Oldgrowth
Well-Known Member
I’ve been a member for a short time but growing for 35 years and the one thing that strikes me as odd is how complicated many are making what seems simple to me! Marijuana is not hard to grow! Let’s Start with Germination.
I’ve seen all kinds of advice on germination from soaking your seeds overnight in black tea, cold of course to soaking in water till the seeds sink and so much more! Let’s get real!
Here is Oldgrowths fool proof KISS(Keep it Simple Stupid!)method. Now I don’t claim to have invented it. I’ve just been using it for 30 + years with perfect results!
Take a paper towel and fold it into a square and place it on a small plate. Do the same with one more paper towel. Wet the paper towels with bottled water, I mean cover the towels with ¼ inch of water and let stand for 5-10 min. Then turn the plate sideways and drain the excess water off. Now place your seeds between the 2 towels. Cover this plate with another the same size. Place the plate in a dark warm place. 75 degrees is enough for most strains but you may find some that need 83 degrees to germinate. I stick this in a cupboard above my stove on the top shelf. Good strong seeds will germinate within 24 hours. Weak older seeds may take 3 days. Look at your seeds every 12 hours or so and make sure the towels stay moist. As soon as the seeds crack open and stick just a hint of root out plant them in a good potting soil( I just used Fox Farm Ocean Forest witch cost me $12.95 at the hydro store). I add 25% perlite so my seedling roots get plenty of oxygen). IMPORTANT! Plant the pointy end the root is coming out of up!!! That root will make a 90 degree turn no matter how you plant it and you don’t want it to have to turn back down and waste its precious energy making 2 turns. I plant 1/8 -3/16 below the soils surface.
I just used this method on some seed I purchased(for the first time!). I bought 2 G-force, 2 Motivation both feminized and 5 Top Skunk regular seeds. The Top Skunk were big beautiful seeds and the “feminized” were small and black. Not surprising to me the Top Skunk all germinated in the first 20 hours! The motivation were next at 30 hours and the G-force were the last at 38 hours. But I had 100% germination.
They were all planted in 8” pots and placed under a 4 bulb fluorescent with 6000k daylight bulbs. I made a humidity tent out of a thick clear plastic drop cloth. Of course the Top Skunk were the first to sprout and the G-Force were the last, 2 days later. Once again 100% sprouting. 24 hours after they all sprouted I removed the humidity tent and placed an oscillating fan at the other end of the room.
DO NOT FEED your sprouts for at least 3 weeks! There are plenty of nutrients in the soil for them! When you start feeding PLEASE dilute your nutrients! 1/8 to 1/4 of the recommended mix! You can SLOWLY increase strength. Biggest mistake I see are over feeding! Don’t Do IT! Go see my post where I describe my grow opp from 30 years ago and you will see I used ¼ strength nutrients throughout my grow! https://www.rollitup.org/advanced-marijuana-cultivation/151706-uncle-bens-topping-technique-get-267.html#post4621131
I know this is a long description but the process is very simple! Results speak for themselves.
Ok Now for Oldgrowths KISS Cloning
I have used this method for years and have very good success. I take cuttings off of vegetive stage plants. They should be 3 to 4 inches long. I strip any leaves off last 1 ½ to 2 inches. I use a small container of water and a sharp razor blade. I cut the branch at an angle and immediately put the cut end in the water. When I have taken all the cuttings I take my water with the cuttings in it to my bench. I use the same potting mix with the perlite added as in the germinating post above. Now I add 25% vermiculite to that soil mix. I generally use 3 or 4 inch pots for clones. I poke a hole in the soil large enough so I can insert the cutting without wiping off the rootone on the cutting. When my pots are ready I take each cutting out of the water and roll it in the rootone powder and carefully place it in the hole I’v created in the soil and gently firm it up around cutting. I take the pots and place them under the fluorescents about 4 or 5 inches from lights. Again I make a humidity tent out of clear plastic drop cloth . In 1 ½ to 2 weeks the cuttings have rooted but you won’t see much growth yet but they should look healthy and green now. In a week or two you will see good growth and renewed vigor. I have very little wilting with this method although you may see a bit first few days.
Again simple and effective. I have also used straight vermiculite and just laid the my cuttings in a bed of vermiculite and them planted them after roots start to grow. I just gently pull them out of vermiculite and then in the pots they go. This is really a production method I used when dealing with hundreds of cuttings. I prefer not to disturb the roots so I generally put them straight into soil.
Once again you DO NOT need to feed these cutting for the first few weeks!
