Prohet
Active Member
So I decided to write down my experiences from the last few months in an organized manner, and hopefully other newbies like me can follow along and learn a thing or two. I am no expert, but I believe in sharing success! And maybe it makes a good stickie!
The Challenge:
The positives:
Step 1: Germination
Step 2: Planting
Step 3: Vegging
The Challenge:
- Limited space
- Limited cash
- Limited knowledge
The positives:
- Green fingers
- Some Kush seeds (although 1 year old), I call them ripened and matured
- See #1.
Step 1: Germination
- 6 seeds were placed in distilled water for 24 hours, in a dark spot. Some sank to the bottom, others did not.
- After 24 hours, I moistened 4 paper towels and carefully put the seeds on it, ending with one sheet on top. Stored in a DARK place, while looking once per day to see if tap root emerged.
- Do not forget to slightly moist your top towel.
Step 2: Planting
- Made a soil mix, with 1 cup Seed Starter soil (00.00.00), 1 cup Perlite, and 1 cup vermiculite. I put the perlite and vermiculite in a strainer first to shake out the loose powder. Powder is bad for people, so also bad for plants, or at least that is my reasoning.
- Took a clear solo cup, and burned a hole in the bottom, rather than drilling one. My reasoning is what a burned one does not have sharp edges, and it did not at all.
- The clear solo cup was filled with the soil mix (at room temperature), which I moisten a bit before putting it in the cup.
- With a chopstick, I made a 1/2 inch hole, and carefully dropped one seed with tap root down. Covered hole with soil.
- I placed the clear solo cup into a red solo cup (no hole in this one) blocking incoming light to future roots.
- and... as I like following the entire process, now I have an easy way to check root growth: only need to pull up the clear cup.
- Repeated process for each seed.
- Light: I placed two 6500K 42W CFL above all the cups.
- Heat: I placed a little heater near the solo cups, making sure temperature was between 22 and 28 degrees Celsius.
- Water: I watered too much!
- Revised Water: After getting some advice here on the forum, I let the soil dry a bit, and added 5ml of water every other day.
- After 2 days, the seeds sprouted, and I danced and farted loudly!
Step 3: Vegging
- After a few days, the first true leafs came out and I gave the plant fertilizer (S T U P I D). THe plant went into shock, and I had to flush the soil. Lesson learned: do not give fertilizer until plant writes you a memo saying: feed me!
- After one week there were plenty of roots, and I removed the clear cup, planting just in a larger solo cup.
- In week 3 I transplanted in a bigger container, and watered it until water started to drip.
- SECRET INGREDIENT: I ordered Advanced Nutrients pH Perfect Sensi grow A+B, pH Perfect Sensi Bloom A+B, Big Bud, and B-52 on Ebay, from a seller that ships for free and gives you samples of other products. Total Cost: $140. This supply will last probably one year.
- Adding the nutrients REALLY exploded root and veg grow, no shock after transplanting. With each watering I added pH Perfect Sensi grow A+B 4ml per liter and 2ml of B-52. M
- In week 5, I had to transplant again, now I went with 4 gallon pots. Note that plants in the pictures are not the same ones!
- The plants are small and bushy, as I keep the CFL at a distance of 1.5 inch. A large fan cools the plant tops, as I DO NOT want the plants to turn into giants (no room). That is why in week 5 I topped the plant.
- In week 6, two tops started to grow in a nice V-shape.
- (TO BE CONTINUED after coming back from Church)
