It will be interesting to know if they start to portray the true characteristics of the strain they are supposed to be. They look healthy, even if they might be bag seed you are "raising them right"
My expectation is that Pacific has a handful of different strains. Something like a strong indica, indica hybrid, 50-50 hybrid, sativa hybrid, and strong sativa. Then when you order a strain, they give you a seed that most closely resembles that strain. I chose these for their supposed good sleep promotion qualities, and I'll easily be able to figure that out, along with potency. For me, not all indicas are created equal. I don't really need the herb, so this is a fun experiment for me.
The Pacific Seed Bank seeds, DarkSideOfTheMoon and Yumboldt are definitely different strains. Here they are in an experimental 3 usable gallon hydro setup after 5 weeks. The DarkSide is very short and strange looking. It is unusual enough that I tend to believe it is the strong indica strain they claim. Reminds me a bit of mephisto 24Carat. The Yumboldt looks like most other plants I've grown.
I ordered from them 3 times and got my seeds in about a month each time. They are definitely not scammers. However, their quality control is suspect. I got autos when I ordered photos (found out during vegging), some strains looks completely different from each other. For instance, I got GSC and one looks like a sativa, one is an indica. Id say out of about 12 seeds, 3 were duds. So, no they are legit, but not the best in constancy.
I'm still holding out hope for Pacific. Their Yumboldt auto might be my prettiest plant right now. It's on the right, and DarkSideOfTheMoon is on the left, both at 7 1/2 weeks from sprout.
How is the experiment going with 2 plants in a 10 gallon tote? Are those 3 or 4" cups? Curious if you have issues with plants tipping over, roots knotting choking each other. They look awesome. Is it aeroponic spray set up or just dwc. Inquiring minds want to know... ha
I'm still trying to master these, so I'm not sure whether problems are my fault or theoretical problems with the setups. The oldest setup is at 9.5 weeks, and I gave it severe light burn several weeks ago, but it's doing ok considering that. Two other setups are doing well. The plants pictured above are perfect, but a different tent also at 6.5 weeks has a few bad leaves that I suspect are light/nute burn. Whether any problems will be exacerbated by the small reservoirs remains to be determined. Although the bins are 10 gallons, the float valves inside are set to a level that only allows 3-3.5 gallons of root+fluid volume total to be shared between 2 plants. I probably should've used 6 inch pots instead of 4 inch, because plants tipping is an issue. But I have these pretty white netpots and don't like using lots of hydroton. For the first time ever, I had one tip over and break. It would've still survived if I'd not tried to mend it. The simple solution is to not put bending force on the plants. So long as they sit straight up, they are stable. The fluid level is only 2.5 inches deep. In fact the deeper the level, the more buoyant force, and the less stable. My plant that fell over did so when I raised the fluid level an inch adjusting ppm. Interestingly the Yumboldt above has a trunk that is thicker at the bottom to allow for swaying of the plant, sort of a pyramid shape. An oscillating fan is giving it a workout. I've never grown fewer than 2 plants in the same reservoir, and root tangling has never been a problem.
Wow. This is all educational. I'm actually just starting my own first hydro set up and did the standard dwc bucket and tried sort of a spin on your idea. MY THEORY was a single 6 inch net pot to a 10 gallon tote with 2 foot long bar style stones. It may be more than necessary but I think I will be able to get away with higher solution levels without drowning. Why not just go with the bucket you ask... I was seeking a lower profile so the plants would inherently gain 6-8 inches (conservative estament) of grow height space. And even if they don't grow into the extra height provided they will be 6-8 farther from the hottest area of the tent. Just a theory... I'm starting week 2 since dropping seedling plug into hydro so well see. I have a spare dwc bucket on hand to swap over if I start having difficulty or the plant starts struggling. I have a general grasp on hydroponics but I have zero hands on experience so this is me going head first and taking it trial by fire.
You'll be glad you tried hydro. I had been growing in 2-plant, 15 usable gallon reservoirs, but the plants were getting too big. Now I'm trying the opposite extreme of too-small reservoirs. As you point out, short tubs save space. Mine are about 8 inches tall.
I've been having really good results and growth rates with Promix in 7 gallon fabric pots so I was hesitant to try hydro. But the possibilities of even better results finally took hold. I'm not sure I'm impressed yet. The 2 I have in Promix are twice the size of the 2 I have in hydro and they were all started the same day. I already had to transplant the promix from the 2 gallon containers to the final 7 gallon bags. During transplant I could see the roots had fully enveloped the smaller container nicely but the hydro barely shows any. Part of me says lower the solution levels in the dwc to force them to reach harder but the other part says it might be taking a bit more time for the plants to adjust to hydro and the real results will show when the plants are fully rooted out and in full development. I'm still holding out hope and not giving up. Just concerned that they may have stahled.
