Hello,

I am in the process of buying a house, so everything pictured here is a very temporary and low end setup.

This is My first grow and I wanted to get my feet wet and practice the fundamentals before I jump into growing any expensive seeds.

I am using Mazar-I-Sharif seeds that you receive free when placing an order with Gypsy seed bank.

__________________
A woman once told me, "I'm not religious but I'm spiritual." I replied, "I'm not honest but you're interesting." -Daniel Tosh My Grow Journal

Germination
After reading the different methods for germinating seeds I decided to use the paper towel method. I took a DVD case and placed a moist paper towel within the case.



I placed the seeds evenly spaced apart within the container.



I covered seeds with another moist paper towel and closed the lid.



The waiting game begins.

__________________
A woman once told me, "I'm not religious but I'm spiritual." I replied, "I'm not honest but you're interesting." -Daniel Tosh My Grow Journal

May 23, 2009 – Day 2

At the beginning of today I checked my seeds and there weren’t any signs of progress. I decided to relocate the seeds to a warmer location and moved the DVD case on top of my mini fridge which puts off a decent amount of heat. A few hours later the tap root was coming through nicely and I had a 5/5 germination ratio.




I want to see if light plays a factor as some people claim. I am going to germinate my next batch of five freebies using the paper towel method and placing the paper towel within a plastic baggy and setting it on the windowsill. I am suspecting that light does not play as much as a factor as some may think. I think the heat from the sun will speed the process of germination, we’ll know by tomorrow.
The seeds that started the germination process yesterday are ready to be planted into a grow dome. During the planting process I managed to knock over pot #2 and the seed’s location is not known at this time. My number of plants is now reduced to 4; there is no number 2 in my series now.


Picture taken before accident.

__________________
A woman once told me, "I'm not religious but I'm spiritual." I replied, "I'm not honest but you're interesting." -Daniel Tosh My Grow Journal

May 24, 2009 – Day 3



The seeds that I placed in the windowsill instead of in a dark place have sprouted today. There was one smaller runt looking seed that didn’t germinate.



The seeds and tap roots look just as healthy as the ones that were withdrawn from light during germination. Based on my results I have concluded that light does not affect germination, and in actuality it may speed it up due to the heat it provides.
I have two series of Mazar-I-Sharif growing right now. The numbered series is the original and the numbered alpha series is the second batch. Numbered alpha series is a day younger.



For the numbered alpha series I have decided to make my own soil formula. I purchased perlite and peat moss from Wal-Mart made by Miracle Grow and mixed a cup of each with my regular potting soil. The perlite and peat moss are both enriched with Miracle Grow plant food; hopefully it isn’t too much for the sprouts to handle.



So I have two series of four plants with eight being the total number. I am hoping to at least get 2 healthy females that I can keep as mothers. Even though I don’t have any sprouts breaking the soil surface yet I am keeping the grow light on a 24 hour running schedule.

__________________
A woman once told me, "I'm not religious but I'm spiritual." I replied, "I'm not honest but you're interesting." -Daniel Tosh My Grow Journal

Please feel free to inform me if any of my methods are wrong or could be improved.

Thank You,

-Blind

__________________
A woman once told me, "I'm not religious but I'm spiritual." I replied, "I'm not honest but you're interesting." -Daniel Tosh My Grow Journal

May 25, 2009 – Day 4
The Number series has been in the dirt for only two days and Mazar 3 & 4 have both sprouted. I am watering regularly just keeping the soil moist with a squirt bottle. I also have the tray on a heat pad to assist with root development.




Hopefully 1 and 5 from the number series will poke through later today or tonight. I am curious to see how the number alpha series does in comparison, they are a day behind so it will be interesting to see.
So far I am pleased with the way this grow is starting out.

Feel free to post any comments.
-Blind

__________________
A woman once told me, "I'm not religious but I'm spiritual." I replied, "I'm not honest but you're interesting." -Daniel Tosh My Grow Journal

The way I am currently operating is by keeping the plastic covering on. By doing this I am cutting off all of the outside. Do I need to lift the lid or switch to a grow dome so I can allow air to get to the sprouts I have that are already broken through? I don't want to kill what I have waiting for something that could possibly never come.

Here is a pic of my current setup.



One of the sprouts had a yellowish spot on the tip of it's leaf, I don't know if it was there to begin with, I think this set of leaves fall off anyway, but I don't want to set that trend for the rest of the plant.



I'm going to search around the Noob forum for some answers but if anybody has the time to answer a few questions feel free to put em here.

Thanks,

-Blind

__________________
A woman once told me, "I'm not religious but I'm spiritual." I replied, "I'm not honest but you're interesting." -Daniel Tosh My Grow Journal

May 26, 2009 – Day 5
Today is day 5 since I started germination on the numbered series, and all of the numbered series have sprouted. Today is Day 4 for the numbered alpha series and all but one has sprouted!



I’m trying to think what could have stimulated the alpha group to grow faster than the numbered group. The only things I can think of are the additional perlite and peat moss that were mixed into the soil, or the germination method where I just put the seeds in a baggy between wet paper towels and just set in the window.

So far from the numbered series Mazar 4 is the dominant plant and is already developing its first set of leaves.



From the numbered alpha series Mazar 2A is by far the dominant as it is a day behind the numbered series and is also developing its first set of true leaves.



I am not worried about 1A yet, as far as I'm concerned the alpha series sprouted a day early and I will give 1A some time to catch up.

-blind

__________________
A woman once told me, "I'm not religious but I'm spiritual." I replied, "I'm not honest but you're interesting." -Daniel Tosh My Grow Journal

May 27, 2009 – Day 6


Mazar 1A finally broke through the surface and is progressing well!




Currently I have been just misting the soil with the squirt bottle, but I decided to up their water intake. The numbered series that has regular potting soil has a lot of water that stays on the surface and takes awhile to get to the roots, this could be good and bad, for those plants I have to be careful not to add too much water as this soil appears to retain a lot of water and I don’t want root rot. The numbered alpha series I mixed in a cup of perlite and the water is absorbed rapidly and drains quickly. I also mixed in a cup of peat moss to help with water retention so I think the home mixed soil is definitely the way to go.

Here's another Family Photo real quick.


Not even through the first 7 days yet, I didn't expect to have so much progression in a short time, I am very satisfied with my results as of now. Hopefully I get a couple females out of the bunch.

Also Gypsy Nirvana is by far the most fair seed company out there, Attitude has a great selection, but it seems in comparison to gypsy they are always 15-20 dollars more expensive for the same seeds.

Thanks for reading,

-blind

__________________
A woman once told me, "I'm not religious but I'm spiritual." I replied, "I'm not honest but you're interesting." -Daniel Tosh My Grow Journal

Well I established that the potting soil I used by itself was not good enough. The soil ended up getting water logged and the plants died due to not enough oxygen getting to the roots. My numbered alpha series are thriving thanks to the additional perlite.

Attached is a picture update of how they are doing.

Attached Images

	Day 11 - 01A.jpg (871.6 KB, 8 views)
	Day 11 - 02A.jpg (974.0 KB, 3 views)
	Day 11 - 03A.jpg (771.2 KB, 2 views)
	Day 11 - 04A.jpg (823.6 KB, 5 views)

__________________
A woman once told me, "I'm not religious but I'm spiritual." I replied, "I'm not honest but you're interesting." -Daniel Tosh My Grow Journal