NL CFl and LED grow(1st time noobie!)

Your def 100 correct and i dont disagree with you at all... i have about 12 more CFls i havent used yet if i choose to want to use them... i havent eve nput the led boards up yet so im gonna experiment with those on this next grow.. i think ill prob only get 6 outa 10 to actually sprout a root .. not sure if me technique is correct.. So wat do you think about the transplant?

athlete201 said:

Your def 100 correct and i dont disagree with you at all... i have about 12 more CFls i havent used yet if i choose to want to use them... i havent eve nput the led boards up yet so im gonna experiment with those on this next grow.. i think ill prob only get 6 outa 10 to actually sprout a root .. not sure if me technique is correct.. So wat do you think about the transplant?

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The transplant is a tricky question. I'd actually recommend this instead: flush your soil several times (throughout multiple days) and as your plants get bigger, start having them soak up some high quality nutes--you'd probably have better control of the pH too.

12 CFLs might do it--for 8 plants total (?) you could get some good yields.

About germinating your seeds--6 out of 15 means you probably need a switch in your germination method--I don't know which one you're using but you gotta try the paper towel method. I tried an outdoor grow this summer of 5 white widow plants and one G13 Haze. I just put them in the soil and only one germinated and eventually died. With the paper towel method I've had every seed germinate really easily. There's posts and YouTubes that show the method really well--it's super simple too.

Good luck man and keep up the good work!

Well as the old saying goes.. Dont fix what isnt broken!! lol I'm gonna def transplant her to a bigger pot today because the roots are hitting the bottom of the cup now... I am using the papertowel method now (

1 oz of water in a ziplock fold papertowels over seeds and put in dark area ....?

Then i just threw 3 seeds into a cup of distilled water... 1 already popped!!! this is how the northern lights guy im growing now came about....

athlete201 said:

Well as the old saying goes.. Dont fix what isnt broken!! lol I'm gonna def transplant her to a bigger pot today because the roots are hitting the bottom of the cup now... I am using the papertowel method now (

1 oz of water in a ziplock fold papertowels over seeds and put in dark area ....?

Then i just threw 3 seeds into a cup of distilled water... 1 already popped!!! this is how the northern lights guy im growing now came about....

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I wouldn't say 1 oz of water. Most tutorials say and my experience works best with a wet towel but not pools of water in the bag. I sometimes rewet the towel a bit after a few days. I always use distilled water for the paper towel method and for watering.

after the transplant .. Hope it holds added some diff soil that feeds plants for up to 9 months so we will see how it does.. The cup it came out of had roots all ion the bottom so it's time to put into bigger !

Added LED board hovering over top!

athlete201 said:

after the transplant .. Hope it holds added some diff soil that feeds plants for up to 9 months so we will see how it does.. The cup it came out of had roots all ion the bottom so it's time to put into bigger !

Added LED board hovering over top!

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Well done sir, well done.

I have 6 more seedlings that just sprouted so im gonna tweak the lighting setup and add these puppies into there... I'm not even gonna believe for a second that the 1 main plant i have now is gonna be a female but rather mostly for learning experience! haha

Gotta create a 100% pure LED box with maybe one 50 watt Cfl there

athlete201 said:

I have 6 more seedlings that just sprouted so im gonna tweak the lighting setup and add these puppies into there... I'm not even gonna believe for a second that the 1 main plant i have now is gonna be a female but rather mostly for learning experience! haha

Gotta create a 100% pure LED box with maybe one 50 watt Cfl there

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Got the temp and humidity? Also, you didn't buy feminized seeds? So worth it for the few extra $$$. If you are going to use regular seeds you can wrap them in a banana peel and change the peel every few days for a total of two weeks before germination and every day opening up the bag to allow fresh air in. I believe this raises the chance of getting a female from about 50% to around 60%. Bananas apparently have estrogenic compounds in them which will promote a female plant.

Wow now that is some interesting informatioN!! i like it..

can you tell sex when the flower is NOT in flowering? i see like "leaves under the steams coming out.. lil things.. will try to get pic

athlete201 said:

Wow now that is some interesting informatioN!! i like it..

can you tell sex when the flower is NOT in flowering? i see like "leaves under the steams coming out.. lil things.. will try to get pic

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Great question. If you have copious amounts of sticky buds you obviously have a female. But, before flowering you will begin to see the male and female sex organs. Females make what are called pistils. These are long, thin leave-looking appendages that reach out in an attempt to find male pollen. Males have these small, green banana-looking things which are basically balls that make pollen. The minute you have a male, you're gonna want to pull that sucker from your grow very carefully. You don't want even a bit of his pollen to rape your pretty girls. The difference is seedy mids and exquisite sensimilla.

