Dood, let's try this again

Seamaiden

Seamaiden

Well-Known Member
Man, I haven't seen a Big Lots (formerly Pic & Save, my favorite!) since I moved from L.A. Got 2'cu Miracle Gro for $7.47, I am gonna guess that it's close to 40lbs, but it's also damp.

FGurl, DAMN that's a lotta tomatoes! I'm gonna remember the Irish Spring trick, I remember someone else mentioning that marking your territory helps as well. Hee! I've got some real asshole neighbors who'd just fucking POP if they saw me peeing around the property. FUCK 'EM!

So, one of our other vehicles is an Excursion, V10. We got the mileage UP from 8.5mpg to 11.5mpg. We needed it when we lived in the high country and had a lot of kids in the house (we take in teenagers sometimes, outside the legal system). I love driving it, especially if there's deep snow, but I hate trying to fill it up. Once we're kid-free we'll probably sell that and go for something like a Subaru as I used to have one and it was a pretty good car, just expensive to fix.

Damn gurl, that's a lotta tomatoes. :lol:
 
Seamaiden

Seamaiden

Well-Known Member
Ok, SO! I just planted the recently sprouted seeds. I did the paper towel thing, but this time I watched 'em really closely for germination. I've never had luck planting in soil once germinated on the towels, but someone said to plant AS SOON as I see the white tips and this morning, there they were.

I prepared a gigantic planting pot I had from when I tried bananas (the dog ate the plants... I think I said that first post, didn't I?). I also forgot that I have several pots that we'd put some baby cedar in that were filled to the brim with fantastic decomposed wood that we got from a friend, so I mixed that up with the Miracle Gro. At first I was going to put the seeds directly into the one big pot, but then I thought that it would give me less control of things, so I got some spare nursery pots and filled them halfway and dropped the seeds in. Sprinkled some Miracle Gro on top, and then I put those inside the big pot to help avoid too much drying out while the seeds get their little plantacular-selves going. Then I covered the pots with a white plastic garbage bag to further prevent drying out as well as provide warmth (they're on the south end of a covered west-facing deck) and keep them from getting frosty if we have any more frosty mornings. We shall see!
 
Seamaiden

Seamaiden

Well-Known Member
I didn't, because I didn't want to hurt the baby root forming. So, I made a small indentation in the soil, dropped the seed in, then covered it lightly with moist soil.

Day.. four, and so far no sprouting. <sigh>
 
dragonofweed

dragonofweed

Active Member
I've used the paper towel method several times, but find that peat discs work better than anything. They stay moist enough to germinate and can be planted directly into the pot or ground (after 10 days or so of root development). I had a container of bagseed stored and planted a 72 disc grow box. 80% germinated, then I had to figure out what to do with 50+ plants.
 
Seamaiden

Seamaiden

Well-Known Member
Very cool! So, I find myself in a weird place -- I germinated about 16 seeds, 12 actually hatched. I planted those (made a dent in the soil, sprinkled soil over the top). So, how did I end up with 14 seedlings? :lol: :? Can I not count?
 
flowergurl

flowergurl

There's treachery afoot
Seamaiden said:
12 actually hatched.

Hatched...that is hysterical........best description I have heard yet....love it....
Why can't we be neighbors and hang out smokin on the back porch drinkin tea and discussing plants....think we would have alot in common....so whatcha doing with all of those hatchlings....sounds like you got your hands full...lol
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Seamaiden

Seamaiden

Well-Known Member
flowergurl said:
Seamaiden said:
12 actually hatched.

Hatched...that is hysterical........best description I have heard yet....love it....
Why can't we be neighbors and hang out smokin on the back porch drinkin tea and discussing plants....think we would have alot in common....so whatcha doing with all of those hatchlings....sounds like you got your hands full...lol
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:lol: When I looked at the sprouting through my loupe the hull of the seed reminded me of an egg, thusly, hatchlings.

Fgurl, you come on out here to the Sierra, and you can be our guest. We've got a guest room with the best bed in the house, Directv an ever'thang. :) Lake Tahoe one way, Yosemite the other, and Clear Lake down 395 on the backside.

My next move is to gather up enough pots to separate the babies this week before they grow any more leaves or a more extensive root system. Then, I'll be mixing that transplant soil with some perlite or vermiculite, I'm not sure of the ratio but I was thinking a 50/50 mix of MG-compost + perlite should be good. I tend to do these things by eye, though, and I'm a little leery of doing that because during the summer it will get scorching hot, so what I think I'll do is put a layer of unadulterated soil in the bottom (to better hold a little extra moisture) and then put the root ball itself in the soil mixed with perlite.

