Used the paper towel method, two germinated in <24hrs (the third will likely be one more day) and then:
Roots Organics Lush soil
3 x 5 gallon food-safe buckets with GroBucket inserts
7w 254gph aerator pump (to keep the water reservoirs from stagnating, and the roots seem to love it).
Tap water as needed (that doesn’t appear to have chromium, based on local water quality reports), but aired-out ~24-48hrs for chlorine reasons, and roughly PH’d to the mid 6s based on the periodic testing color/using GH drops.
2’x4’x6’ tent
4 inch inline extraction fan and carbon filter, 6” clip fan, and 6” oscillating fan (all off to start, to help with environment)
300w LED: 24/7, ~25%, ~20” from the soil to start, until there are leaves and the humidity domes come off (then 18/6 and % as appropriate):
Day 3 and folks are a little leggy, so I moved the light a few clicks up to keep it ~20” from the seedlings, and increased the dimmer to ~38%, so the middle should be getting ~400 PPFD/25 DLI. I also have the upper fan at ~20% and the extraction fan on ~10-20%, 24/7 now
Day 14, top-watered 1 gallon between the three with 1 tblsp of unsulphured Molasses mixed in for the soil microbes; and adjusted the light so the middle guy should be getting ~620 ppfd/ ~40 DLI…
Day 29…didn’t get a chance to tend to these guys for a while due to family things but they were still alive, and a little thirsty with the SH looking the roughest of the three. I topped off the water reservoirs last night and raised the light a few clicks:
Trying to keep the plants small this grow so I did some significant pruning of the lower stuff touching the soil, as well as ~4 large fan leaves each that blocked a lot of flowering sites, and the bottom 2 branches of the LMZ.
After which I added enough new soil to help stabilize trunks, and top-watered in with the sprayer a pint or two of water each with some molasses to get the new topsoil involved:
Looks good! Your brave topping Autos…I’m outdoors so Ive never done anything to them I let them go al naturale… It certainly seemed to work for you…You’ve got a lot of nice tops… Keep us posted I wanna see them babies when they flower…
Thanks! Hoping to keep them small this time to figure out a way to get 4 to healthily fit in my environment for future cycles (for strain variety).
Reminds me of the quote: “Bravery is not the absence of fear. Bravery is feeling the fear, the doubt, the insecurity, and deciding that something else is more important.”
Last grow, I had to supercrop the main cola on one in the middle, at 53 days above ground, when it was 40”+ from the soil and creeping on the light. Moving things around in the tent didn’t make sense due to airflow/humidity concerns, but
good growing growmie
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