After 14 days of no action from the Zam pots, I figured I’d better exhume them and see what happened.
I didn’t take any pics but I’m sure many have done the same. #1 and #2 were dead, black material under the seed coat, no sign of life. #3 and #4 both had white and green showing through the crack in the seed coat so after a careful rinse, planted them back in their pots after replacing the top 2" of soil in each pot.
I find this upsetting because I had believed pre-sprouting seeds in a petri dish, Rob’s Baggy Method were superior to in-pot sprouting.
Yet here are two examples saying otherwise.
It’s asking a lot that there’d be a male and female among them.
So I rolled the die and put 2 of my 4 remaining seeds into pots 2 days before the New Moon, as per the biointensive method.
If these two sprout it will cast some serious shadow on what for me, up till now, the use of alternative methods of sprouting certain plants and I will save my speculation until then.
Getting a breeding pair seems to be my goal with every grow lately, hopefully Orig #3 and Orig #4 will fully sprout in their new environment along with the latest 2, and will potentially get me 6 plants.
I also planted two seeds that fell from a TJ bud I had the other day just for fun/maybe outdoor.
TJ has no problem with alternative sprouting methods.
If this Zam grow turns out the way I wish, I will be making her seeds buoyant with life, to burst from the ground just like this, not even 3 days.
Such is the advantage of the biodynamic method.
Another Zamaldelica popped out of the soil overnight.
4 days in ground places it next to Tiger Jack in the robust quality seed category.
As of right now;
4 seeds placed in distilled H2O soaked overnight, then placed on sterilized (microwaved) coffee filters saturated with more distilled H2O for 22 days = 0 plants
2 seeds placed in boiled and cooled Jiffy brand seed starting mix with rainwater for 7 days = 2 plants
2 seeds placed in boiled and cooled Jiffy brand seed starting mix with rainwater for 4 days = 1 plant, so far.
The other factor was the 4 seeds placed in water / moist coffee filters were planted during the 3rd quarter of the Lunar cycle.
The first two soil planted seed were planted in the 4th quarter and the last two, 2 days before the New Moon.
Ignoring the Lunar cycle for a moment, is it possible that the 4 seeds that weren’t in soil, were somehow responding to the sterile environment and didn’t sprout because there was no nutrient availability or did the seed somehow “know” it couldn’t survive there?
At any rate, this experience has made it clear to me soaking and placing seeds in paper towel/coffee filter/petri dish may not be the foolproof method I once thought.
Certain varieties of seed may sprout more reliably in a fertile environment than a sterile one.
Update,
Well the fourth seed popped out of the ground missing cotyledons so it’s probably not long for this world but I’ll give life all the chance it needs.
Anyone know anything about Moxie Seeds?
The Blue Diamond Philips turned out male.
Package said “specially bred for vape oil”.
Dropping pollen too.
I took these last night, I’m gonna shake the last of my BDP pollen and pull him.
Gotta make room for these lil guys and gals(hopefully at least one of each)
As you can see, nothing from TJ2, lower left; Orig 3 and 4 Zams and the Zam 2.
So we have the Zams planted on 5/15, Zam 1 + 2.
And Zam 3 planted 5/20/20 in the top right.
Zam 4 sprouted but looked like a micro pickle.
Zam 1 + 2
Zam 3
TJ 1
This new tent is big enough to hold some larger 5 gal + pots…
aaand I have plenty of mix!
Happy that I stumbled upon this thread ! Good luck through your grow nice to see others and their experiences with lunar planting … I’m not one much up on the biodynamics part but Iv read stuff on it here and there but believe it can work in favor of growing plants it just about adding minerals back to the soil in essence and attracting microbes when it boils down to it which in the end makes for happy plants right? Will be following along! Great thread!
I no longer carbon farm which is essentially growing grains for their stalks as well as seed.
Plenty of carbonaceous material available locally.
And occasionally I’ll plant hybrids, especially tomatoes.
The lunar cycle is something I also pay attention to. This thread is proof of it’s efficacy.
My Mary growing is more on a line with The Rev’s True Living Organics though I’ve simplified that for my purposes.
I also am interested in the no till method for my garden and will try soon an adaptation of the Hugelkultur Garden method.
My original garden space was in clay soil that was so packed tight it needed several years of double digging the beds to loosen it.
Proof was the original clay was blue from unoxidated iron, now with digging and added ammendments, the soil is a deep brown.
Time to go no till!
My back agrees!
Great to hear the simplest methods Iv discovered over the years is just top dress with compost / leaves on your soil you can find some of my findings in my old chronicle threads over the years shoot in just six months over the summer months Iv seen a Hugh difference … I have heavy clay as well my bed that’s changed is my comfrey bed I have now
That is also the Biodynamic Method.
When Alan Chadwick brought the Method here in the '60’s he dumbed it down to make it more palatable to incredulous Americans.
The above techniques are derived from the modern French Biodynamic method.
I think I read somewhere that his closest students had to pry the making of the “preps” from him.
At any rate, the preps address the “spiritual” needs that plants have.
Spiritual, in other words, means “other” or “extra” world energies.
