hah! yea, i think AzSea is the wolfman in that photo. that look on his face, his eyes! omg hilarious. probably need to be redder though. lol 
what movie is that? and who is the dog lady in yellow supposed to be?
or maybe he could be the cookie monster! a little friendlier, munchies-ier. yea, the pantheon of classic old school monsters needs some new inductees anyways!
Hotel Transylvania
it’s those terpenes (or cannabinoids) right? it’s crazy that they’re mimicking or at least reminiscent of peppers. i suppose they’re supposed to be biological protectors of the plants, keeping insects and other predators at bay. but it just so happens that those same chemicals trigger some cool effects in humans. similar in some ways to people liking the hit from hot peppers. “i harm myself with you because i like how it makes me feel!”
oh mannnnn! this does NOT make me a happy frog. my second seedling has been killed and i believe the culprit is the big-ish chunks of rock and wood chips in my fox farms happy frog soil.
lets take a look.
four days since i first germinated my two viet black seeds and viet black 1 has sprouted above soil. no sign of viet black 3 though, so i go digging like i had with new caledonia 4.
about an inch down the soil where i had last dropped it, i found the carcass of my dead seedling. it’s hard to see in the above photo but i’ve tried to point it out.
here’s the seedling before and after a quick water rinse so that we can get a better look at it.
so what do i think happened?
well, as i was gently digging through the soil, i again noticed that there were some big-ish chunks of rock and wood chunks that i felt would be tough for a seedling to push through. they’re not huge chunks like the size of my thumb or anything, but definitely sizeable enough that a young seedling would likely have trouble, perhaps having to redirect itself to go around the obstacle.
looking at the carcass, you can see an obvious bend where i think the seedling hit something and had to find another route. it couldn’t make it very far though and expired shortly afterwards.
obviously i have added perlite and pumice to the soil in order to increase aeration. but i don’t feel like it was either of these additions that caused this issue. maybe i’ll sift through the soil to isolate the bigger chunks and take some photos so we can better evaluate.
dammit! these poor babies didn’t have to die. it wasn’t grower negligence or poor watering that caused this. has anyone else had this issue with their seedlings in happy frog soil?
i do really like the happy frog soil, as i’ve seen better root growth. but i’ve had two out of nine seedlings die because of this. that’s a horrible average! if i really wanted to keep using this soil, i would likely have to sieve out these larger chunks, which i shouldn’t have to do if i’m buying soil.
edit: i just saw this post in the free seeds free clones thread where @Kasper0909 puts vermiculite right on top of his planted seedlings.
this seems like a great, easy solution. how serendipitous, thanks overgrow!
hello mate i normally seem to plant my seeds so shallow then i have to wrestle with the helmet but a little water and a paint brush maybe some pliers 
and they are all sorted i dont seem to have many failiers that way i cant remember the last time one didnt pop,
i do soak then vertical paper towel then in the coco 
so here’s the evolution of the ac infinity cardboard box that was used to ship my 3x3 tent kit in. it’s actually a pretty big box, and the cardboard is very thick and sturdy. i can’t believe how useful it’s become in my setup.
here it is keeping my males from jizzing on my females, during that time when i was so naive about such things. you probably can’t see the two other males behind durban 1, but they’re there lurking in the shadows.
since the box wasn’t really big enough to keep all three of my males in, i selected my main male, chopped his top off, and created a makeshift pollen collection/isolation station. i would place his chopped top in a cup of water on the rickety second platform insert i crafted. it was very temporary and worked just well enough to not be a disaster.
black garbage bags because that’s all i had at the time. power strip ran through the bottom of the box, routed through the hand hold they add to help you lift the box. a small desk fan and small led desk lamp keeping things going in there.
after pollen was collected, it was time to transition that box to the next phase. germinating seeds for my next grow! the electrical is a mess.
seeds sprouted and into cups they go. i cleaned up the wiring and footprint a little bit. i put both of my desk lamps in the box to power the seedlings until i can dig up my clamp lights from wherever they are. now my desk is dark.
