need some advice / help 2013 outdoor guerilla grow

ok so i am in the process of starting my outdoor grow this year

i have run into a few problems though and it is very discouraging

first off the worst of it all i bought 30 seeds 20 big bang from ghs and 10 guerrilas gusto from sensi (both came from attitude)

so i germinated them in paper towel on heat mat then i put them in about 1/4 gallon containers filled 100% with light warrior

it is now day 4 since they were put into the soil and only 2 big bangs have popped and are looking not so well , and i also germed some bag seeds on the same day

and one popped and looks 10x more healthy then the seeds i bought

i have been misting the the soil to keep moisture and have saran wrap over the tops ,
the room stays at 70-80 degrees
one row of big bangs has a heat mat that keeps it about 90 tho

so i guess my questions would be why such a poor rate of seedlings coming up,?

and my next question would be what is a relatively cheap/good for beginner seed that finishes early and is resistant to mold? (they will be grown up north near the canadian border)

any advice at all would be appreciated, i have germed / sprouted seeds before a bunch of times and almost had 80-90% success every time but the first time i spend some money on some to get good reliable genetics , i get screwed over it seems i was planning to grow between 20-25 plants this year , and spent some money on dirt and ammendments and it looks like i may have only 3 plants or less ha i feel like a retard .

im stressing out over this didnt sleep last night and idk what to do. i spent alot of time picking out the strains i bought and have been awaiting this moment since like december but i didnt expect it to go like this at all i need some baby plants to start poking their heads out ...

so 87 views and still no advice damn :/

first off why the heating mat? dont use that to germinate room temp is just fine. When I germ i put the seeds between the paper towel not too wet, then i put it in a zip lock bag in a box in my closet for about 3-5 days and its never failed for me. I've germinated around 50 seeds.

psuedoscience said:

first off why the heating mat? dont use that to germinate room temp is just fine. When I germ i put the seeds between the paper towel not too wet, then i put it in a zip lock bag in a box in my closet for about 3-5 days and its never failed for me. I've germinated around 50 seeds.

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i never used a heating mat before not to long ago (it was winter) i bought it because my room temp ranged from 80-50 degrees because poor insulation in the trailer i live in, i also have always used the zip lock baggy method w damp paper towel, i guess no reason to continue using the heat mat. just figured it may help a little and keep them at a more consistent temp thanks for the input though

Hi mnwi,

Got your message. I'll assist in any way I can. Sorry to hear about your seeds dude, but don't get too down about it.

Pseudo is 100% correct with the heatmat, its not needed and an incorrect setting can gently cook your seeds.

After the seeds have initially popped and you see the tap root; gently place on top of the soil and sprinkle more soil on top. as opposed to trying to push the seed into a hole.

You could try gently 'un-earthing' one of the seeds to see if everything is 'tickety boo'. or just wait a few more days ... to see whats up.

either way, it might me an idea to clone any plants that have survived.

Good luck

I must say it would have to be your seeds, either 2 guesses genetics or they may have gotten too hot with the heat mat, wait it out. I just have two seeds of sixteen that popped the surface today. I just fold a paper towel in half as many times as it will fit in ziploc moisten it to where there is a little puddle in there about a tsp. and 4-6 days the taproot shows and about 3-4 days they pop the surface.

Meast007 said:

I must say it would have to be your seeds, either 2 guesses genetics or they may have gotten too hot with the heat mat, wait it out. I just have two seeds of sixteen that popped the surface today. I just fold a paper towel in half as many times as it will fit in ziploc moisten it to where there is a little puddle in there about a tsp. and 4-6 days the taproot shows and about 3-4 days they pop the surface.
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My guess is the heatmat since the seeds came from 2 different and reputable breeders. (Although GHS can be hit'n'miss sometimes)

A number of possibilities exist for the poor germ rate, I find 78 to be the optimal temp. I used paper towel method for a couple of years prior to switching to peat pellets. Using paper towels, I had some instances where they took longer than 4 days to break ground. It took me a while to figure out why, planting depth. Every seed germs at a different rate, making it difficult to determine the correct depth...too shallow and the seed shells tend to remain on too long. Too deep and they take forever, making them more susceptible to damping off or mold issues.

I use my cloning dome and remove as soon as they break first true leaf set, then simply remove netting on peat pellet and place directly into medium.

Moebius said:

You could try gently 'un-earthing' one of the seeds to see if everything is 'tickety boo'. or just wait a few more days ... to see whats up.

either way, it might me an idea to clone any plants that have survived.

Good luck

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thank you for taking a look, i did infact unearth most of them that hadnt came through yet and they mostly look the same 2 of my gustos though were green and seemed like they were having trouble finding the surface so i left them exposed to light a little , but other than that most of the seeds seem to look pretty much like they did when i placed them in their containers,(a small root barely showing - a root about 2cm long(range of lengths when planted)) i did notice that my perlite is tinted a yellowish/orange/light brown color and it seems that some of the seed's taproots are aquiring this same tint of color they all germinated for a little over 3 days and all had cracked if not had a cm-2cm long tail , so i planted them all because i figured they had all succesfully germinated ((i was going to go with peat pucks but last minute decided to go with light warrior(1st experience with it) because i figured i spent so much on seeds that i might as well give them a quality start))

i know i might be being a bit impatient but if there were more coming out by now i would feel a little more secure about the others


and yes i had been thinking about cloning them but i cannot be growing inside for long (shouldnt be at all) and i am trying to have an outdoor crop and by the time a mother was big enough and then all the clones rooted half of my season would be gone already.

ah dude. .. if they've cracked and have a root showing it's best t just leave 'em.

