Hope's Fiesta with Jack the Ripper

high one, high all.

after several weeks of indecision I went ahead and picked up a pack of Tga's Jack the ripper. I was clued into this by da dude at my spot, as well as around here the GC. They look nice in the pack and I'm feeling stoked about them.

I have had some issues with germination in the past. disappearing beans, mold on beans. etc. Here's what I may mix up for them:

1 gallon 50/50 blend of sphagnum peat and vermiculite with 1/3 cup kelp meal mixed in. I intend on scarifying with a cloth, no pre-soak. water will be boiled and cooled (from tap). They are going into coco plantable pots 1/2''-1/4'' depth. each bean will be inoculated with a pinch of endomyco. ambient temperatures. 65 f. humidity dome.

If no one has tips/objections I will proceed with this recipe.

Thanks for reading.

:smoke::smoke::smoke::smoke::smoke:

Objection, your honor! The defense has failed to demonstrate a precedent for his so-called seedling mix. There was no mention of this in the discovery proceedings, and to introduce it now, in open court, in front of a seated jury, is juris imprudence sensationaire!

His intent to 'scarify with a cloth' is nothing but a cheap courtroom ploy, designed to frighten the jurors and capture the attention of the press. No case of 'scarifying by cloth' has ever been recorded in the US, it being the the preferred method of germination persuasion practiced by a few remote Colombian drug gangs, and it is not relevant to these proceedings.

No pre-soak? Your honor, please...defense council would do well to remember that 'pre-soak' is a time-honored procedure dating back to the Magna Carta and the very founding of our system of organic justice. It has been alluded to in such diverse historical accounts as the Upanishads and the Chronicles of Narnia, so for him to calmly declare, 'No pre-soak' is merely another facetious attempt to shock and disorder the jury.

Boiled tap water? Inoculation with endomyco? Ridiculously low ambient temps and a humidity dome?

Your honor, I would petition this court to dismiss this case immediately, and severely censure defense council before any further contamination can take place in the innocent and impressionable minds of those young people who may be watching these proceedings. Do it for the children!

**************************************************

Oh hey, hope2toke...didn't see you standing there. I thought you were a bush.

How's everything going?

Hi PW I served some peppermint, then set the kettle on with a fresh batch of water.

I'm also going to decrease the kelp, to a insignificant amount probably.

Okay, seriously (which will be challenge in my current state of mind) here's what I really think of your plan:

Your seedling mix is okay, but it won't last very long. Seeds carry enough nutrients internally to get them started and send out roots, but they will need an external source of nutrients within a week or so.

I would suggest keeping the kelp at 1/3 cup/gal. It is a great source of micronutrients, which are important at this early stage. But, I would also add a few cups of EWC to the mix. That will provide major nutrients and some bacterial activity, and will carry the seedlings longer before supplemental feeding or transplanting to a more nutrient rich soil is required.

I can't say much about scarifying with a cloth. I've heard of it, but that's about it. Are you considering this method to overcome problems with mold caused by pre-soaking? Generally, issues with moldy seeds comes from soaking them for too long, or keeping them between wet paper towels for too long, or touching them with dirty fingers before soaking. A 24 hour spring water/distilled water soak is good. Then, whether the seeds have opened or not, plant them in your mix and you shouldn't have any problems with mold. I'm not saying this to try and dissuade you from the scarifying thing. By all means, give it a try.

The only other thing you might consider is increasing the temp in your starter area. 65F is a bit too low for good propagation. Try 75-80F and you'll get faster results.

Oh, and the humidity dome is good for maintaining moisture in your medium while the seeds are taking root, but should be ditched as soon as the sprouts break the surface. Unlike clones, seedlings like plenty of fresh air.

Hope that helps. Now, I'm going to put my crazy pants back on and go play somewhere else. Good luck!

See ya...

PW- thanks for the suggestions. I mixed it up :

10 cups vermiculite,
10 cups sphagnume peat, and
1/3 cups of each- kelp meal and farmyard compost (composted manures blend+ rice hulls).

I wetted this down. it is fluffy, not soggy, and smells good. I'm going to check it again before planting in the morning.

added a 1/2 handful of myco's and stirred in. The JTR's have been pre-soaking since midnight.

BTW that post above was quite funny, I laughed like a lunatic when I read it.

