Well fun fun.
The biggest sprout ended up dying after almost having its first set of leaves come in. I suspect the fruit fly larvae were to blame because I noticed how it was doing OK then sorta seemed like it wasn’t doing anything then started to lean over. So I got suspicious and sprinkled out the top layer very carefully onto something so I could see if it was growing or not. The sprout was broken in the middle and was real slimy looking. The roots were this mushy mess.
The fruit fly info from Oklahoma State said that larvaes turn everything they eat “into a liquid mess”.
I start squeezing the container and see a bunch of larvae moving around so I dump it back into the kiddie pool I have setup so they can finish their life cycle and then fly into the sticky traps I have setup. I have some nematodes coming very soon to mix in to stop this but I think the sticky traps have done their job really well because I don’t see many of them like I do around my computer monitor, LED desk lamp or bathroom window.
The 2nd sprout I went to go check on after that mess and ended up dropping the container in the sink where I suspect the sprout went into the drain.
The 3rd sprout is doing OK in soil that I checked for larvae by scooping up, spreading it out, checking carefully then pouring into another cut up water bottle. This time I decided to put a plastic sandwich bag over the top and the past 24 hours is showing the plant developing its first set of real leaves. There’s some moisture on the sandwich bag and on the edge of the water bottle rim so I think this was a good idea.
I have a seedling green house dome starter thing coming that has clear liners so I can check roots. I decided to get this because with only one sprout going, I wanted at least 2 or 3 for my first grow anticipating one dying or one being a male. So the “Blue Dream” seeds I mention above that I tried to germinate didn’t have any action so I tossed out those 5 as being duds after nothing for a week. I put in the remaining five seeds I had into my little plastic container that has a wet napkin inside.
Two of the five are starting to crack this morning so I’m hopeful I’ll get over this small hump and have something going this month because I was wanting to plant in July and start training in August or early September at the latest.
I’m already planning my 4x4 light. It’s going to be expensive but I’m saving money wiring it and assembling on my own which is starting to look like saving 30-40% off of something ready to plug in. It’s going to be 12, 75 watt Samsung panels with 2 deep red strips in between each set of 3 panels that on paper looks like pushing 36" - 40" deep in my planned 4x4 depending on my framing material for the light.
Power consumption doesn’t look like much which impressed me in comparison to the possible results. What I might do is veg and train my “kush” and 2 “BD” seeds under this Spiderfarmer 1000 then around flowering, have that new 4x4 light ready if I budget everything right.
I found an old washing machine body with an open back and 3 sides in my garage. I can easily find another one to stack and fasten together as like a 2x2x5 space. I plan on turning this into a “hidden” microgrow veg/mother chamber with the SF 1000 light for my own curiosity because I keep people they need to start doing this with everything going on and what’s going to happen when they’re dry with no supply in sight?
I watched a video last night of a survival camper guy explaining his mini split AC system that he has solar powered. You know that typical late night can’t sleep video. Well he said in the video to improve airflow he moved from the “crappy metal accordion style dryer ducts” to PVC. So I might run some PVC for airflow because I did try hooking some ducting up to the 4 inch fan I have and wasn’t impressed by the airflow. I know I’m going to 6 or 8 inch once this goes into a 4x4 setup.
