Light or no light?

[MLD]

You can flower outdoors pretty much all year long then. You would need to supplement with some extra hours of light to veg them outside.

I don't have the option to supplement light while a plant is outside, but I can veg with Cfls inside

 

[Mr. J]

I don't have the option to supplement light while a plant is outside, but I can veg with Cfls inside

That works too.

 

[MLD]

I am soaking 5 more seeds incase these 5 don't sprout. This afternoon will be 4 days since they went into the pellets. I've also ordered photoperiod seeds from Seedsman.

 

[Shmavis]

Yes the wait is killing me lol. My friend ordered these seeds from a dude with a medical cannabis YouTube show and they are white. My understanding is that the most viable seeds should be dark. I have 5 more seeds which I am going to soak today. If the first 5 sprout, awesome. If they don't, hopefully these next 5 will. I'm also ordering seeds from the Seedsman today, but they may take up to 45 days to arrive.

I'm aware seeds don't need light to sprout, but I don't mind leaving the light on for a couple days if the heat will help. Lights were on all night and no results yet. Pellets are still moist as I left the dome on while I slept. I have it off now to allow for more oxygen as I will be around to make sure they don't dry out.

Those Cfls must have attracted and killed well over 100 bees last night. Not to worry, there are plenty of bees in my area! It beats having the landlord getting the attic fogged to kill them off - again.

So I'm going to order Northern Lights Auto today. They are cheap and advertised as good for beginners. Seedsman says they are mould and pest resistant, can grow in most environments, and have a higher than average yield. I plan to stick 4 plants in my tent and 1 outside. The outside plant will be to test if its possible to grow in my climate with high heat and humidity

The extra heat also aids in staving off damping off.

There’s a reason they make germination heating mats. I don’t like them. Prefer to generate heat in a humidity dome under the light. And using a dome you don’t have to worry so much about drying out. So yeah, even though the light isn't necessary for germination itself, it can serve to provide proper environmental conditions that aid germination.

If you follow DHF's advice, you should be off and running.

Best of luck!

 

[MedFaced]

Ok....We get it....You`re experienced enough ta know that beans will pop their lil head out the ground whether it`s daylight or dark outside.....but.....

What the NEW guy DON`T understand , is that if dark temps aren`t high enough to promote the medium being warm...Please.....No misleading information for the new folks

So we agree that light doesn’t matter, but you feel a cfl warms up the soil enough in what you assume is cold dirt.

For curiosity sake, how much does a cfl warm the soil?

 

[Mr. J]

So we agree that light doesn’t matter, but you feel a cfl warms up the soil enough in what you assume is cold dirt.

For curiosity sake, how much does a cfl warm the soil?

More than you might think. He said he has more than one CFL, and if he's using a dome then he's also getting a bit of a greenhouse effect. I doubt that cold dirt is a problem though because he lives near the equator. Unless he's in an air conditioned house.

 

[MLD]

Seeds are not germinating in an air-conditioned room

It's either:
- the seeds are bullshit
- they are just taking a long time to pop
- I fucked up somewhere

In 8hrs the next 5 will be done soaking for 24hrs and I will put them in paper towels with warm water in zippy bags that are open... In the dark.. Until the tails are 1.5cm... I will then put them straight into coco perlite 12oz cups to sprout.

Just to cover my bases, but before putting them into the coco I should water the coco with ph of about 5.8 correct? I have already buffered the coco with Cal mag and silicon. I will flush with 5.8ph until runoff is below 400 EC. This all about correct?

I have a bottle of Formulex which is designed to be used on seedlings, but my understanding is not to use this until the first true leaves grow.

 

[MedFaced]

More than you might think. He said he has more than one CFL, and if he's using a dome then he's also getting a bit of a greenhouse effect. I doubt that cold dirt is a problem though because he lives near the equator. Unless he's in an air conditioned house.

I think MLD has narrowed it down. I pop seeds in an open a/c room during the summer and also now in southern California cold weather. It’s not cold enough to prevent seeds from germinating.

