K.I.S.S. method for this grow. First attempt at outdoor.

[TexAZgrower]

Hello.

I have been saving seeds for 5 years from random purchases I made from different sources all over the southwest United States from Los Angeles to Houston. Some seeds were found in the back of a car I bought for $400. And other seeds were gifted by friends and associates.

I am going to use organic steer manure compost and RO water. To start off. I will be posting pictures as I go along all tips are appreciated.

Some of the seeds are from shwag and others are kush seeds. Anything is possible.

Join me on this magical ride..

 

[TexAZgrower]

Here is my collection some are labeled and some are not. I remember were most came from that's why they are im separate bags. I honestly couldn't say what strains I have. Just random bag seeds.

 

[TexAZgrower]

Its been a few days since I germinated about 30 seeds. After asking around I was able to get the name of some of the seeds i have since they were gifted by friends. I have some Mexican Reggie. Gorilla Glue and some unknown strain I decided to call South Tejas weed since that were it came from.

Most of the seeds popped. I'm getting excited. Tomorrow I will be buying some soil. I am going to the local nursery and grabbing what's available.

First pic is the South Tejas weed. Second pic is Gorilla Glue.

Not pictured is the Mexican reggie. Its late and I jave to be up early tomorrow. Will post more pics soon

 

[rembrandt100]

Nice long roots ............... good luck ....... Pulling up a chair to sit and watch

 

[mudballs]

good luck, fellow texan cheering for you

 

[TexAZgrower]

I got some miracle gro seedling mix to start. I know I know but it's all that was available. My fault for not being ready.

I moved the germinated seeds into small containers I planted about 13 seeds. I gave the seeds a few drops of RO water and let them settle in. I labeled all the containers. The water bottles are where I placed the Mexican Reggie seeds for now. I will get something better to put them in.

I have a few questions. How soon before they can go outside? Will anything happen if they go straight outside?

Btw my job gave me a raise today. Happy Friday everyone

 

[rembrandt100]

As new as they are I would say if it is warm enough then yes they can go outside. The only reason that plants need to be hardened off is if they spend time inside with no temp changes, winds, etc. and they need to be climatized to the new environment.

 

[TaoRich]

How soon before they can go outside?

The sooner the better, provided it is warm enough outside and a bit sheltered from any hectic wind.

Sheltered inside without good strong sun for too long is bad bad bad.

The little seedlings stretch way too much trying to reach out for proper light.

That makes them tall and skinny ... with lanky stretch space between their first germination leaf pair, and their subsequent true leaf sets.

Source:

I made that mistake myself.

Germinated my first batch, and let them grow inside in polystyrene cups for a little over a week under a Perspex skylight with diffused natural sunlight. Skinny little things with lanky fragile stems and spaced out leaves.

My next seeds I germinated a month later, and put them straight outside after they broke through the soil surface.

Batch 2 grew leaf sets right on top of each other ... minimal internodal length.

Most of them overtook Batch 1 in size and vigour within a month, even though they were a month younger.

Good luck.

 

[go go kid]

i would never let my sprouts get that long b 4 planting in soil. get them in some quality soil ASAP

 

[TexAZgrower]

i would never let my sprouts get that long b 4 planting in soil. get them in some quality soil ASAP

What kind of soil do you recommend? Im limited to what's available in my local area

 

[TexAZgrower]

The sooner the better, provided it is warm enough outside and a bit sheltered from any hectic wind.

Sheltered inside without good strong sun for too long is bad bad bad.

The little seedlings stretch way too much trying to reach out for proper light.

That makes them tall and skinny ... with lanky stretch space between their first germination leaf pair, and their subsequent true leaf sets.

Source:

I made that mistake myself.

Germinated my first batch, and let them grow inside in polystyrene cups for a little over a week under a Perspex skylight with diffused natural sunlight. Skinny little things with lanky fragile stems and spaced out leaves.

My next seeds I germinated a month later, and put them straight outside after they broke through the soil surface.

Batch 2 grew leaf sets right on top of each other ... minimal internodal length.

Most of them overtook Batch 1 in size and vigour within a month, even though they were a month younger.

Good luck.

Thank you for the positivity i appreciate it very much. I plan on feeding the seeds RO water for 2 weeks. When should I start giving them food? Also how soon can I start giving the seedlings some FPJ ?

 

[TaoRich]

What kind of soil do you recommend? Im limited to what's available in my local area

I start with:

Step 1 : cotton wool seed germination
Step 2 : then into polystyrene coffee cups
Step 3 : then into 4.5 litre / 1 gallon black planter bags
Step 4 : then into final pots - I am using 25 litre / 6 gallon pots

So for soil ... another hard lesson from personal experience ...

