_mahavishnu
Well-Known Member
Hey growers,
This is my first ever post on the site, likely the first of many since I’m already planning my next grow(s). Anyone is welcome to volunteer any thoughts at all, I’ll take any advice I can get and next summer I’ll get an earlier start and hopefully put this one to shame!
After a bunch of weeks furloughed from my job sitting at home doing nothing, I looked at my stash of a few collected bag seeds over the last year and had the idea to germ them and just see what I could do, as a pastime/new hobby. I paper toweled the 4 that looked viable and did as much reading as I could while I waited for them to pop (and ever since). Only one ever popped, but it did in less than 24 hours with a nice 1/4-3/8” taproot, so this one seedling is all I’ve got but I’m hoping that was an early indicator of a badass.
Constraints
I’m broke. I’m back to work but not paid yet, and should eventually get a check from the state when they sort their unemployment office out, and that’ll let me buy whatever else I need, but for now I’m only buying one more thing, FFOF. That brings us to
What I’ve got
this infant, put in soil May 30.
It’s been outdoors since day 1 in the best soil I could find around my yard, from under old layers of dead rotten leaves and mixed with a handful or two of some OMRI listed organic garden soil I got from Lowe’s months ago. There was a heat wave with 90 degree temps all day that started when it was just sprouting it’s first true leaves, and I checked on it one day to find the dark green plastic pot and soil were both scorching hot. I moved it inside where it could still get some direct light to cool down and ever since it’s had that foil skin and the hay to keep the soil from heating up so much outside in the sun. Either way it stalled for a few days and I’m hoping that explains the distance between the 1st and 2nd node.
The other things I have: a currently very hot compost pile, a bag of espoma alfalfa meal, a few aloe plants, the bag of garden soil, a bottle of FF Big Bloom, and I’m waiting on a 20gal smartpot and some espoma kelp meal to come in the mail soon. I’ve fed it some blended aloe in its water and put just a tsp or so of the alfalfa on top before I mulched it. Like I mentioned earlier, FFOF (or some other decent soil my garden center has if they’re out) is the only other thing I’m gonna buy now until I have some cash.
The plant got rained on a few days ago while I wasn’t home and it’s been heavy with water ever since. I squeezed the sides of the pot gently to get some air into it and removed the mulch for now, and the plant still looks ok, but I’ve got just a few root tips starting to appear at the drainage holes and one or two are a little brown. I’m hoping it’ll be alright to transplant into the smart pot on Friday with a mix of the two soils I’ll end up with, plus some more from my yard to provide microbial life, when I have everything all together, then I’ll be top dressing with the alfalfa and kelp meal.
I still intend to buy some finished compost since mine is nowhere near, some sort of silica supplement, neem meal, sprouting seeds, and whatever other various amendments/top dresses I think of, once I have some cash on hand, but for now I have to make the best of what I’ve got. The plant gets full sun from around 9-3 each day at minimum, more if I can move it in the afternoon. I’m sure it’s too late for it to take full advantage of a 20gal pot during this season, but the smart pot and all the soil/amendments/experience gained will carry over for future grows. Who even knows if it’s female right now? Anyways, I’m excited to see what comes of this. One last thought, I’ll probably buy a 315 cmh lamp, just in case it is female and frost comes before she finishes.
That’s all I’ve got for now. Any thoughts? Anything I could be doing differently with what I’ve got? Is there anywhere I can fit the bottle of big bloom I have into this, maybe in the first water when I transplant? Anything I can do to maximize the life in the soil once it’s all assembled? I’ll update in a few days! Thanks in advance if anyone chimes in.
This is my first ever post on the site, likely the first of many since I’m already planning my next grow(s). Anyone is welcome to volunteer any thoughts at all, I’ll take any advice I can get and next summer I’ll get an earlier start and hopefully put this one to shame!
After a bunch of weeks furloughed from my job sitting at home doing nothing, I looked at my stash of a few collected bag seeds over the last year and had the idea to germ them and just see what I could do, as a pastime/new hobby. I paper toweled the 4 that looked viable and did as much reading as I could while I waited for them to pop (and ever since). Only one ever popped, but it did in less than 24 hours with a nice 1/4-3/8” taproot, so this one seedling is all I’ve got but I’m hoping that was an early indicator of a badass.
Constraints
I’m broke. I’m back to work but not paid yet, and should eventually get a check from the state when they sort their unemployment office out, and that’ll let me buy whatever else I need, but for now I’m only buying one more thing, FFOF. That brings us to
What I’ve got
this infant, put in soil May 30.
It’s been outdoors since day 1 in the best soil I could find around my yard, from under old layers of dead rotten leaves and mixed with a handful or two of some OMRI listed organic garden soil I got from Lowe’s months ago. There was a heat wave with 90 degree temps all day that started when it was just sprouting it’s first true leaves, and I checked on it one day to find the dark green plastic pot and soil were both scorching hot. I moved it inside where it could still get some direct light to cool down and ever since it’s had that foil skin and the hay to keep the soil from heating up so much outside in the sun. Either way it stalled for a few days and I’m hoping that explains the distance between the 1st and 2nd node.
The other things I have: a currently very hot compost pile, a bag of espoma alfalfa meal, a few aloe plants, the bag of garden soil, a bottle of FF Big Bloom, and I’m waiting on a 20gal smartpot and some espoma kelp meal to come in the mail soon. I’ve fed it some blended aloe in its water and put just a tsp or so of the alfalfa on top before I mulched it. Like I mentioned earlier, FFOF (or some other decent soil my garden center has if they’re out) is the only other thing I’m gonna buy now until I have some cash.
The plant got rained on a few days ago while I wasn’t home and it’s been heavy with water ever since. I squeezed the sides of the pot gently to get some air into it and removed the mulch for now, and the plant still looks ok, but I’ve got just a few root tips starting to appear at the drainage holes and one or two are a little brown. I’m hoping it’ll be alright to transplant into the smart pot on Friday with a mix of the two soils I’ll end up with, plus some more from my yard to provide microbial life, when I have everything all together, then I’ll be top dressing with the alfalfa and kelp meal.
I still intend to buy some finished compost since mine is nowhere near, some sort of silica supplement, neem meal, sprouting seeds, and whatever other various amendments/top dresses I think of, once I have some cash on hand, but for now I have to make the best of what I’ve got. The plant gets full sun from around 9-3 each day at minimum, more if I can move it in the afternoon. I’m sure it’s too late for it to take full advantage of a 20gal pot during this season, but the smart pot and all the soil/amendments/experience gained will carry over for future grows. Who even knows if it’s female right now? Anyways, I’m excited to see what comes of this. One last thought, I’ll probably buy a 315 cmh lamp, just in case it is female and frost comes before she finishes.
That’s all I’ve got for now. Any thoughts? Anything I could be doing differently with what I’ve got? Is there anywhere I can fit the bottle of big bloom I have into this, maybe in the first water when I transplant? Anything I can do to maximize the life in the soil once it’s all assembled? I’ll update in a few days! Thanks in advance if anyone chimes in.