 

[MLD]

After 24hrs soaking in water with Nitrozyme all seeds had sunk and cracked open. I put them in paper towels on a plate inside an open zip lock bag and poured the water with Nitrozyme on top. After 24hrs one seed had a root about 2cm long. After 48hrs all seeds had roots 2cm or longer, and the one had a root just over an inch long.
I prepared my coco perlite in 12oz plastic cups this morning with holes on the bottom and on the sides for airflow. I flushed with PH 5.76 water until runoff was below 400ec. I then gently placed the seeds root down into the cups and covered them with the coco (seed 1cm deep and roots running deeper). The one seed with a root over an inch long already at the first two leaves emerging, so I did not bury it as deep. I left the two tiny emerging leaves just barely emerging from the soil. I then gave them each about 2.5ml of water using a syringe.
They are now all under 3x25w CFL that are about 10 inches above the cups. I did not want to turn all 5 lights on until the other heads pop from the surface. When all heads pop from the surface and grow their first set of true leaves I will place them under the LED on veg mode.
I don't want to over water them. Should I be OK giving them 2.5ml of water a few times a day? Kinda hard to know if the coco around the seed is drying out. My instinct is to water them when the top layer feels a bit dry.
My LED has a veg and bloom mode (1500w BESTVA). I've read it will be best to turn both modes on even for veg, but for seedlings should I just leave it on veg?

I will start a grow journal on Monday.... For now I thought its best to follow up here

 

[MLD]

I'm ready to start feeding then Formulex, which is designed for seedlings, as soon as the leaves emerge. I will start with EC500

 

[FRANKENBUDS]

I used to just put mine in pellets or starter cubes under a bowl with the light on. When they popped i removed the bowl. Or like the BAZILLION others have pointed out... in a wet paper towel on top of a computer tower or wrapped in a heating pad. On LOWW...

Warmth is the object, not light. But if you leave the lights on all the time and plant naturally, you dont have to worry about any of it.

Lots of ways, many good. The best is what works best for you.

-Cheers

 

[MLD]

All seeds germinated and sprouted the 2nd time around. One is forming its 2nd set of leaves, while the others are a bit slower but looking good

 

[FRANKENBUDS]

Are they femenized seeds or reg? Forgive me for not re reading to find out.

 

[MLD]

Auto femenized

 

[greenspiritz]

The easiest method for new growers is the `ol tried and true "shot glass and paper towel method" to insure close to 100% germination and produce good size tails before transplanting into the medium of your choice.....


#1....Drop seeds in a shot glass of tapwater with chlorine that helps with antibacterial properties....Sit somewhere out of the way on a warm surface preferably and wait 24 hrs....after 24 hrs tap all seeds and watch em sink to the bottom of the shotglass….if there`s some stragglers still floating , tap a couple more times to break the surface tension , and if they still don`t sink , put the stragglers to the side and wet down paper towels in the same warm tapwater and put on a plate after squeezing out excess water....pour the shotglass water out as much as possible and let seeds fall onto paper towel......fold em up into a nice lil dark pkg and put em back in a darkish warm spot.....


#2.....Check paper towels so as to prevent drying out too fast , but with fresh viable seeds , tails will pop in 24 hrs and by 48 hrs be plenty long enough to transplant IME….#3....Transplant as best as possible tails down 1/4-1/2" deep depending on density of medium and put a DAMN fluorescent light over their ass and heads are gonna pop I assure all here.....Hope that helps and yes there are many waysta skin a mule but the easiest way makes sense to me and always has.....


Peace....DHF.....

.

I have been doing this pretty much exact method for over 13 years and it works pretty much 99% of the time unless the seed is dud.

What i do is, soak seeds 12 - 24hrs then place rolled up tissue around my hand, then place it in a small food tupperware tub and add fresh water similar to seed water temp and tilt the tub over after the tissue has soaked, i let the excess runs off then i just place the seeds on top of the tissue no need to bury it and then put the lid back on and then i put it some where warm, like on top of electrical appliance or a reptile tank till tap root is about 1/2 an inch, then pot up in soil.

I hit them with light as soon as the seed head pops out, if you wait till the cotyledon pop out and then supply light, i find they get way to lanky, so i don't recommend that.

Works every time

 

[MLD]

Thanks again

I did this the 2nd round and got 100% germination. They are sitting 26 inches below a Bestva 1500w LED and looking happy.

 

[GGNo2]

I always leave my seeds under a light to pop. I use paper towels to get them to crack which takes 24hrs in warm cupboard. Then I plant them 1cm into moist soil and put them under a cfl. 3 days later they pop up like clockwork everytime. No humidity dome or extra watering, just keep them warm.

 

[Im'One]

Drop the cfl lower and forget feeding until they are making leaves at least.