SG's 2008 Outdoor Purps and White Russian Breeding

Time to germinate. Now unlike many growers, I avoid the paper towel method and prefer the soak-and-sow method. I took 1 cup for each strain and filled it with distilled water. I do not Ph my soaking water- never have, and I get great germ rates.




Since we are dealing with a lot less than a gallon of water here, I will dip a toothpick in SuperThrive and stir each glass of water before dropping the seeds in. Then I drop all seeds in the cups and cover with something. In this case I used some bowls since I was in the kitchen. You could also use books, CD cases, etc. I let them soak for 6 hours. It was a little chilly in the kitchen so I placed a heating pad under the glasses and turned it on low. Be careful with water and heating pads kids.



It has been six hours and it is now time to plant. I am using 16 oz. party cups to start them in as I normally do. The first thing I always do ( When dealing with more than one strain ) is mark the strain name on the cups before I put the dirt or seed in it. This makes sure there are no mistakes or mixups.



Now that I have the cup marked, I fill it most of the way up with the Light Warrior soil, which I think is the absolute best for seedlings. Nice and airy, and no nutes. Once the cup is filled, I use a pen or pencil to make a very shallow hole in the soil- about 1/4 inch or so. There is no need to put your seeds down deep.


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Once I have my little pit dug, I drop a seed in. I do not worry about which way the seed is pointing. They know what to do without me helping them. Then I lightly cover with dirt.




As I fill the cups, I use a dropper to moisten them. I am using the water they soaked in. It still has the trace amounts of SuperThrive in it which certainly won't hurt.




I just put a few dropper fulls of water on each one, and I make sure most of the water is used in the middle of the cup.



I just repeat this process until all the seeds are sown. Now it's time for a smoke break. Later on I will bring them in and put them in a dark place with the heating pad. Pics of that part will be put up in my next entry.








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It has been a little over two days since I began the germination process. So far nothing has broken the surface. I have watered just once since I planted my seeds due to cooler weather. The cups have remained moist but not soaked since Friday.

I keep my starter cups on a tray. It makes them much easier to move.



I also have been too busy to get the shop lights set up so for now the tray of starter cups is living in a closet shelf with a little space heater fan. Since nothing has sprouted yet it's no big deal. I will get the shop lights and area ready tonight just incase I see some baby plants in the morning.



So there isn't much to report today. I will keep an eye on the starter cups and hopefully have some sprouts in the next day or two. Check my Journal-Matic for today's grow details. It will update daily from now on.



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I got my grow room set up for seedlings today. Just two standard 4' shop light fixtures. These seem to work very well so I have stuck with them. I pulled my starter cups out of closet B and used one of the cups to adjust my lights.



I usually set up the back row a little higher than the front row so I can see them very easily without having to move things around. I set the lights up so that when the seeds break the surface they are a about 3/4 of an inch from the lights. I will keep them at 1 inch or less.



I gave them another watering and placed them under the lights. I also moved the space heater fan into this area since it still gets cold at night, and the shop lights only raise the room temp. by about 7 deg. F. I will be vegging them for 10 days or so before transplanting and moving them outdoors.



So far a few of the plants have broken the surface, most of which are the White Russian. This is fine with me since they are much more expensive than the Purps. I also have many more Purps seeds as back-up. The current germ. breakdown is as follows:

BC Seedking Purps - 1/5 so far
Serious seeds White Russian - 4/7 so far

Here are some close-ups of some of the ones that have popped:











So far so good. I am confident that I will get a good germ rate. If something does go terribly wrong, I will start some more and keep them indoors longer to help them catch up.

Thanks for stopping by and happy growing.




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Just checked on the plants again. The last two cups that had not sprouted this morning have now done so. A 100% germ rate - Nice way to start the grow...

So I will be officially going into the grow with 5 Purps and 7 White Russian. I watered today, gave them ~10ml each again. I will leave them on 24/7 for now. I will let them all straighten out tonight and will post pics tomorrow.



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Hello again. With the germination phase out of the way we can now get on to the growing. Here are some shots of the new seedlings from this afternoon:










They are all looking fine. I gave them the same amount of water and raised the lights a half-inch today. I am trying to size up my grow space to decide if I want to keep them indoors longer than I had previously decided. 12 starter cups are no problem, but 12 2 gal pots will mean a full house and them some. My floorspace is 2'+ by 4.5' but I have to keep room for the heater and a fan. Either way I don't have to decide right now so I am not going to worry about it.

Shame



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Time for today's report. The sprouts are growing well. I increased their water from 10ml to 12ml per plant. I will also raise the lights another 1/2 inch tonight. That's pretty much all there is to report today. As always you can check my Journal-Matic below for today's grow details.




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During today's water I gave each plant a once over to check for problems and to record the plant height. Right now the Purps are averaging .5 inches tall compared to the White Russian averaging over an inch.They are all working on their second set of leaves.

I am keeping the water amount the same for now - 12ml per plant. I had the grow space closed up most of yesterday which caused average temp. and humidity to spike. I now have the air flowing and it is now back to the mid-high 70's most of the time. I will also be switching them to 18/6 starting tomorrow. I want them to grow their rootballs faster so they fill up the cups in the next 6 days or so, which will make for a quick and painless transplant before I head out of town for the weekend.

In the next week I will be documenting my water prep. + Ph'ing technique, my veg. nute regiment, and transplanting. Be sure to check them out! Here are some pics from today:














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I switched the light schedule from 24/7 to 18/6 today. In addition to increased rooting, it is my personal belief that giving the plants a dark period makes them happier and healthier. Some would agree, others would disagree. Also, I have set up my oscillating fan now that the sprouts have established themselves and are a firmly anchored. This is another area where opinions vary. Some folks have a fan blowing on their sprouts from the time they break the surface. I like to give them a few days to firm up.

I am dead tired, so I will take some pictures tomorrow and we can talk about staggered harvests and medical marijuana plant / product limits.



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