Seeds and sprouting

Make sure you don't throw out seeds you think are duds until they have had a good chance. Sometimes seeds will sprout in one day, sometimes 3 or 4.

this is so true give them time leave them dark if in a week no action maybe but i had seed that dont sprout until the 5 day they tend to be stronger plants too for some reason

Good advice guys, rom what I'd read up to now I was planning on giving all the seeds at least a week to sprout, unless I came across any aprticularly strong reason to starting potting them earlier. Plus that suited me logistically with juggling work and secretly growing pot

I'll be on over the next few days with a myriad of basic questions should I be unable to find the info I need elsewhere.

growing is in you. There is a way to let it out, but only you can find the way that work for you the things we say are only advice from the things we ourselves have encountered, etc. They best things i learned s from doing my own experiments with the materials i was given and found y comfort zone that is hella fun. so i wish you the best in your journey

So far I've potted 2 of 5, one more is ready for potting, and I'm trying to get 2 more to sprout, but I'm thinking they may be duds, still I'll give them a good chance before I write them off!

Koabear said:

this is so true give them time leave them dark if in a week no action maybe but i had seed that dont sprout until the 5 day they tend to be stronger plants too for some reason

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I def agree with this. I've found that since I usually plant a whole group of seeds at the same time, some will have varying size taproots. The ones with shorter roots will have opened their shell later and therefore also sprout later but then they take off! Don't rule any of them out yet.

I think I'm starting to see the seed coat split on at least one of the 2 remaining seeds. I think there may also be some splitting starting on the other seed, btu I'm less sure about that, still I'm quite happy with 4 out of 5 up to this stage

Ok, I've spent the day setting my seedlings up in an alcove behind my computer desk. For now they're on a 24-hr lighting schedule, although i do have a time plugged into the systme so I can start modifying the light/dark stages as I need to. Also the alcove is behind my desk so I would guess the temperatures ismaybe 5 or so degrees higher than the ambient room temperautre, from what i've read so far this puts the temperatures around the seedling pots well into the optimal range. The pots themselves are quite large, plenty of room to grow, and devlope a nice root network.

I've set things up so that the 3 pots are arranged in a triangle around a single table lamp which is fitted with a 20W CFL bulb, (20W was the highest I could lay my hands on at short notice, I'll be on the lookout for higher wattage!). I've coated the inside of the lamp shade with foil to minimise light loss.

Here's my questions at this stage,

- How concerned do I need to be about a 20 W CFL drying out the soil? How frequently should I water, and what's a healthy volume of water to use?

- At present the light is roughly 20-30 cm above the pots. Plant 1 has already broken the surface and is just over an inch in height. Plants 2/3 have yet to break the surface, I'm not too concerned about that for now, but I am wondering if the current height of my lamp is too much, or too little?


That's pretty much it so far. CFLs should keep the costs down so my housemates suspicions won't be aroused. Im fairly sure one of them would actually be stoked about this little "experiment", but i figure the best way to make sure nobody dangerous finds out about this is to keep it as a solo project!

there's 25 mm in an inch I think so that's about right. You want the bulb 1-1.5 inches away and it's no where near as hot as an HID light so it won't dry your soil out fast or anything. Just keep picking up the pots. When it feels light like they're almost empty, then it's dry enough to water. Most popular way for newbs to kill plants is overwatering. When they're young, you want the soil more on the dry side so the roots grow in search of water. And keep an eye on that tin foil. Usually it does more harm than good because it crinkles, concentrating the light and creating hot spots.

ItsAllNiceAndLegal said:

Perfectly timed amigo, I just checked and there's 2 nice ong sprouts and one more jsut beginning to show. but there are 2 more that are still undecided, was wondering if they were duds or there was some way i could "encourage" them. I'll give your way a shot

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what does a sprout look like when its just braking the top?

And if you really don't want your roommates to know, you're going to have to take care of the smell staring about two weeks from now. Check this out https://www.rollitup.org/newbie-central/8410-odor-removing-machine.html#post77011
And if you're ever thinking "maybe I can trust this person enough to tell them", think again!!! Telling people only gets you caught and even if it doesn't they will just want you to give them weed for free when you harvest. If you want to show off all your work, this site and others like it is the only place, so keep us posted and happy growing!

BCSKing said:

what does a sprout look like when its just braking the top?

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Imagine this but a little shorter.

mared juwan said:

Imagine this but a little shorter.

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aaa ok I get it cool thanks, I'm starting from seeds my self to and its my first time so yea, what would happen if the soil get bone dry but not for to long ?

mared juwan said:

And if you really don't want your roommates to know, you're going to have to take care of the smell staring about two weeks from now. Check this out https://www.rollitup.org/newbie-central/8410-odor-removing-machine.html#post77011
And if you're ever thinking "maybe I can trust this person enough to tell them", think again!!! Telling people only gets you caught and even if it doesn't they will just want you to give them weed for free when you harvest. If you want to show off all your work, this site and others like it is the only place, so keep us posted and happy growing!

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Yeah i was wondering what the best wa to deal with the smell was, I'll check that out. And there's no way I'm telling anyone. My housemate is totally cool, and it's his gaff so we'd actually talked about growing in the shed out back before.

Thing is, his brother smokes, and so do a few other peole he knows and in his family. So inevitably, and without any malice intedned, he'd tell them,and then they'd tell other people, and I'd be fucked.
So like a said, this is a solo operation