i have to reach in and manually turn the lights on and off every day which is a small annoyance. think about getting a timer.
i found my clamp lights, yes! i’m able to hang it using the hand hold on the top of the box. i put a 10w yuji high cri led bulb in there since i have them laying around. lighting is now acceptable i think.
here’s the current incarnation of my box. finally upgraded to white trash bags! it makes everything brighter in there, which is nice. but i notice when fans are close to the walls, the trash bags tend to get sucked into the fan. i’m thinking of replacing it with some printed vinyl. we’ll see.
i cut out an actual hole for the fan so that it would be pulling in fresh air, rather than just re-circulating the warm, stale air in the box.
i added a kasa 3-outlet smart power strip for automated scheduling of my lights. now i don’t have to manually turn them on and off! so far i’m really digging the simplicity of the device. easy connection, easy setup, i’m very happy about the purchase so far. as long as it handles power outages alright and doesn’t burn up, well, i’ll knock on wood.
i had to remove my small desk lamps since i found out they don’t automatically turn on after being switched off. but now my desk has light again! it’s alright, since those bulbs are more powerful and i’ll work on getting more of them in there.
not totally happy with the hanging clamp light situation, as i can’t really move them around as freely as i’d like to. i need to construct some sort of pole system like my tent has or something so i can slide the lights around. right now it’s just a janky system of works clamps that i hang my clamp lights off of, so i can raise and lower my lights, but i can’t move them left or right.
i also want to get the electrical off the floor. i’m thinking to re-route everything through the top, which should clean it up nicely. once that gets taken care of, and i can figure out how to position my lights as well as adding more lights, and maybe throw in another fan… then this box should be ready for my early veg needs.
what else does this box have in store for us in the future?
that box is like batmans fucking utility belt it does bloody everything
~lime~
lime, you’re planting into coco! you don’t got them sticks, stems, stones or seeds in that sticky icky icky! lol. i’m putting my babies in soil, the good stuff, the tough stuff! with rocks and trees and glass and cocaine and shit that’ll fuck 'em up apparently. 
i appreciate your thoughts. 
maybe i can use coco on top instead of vermiculite. actually, maybe anything light would work? perlite? i’ll have to do some casual experiments in the future.
not straight coco got about 30% clay pebles and 10% vermiculite ive had the same problem and thought the same thing as you
leading me to plant very shallow 
i see. i have read that shallow planting will give you more helmet heads, which is its own set of issues. although i would rather have a live seedling with helmet head than a dead seedling an inch down.
interesting, i’ll have to think about this and see how i want to adjust moving forward.
FWIW I have used FFHF amended with an extra 10 dry quarts of perlite per 2 cubic foot bag of soil. I’ve gotten very good results with this ratio/mix. I strongly agree re: the stems and seeds you don’t need in the FFHF.
My fix was making a simple square frame of wooden “strapping” and attaching 1/4” galvanized mesh wire (aka hardware cloth?) to one side with staples or extra aluminum angle if I’ve got leftovers from a light build. The 1/4” gets most of the lumber and de-Bree out of the way.
I prefer sifting the FFHF if that’s my container grow medium. I may use seed starter mix (or even milled sphagnum moss) if I don’t have any fresh FFHF
i totally forgot i have a box of down to earth’s starter mix. doh! that seems like it would work nicely, just to fill in the seed planting hole. because if i can avoid sifting my soil, i would really prefer that. and i really don’t want to buy a bag of vermiculite just to cover my new seedlings (although if that were the only option, i would for sure do it to ensure my seedlings don’t die like they have).
i think i’m not as worried about roots having to find their way around de-bree (lol! that damn bitch de-bree always getting in the way!) as the seedling sprout having to dig past her. the roots seem more like tentacles ready to re-route and explore, whereas the seedling head is more like a juggernaut with limited fuel? i dunno, i’m just riffing here!
thanks for the thoughts @PTron! what’s your username referencing by the way if you don’t mind my asking? it’s very cool and technical. makes me think of tron, but maybe you get that all the time and are like, “dammit! here we go again…”
DE-BREEEE!!! fuckin’ de-bree. i knew she was trouble from the git go.
ya just caused a flash-back when ya shouted DE-BRRRREEEEEEEE its what my best mate shouted if there was crap in the road as we bombed around the back roads trippin our nuts of on motobikes like 30 years ago omfg proper flash-back 
~lime~
When the mass holes finally decriminalized Cannabis I went and unearthed my Phototron 2 circa 1980’s; hence the moniker.
