CannaRebel
New Member
Hello there kind folk and welcome to my first documented growing attempt, as the title states, I'm going to attempt growing a few good seeds in somewhat clandestine conditions, I will be needing your growing wisdom during this voyage
Small prologue before we start;
I'm a longtime reader of 420Magasine, been stalking this place for about a couple of years now. Like any newbie to the growing world I think my plans were far bigger for what I could handle in the start to say the least.
And here I am again, I'm planing to start smaller and safer this time.
I spent a big deal of time and effort scrounging up all the needed material for this (The consumer market is a bit limited in that department where I am right now) and I'm still lacking a few. So DIY and improvisation are going to be the essence of this build.
I got some bag-seed from some friends, I thought it was decent when I smoked it so they saved me up 50 or so seeds. Naturally I wasn't going to go through the risk of growing for some bag-seed, oh no, I managed to get my hands on some Feminized Apollo Jack, Super Silver Haze, Himalaya Gold and White Widow....Now I don't quite remember the origins of these seeds, since they had to be shipped to a diff country, repackaged by my connection and mailed back to me (which takes a ridiculous amount of time for some odd reason).
So I wanted to see what my chances were with the bag-seed first before germinating my prime seeds. I put 12 in the paper towel and after a couple of days they all germinated, I planted them all in small pots/cups, used some soil I had lying around and put them under a CFL....after a few days they all deployed their cotyledons and even the first pair of true leaves...but those were hectic days and I don't know what caused their direct whithering but they gradually all died.
Yet I learned a few things from this failed pilot, I also knew that if I managed to germinate 12 unknown bag-seeds, my chances were better than that with a few quality seeds and better quality conditions. So I germinated 5 Apollo Jacks and well, this is where this journal kicks off....
On to the specs:
Strain: Apollo Jack - Not a lot of info on this seed, probably an underdog, we'll see what comes out. If you know something I don't please let me know.
Some SSH will also be grown - Now Super Silver Haze Being a cross of Northern Lights, Haze and Skunk (Just like Jack Herer) this could be my new favorite strain. It is supposed to be almost identical to Herer but is probably little more Haze dominant due to the longer flowering period <<<<(that wasn't me)
Phase: Currently 5 Apollo Jacks are in seedling stage (Day 8 since Germination)
Location: Indoor Closet.
Veg/Flowering time: 4 weeks Veg / 9 weeks Flowering
Cropping Methods to be used: ScroG + LST
Dimensions of grow space: 98cm W * 125cm H * 57cm D OR 3.21ft W * 4.10ft H * 1.8ft D meaning I have about 6sq. feet of space (Probably wont be needing all that vertical space though)
Medium: Soil (Adjusted Ready Mix, scroll down for details)
Container Size: 10 Liter pots (Possibly 14L Air Pots).
Light Source: Adjust-a-Wing Reflector with custom built 6 x(23W=>120W) CFL array. And Additional lights below ScroG level.
Ventilation: Bathroom air extractor.
Temp and Humidity: Currently at Night on Day 8 - 78F, 46%RH.
Co2? - Yes, Foilar spray Alka Seltzer
Nutes and Ferts: Currently watering them with aquarium water. I have Atami Ferts and Nutes incoming though.
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Oh and Hai!
Right off the bat I had the feeling that the soil I used for the first bag-seeds I planted was no good. I wasn't going to risk it messing up my quality seeds so I went out and got myself some premium indoor potting soil, now it's some underdog local brand but it's gonna have to do since I cant have any FFOF here.
Here's the soil composition:
I Noticed that the PH of this mix was a bit acidic on 6.0, I wanted to raise that and had no Lime or PH UP, a quick search for substitutes on Google told me I can get the same effect by drying the eggshells then pounding them into dust and mixing that in with the soil, and I did that.
I mixed my soil and my eggshell powder and added just enough water so that a handful of soil would mold but then quickly break up when poked. I also didn't have any Perlite to lighten the mix so I made sure not to pack the soil in the pots too much.
Once I had a centimeter or so on my taproots (paper towel method) I made 5mm deep holes with chopstick and placed each seed gently with the pointy end (where the taproot comes out from) pointing upwards. I read afterwards that according to cannon literature I was wrong in doing so...well at the end I don't think it mattered much.
On to some pics:
I kept them under a small CFL Daylight bulb, they all broke surface on day two, I didn't water them at all during the first week.
Here is a pic from day 7:
As you can see in the pic: They started stretching a bit early cos the light was far off, I brought it down closer to them and this is how I slightly burned the tip of one of them (?). Also notice the smaller seedling, the little runt in the little small pot, he displayed a lot of vigor and is quickly catching up to his bigger companions especially after the day 7 watering of nitrogen rich aquarium water (10mg Nitrite / Liter)
Here's a pic of the closet I'll be growing in (Excuse the mess):
I emptied it out of all of it's content, and spray cleaned it with medium strength solution of Detol and water.
Today is day 8, Saturday, I was bored so I decided to try my hand at building a small Incubator/Propagator for my young seedlings, on occasion of moving them into the closet today.
The Idea is simple: Get a foam fruit tray, line the inside with black panda film (I didnt have any Panda Film so I used a heavy duty 80L garbage bag, sliced it up to size. Once you line it up inside, fill the crate up to 1/3rd of the way up with water.
Drop a ceramic tile inside (Ceramics hold heat, so does Styrofoam, the black plastic keeps light out and prevents algae in the water) add some Detol to the water (thinking it will stop microscopic baddies) and attach an aquarium water heater to the tile (I used a 100W Heater that I got for next to nothing).
I set the heater to 28 Degrees Celcius, having read somewhere that if the temperature in the root-zone is slightly higher than that of the air, this would lead to faster root-mass being developed.
Put another sheet of plastic on top so that it barely touches the water.
Now Stapler/Duct Tape the whole thing together and into the closet it goes where the small CFL light hangs right on top of it:
One last pic of the babies:
00 Butt Road Service Centre Shipment Delivered In Good Condition. 
50 Butt Road Service Centre Out For Delivery. 
23 Butt Road Service Centre Shipment Received At Destination Depot. 
00 Poona Shipment In Transit. 
49 Poona Shipment In Transit. 
56 Poona Shipment Received At Origin Depot.
)
until the consistency was such that the medium would form into a lump, but break up instantly when poked.