Then, as they grow and mature I'll transplant. I've never once lost a plant when transplanting... well, except the bananas my mom gave me that the dog ate, but the dog ATE them! They were growing great until she did that. :roll:

Here are some views off the back deck:
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flowergurl

flowergurl

There's treachery afoot
Wowee! beautiful scenery out your way...mmmm....love the hills....I am in the heart of the midwest where we get nose bleeds from the altitude when we run over cigarette butts on the road...lol I miss the mountains....moved down here bout 14 years ago from Alaska...not the same but works for now. Someday will probably retire outwest, find a nice little spread outside of Santa Fe somewhere...one of my favorite parts of the country....great energy there! I figured you were out that way somewheres as the soil in your pics looks veeeery red. Here, it almost looks burned/black as it is so fertile, makes for great veggie gardens...hell probably makes for great MJ gardens too but i am way to paranoid to grow outdoors. Thought about planting a few out at the farm as I have 1200 acres of cropland and timber surrounding my place but it is an hour from home and a long way to go to check on plants. Will scope it out none the less as we are about a three weeks or so away from Morel mushroom season and I spend alot of time out there in the woods catching the elusive morel.....
 
Seamaiden

Seamaiden

Well-Known Member
There's some pretty red earth in the Sierra. However, being what they are, it's a real mix of things. Did you know that the reason why the Sierras are growing is because they are comprised in large part of granite, and the granite is FLOATING over top of the underlying rock?
 
D3adH3ad

D3adH3ad

Well-Known Member
I find myself having read this whole thread all the way from page one. I'm excited to see whats gonna shake loose! Let's see these hatchlings take flight and make your brain soar high up into the cosmos! :joint::mrgreen:
 
Seamaiden

Seamaiden

Well-Known Member
Alright DeadHead, I'll make this my informal grow journal.

Well, I did at least one stupid thing. When I planted the hatchlings I put them in my smallest black nursery pots, but only filled the pots halfway with soil because I figured that, being seedlings, they wouldn't need much. Trying to conserve, ya know?

What ended up happening in short order is that they started reaching for the light, so some have gotten really LONG. This morning I decided I had to nip the problem in the bud, so I got a bunch of small plastic cups and moved the hatchlings to those, and the tall ones got their necks buried a bit. We shall see what happens next.

I have another small batch of bag seeds I'll be sprouting this weekend, I want to stagger the grows and see how that works.
 

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Seamaiden

Seamaiden

Well-Known Member
Ok, update.

My first set of hatchlings are doing fairly well I suppose, I don't really have anything to compare to. They may or may not be growing as well as they "should", but the weather's been kind of up and down, with it getting nicely warm, then cooling off. Currently in a cooling trend.
I have a second set I just planted this weekend, no one's popped their heads above the soil yet.
Since things have been staying cool I decided I should "greenhouse" the hatchlings. To that end I got a plastic bin, translucent plastic, keep the hatchlings on their black tray (to absorb heat) and put them inside that.

They were left overnight, and when I checked on them this morning some of the hatchlings have their first real leaves a bit curled under. No spots, only water, no fertilization. I'm not sure if this is a problem or not. Soil has been being kept moist in order to ensure hatchlings are getting enough (they don't seem to have enough tissue to tolerate drying out just yet). They are beginning their second set of real grown-up leaves, though. :)

Some of the hatchlings have colored, slightly reddish-purple stems, some don't. Some of those with the curled leaves have colored stems, I have NO idea if this is an indicator of anything, let alone a problem.
Attachments of current state taken about a half hour ago.
 

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D3adH3ad

D3adH3ad

Well-Known Member
You should be cool, you can bury that long ass stem to about 3 or 4 inches from the bottom of your first leaf set.
 
Seamaiden

Seamaiden

Well-Known Member
D3adH3ad said:
You should be cool, you can bury that long ass stem to about 3 or 4 inches from the bottom of your first leaf set.
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:lol: You noticed those, eh? I already buried at least an inch on almost all of them. They'll probably need repotting as soon as we return from out of the country, I need to gather up the pots, gotta do that on the cheap (read: free).

I'm glad you don't think the turned leaves are an issue, I was wondering because it's only happened to a couple of plants, and only after spending the night in the nut hut.
 
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