This is a first grow. Got my seeds 10 days ago. Took the 5 free Himalayan Kush seeds and dropped them in a dish of distilled water. Within 24 hours they all sank and had tails. After that I put them in peat starters that had been soaked in distilled water and a few drops of Superthrive. In less than two days four of the five came up.....5th never made it. After a few days above ground I removed my glass dome completely. I haven't seen any growth in at least 5 days. Two of my babies fell over and died completely......stems withered in a spot at ground level to a tiny thread. The last two are showing narrowing just below the leaves. Am I over watering? what am I doing wrong? Or is this just the nature of free seeds. I have Mango and Bubblegum seeds (10 each), so I'm okay starting over.....I just don't want to screw them up too. I'm pretty sure this is not a temp issue, an rh issue, a light problem or an issue with air circulation.....beyond that - I am clueless. I need someone who knows WTF they are doing.
Obvious problem I see is feeding a seedling at all will kill it, they are extremely sensitive and need nothing but water until they have 2-3 leaf sets, then start on a 1/4 strength nute solution, then ease ur way to full strength (1/4-1/2-3/4-1) over a week or two depending on how often ur fertilizer says to feed, when sprouting don't just drop them into water, use a wet but not dripping paper towel put seeds on towel, fold it over ad seal it in a ziploc bag, put it in a dark warm place like a drawer, place into soil when root protrudes seed 1/4 inch and cover with 1/8 inch of soil. Soil should be moist but not soaking wet until it sprouts
The medium is peat. If I can get em to survive long enough, they will be put in an aeroponics system and the small amount of peat will be surrounded by hydroton. natureforce, I was wondering if it could be overwatering. I have been watering twice a day, but the bottom of the plugs were pretty soggy. When I found the two others completely dead today I mixed some dry peat in with the soggier stuff and plugged the two survivors in. CCoastal, I am hearing both on here....some people seem to like to give a bit of Superthrive or similar booster early on....you say no....looking at the pick, does it look like nutes may have killed em? And you like paper towels over the shot glass method? I was personally thinking about doing neither and just burying them in the peat plugs.....What are the ups and downs to all these methods?
Also, with seeds do you adjust the pH of distilled water? If so, to what? My meter has not come in yet. I do have strips......my pH has been somewhere in the range of 6.5 as best as I can tell.
Dont worry about anything to do with adjusting ph or nutes whatsoever until 2-3 leaf sets appear, they are highly sensitive to any chemicals including ph up/down
Yeah the superthrive early on is at the beginning of veg not during sprouting, I prefer the ziploc bag method of sprouting, it holds moisture well and when u go to plant u are 100% sure the seed sprouted and can see early health of it, avoid planting seeds that the root has brown color to it, keep soil moist but not soaking wet so the roots can breathe if it's too wet they will literally drown
ok.....so do you think these 2 even have a chance at coming back? Or should I go ahead and germinate some more seeds?
DO NOT USE DISTILLED WATER WITH SEEDS!! Use tap water. They need the minerals and dissolved solids that are in it. SuperThrive isn't a fertilizer. It's just vitamin B1 and another hormone. I never ph water for my seeds. You are definitely overwatering. Don't cover them either. You'll cook them. Just put them in the peat after they crack and keep it moist until you see the sprout. Then let it use the water up BEFORE you water it again. If it's still moist on the bottom let it be. The roots grow very fast. They'll find the water. If you don't feel comfortable with this method then just give it a little bit of water every day. Don't soak them. For God's sake, stop murdering babies! There is enough info on here in the beginners section that this shouldn't be an issue. GOOD LUCK!!
The pinched stem is "damping off", a fungal disease of seedlings. I microwave my soil before I plant to kill the spores. Air movement is also helpful. Here- just read this- How to Prevent Damping Off in Seedlings | eHow.com Granny
Start a couple more, when using see always start twice as many as u plan to have, seeds often are half male and there is nothin worse than growin one or two plants and having them come out male
I was wondering if it was damping off. But I didn't think I did anything that could have introduced a fungus. My next seeds I think I will microwave the peat first just in case. I do think I may have watered too much this time around......and I don't think I'll use the dome. I don't want to use tap water b/c ours reaks of chlorine.....but I'll try spring water instead. VoteYES, you are right - there is a lot of information out there, but there is a lot of opposing views on how to grow out there, too. I didn't kill my babies ON PURPOSE......and the point of this thread was to try and not do it again! I have a firm belief that making mistakes is not a bad thing......as long as you learn from them.
