Good Morning Universe I hope you had a stellar weekend, I got a ton of work done, no worries thats fun for me lol. Hey C I am not sure if you still checkin here or not but - I figured your idea out buddy were going to launch it in a month! - I got some questions the other day about roots and up potting, so I figured I would do a little root school today I will add the pics in later. It's still very dark here and I want to use nursery plants to demonstrate for you guys so bear with me.
Alright root school - first thing I want to say is roots are only delicate in the first few stages of life, once they reach adolescence the roots are pretty hardy. ***Beginners*** Take your seed(s) and place them in water for 24hrs to crack them, sometimes it takes 48hrs. Now they have cracked, I take a small plastic strainer and dump them into it to then they go into warm moist paper towels into bags - mark the damn bags - and put them in a dark place for 48hrs. Note - I use tweezers to transfer the seeds to the paper towel. Don't even look at them go do something else. Its now 48hrs later and you smoked a few bowls so now you have what looks like a bunch of sperm cells on some paper towels (that's good they all cracked and their tap roots are showing) Now we need some solo cups - with small drain holes poked in the bottom - to plant in, you will also need potting soil mix - starter mix - nothing hot with fertilizers at this stage you might as well throw them away. Pack the soil in but leave it a bit loose, water the soil in get it moist, don't soak the shit out of it, just moist. Take a pencil and make a hole in the center of the dirt up to where the pencil got sharpened only - no deeper. Take and drop a seed in each cup you set up, marking each cup as you go if different strains are being used. Gently cover the seed over, grab some plastic wrap and some tape, cover the cups with plastic wrap, twist at each side and place a piece of tape on to hold it. Place them under your florescent light and walk away. Check them a few times a day just make sure they are not drying out and still green housing under the plastic. Okay the seedling has now popped up and is pressing against the plastic, take the plastic off, and place them as close to the light as you can without burning the back of your hand. At this point keep them mist but not wet, leave them alone and let them grow roots lol, also only water or kelp juice no grow food yet, they dont need it and it will burn them. Okay you didn't really put them close enough to the light did you now they are leggy and want to fall over help. No big deal first water the cups thoroughly, prep your 1 gallon pots. Now you want to make a hole in the dirt in the pots about the size of the solo cup, you can even use the cup for a jig, put some dirt in pack it down, put the cup in and shake it a bit and get a hole the size of the cup and the plant top. Now squeese the sides of the solo cup a little bit on all sides, place the stem of your plant between a few fingers but don't pinch the damn thing okay be gentle here. Slide the cup off and place the whole thing in the pot without disturbing anything, plant it up to the bottom of the first leaves.
Now water them in from the bottom in a tub of water with baby strength food mix, (I also use kelp juice in it to help build roots and strong stems) have another tub handy for draining the pots. Add a little baby food water from the top to settle the roots but you want the roots to seek out the water at the bottom of the pot, watering from the bottom ensures the bottom of the pot has gotten soaked all the way. Good all that is done, put the plants back under the lights on saucers or trays, I use old plastic tub lids, they have a nice little dish to them and they clean easily, I can fit up to 6 1 gallon pots on one, so thats not bad.
Now you have 1 gallon babies that are growing and doing their thing, shit they got like a foot tall, no worries. You have some choices to make right now, do you top and grow bigger roots, are the roots coming out the bottom if so you have to up pot. I personally like to top early, I top when I have like 4 nodes showing, it forces them to build more roots and it pushes my up potting back an extra week if I am busy. So you topped them and waited a week to up pot, water them fully, do not do this part with dry plants it is just a pain in the ass really.
I want to stop for a second and talk about pot choices, pot choice cool what strains ya got LOL, no pots as in what the plants grow in, I personally use 3 gallon tall trash cans, I also have stacks and stacks of regular nursery pots that I will use if I need to LOL thanks wifey! Okay why I mention this is you are only limited by your space requirements and what you can create. The trash cans allow the Cannabis to grow deep instead of wide, they love growing deep. So I get great results cause my roots get to go deeper than a regular pot. Pretty much if you can drill drainage holes in it and you want to grow in it GO FOR IT.
Okay so the pots are watered, your new pots are marked and partially filled and packed. Cool lets up pot the bitches, squeeze on the pots all around and loosen the root ball a little, then pop it up from the bottom and make sure it moves. Put the stem between a couple of fingers and remove the pot, lay the plant and root ball on your pile of soil, yeah you herd me lay in down on the dirt. Grab a pair of scissors - Only do this part if you have a tight round net of roots looking back at you - Take and cut 3 slits through the root ring on the bottom, yeah 3 cuts through the root ring, now place it in the pot and add dirt, plant it as deep as you feel like but stay under your main knuckle on the stem, do not bury that in the dirt. Water in from the bottom with full strength grow food, and a little from the top, let them drain and place under the lights.
Holding mother plants for long times requires trimming of the roots from time to time, what I do is I take them over to my potting tub dry, squeeze the side a little to loosen the root ball, most of your dirt will be encased in roots it will not blow out all over the place until you cut the roots, lay the plant down on the dirt. Take and add as much dirt into the old pot as roots you are going to cut off your mother, pack it in, water it a little. Pick your mother up by the base of the stem and get a good grip, take your scissors and cut the amount of roots off as dirt you put in the pot, try to limit the cut to 5" at a time. Now chop the roots off and compost them, place the mother back in the pot, press down a little to get good soil contact and water from underneath, shes good to go for another year Congratulations I will get the pics up later today, I don't have any assistance here yet, I cant wait to hire some help. Thanks for Growing, Peace, be safe MD.