1/7/2020 I figured now would be a good time to start my first grow journal, considering my seed is only 5 days past sprouting from the soil. It's a bag seed, decided to throw it in a wet paper towel and it ended up germinating, so now I've scavenged the internet looking for all of the tips I can possibly get because I have no clue what i'm doing (Any and all advice is more than welcome by the by) Currently i have what im hoping is a her in a container of Fox Farms Happy Frog Soil, I got her on an 18-6 light cycle, 7 hours of exposure being direct sunlight, the other 11 I keep her about 6" away from from a 4W (60 Watt replacement) LED that gives off 309 Lumens at "Soft White"- 2200K, which i realize upon researching is too red in color, so I'll be looking for something to fix that soon. As far as watering goes, I have no idea what I'm doing, so like I said advice is much appreciated. I'll post pics of her soon, she's only beginning to grow the first two leaves that come after the embryonic leaves, and one isnt looking too good imo but i'd like a second opinion on it as well.
Here she is. I dont think she looks bad, but I think I'm lacking knowledge in the watering department which seems fairly crucial growing a plant of any kind Sent from my SM-A205U using Grasscity Forum mobile app
1/8/2020 She just started her light cycle for the day, only a couple hours in, currently outside directly in the sun. It's a little chilly out this morning so I took a bottle, cut it in half-ish (didnt measure) and cut a couple of small holes in it then put it over her to try and hold some of the sun's heat around her. I stuck my finger like an inch or so into the soil and it's moist and spongy so unless im told otherwise im not going to water her again yet. ALSO I have Fox Farm Grow Big for when it gets to veg state, I don't think she should be getting any feed until she gets more true leaves, but i dont know for sure. Today I'll be going to the hardware store for a blue spectrum LED (what would be an ideal Kelvin?), and hopefully I can find a good pH tester and other testers for a fair price within my budget. OH and I need some perlite, I don't think Happy Frog has the best drainage. - The Heretic
The one leaf is looking better, it at least stopped canoeing, so I feel a bit better about it. Also ever since I started seeing true leaves I've been very delicately tapping it from the top (I read somewhere it helps the plant grow sturdier) and when she is inside with the LED she gets classical music. Just thought I'd add that Sent from my SM-A205U using Grasscity Forum mobile app
1/9/2020 Hello everyone! I noticed this threads nearing 100 views! Love showing people this little plant, it's very therapeutic growing her So yesterday evening i went ahead and got a full GROW LIGHT, full spectrum, 448 nm blue to 630 nm red. Got the bulb from Ace Hardware, like 16 bucks and i can already tell my plant is doing better! the real leaves are beginning to darken and the one leaf that was small and shriveled is growing like a charm! I want to grab some perlite to mix into my Happy frog soil, i find that the soil alone isnt all too great at draining, but good enough for the moment. I also still need a pH tester. Pics to follow - The Heretic
Only two today, she may look shorter than before because I had a little accident and soil spilled out, so I put a little extra in (need to be more careful moving her from inside out and vice-versa) -The Heretic Sent from my SM-A205U using Grasscity Forum mobile app
Looks good let her dry out a bit now. Overwatering is a common cause of death at this stage Light mist works decent for first week or two to keep humidity up
Thank you! I've been worrying about overwatering, how much time should I be putting between waterings?
You want the first couple of inches of soil to be dry. At this stage it's nice to keep slightly moist, not wet. The plants really putting all it's effort into root development right now, and they like to breathe
1/13/2020 Big update, friend left me some green on my coffee table a couple of days ago, picked two nice seeds out of it and they both germinated! I had already put one in a container before thinking to post this, which is ok because the other one wont be buried until tomorrow, once the taproot has come a bit more out of the shell. neither of them got names, and my girlfriend wants to name them once they've flowered. As far as my Mead of Poetry is going, she looks fantastic! I've pretty much switched her to LED only for the 18 hours of light she gets a day, simply for convenience, and the LED doestnt hurt the light bill all too much. Hopefully she'll grow a little happier now that she has friends. I also moved her closer to the light itself because I felt she was getting a bit tall (the first like 3/4" of the main stem protruding from the soil is like white, and I'm ready to pull her back a bit if I catch a sign of light bleaching). All in all I'm loving my grows, I think there's a lot of stuff I looked over in the beginning of my first plant that I can use to make my grow process more efficient with this next pair. Hopefully they're all she's, too. I think I'd have the most weed I've ever had in my life!
1/17/2020 It's been a few days, sorry for no update. It's been hella busy for me, three plants is far more to take care of than just the one. One of the two newest plants is growing fantastic, the other had an accident (the container got knocked over) but she is making a full recovery, and still got to sprout, though a little messed up because the seed shell was still on the sprout. The original plant is doing fine, I had to move her into a different container, and set up her soil to drain better (her previous container was holding water too long and I thought she had root rot, I'm very lucky that she didnt). Pictures will be up asap -The Heretic
1/24/2020 The plants seem to be in good shape. My first plant is not growing upward anymore as of current, and is the shortest plant. However, she is still growing leaves so either her growth got stunted (possibly from root shock after I transferred her due to a root rot scare I had) or she is just gonna be more on the short and bushy side. Only time will tell! As for the other two, they're growing very well, one of them being twice the size of the others! I don't know what happened to her. the smaller of the two sister plants is the same one that fell out of the container and had the seed husk on top of it's head. She's doing great as well, though smaller than her sister, is still about 1/4" taller than my first plant. I can't wait to see how they all turn out. -The Heretic