I hope this gives you a simple and clear way to get started. I just don’t think you need fancy equipment or supplies to have great success.
Good Growing!
I’ve seen all kinds of advice on germination from soaking your seeds overnight in black tea, cold of course to soaking in water till the seeds sink and so much more! Let’s get real!
Here is Oldgrowths fool proof KISS(Keep it Simple Stupid!)method. Now I don’t claim to have invented it. I’ve just been using it for 30 + years with perfect results!
Take a paper towel and fold it into a square and place it on a small plate. Do the same with one more paper towel. Wet the paper towels with bottled water, I mean cover the towels with ¼ inch of water and let stand for 5-10 min. Then turn the plate sideways and drain the excess water off. Now place your seeds between the 2 towels. Cover this plate with another the same size. Place the plate in a dark warm place. 75 degrees is enough for most strains but you may find some that need 83 degrees to germinate. I stick this in a cupboard above my stove on the top shelf. Good strong seeds will germinate within 24 hours. Weak older seeds may take 3 days. Look at your seeds every 12 hours or so and make sure the towels stay moist. As soon as the seeds crack open and stick just a hint of root out plant them in a good potting soil( I just used Fox Farm Ocean Forest witch cost me $12.95 at the hydro store). I add 25% perlite so my seedling roots get plenty of oxygen). IMPORTANT! Plant the pointy end the root is coming out of up!!! That root will make a 90 degree turn no matter how you plant it and you don’t want it to have to turn back down and waste its precious energy making 2 turns. I plant 1/8 -3/16 below the soils surface.
I just used this method on some seed I purchased(for the first time!). I bought 2 G-force, 2 Motivation both feminized and 5 Top Skunk regular seeds. The Top Skunk were big beautiful seeds and the “feminized” were small and black. Not surprising to me the Top Skunk all germinated in the first 20 hours! The motivation were next at 30 hours and the G-force were the last at 38 hours. But I had 100% germination.
They were all planted in 8” pots and placed under a 4 bulb fluorescent with 6000k daylight bulbs. I made a humidity tent out of a thick clear plastic drop cloth. Of course the Top Skunk were the first to sprout and the G-Force were the last, 2 days later. Once again 100% sprouting. 24 hours after they all sprouted I removed the humidity tent and placed an oscillating fan at the other end of the room.
DO NOT FEED your sprouts for at least 3 weeks! There are plenty of nutrients in the soil for them! When you start feeding PLEASE dilute your nutrients! 1/8 to 1/4 of the recommended mix! You can SLOWLY increase strength. Biggest mistake I see are over feeding! Don’t Do IT! Go see my post where I describe my grow opp from 30 years ago and you will see I used ¼ strength nutrients throughout my grow! https://www.rollitup.org/advanced-marijuana-cultivation/151706-uncle-bens-topping-technique-get-267.html#post4621131
I know this is a long description but the process is very simple! Results speak for themselves.
Ok Now for Oldgrowths KISS Cloning
I have used this method for years and have very good success. I take cuttings off of vegetive stage plants. They should be 3 to 4 inches long. I strip any leaves off last 1 ½ to 2 inches. I use a small container of water and a sharp razor blade. I cut the branch at an angle and immediately put the cut end in the water. When I have taken all the cuttings I take my water with the cuttings in it to my bench. I use the same potting mix with the perlite added as in the germinating post above. Now I add 25% vermiculite to that soil mix. I generally use 3 or 4 inch pots for clones. I poke a hole in the soil large enough so I can insert the cutting without wiping off the rootone on the cutting. When my pots are ready I take each cutting out of the water and roll it in the rootone powder and carefully place it in the hole I’v created in the soil and gently firm it up around cutting. I take the pots and place them under the fluorescents about 4 or 5 inches from lights. Again I make a humidity tent out of clear plastic drop cloth . In 1 ½ to 2 weeks the cuttings have rooted but you won’t see much growth yet but they should look healthy and green now. In a week or two you will see good growth and renewed vigor. I have very little wilting with this method although you may see a bit first few days.
Again simple and effective. I have also used straight vermiculite and just laid the my cuttings in a bed of vermiculite and them planted them after roots start to grow. I just gently pull them out of vermiculite and then in the pots they go. This is really a production method I used when dealing with hundreds of cuttings. I prefer not to disturb the roots so I generally put them straight into soil.
Once again you DO NOT need to feed these cutting for the first few weeks!
I hope this gives you a simple and clear way to get started. I just don’t think you need fancy equipment or supplies to have great success.
Good Growing!