Edited by hope2toke, 04 August 2012 - 06:59 PM.
re-checked quantity

His intent to 'scarify with a cloth' is nothing but a cheap courtroom ploy, designed to frighten the jurors and capture the attention of the press. No case of 'scarifying by cloth' has ever been recorded in the US, it being the the preferred method of germination persuasion practiced by a few remote Colombian drug gangs, and it is not relevant to these proceedings.

some individuals do practice scarification religiously, I have tried it, this time I passed...

some individuals do practice scarification religiously, I have tried it, this time I passed...

Sounds like it may have worked well, no?

Yeah Chunk! 3/5 sprouted so I made some rounds to pick up supply today. I got kelp, neem, moss, coco, and pumice. I am going to upload some photos of them they are so cute before any leaves appear!

Objection, your honor! The defense has failed to demonstrate a precedent for his so-called seedling mix. There was no mention of this in the discovery proceedings, and to introduce it now, in open court, in front of a seated jury, is juris imprudence sensationaire!

His intent to 'scarify with a cloth' is nothing but a cheap courtroom ploy, designed to frighten the jurors and capture the attention of the press. No case of 'scarifying by cloth' has ever been recorded in the US, it being the the preferred method of germination persuasion practiced by a few remote Colombian drug gangs, and it is not relevant to these proceedings.

No pre-soak? Your honor, please...defense council would do well to remember that 'pre-soak' is a time-honored procedure dating back to the Magna Carta and the very founding of our system of organic justice. It has been alluded to in such diverse historical accounts as the Upanishads and the Chronicles of Narnia, so for him to calmly declare, 'No pre-soak' is merely another facetious attempt to shock and disorder the jury.

Boiled tap water? Inoculation with endomyco? Ridiculously low ambient temps and a humidity dome?

Your honor, I would petition this court to dismiss this case immediately, and severely censure defense council before any further contamination can take place in the innocent and impressionable minds of those young people who may be watching these proceedings. Do it for the children!

**************************************************

Oh hey, hope2toke...didn't see you standing there. I thought you were a bush.

How's everything going?

This was an awesome read in my current state of mind.

Hey, hope2toke, good luck with your grow!

5/5 sprouted with true leaves showing... I seriously must have got lucky!

by the way two of them are twins! haven't seen twins in person before, don't know what to do! but the twins is just a tiny green shoot at the base now it is unclear if it will survive. I will upload photo later when it works

Edited by hope2toke, 04 August 2012 - 05:35 PM.

day 5.

Looks good, glad they sprouted for you. You probably won't need to do anything about the twin. The weakest one will most likely be taken over by the stronger one and die. I could be wrong, but if I am someone will surely correct me...I hope.

Thanks pearl it looks like one of the twins is hangin in there, haha. Day 6

Has any one noticed that when one mows his lawn, suddenly it seems the whole neighborhood is mowing too? I wonder if it's any thing at all like women who spend time together and experience communal ovulation? I resisted the urge to go mow too, and glanced at the green shoots in my lawn, remembering that I grow grass, not dead hay, and took the moment of idleness to take a couple shots and post them up

Edited by hope2toke, 08 August 2012 - 05:19 AM.
bad compost

Hey man! Just thought I'd let ya know that I'm tagging along for this one. The seedlings look mighty healthy.

Sending good vibes your way.

Hey hope, I'll be following along. I get some pretty good JTR from a dispensary by me, great racy high.

nice to have ya'll by! papa, pearl, chunk, carlo, cripes, and everyone!

Here are yesterday's pictures:


the state of my thyme and shishito peppers





There's been a slight stall with the seedlings, so slight it's just a personal reminder I can do better. either with temp's, the soil mix, or germination

Hey hope2toke,

Interesting update. What's in the 5th pic? Looks like flower pistils and...?

Your sprouts may have stalled a little, but they're green and looking good.

See ya...

What kind of spider is that? Looks like a whopper!
We found a huge spider in the basement the other day. The house was dead quiet, then all of a sudden I hear both my daughters scream and run up the stairs. That spider was as big as my hand!

That in the fifth picture is a blend of equal parts freshly picked medicinal lavender, some type of culinary lavender, and neem cake.

That last spider has been setting up shop every night in the same place, I leave her alone every night, but in the morning her web gets nocked down by scampering canine, in that picture its the fifth or six shot and she seems to have lost patience and charged the bottle.

there are a few other pictures of spiders from yesterday


don't know what type any of them are though.