Yep, I think maybe a little impatient.

btw . my method to get seeds going is to just drop them in a glass of water and leave in a dark place. .. For me that works best cause I can see at a glance whats happening.

Moebius said:

ah dude. .. if they've cracked and have a root showing it's best t just leave 'em.

Yep, I think maybe a little impatient.

btw . my method to get seeds going is to just drop them in a glass of water and leave in a dark place. .. For me that works best cause I can see at a glance whats happening.

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do you leave them in the water until they crack then put them in your medium or just moisten them up?

715218mnwi said:

do you leave them in the water until they crack then put them in your medium or just moisten them up?

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Until they've cracked and I see a little root showing. Then into the substrate.


.... it can be tricky fishing them out of the bottom of a long glass. lol. I always forget that.

Moebius said:

Until they've cracked and I see a little root showing. Then into the substrate.


.... it can be tricky fishing them out of the bottom of a long glass. lol. I always forget that.

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maybe a shallow bowl then, I might try this or I might just pop them in some peat im not sure yet but I have some freebies and autos that I can germ if no more of these come up , (which im pretty sure is going to happen because im on day 5 now and still not seeing any signs of anything new but im still going to keep misting them and checking for them)

so , went out to my plot the other day (swamp) , and when i was their making preperations i took a sample of the water near one of my tubes, i filtered it a few times and today i phed it ,(i only have a vial and some drops so not super accurate and my vile is tinted a little instead of clear) and the ph was between 6-7 prior to knowing this i dumped about 7lbs of lime in the bottumn of each tube does that sound like its going to fuck shit up? im worrieed it may throw ph way off?, although the swamp hasnt fully defrosted yet so maybe thats all just from melted snow and stuff.... broke a shovel about 4-6inches into soil/muck had to set up swamp tubes anyway although they are not as deep as id hoped they would be and its been windy for a few days so i m hoping that they arent tipped over and spilt cause haling 275+ pounds of soil and ammendments into the swamp was just absolutely horrible ha , especially since got lost at first and hauled all stuff to wrong spot on accident then had to navigate to the right spot

I now have 2 more seedlings, I have another big bang (already bigger then its precedor?) and another guerrillas gusto. so in total I now have 2 big bangs, 2 guerrillas gusto, and a mutant bag seed. the mutant bag seed grew a pair of 3 leaves at the 2nd set of leaves, then at the 3rd it split into 2 separate main stems (like when topped (but I didn't touch it)) also the mutant has side branches that are about as long as it is tall. they range from about a month old to 10 days . they are all about the same size because the older ones were a little to hot for a while. older big bang has a bit of yellowing on the lower 2 sets of leaves and some nutrient burn looking spots but it is a month old and only got a 1/4 strength of first weeks nutrient suggestion one time (thought It might have needed some nutrients because they are only in ff light warrior. also recently transplanted it into a bit bigger container it was slightly root bound at the bottom. will post pics soon and will be outside hopefully within next couple weeks and plan on starting a couple more seeds soon also.

mutant is full blown male. damn

so been a while , haven't done much at all unfortunately, I do have 2 plants that have been outside now for maybe 6 weeks, they were started indoors , one is a big bang the other a guerillas gusto, they are currently in the middle of a swamp in 3 ft x 12 inch diameter swamp tubes (plastic culvert pipes), there is also a 18 gallon plastic tote converted into a swamp tube at that location but no plants in it , I also have another location in a swamp were there is 3 similar swamp tubes (not inhabited by any of my plants yet , but grows giant weeds as of now) they all at both places have a fair amount of lime in the bottom , and are a mix of peat moss cow manure and compost, ones in the first location have miracle grow garden soil also and the tote is filled with pro mix potting soil, at the second place the soil has bat guano and happy frog all purpose amended in. anyways I have not checked on the two plants since they have been transplanted and I hope they are doing well and on their way to start flowering soon, also I have 2 more plants in 4 gallon smart pots I believe whom have been outside for about 2 1/2 weeks now and are looking much better(very fast growth rate) then they were inside in 1/2 gallon containers, I believe they are both female hopefully soon I can make my way out into the swamp and transplant them in a home to finish their life. also I am going to be coming across a few chocolope clones @ about 8-10 inches tall and hope to get them outside aswel , hoping to maybe get a small harvest from each. will eventually get pictures of them, no longer have internet but will try to start updating .

went out and checked ladies today for first time since they were transplanted into the swamp, the big bang is looking good budding already and the gurrilas gusto is looking like it is just about to start flowering, they are both about 2 or 2/1 ft tall and look great

so, unfortunately I wanted to go check some of my plants (3 clones put out a few weeks ago and a sativa(gg)) and what do I see..... there is 2 trucks w campers behind them parked literally 15 - 20ft from my clones and maybe 100ft from my gusto! shit , I didn't even bother going any farther but if they leave ill go back and see if they were discovered, they are hidden pretty well in tall grass and not visible unless you walk within 3 or 4 feet of them but sketchy as hell ................. damn