My first try was a fail of epic proportions

Made many mistakes.. but the last one did it..

Ill preface this by saying i take full responsibility for my actions.. since this was my first time growing i was on a budget of 800usd and heres what i bought with it

A new hoophouse $180
30 seeds off of ilgm. $200
Ocean forest and pumice $100
30 plastic pots $55
Ph meter and tds meter $40
Hydrologic GroGreen Garden Hose Water Filter $60
Rockwool cubes and humidity dome $15
Acid mix food for some reason.. 10 bucks

The initial plan was to create a living soil but that also failed because the only source of water i had was city water around 8.5ph and 500ppm, i thought the all mighty sun would do the reverse osmosis naturally in a few days.. few days ago i found out the hotter the water the less oxygen present... so my 55gal trashcan tank was not a good idea..

Curious if dipping the watering can inside the sun exposed water then feeding the plants is enough movement to reconstitute the necessary o2?

Anyways long story short i got 24 out of the 30 to sprout , most of the non sprouters were grand daddy purp and one even came slightly cracked open, im guessing that suggests they were old?

Like 90% of the ones that did sprout were stringy and weak..

I did ph the water below 6 but never soaked the cubes just watered... a lot...

read later that i should have soaked the cubes in 5.5 to offset the natural high ph
I never had a temp or humidity guage and i was using a ps2 for a heating pad..

After stressing over the gdp duds and freaking out about the stingy survivors i panicked into rushing the transplant.. resulting everything dying in within half a day..


Pretty sick attempt but i wont go out like that..

I have a few questions so far:

What all attributed to the weak stringy sprouts?
How long can you let foxfarm dry outside before its usless?
Should i continue to use rockwool for the next germination? (I never soaked theseeds in water for 12 hours before placing in cubes)

Is the hydrologic stealth 150 RO the solution to my city water or is there cheaper viable option to neutralize 500pm

Thats all i got for now cheers

 

Delete pls

 

What soil do you use for the first cup? Are you phdowning your water down or germinating with 8.5.? Isnt 6.5ish ph ideal for germination? How much ppm does your tap water have? Do you use a humidity dome? Heatpad? How long does it take your seeds to sprout above surface on average?

Also if i decide to use soil instead of rockwool for germination will a medium of 60%soil to a 40sh% pumice ratio be good or bad for the seedlings

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