One way I forgot to mention to make regular seeds have a higher propensity to be female is to germinate your seeds in a solution of water with a birth control pill dissolved in it. Only really feasible if you're a girl or your girlfriend has leftover pills. I don't think mine would appreciate me taking her medicine for my cannabis grow

But even with these home methods, you're not going to get close to the female percentages that feminized seeds will give you. I think most seedbanks guarantee that their feminized seeds will be female--you're looking at around 99-100% as long as you don't fuck up the light cycle, have a palatable environment to your plants, and have at least a few hours of darkness. You'll notice that some of the really Cannabis Sativa s. Ruderalis-dominant autoflowering strains claim you can grow from seed to harvest on a 24/0 light cycle. But, even though it has Ruderalis genetics, they're still plants--and plants like some darkness and I've read about people bitching about getting males and hermies from feminized autoflowering varities on a 24/0 cycle. You really want a maximum of 20 hours of light per day--this closely mimics the northern Russia summer environment where Ruderalis originates from. I've got mine on 18/6 because I have one autoflowering and one light-cycle-dependent plant. I'll wait for my autoflowering to almost finish before I switch over to 12/12 for my Sativa--will give her more room too.

Hope this info helps you sort out your plant sex questions.

Here are pics from this morning.. She survived the transplant very well!!! Growing better now than ever before... 4 CFL's 3200k (2) and 5500 (2) and 2 LED boards on each side now...

What are those leaves closest to the stem? IS it possible toshow sex this early? ((

Out of the 8 seeds i germinated all of them popped but so far only 3 blue mystic broke the soil (its been 4 days ) this kinda makes me unhappy or that im doign something wrong but i dont know how hard that could be !

really looking good--I'm glad the transplant went so well!

well the room was "updated today to make room for everything"

this will eventually become the vegging only room

the two led board were side mounted to allow more clearance for the CFL's. yes i know someone will say the LED should/could be closer but at least they are putting something on the plants.

i have 2 more plants that are healthy and good ot go.. The reason why you see soo many more are im trying to get these things sprouted.. for some reason they dont wanna pop their nasty heads out of the soil much further! I have the big boy bulbs coming Friday and im sure the growth will SKY ROCKET next week.. heres updated picture and the rest will come next monday or tuesday!

just kinda fixed the led boards and added a hanging CFL twin ..

athlete201 said:

well the room was "updated today to make room for everything"

this will eventually become the vegging only room

the two led board were side mounted to allow more clearance for the CFL's. yes i know someone will say the LED should/could be closer but at least they are putting something on the plants.

i have 2 more plants that are healthy and good ot go.. The reason why you see soo many more are im trying to get these things sprouted.. for some reason they dont wanna pop their nasty heads out of the soil much further! I have the big boy bulbs coming Friday and im sure the growth will SKY ROCKET next week.. heres updated picture and the rest will come next monday or tuesday!

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The one LED on the right is doing a little bit. The one on the left is (sorry!) doing virtually nothing: inverse square law.

Man i germinated 8 seeds and freaking only 3 took a sprout through the soil wtf. the rest died off.. Such a waste of money kinda disappointed

athlete201 said:

Man i germinated 8 seeds and freaking only 3 took a sprout through the soil wtf. the rest died off.. Such a waste of money kinda disappointed

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Idk man. I've heard about a 95% success rate with the paper towel method if used correctly. Plus, I don't know the quality or origin of your seeds. You gotta buy from the Attitude Seedbank http://www.cannabis-seeds-bank.co.uk/ --seriously--every seed has germinated from them for me when I've used the paper towel method--and that's some 5 seeds since I started using that method.

A few extra tips:
1. Keep your environment sterile. Wash your hands before handling anything.

2. Use distilled or some kind of high-end filtered water. For a safe bet you can buy distilled water jugs from any supermarket for under a $1 a piece. If anyone gets suspicious why you buy so many so frequently, say you have allergies and use a humidifier that requires distilled water.

3. Try not to touch the seedlings when you move them to soil--a good moist soil at that. Just let the seedling "roll" off the paper towel into about a 1/4 to 1/2" hole in the soil and gently cover the seedling so that it is completely covered with loose soil but no light is getting to the root.

4. Plant with the root sideways--so as not to hurt it. I find that planting it root-up makes it hard to take hold and root down is risky because you run the risk of breaking it or damaging it.

5. I know you're not running HIDs but don't but seedlings under some high-end 400w digital light. CFLs are great for seedlings.

6. Use a few layers of paper towel and put them in a ziploc bag--saturated but not dripping and not just moist. Open the bag everyday to air it out. I like to pull the paper towel off and put it back on the seeds. After 2-3 days, re-wet the towel with (again) distilled or purified water.

7. Make sure the paper towel fully encapsulates the seed--i.e. making contact with all of its surfaces. One should be able to make out the seed under about 3 layers of paper towel so the water really permeates the shell of the seed.

Good luck. Maybe I'll post pics of my paper towel technique for my next grow because I don't seem to have these problems.

That sucks man--good luck next time.

best,

secretforestgarden

I managed to get all the seeds to pop except one i think.. but of the ones that rooted them didnt sprout out of the soil and just died Right now i have 2 HEALTHY blue mystic (i think) that are doing VERy well! Gonna be my "2nd grow"

athlete201 said:

I managed to get all the seeds to pop except one i think.. but of the ones that rooted them didnt sprout out of the soil and just died Right now i have 2 HEALTHY blue mystic (i think) that are doing VERy well! Gonna be my "2nd grow"

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Good work. That's all very normal. Looks like you got it down. I'll standby for pics when you got 'em.