The scariest time for me in hydro is getting the sprouts to thrive. If ppm is too high too soon it can poison them. Fortunately, they usually easily overcome early problems, because the new growth can outrun the bad stuff. They also need a bit of time to get their bearings. When the roots reach the reservoir they take off. The next scary time is after the stretch, when over-feeding and/or over-radiating is easy to do. Then there is little new growth to outrun new bad stuff.
Ok, so regarding Pacificseedbank... they suck. All of the seeds Ive got from them have been crazy strains that are definitely NOT the strain they claim they are. Also, a lot of mutants, duds and such. Heres an example. I ordered 5 Harlequin, Photos. They started flowering in veggie after 3 weeks. so Autos. (I tried contacting them about the seed company that is on the package... doesn't exist. Dead end.) I then put them in the flowering chamber and they were growing huge buds. Then just last week, they started revegging at week 7 of flower. God damn! Lesson learned, never buy from them again.
Yup. Probably why you were the only one to disagree with the original post. But we all have to learn some lessons the hard way to get the point across. Its incredibly frustrating finding out you just spent 10 per bag seed. I guess you can look at the bright side... it's a cannabis plant and its female. I suppose that your difficulties could be caused by bad genetics but barring that, it sounds like other variables are at play. Lighting changes due to power outages or weak lighting or nutrient imbalances/variations can cause what you're describing. Let me be clear, I'm not trying to say you don't know what you're doing. But you have to realize before everything became scientific to strain identifying and monitoring, people successfully grew unknown bag seed for a very long time. Ditch weed or not the biggest difference in yield/quality within each strain known or unknown always broke down to the basic building blocks of plant life. Quality of media, ph levels/nutritional balance/regular watering, quality of proper training, CO2 levels and the amount and quality of light. It's just a plant. Just focus on helping the plant grow to its maximum abilities with the least amount of stress. Try not to stress yourself too much. Work through the variables and see if she comes around. Reveg is a pain and takes serious levels of patience. Hope you manage to salvage it before impatience takes hold. Got your work cut out for you. Best of luck.
I used distilled water from the store for initial set. Kept nutrients fairly low ppm around 600-650 till they get initiated and rooted a bit. ph at 6.0 for room both directions in case it walks while I impatiently wait. Started getting root springs out the sides of the basket today so things should be looking up. Thanks for the heads up. I'll make sure to make a note to be extra cautious during and after stretch.
Thanks, I never bought from a seed bank and now that it’s legal I will make sure I get seed from a reputable company. I’ve been doing this for decades, always run into something new. I disagree with the original post in that they don’t take your money and you get nothing. Although that might be preferred because they wasted a lot of my time. But like you said, I being patient, it could be some other variable. I changed the light schedule to 12/12 from16/8, dropped the N intake and will give it a couple weeks. I have the next set coming up that looks pretty awesome. They are supposedly Girl Scout Cookies, but one is definitely sativa and the other is indica, two completely different plants. Could be a strain difference, who knows? Like you said, they're female and marijuana, so not a total loss by any means. Im looking at Cali Connection next time around.
Unfortunately it was my first experience with a seed bank. I usually got mine from friends with either a known strain or from plants that I had a bit of history/experience with their yields. Admitedly I'm fairly amatuer to growing for myself. But I've helped tend and been around it for a while. I'm constantly learning. Every grow definitely is a new experience. If I had to guess with what little I know... something actually happened when it initially decided to flip into flower early. Then working on the assumption that it was an auto flower you continued to run the light schedule took a long time but then the plant said, "oh shit photoperiods wrong!" And went back to veg. So basically my point, sounds like you're already on the right track with reducing photoperiod and nitro. You got this. I'm probably going to spend a lot of hours researching and only then go in person to pick up seeds. Internet is too disconnected from the interaction of the sale. Just a computer that tells the seller that money has shown up in their account. People are slightly less likely to screw you if they have to see you face to face and know you know where to find them.
Got my first hiccup already with the hydro set up. Yup, the great white snot. So... dump, scrub, soak, and I think I'll double air stone it. I'm not even going to risk cross contamination with my ppm/temp meter by checking water temp before change. Dump the res and check the fresh temps regularly till it evens out. Not exactly the smoothest intro to hydro.
I had problems with them as well. Placed a order, got a email notification within 2 weeks a shipping label was created. After a month still no tracking. Send email a few times asking for updates, no replies. I finally called and I got a tracking notification my order shipped. But when I received it the seed package had been opened and I did not get the required free seeds. I called them back and they promised to resend my order. Ha Ha never again.
I ordered Dutch Treat and Obama Kush from them. Should I be worried about them potentially producing males for my next run? I'm on week 4 of flower with the Dutch treat and its as described, a short bushy plant that perfectly fits in an isolated 2x2x4 tent. For the obama kush its still in veg its at day 55 and produced 4 small hairs at the 2nd topping site. Everything seems to be legit so far. The dutch treat has really similar characteristics of the suggested strain so I'm not sure.
No males so far for me out of 11 plants do that’s good. Glad to hear they are looking “as described”.