Sounds like a good plan. I was trying to be funny with the last statement. I guess it didn't translate well. The nice thing about all the opposing views is they all work. Just find the one you are best at.
Fill up a jug with tap water and let it sit with the lid off overnight, this will allow chloromes to dissipate
I'm heavy in chlorine also, I was using a screw on filter on my tap, then switched to a Brita filter, both worked well but the best filtration I have got is out of my new samsung refrigerator, it even has a light telling me when filter needs replacing, I still fill up a gallon jug which takes a while out of the fridge, and leave it cap off in next to my grow cab just in case anything gets through, try the cheap 5-10 dollar screw on tap filters they work really well for chlorine and other hard minerals, just check the ph after letting ur water sit out overnight, but dont worry about it for sprouting, might still need distilled water once she gets bigger but a filter will deff cut down water costs
I wasn't upset.....but I was trying to make a point. Everything I did came from one of these forums.....it can be frustrating for the newbie.....the boards look something like this: germinate in a shot glass.....no don't do that, use paper towels......no K.I.S.S shove that seed in some dirt and water it. water twice a day.....no every three days.....no don't water unless necessary - use foliar feeding.....no! foliar feeding doesn't help develop the root systems. The list goes on and on....it can make a person dizzy. I don't have any friends that grow and most of the people we know that smoke don't even have a clue what the are smoking....they don't care as long as they get high. Texans wouldn't know what to do with themselves if we had Cali options on our weed. The last two plants died this morning. I wasn't shocked....they didn't look like they were doing well. I'll have to decide what I want to start with next, my Mango seeds or my Bubblegum. Anyone know which is more hardy? Hopefully I don't f*@$ these up, too. But I'll keep you guys posted.
I can understand your frustration. One has to be reasonably informed beforehand, about weed, in order to choose from the myriad of fixes that are recommended. Then its easy to finish the puzzle. That isnt a slap to u. I use that analogy very generally. The ones that are suggesting fixes must have that foundation. Alotta things sound great - and less work too, but if used in the wrong situations, they will ultimately be a detriment to the grow. Or prolong the problem, or change to another problem right in front of your eyes. My inbox is alwayz full, but feel free to drop me a line anytime . Freak
Yeah I'm about 45 min from humboldt county, everything here is top shelf and a ton grow, stick to the basics papertowel in a baggie to germinate, no nutes till 2-3 leaf sets, then work ur way up from 1/4 strength and when doing that stick with a medium 10-15-10 rather than a 24-8-16 like miracle gro, wait for higher strengths until fully established into veg, 12-14" tall with multiple leaf sets and possibly branches, when in flower use a high K like mor bloom 0-10-10
I've done more research than is apparent and I did make sure and start with my free genetics instead of seeds we had paid for. I fully expected to have some hiccups. This is a new hobby for us, but I really can't ask people around here many questions. Too many talkers....I am fortunate enough to have a hydro store less than a half of a mile away, but when talking with the owner, he seemed a bit narrow minded on "the right way" to grow. With his methods, my a/c never could have kept up this summer and my initial investment would have been a minimum of $1500-$2k. That just wasn't going to work for us at the moment. The last of my babies ended up dying so I did start germinating six more seeds today. The more research I have done, the more I believe that the issue was in fact "damping off." I will sterilize the peat before putting seeds in it this time, and I think I will make covers for my soil to try and prevent this from reoccurring. I went to the local Habitat for Humanity outlet store (non-profit building surplus store) and bought a nice 4" vortex exhaust fan for $15 dollars today....it came with a timer and everything. I was pretty excited. I don't doubt that I will have more questions throughout the next few grows and I appreciate the help. I think I understand the basics pretty fully. The seedlings were an example of simply not following the K.I.S.S. philosophy. Freak, I may end up PMing you in the next few months.....thank you. That is, if I have the ability to pm at that point. These boards really have been incredibly valuable....the anonymity is so wonderful and I can't afford to get caught. Imagine the headlines. "Jr High science teacher busted for marijuana grow room".....that would be rich.