Consider that our eyes can see only a narrow range of the electromagnetic spectrum, the burying of hollowed cows horns stuffed with fresh cow manure and buried point down to overwinter in a sunny field, Biodynamic Preparation 500, is designed to focus one or more of these unseen energies into the manure.
The horns shape is what focuses these energies.
In spring the horns are unearthed, the contents having been imbued with the energy from the cosmos and transformed into a crystalline structure that is then mixed for an hour vigorously by a circular action in order to form a vortex(similar in shape to the cow horn), in one direction, then in other direction, each time breaking the vortex up suddenly.
The vortex needs to be broken up each minute or so.
Look up the Coanda effect.
The resulting mix is then sprayed on the plants within an hour once again.
It has to be used immediately after stirring.
The ancients used fronds bound together that were dipped into the solution then shook onto the plants.
The Catholic church, as they so often did with native cultures they expanded into, adopted this same method for the blessing of sprinkling holy water onto worshipers.
Got your head around all that?
The effect of Prep 500 is twofold.
One portion is it helps the plants stomata open so the plant can exchange gasses with it’s surroundings and the second is that it “tunes” sunlight into more favorable wavelengths to increase growth.
At least that was how I remember the video I saw of it years ago.
The other preps weren’t discussed as thoroughly but they include preps for inoculating your compost heap, and the method even had ways to recycle human waste.
Hope that doesn’t tune you out because Life itself flows out of the Great Unseen.
Plants are miraculous creatures for sure ! Truth be known we probably know less of what’s going on in the soil than than what’s going In with the moon!
As I was mixing soil for my veg garden I had a memory of that video and the class it was given in.
The prep 500 was not sprayed onto the plant, rather onto the soil prior to planting.
That class I took was 32 yrs ago, so apologies for the mistake.
The memory still works albeit slower than in my youth.
So here’s my setup once again, the Blue Diamond Philips is in the compost bin having donated a whole vial of pollen to the cause.
Still looking for info or anyone withe experience with that worthy…
Tent is 2’X4’X6’ and is lighted by 4 120 watt Full Spectrum screw in blurples.
Their is a lot of UVA light in those that hurts my eyes when it reflects off the mylar.
2 heating mats for cold nights.
3 gallon pots that have my mix plus some extras.
Wish I had taken pics but I was in a groove and didn’t think of it till they were planted.
Started with a layer of standard weed block cut to fit and cover holes.
An inch plus of mix tamped firmly to press solidly against the drainage holes.
Broken branches of Psychotria viridis and Anadenanthera peregrina and bark and leaves from maple trees. about 2" deep.
A sprinkling of Burpees all purpose organic fert and 3, 100% wood charcoal briquettes for harboring microorganisms. A tablespoon of crushed eggshells too.
The the rest is filled with My own TLO mix.
@Tinytuttle has inspired me to try my own version of Hügelkultur in my pots though I have some similar experience.
When up potting my tomatoes, I always place leaves at the bottom of my pots to keep soil from leaking out. I never failed to marvel how intertwined the tomato’s roots became with the leaves when it was time to plant in ground.
So this is my nod to that.
The p. viridis and yopo were indoor plants I tried growing for 10 years hoping for seeds.
I got a bunch from p. viridis but none from the yopo.
I thought I’d include them as a gesture to Mary to make some trip weed!
So not transplanted exactly on the Full Moon but as close as I was able to get it.
So we’re off on another growing adventure, this time in my bugout.
I’m thinking to veg for a couple of weeks to get some top growth, take some clones and flower them.
Can’t show any pics of the Zams atm so I’ll post some pics of “volunteers” which are about the only things I have growing in the veg garden due to this damn xirus and the continued cold snaps.
Tater’s. In my opinion, potatoes are supposed to be volunteers, it’s how they grew in the wild.
Polish amaranth red lil guy, lower right.
This variety will grow 8’ plus with a seed head over a pound each.
Red leaves are great in salads but get coarse when bigger than 5" after which they are great steamed, stir fried or boiled.
Stain red too.
Best damn lettuce you’ll ever eat var.Great Lakes.
Let one go to seed every year and you’ll always have them.
Here’s a couple of “volunteers”, I wish.
[Three] Four! autos, F1’s of my Purple Heart x Loco Mota cross.
They look cute in their 25 gal pots.
A couple of wild petunia’s to keep them company, the brujos from their native land claim a "flying potion " can be made from this plant.
I will be following your grow , I am very interested as I will be growing the same genetics!
I read your comments about germination and I remember reading Dubi from ACE stating that for some strains it is better to sow them directly in warm soil. I remember for sure he was talking OTH, but other may have the same behavior.
I always germinate my seeds in soil, but even though I noticed a slower response: most of the seeds takes from 3 to 5 days normally to start to come out, those OTH , Zamaldelica and Golden Tiger took between 5 to 7 days, OTH being the slowest.
Welcome and thank you @tomGT!
It’s good to get confirmation, especially about observations, sure changed my thinking.
Are you doing a diary?
What is OTH?
Sorry, OTH is Old Timer Haze:they took up to 10days to come out of the soil.
I am starting a diary but there is not much going on yet, it should start to speed up soon when the clones will be ready!