I’d hauled it on every move over 30 years and it still worked. I got a mixture of Mosser Lee sterile milled and regular sphagnum moss and micorrizae and I think AN nutrients to start off. Ended up with fungus gnats nearly killing off my first grow due to the constantly wet medium. I got lots of help on another site and now regularly use mosquito dunks of various types for my outdoor grows and even add a bit to any standing water inside. I switched to FFHF after that and use the PTron for a seed starting unit mostly. I removed the ballast and bulbs and just hang a good LED grow bulb inside. It works fine for that.
Once I got the fungus gnats figured out I decided to attempt to build my first LED light and bought a 4x4 tent. After that I was off and running with trimming shears lol
Lots of mistakes but learned a YUGE amount in just one year
Know your limitations*
Change your inline fan filter regularly (or use one only if absolutely necessary; too expensive and unnecessary in my location)
Always wash your bud
Dry slow
Use Grove bags
*not likely to master that in this lifetime
what a cool history, thanks for sharing @PTron! i think i’m gonna miss some small aspects of criminal weed (not the incarceration and all the negative shit), but perhaps there’s a counter-culture or anti-authoritarian vibe that anyone interested in weed had to have. like you and lime and so many other users on here have fascinating histories and stories to share, all because of a love of this criminalized plant.
nowadays with the wave of legalization, it’s getting to be more like going to buy alcohol, which is good, it’s fine. but it almost feels like the passing of an era, which makes sense because i guess it is. anyways, i’m glad it’s legal now and we don’t have to tip toe around and we can share knowledge and genetics freely. it’s definitely advanced my understanding and ability to grow.
i like the lessons that you give. i dare say it’s probably a huge plus that you’ll never be able to “know your limitations”. we gotta keep pushing pass them to get better i say. although last night i definitely pushed pass one of my limitations and got totally blitzo’ed. i ended up curled in bed and puking my guts up into a bucket, i just got toooo high. it’s always when i’m trying out new combinations of smoking devices and i suppose i just can’t judge how much i’m intaking. so yea, know your limitations! lol 
how often do you find yourself changing your inline filter? my ladies are in that part of their lives where their terpenes and pheromones be popping off.
alright, time for an update on my ladies, it’s been about a week-ish since you last saw them.
i don’t know if you can make out anything from these photos except for a sea of green and some nugs. but here’s my 3x3 tent, with four females and one male on a 12/12 light cycle. my led panel is nearly to the top of the tent, although i’ve got maybe two or three inches of room to spare. but i think my ladies have gone through the majority of their flowering stretch now. durban 3 and tropical 3 both needed training in order to keep their main colas in check.
two purchases i’ve been happy about are the extra hanging rope clips (i got the 12 pack) and the cheap, small humidity/temp sensors (also a 12 pack). i like being able to hang things in the tent since it clears up the clutter which would otherwise be on my floor. and i like having the multiple sensors (even if they’re not perfectly accurate) because i can always double up sensors to get a general read, and i also like seeing the gradient in temp and humidity. i know my tent isn’t the same conditions throughout the whole tent, so now these guys give me a better sense of things (oh, it’s about 5-10% more humid down at the bottom of the tent. good to know!)
fun fact, the sensor fits perfectly within my 1/2 cup measuring device. although it’s easy enough to cut a cardboard holder for it as well.
