No growth yet, my first grow, did I do something wrong?

Ok well first off let me do a quick intro. I'm a ''gringo'' living in Peru. Unfortunately Peru has less access to the high quality growing materials but I figured I'd try and make do with what I got.

I built a little box, about 7 square feet and stuck four plants in there. The pots are about 1 foot in diameter.

I had four seeds from some very high quality bud that I smoked recently. I germinated them via the paper towel method.

I had put them on top of my water heater which seemed good. After 3 days, they all had opened and popped out their roots. However I hadn't put any water on since the morning and when I got home from work the paper towel and seeds were completely dry. One of the long tails went from white to a yellow brown. I don't know if maybe this killed the seeds. I kinda doubt it but its possible.

I planted the seeds that night in a personal mix of soil. I haven't tested PH although I plan on buying some.

Basically its regular soil with some organic soil/fert mix. Its 1 part of the organic fert, 1 part gravel, and 4 parts soil. The soil is pretty rough though, has bits of bark and leaves and twigs and shit. The soil has some big clumps as well. I broke it up as much as I could. I can't find any organic potting soil here.

I skipped the solo cup method of planting and just went straight to the pots as they were already prepared and figured it'd be easier on the plant instead of a transplant.

Anyway I've followed all the guides out there otherwise. I put the seeds in about 1/4 inch in the soil, watered, covered the pots with a plastic bag for humidity, flipped on the lights and waited.

4 days later nothing has popped up so far.

What do you think is the most likely cause of this? I've since ordered good seeds from Ministry of Cannabis and I'll definitely try to be a bit more prepared. But i read a lot and I think I followed the instructions well enough.

My only two possible causes for no growth would be the dried out seeds I found when I got home, or the so-so soil blend I have going on.



The setup has 6k lumens of CCFLs hanging directly above the pots, 3k more of spiral bulbs in the corner, all white light. Plus two big ass 3k lumen incandescents for some heat and yellow light balance. Total of 15k. Watering with spring bottled water, fan blowing on the box for ventilation, white walls for reflectivity, its a pretty nice setup IMO.

So what are the thoughts here? How long does it usually take to see the seeds sprout? How long until I can consider it a lost cause and plant my new seeds (when they arrive of course)? Should I try a different soil (I can get manure, mushroom stuff, thats about it)

I've read through the n00b threads and I pored the internets before doing this so I would just appreciate any advice. Thanks a lot!

Hi & Welcome to RIU!

If the tap root dried, then I believe it would be safe to assume that the seed is no longer viable, otherwise, if the remaining three seeds weren't like that then there might still be hope. It can take a week or so for some to pop above ground.
I'd stick to the solo cups for germination, and transplant after they've grown a few nodes. The soil sounds fine, just don't water too much, and no fertilizers for at least 2-3 weeks so you can gauge how hot your soil might be. Also, you have a lot of light which'll be fine when they've grown a little bit, but don't blind the babies when they finally pop out

Good luck, and I envy your being in Peru - I'd love to tour that country one day!

I agree with Cannabis Love. Sounds like your seeds may have died. Also, it's best if you sift your first soil to remove the bark, rocks and other junk and don't add any nutes to it. Seedlings can go a month on just the stored energy from the first leaves.

Yeah the one seed that I considered possibly dead was already sprouting a long tap root, nearly an inch. I was trying to wait for the other three to catch up. Finally they all opened more or less the same time and got to about a quarter inch. When I discovered them pretty dry, two were open just maybe 1/16th of an inch, so I held out hope for them two.

I'll try and devise a way to sift the soil better and for the next batch maybe I won't mix in the organic fert until later. I have a liquid fert also prepared, but I'm not using it until weeks 3-4 I figured. Course maybe not at all now

Thanks for the replies. If things get going I'll post pictures up here, if not maybe we'll have to wait until I get my seeds from MoC.

.

peruviankush said:

The setup has 6k lumens of CCFLs hanging directly above the pots, 3k more of spiral bulbs in the corner, all white light. Plus two big ass 3k lumen incandescents for some heat and yellow light balance. Total of 15k. Watering with spring bottled water, fan blowing on the box for ventilation, white walls for reflectivity, its a pretty nice setup IMO.

Click to expand...

On re-reading, I think you should remove the incandescents altogether. I would go with CFL's at this point if you cannot use an HID lamp. There will be plenty of heat coming from them lol

Keep the world green my friend!

.

The CFLs alone didn't produce a lot of heat with the fan running. I want the fan running for support and plant growth. So I think I need the incandescent. Plus i've read its good to have a balance between white and orange light, since the sun would project more than one color. Change ratios for flowering, gonna use orange CFLs for that.

For the record its been a week without growth. I'm thinking they're toast. I got a couple more from the latest batch and I'm going to try some slightly different methods. We learn by experience and I wanna try a couple things before my good seeds come in.

This time I'm gonna do the solo cup for planting first. Also I wanna try germination in a shot glass as I've seen on some other places. I figure thats less likely to lose its water like what happened last time.