Alright, I really never took the time to look into a lot of aspects of growing. I see a lot of info about lighting....nutes you may need, ect. And I know nothing about ANY of that. If I grow I'd start from bag seed and use space in my backyard. The soil is definitely okay to grow in. Here is where the ?'s start. 1. I've heard of people putting seeds in paper towels to see if they germ, how will I know if the seeds are fem. and how should I go about doing this? 2. Should I start 1 seed-pot ratio or just plant them right into the ground? If I plant them right into the ground won't it be hard to apply nutes? 3. Any advice on helping the plant survive if it actually does sprout? I'm really interested in growing and would love too. But I need some seriously dumbed down advice. thanks.
1) Unless you buy feminized seeds you won't know if a plant is male or female until it start producing flowers. That could vary from strain to strain. Some plants are designed to automatically flower at a certain time while others rely for the light cycle to change in fall (if growing outdoors). The way I germ and get 100% success is to put seeds in a wet paper towel and fold it a few times. Place that towel in a zip lock so no moisture escapes. Put that baggy in your PC (where it is nice, dark, and warm). Wait 1 to 2 days, sometimes 3. You will see great results with this method. From here pop em in some cups of soil. let them grow for a bit, then put them outside. 2) One seed per pot always. Get nutrients that you can mix in a watering can, or mix some 2 liter bottles up to take them some nutes, when they are at least 8-10 inches tall, not sooner. 3) Follow numbers one and two.
Thank you, I'm just trying to get the basics down. Would I put any nutes in right away once the seed is germ'd?
Don't use them for like the first 3 weeks. And then only go half strength and ease into full dosage over waterings. Look for signs from the plant after this to tell you a) great growth means lovin it, b) yellowing and burn means not so much, and should be rinsed with just water.
Alright, sounds good. I've read about plants pH, how can I effect it in a positive way? I'm not even really sure what plants pH is besides it has something to do with acidic value...
You really don't have to force germination. In my case, due to shakey hands from something called essential tremors, I have a hard time messing with small things and a germed seed is kinda small.(should see me putting drops into a vial to test ph) Every seed I have planted, right down to vegis, I have just stuck maybe half my index finger deep, covered up with my dirt mix kept wet and warm and don't have issues. You have to watch though in the seedling stage, the stretching can be way out of control. The MJ seeds, I use just a single CFL 23W in a desk lamp lighting fixture slammed right down to the surface of the dirt. Vegis sit in my south window that I wish i could grow a "tree" in... Maybe today is the day I find that camera cord. You definantly don't want to feed seedlings. I would do a little more reading about applying nutes. It is overwhelming at first trying to find the information you are looking for. I finally gave in went and bought the first thing that popped out to me at the hydro store and went and played with that.
The PH of the water your pour in affects the PH in the soil. The water that drip out from the bottom is a good way to test what is going on. So we test the water going in and the runoff coming out. If everything is good the runoff will be 6.5-6.8 just a bit acidic which is perfect. If you use good potting soil like pro-mix the PH should be OK with tap water (unless your tap is very very high in PH) If you need to test it you can get a freshwater PH test kit from Walmart $5 in the pet section. Gives you 250-750 tests.
Alright, cool. Thanks man, I probably won't invest in any test kits or that many nutes for my first grow though, I'll probably only try like 4-5 seeds, I'm not expecting much haha
Spent 20 or 30 bucks on enough nutes to get me through a couple plants, and a ph test kit can be found at walmart pet section near the fishtanks for 5 bucks. Not alot of money but worth more then every penny to have.