Im a man of very few words but plenty of pictures so I will be posting pics of my progress every other day. First set of pics are of my grow box. I will include construction details also.


^I aligned the inside of the Box with reflective Mylar^

^Built my own Cfl Hood out of a cardboard box and more Mylar^


^Suspended the Light from the lid of the box^

^Cut out hole on side for fan/exhaust^

^Every Grow Box needs a fan for air circulation^

and thats it for the grow box!

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^I start my seedlings off in Jiffy Cube #7 Peat Pellets^

^When they get older Im planting in Miracle Gro Moisture Control Potting Mix^

^Since my soil mix is already ferted I will only be feeding this Miracle grow 15-30-15 Blooming Fertilizer^

Time to get started!

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looks good man, ima newb also but i heard that miracle grow ph is 5.0 so you might wanna make sure ur ph is gonna be alright

I germinated by first lightly sanding the seeds with a nail file for approximately 30 seconds - 1 minute. I do this by taking about 5 seeds, make a cup with my hand place the seeds in the "cup" and lightly rub the file over them.

Some seeds needs to have the surface of their shells scratched or nicked inorder to wake the seed up from its sleeping period called dormancy. once water gets into the scratch it triggers hormones that causes the seed to awake and begin germination.

Next I soak the seeds in a cup of water. I simply get a coffee mug, fill it half way with melted snow, or rain water and sit it on top of my surround sound amp, which keeps it warm. I only leave them in there until most of them have sunk to the bottom. When I have a good feeling that most of them will sprout then I use the paper towel method to germinate seedlings.

I use a coffee mug bcuz it stores heat better than other types of cups, and I use melted snow bcuz, well hey its wintertime in Ohio and we got plenty of free snow, so why not?

My germination method is not different than what you would read -
2 paper towels, 2 plates...
I fold one paper towel in half and sit it on the plate. I take the coffee mug thats halfway full of rain water and seeds and dump half the water on the paper towel, pick out the seeds with a spoon and set them in a circle on the paper towel...
I then take the other paper towel, fold it in half and simply place it overtop of the seeds, I lightly sprinkle the remaining water over it just until i start to see the form of the seeds thru the paper towel..if I added too much I'll just add another folded paper towel to the top layer, but the important point is to make sure the paper towels are fairly damp..and then I put the other plate on top.

I stick that next to the vent in my room bcuz seeds only need to be at room temp to germinate..10*deg too low and its too cold...10*deg too high and they'll probably cook!

and after the taproot sticks out about 1/4 of an inch I plant into my jiffy cubes, and place the cubes into the "jiffy dome" with the lid on it for humidity. I stick that next to my heat vent so its constantly just above room temp, and wait...

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^this is what I got 24 hrs later^

Plant A

^all 4 of my sprouts had cotyl's and a very tiny pair of true leaves^

Plant B

^but they're survivors!!^

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actually the ph is closer to 6.5...
Miracle Gro is composed of 60% Peat moss, 25% Perlite, 14.58% forest products compost (coir fiber and wetting agents), .21% Nitrogen, .07% calcium phosphate, and .14% potassium sulfate..and of course everyone knows that peat moss is pretty much neutral on the PH scale..if this were years ago when they used "soil" in miracle gro I probably wouldnt have used it...but I trust that my girls will be fine in that. But thx 4 the concern

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less than 12 hours later and look how much my babies have grown!..I also notice that the white root was sticking out of the bottom of the jiffy pellet, so I decided to go ahead and plant them in 6" pots full of MG moisture control potting mix.

Plant B


Plant A

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Lookin good. keep it going. Remember the hard part for the next three weeks or so will be keeping your hands off the plants. Concentrate on providing a balance of the 7 things plants need to thrive. Keep it positive. VV

I love watching them grow...check out the true leaves

Plant C


Plant A


Plant B

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VV I couldnt have made it this far without your guidance, so I give a great thanks to you. I'll be sure to do my best to help them thrive!

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