i’ve also added two clamp lights with 10w led bulbs in the bottom of the tent to light up the lower canopy. we’ll see if they make a huge difference. they’re super easy to add on, i just need to find places to clamp them, so i may add one or two more. they plug into my new kasa smart power strips, so i can easily control on/off times. they should hopefully stay in sync with my ac infinity light.
i have some led light strips lying around that i’ve been meaning to rewire for under-canopy lighting or for my ac infinity transformer grow box. but that will take more tweaking, whereas these clamp lights are clip, plug and go.
i love how the forced perspective of the following photo makes it look like i have a 3’ wide fan.
these are some of the larfy buds that i’m hoping these clamp lights will help fatten up. we’ll see the end result in a few weeks time.
lets check in on new caledonia 4, which was the last seed from our second grow that has yet to pop.
this seed is really taking its sweet time. i probably should have put it on a heating mat where it can be consistently warm. instead i put it on top of my led panel, which gets warm (maybe too warm?), but it’s only on for 12 hours and then it shuts off.
if it hasn’t sprouted a tail by today, i’ll readjust things. but my guess is that it should be open. fingers crossed!
Nice work, great detailed journal. Props. 
lets start the review of our plants with tropical 3, since she’s the biggest bitch on the block and she deserves that respect.
if you’ll recall, t3 was our darling “i don’t need no cotyledons to live muthafucka” underdog who really came back from a near-death experience to show some explosive growth. almost four feet tall now in an earthbox junior (and without training she’d be taller). i’d say she’s doing pretty good. my only problem with her is that her stem rub still only smells like “bitter green” to me, which is not super exciting and i’m always asking myself whether i’m turned off by the scent or i’m over-reacting.
i’ve noticed more of her bottom leaves have been yellowing and falling off (not dramatically, just slowly and casually). i’ve also done some light defol to clean up her middle a little. but i think the yellowing bottom leaves are perhaps from lack of water and maybe not as much nutrition as she needs. i keep underestimating how much plant mass she has to maintain. so i’ve been increasing her nutes and water somewhat.
her canopy is poorly controlled and her branches are just flopping around. if i didn’t have that rope belt around her, she’d just be manspreading all over the tent. she could use a good scrogging. at least if she loses her main branch, i’m pretty sure we know which one will become apical dominant.
lets see how her seed branches are doing.
tropical 3 x durban 4 seeds are looking good. not a fully seeded branch, but maybe 60-70% of the branch has seeded.
the tropical 3 x durban 1-- branch is not looking great for pollination, although a few seeds have taken. this was likely considering that the durban 1-- pollen had gotten noticeably wet and caked (ergo the minus minus), but it’s good to have the results confirm. i’m also not totally sure whether the pollinated seeds are from nearby branches or not since my technique was slightly haphazard and the d1-- and d1 branches are right next to each other. but definitely a word of warning to pollen collectors: do not let your pollen get wet and cake-y.
the t3 x d1 branch isn’t nearly as seeded as i would have hoped, considering that pollen was relatively good looking.
next in our line of beautiful ladies is durban 3. i think she certainly would be tallest if she hadn’t been trained, and considering she’s only in 3 gallons of soil. she’s similarly about 4’ in height.
her main cola is ridiculously stretched out, and it’s showing these interesting bud formations. rather than one single dense cola, it looks like she’s shooting off into multiple smaller fluffy buds that will hopefully dense up in the second half of flower.
her seeded branches are coming along nicely, although you can see the same similar sort of light fluffy growth in the buds.
she still smells like a weird acrid burnt rubber, although i recently added “cheese funk” and “ginseng” to her scent notes. i’ll admit i’m not amazing with describing or identifying smells though.
the third of our tall ladies, cindy 2 comes in at 37" height right now. one really nice main cola that is already thickening up good. she gun be chonky (hopefully). her secondary branch (and a few surrounding ones as well) i seeded with cindy 1 pollen.
even her seeds are getting frosty!
i like the smells on cindy 2 the most, they’re the most pleasant. i had her down as acrid rubber originally (like durban 3), but now she has more of an herbal cheese smell to her. occasionally i’ll get fruity scents off of her as well.