Step 2
- make damn sure the soil is sterile
- I buy nursery potting soil

Step 3
- make damn sure the soil is sterile
- I buy nursery potting soil and mix 50/50 with nursery compost

I used a handful of garden soil ... and I found out later that I had picked up cutworm eggs. Those hatch and live inside the soil, and truly phuq with everything. They eat live plant roots. They cut around a plant stem and kill it.

I only found out when I gave up on the last 5 of my seedlings because they refused to grow. Those 5 were little runts that demanded attention and went nowhere compared to the rest. When I emptied out the black planter bags, I found between 1 and 5 cutworms in each. Some as big as the top 2 joints of my little finger.

Nursery potting soil and Nursery compost are both sterilised during production.
High heat.
Kills all bugs.
Kills all eggs.
Kills all weeds.
Kills all seeds.

Step 4
You can scrounge up some natural soil, at less risk than the smaller plant stage.
Not zero risk ... but significantly less..

Try to get some soil that is healthy 'forest soil' ... or in other words ... diverse in nature.

Somewhere that there is rotting vegetation and leaves. A bonus is to look for places with mushrooms or mycelium.
Darker soil is usually the most nutrient rich.

If you are "gathering soil from the wild" then scoop up the top foot into a separate container
- this is the topsoil ... keep it aside

Then scoop up the deeper soil into its own container

When you prepare your pots or your garden bed ... opposite order

Deeper soil in first to the bottom
Top soil back on top

The reason for this is the topsoil has a different microbial life profile to the deeper soil. A lot of good stuff happens on the soil surface layers. Don't kill that off.

For Step 4 amend the soil with your own compost, or buy compost.

Start a worm bin if you can.

Worms will compost stuff in 6 weeks compared to 6 months on a compost heap

Worms are also cold composters
- a compost heap typically goes to 135° F or 70° C due to thermophilic bacterial activity
- worms do not raise the temperature much
- worms do not break down the compost material all they way down into 'raw elements'
... they leave a lot of nutrition behind in the form of higher order compounds

- - -

Edit addition

Some people recommend pushing any natural gathered soil through a screen.
To screen out pests and pest eggs.
To screen out seeds.

A builders screen works well ... the one they throw sand through when mixing cement to screen out debris crap.

 

[TaoRich]

Thank you for the positivity i appreciate it very much. I plan on feeding the seeds RO water for 2 weeks. When should I start giving them food? Also how soon can I start giving the seedlings some FPJ ?

Referring back to my stages above

Step 1 : cotton wool seed germination
Step 2 : then into polystyrene coffee cups
Step 3 : then into 4.5 litre / 1 gallon black planter bags
Step 4 : then into final pots - I am using 25 litre / 6 gallon pots

If you make up a decent nursery potting soil and compost mix for Stage 3, then you don't really need to feed much.

I started with compost teas, and manure brews with blackstrap molasses, and some fresh kelp chopped and soaked.

That stage I let my plants get around a foot tall. Maybe 4-5 weeks from germination.

Their needs are not drastic at that size or age.

And you don't really want to hit them with string nutes when their root system is to young.

Step 4 I made a living soil. I put a shitload of effort and prep into that. Big time.

That's when their food needs take off.

Up until then, they are fine without too much supplement.

 

[TaoRich]

And a final note ...

Why the 4 stages ?
Can you cut one out ?

Here's the theory:

When a cannabis seedling sends its taproot down ... the taproot will burrow deep as a first priority.

So Step 2 : polystyrene coffee cups

The little taproot bottoms out in the small cup pretty fast. It says "oh phuq ... no more depth" and it sends out side roots to make the start of a root ball.

Then you transplant into Step 3 : then into 4.5 litre / 1 gallon black planter bags

The little taproot sets off on Stage 2 of its deep burrowing. The little Stage 1 root ball however continues to send out side shoots.

Same story happens all over again.

The little taproot bottoms out in the planter bag. Again it says "oh phuq ... no more depth" and it sends out side roots to make the start of root ball number 2.

Then you transplant into Step 4 : final pots

The now not so little taproot sets off on Stage 3 of its deep burrowing. The little Stage 1 root ball however continues to send out side shoots and the bigger Stage 2 root ball does the same.

The final root ball starts when the taproot reaches the bottom of the pot that is your plant's final home.

- - -

If you go straight from germination of a sprout and plant into the final home pot ...
... the little taproot sets off on deep burrowing in that final pot.

It won't really start a root ball until it gets close to the bottom of that pot.

Result is a big root ball at the bottom of your pot ... and a lot of the middle to top of the pot will just be taproot and not nearly as much fine root filaments.

 

[go go kid]

just buy a quality seed and potting compost for them. you can add cmpost and dry amendments to it to give the soil longevity, but mix them in to the bottom soil level or you may harm the young seedlings if they come into direct contact with the roots.
add things like a small half a handfull of the amendments,
a half handfull of chicken manure, fish blood n bone meal/pellets and the same of seaweed meal. this will sree you through most of the grow without the need for suplimental feedings