I’m super nervous, exited, grateful (thank you @maddawg).
I don’t know how grow diaries usually flow, so I’ll be back to edit I’m sure. Here are some details I feel like I want to save.
Beans - (purple punch x dosido) X jack herer From Maddawg! They arrived today, 8/22 safe and sound and are in paper towels on my router.
I’ve never grown a plant that you have.to sprout and I am very nervous about this part. I am nearly exclusively a direct sow gardener. Ive been trying to learn, and my husband is a great indoor gardener, so together we will get this figured out.
Location- I am growing in southwestern Virginia, 7A maybe B, the map shows us right on the line and the mountains mess with microclimates, and we have a southern facing field, anyway. This is my first year in 7a, I grew up in 6a southern Ohio, and past 5 years in coastal SC 8B.
Plans -
PLEASE give me all the advice! If it seems obvious it’s not, I welcome everyone’s advice or comments!
I’m going to germinate these beans in this Tupperware on top of my router. Then place them in rapid rooter plugs, then plant the plugs in solo cups with commonwealth canna soil, then on to 3 gal fabric pots.
They will live and travel between the plant room and the deck.
Commonwealth Canna Soil.
Our soil is compost based, organic and sold in 2 cubic foot bags.
-Leaf Compost
-Aged pine fines
-Mushroom compost
-Vermiculite and perlite
Our Mixture is made from local sources right here in VA. With a pH closer to 6 our soil is great for growing cannabis, vegetables, and house plants. Our soil is low in Nitrogen to ensure that seeds, seedlings and transplants are safe and will not burn. Once the plant has adapted to the soil (10-14 days) feeding is recommended.
Just remember that it’s a plant and that it’s nicknamed “weed” for a reason. Put it in some soil and water it. Get your first successful grow out the way before you start with the advanced stuff
Congratulations and good luck on your first grow, don’t hesitate to ask any and all questions you’ve got, theres more knowledge in these forums than you’ll likely find anywhere else in the world.
When sprouting seeds I always do a couple drops of hydrogen peroxide in with any water I’m using, it helps prevent dampening because of bacteria that may be on any given seeds. Just an extra precaution. You can also sow directly into dirt like you’re used to as long as you keep the dirt moist enough and the seed close enough to the top to not drown yet low enough to be protected.
Let me know if you need another round of seeds as well
One concern on your plan is that moving plants from inside your grow room to the outdoors and back again has caused me some serious headaches with pests. Every time I’ve tried it my room ended up with bugs!
You’ve got this!!! Too much assistance here to mess it up, believe me. Don’t try to “reinvent the wheel”, you’ll be MORE than fine. Best wishes, take care, stay safe, and be well…mister
Quick pic dump, here are 2/3 of the strains sent by Maddawg. (Again, thank you, I didn’t know how to get started and you just threw some beans in my lap, I appreciate you!)
Two sprouted their tails today, one looked fuzzy like mold. I wasn’t sure what to do here, I’m not wild about the germination setup, I think my router sometimes gets too hot. I am going to order a small temp/ humidity meter.
I put them all in plugs. I’ve started seeds before in these plugs and was impressed. Especially for plants that don’t like to be transplanted.
And here they are in the plant room/ “pre-porch” we have a sort of Florida room that faces SE. It’s hotter than hades out there right now, but it should be a great place to extend the season this fall
Thanks for everything, this is an amazing forum everyone is so kind and cooperative. I love reading about everything getting together to grow out certain strains and crosses to share out seeds. Ive set it as a goal to participate in one of the community events as soon as I have a few successful grows and iron some details out.
I’m sure a few people read this grow journal, and I’ll likely put this in trading post when I get the stones. But until then I’ll just mention it here. My day job is in health education, I have a bachelor’s in health education (a dual degree, health and physical education). I’m licensed or credentialed in a lot of things related to health, wellness, teaching and learning.
One thing I’m great at is developing lessons and teaching materials. In person or e-learning, single lesson, unit or course. I love it all.
I have noticed many of the hydro stores and some breeders offer classes on how to grow, or about different products they carry etc. If you are a person offering classes or lessons and would like to up your game send me a PM.
I had very low germination rates. 2 of 9 popped. I changed a couple things, and popped 2 more, different strain, this one is purple punch x jack herer. Both seeds popped tails and went into soil today.
This time I soaked the seeds 24h in water with a couple drops h202. If it didn’t do anything it made me feel better. I then put them in a paper towel, in a tin, double wrapped in a sock, on the seed mat. I tried to use my router last time and I think the temp can get too high there and they were cooked.
First 2 are doing well, I think. They are working on a couple new leaves.
I haven’t replied to your comment because it’s been weighing on my psyche!
TBH, I don’t know how to grow without mother nature doing most of the work. I think I’m shy of indoor grows because Ive had poor experience with lights.
Soil too, now that I’m reflecting! Ive gotten over a lot of my hangups on container gardening. I lived.in an apartment for a few years and had to figure it out. Im still very nervous about lights.
Also, my plant room is a converted porch, and my laundry room. I know many people keep sterile procedures and their tents are mini clean rooms. I’m not that person. I have a half dozen Cherokee Purple tomatoe plants on my dryer.
You comment has motivated me to look at photo strains and consider a “proper” grow tent. Come January I’ll be easy to convince.
