current legislature. Hopefully that will move forward and those with a need will no longer need to grow in secret.
Now on to my questions. I've had a mixed bag of success and failure over the past 4 months. Starting out with germination, lots of failure there. Luckily I have a friend who has provided me with a good number of seeds, however the strain is unknown. After reading every thread I could find on germination I came up with a process that works for me. I use a 5 gallon bucket with a brick in it. I use a couple of small clay pots filled with a mixture of perlite and soil. After a soaking for a few hours in warm water they get put into the pots. I then pour HOT water over the brick and fill the bucket just short of the top of the brick. The clay pots get placed on top of the brick and a plastic bag (from the grocery store) is placed over the top of the bucket and placed in a dark area. The next day the process starts again with replacing the water with another batch of HOT water. My issue then became sort of a good thing. I wasn't sure of the viability of the seeds and placed too many into the pots. They all germinated this time!
After giving the new seedlings a few days to grow, I transplanted them into other containers. Nutes (love that shortened word) given very sparingly with the watering.
Being very cautious with lighting (CFL's), 1 Sunblaze 44 and 3 35w CFL's (grow bulbs) they grew, however slowly. I slowly increased the nutes and lowered the light closer to the plants as my comfort level increased. They then responded and it was time to transplant again. Not sure if I wanted to go completly with hydro or soil, I've done a little of both. One 5 gallon bucket with 2 plants in a strictly aero (bubbler) setups, 3 in soil (2 doing well, one just sort of making it), 4 in a combination of aero/spray hydro, 5 in a strictly spray (one being outdoors in my tomato hydro setup). I also gave away 2 in dirt to my friend who provided the seeds, so we'll see how an outdoor grow goes for him.
The 2 in dirt that were doing well I've moved into a flowering setup with 3 CFL's for flower. These two are very bushy, starting at 16/8 and tying down a bit to hopefully promote some of those lower leaves to grow up and out. I'll be giving them a few days of this and then shorten the lighting period down to 14/10 and then 12/12. Still being somewhat cautious on the nutes and watering on these two. Still no determination on the sex on the plants, but hoping for the best.
The 1 remaining in dirt may go outside as I have some blueberry bushes (tho they like acidic soil) that should help conceal the plant.
I'll attach some pictures below and any comments are most welcome as to what these are, and other constructive advice for growing etc. All of these were started at the same time, however I did not document the date, I'd guess this is around the 10'th week from seed.
My question(s) being, does anyone grow in multiple mediums? Should I concentrate on just one growing medium (leaning towards HEMPY at the moment)?
Thank you in advance for your time. Thank you everyone for sharing your tips and advice. The FAQ's were most helpful as well.
This is a spray/bubbler setup.
Right bucket is hydro spray only, 3 just moved to the bucket
These 2 moved to a flowering stage
Small/short growth in dirt - this may go outside next to some blueberry plants to help conceal it.
These two are aero only - the right side is a smaller plant started at the same time and regiment as the left
I've done a bit of hydroponics for tomatoes and soil growing in a small garden for beans, tomatoes, squash etc.
I now have a need to grow my own medical crop and live in a state where that has not passed into law yet, tho there is an active group and a supporter in the current legislature. Hopefully that will move forward and those with a need will no longer need to grow in secret.
Now on to my questions. I've had a mixed bag of success and failure over the past 4 months. Starting out with germination, lots of failure there. Luckily I have a friend who has provided me with a good number of seeds, however the strain is unknown. After reading every thread I could find on germination I came up with a process that works for me. I use a 5 gallon bucket with a brick in it. I use a couple of small clay pots filled with a mixture of perlite and soil. After a soaking for a few hours in warm water they get put into the pots. I then pour HOT water over the brick and fill the bucket just short of the top of the brick. The clay pots get placed on top of the brick and a plastic bag (from the grocery store) is placed over the top of the bucket and placed in a dark area. The next day the process starts again with replacing the water with another batch of HOT water. My issue then became sort of a good thing. I wasn't sure of the viability of the seeds and placed too many into the pots. They all germinated this time!
After giving the new seedlings a few days to grow, I transplanted them into other containers. Nutes (love that shortened word) given very sparingly with the watering.
Being very cautious with lighting (CFL's), 1 Sunblaze 44 and 3 35w CFL's (grow bulbs) they grew, however slowly. I slowly increased the nutes and lowered the light closer to the plants as my comfort level increased. They then responded and it was time to transplant again. Not sure if I wanted to go completly with hydro or soil, I've done a little of both. One 5 gallon bucket with 2 plants in a strictly aero (bubbler) setups, 3 in soil (2 doing well, one just sort of making it), 4 in a combination of aero/spray hydro, 5 in a strictly spray (one being outdoors in my tomato hydro setup). I also gave away 2 in dirt to my friend who provided the seeds, so we'll see how an outdoor grow goes for him.
The 2 in dirt that were doing well I've moved into a flowering setup with 3 CFL's for flower. These two are very bushy, starting at 16/8 and tying down a bit to hopefully promote some of those lower leaves to grow up and out. I'll be giving them a few days of this and then shorten the lighting period down to 14/10 and then 12/12. Still being somewhat cautious on the nutes and watering on these two. Still no determination on the sex on the plants, but hoping for the best.
The 1 remaining in dirt may go outside as I have some blueberry bushes (tho they like acidic soil) that should help conceal the plant.
I'll attach some pictures below and any comments are most welcome as to what these are, and other constructive advice for growing etc. All of these were started at the same time, however I did not document the date, I'd guess this is around the 10'th week from seed.
My question(s) being, does anyone grow in multiple mediums? Should I concentrate on just one growing medium (leaning towards HEMPY at the moment)?
Thank you in advance for your time. Thank you everyone for sharing your tips and advice. The FAQ's were most helpful as well.
This is a spray/bubbler setup.
Right bucket is hydro spray only, 3 just moved to the bucket
These 2 moved to a flowering stage
Small/short growth in dirt - this may go outside next to some blueberry plants to help conceal it.
These two are aero only - the right side is a smaller plant started at the same time and regiment as the left
