A question from a fellow grower:
Claire, I got one nice plant out of the 4 seeds that germinated - and it was fantastic smoke! Thank you so much for the advice. I think the potting soil that I was using was not very good so I found some Jiffy seed germination soil and germinated 2 seeds in water for a couple of days (until the root appeared) then I put them in the germination soil - tail first. They came up fine but the seed pod still has not been released after 7 days… The leaves don’t seem to have enough energy to push the seed pod open and release it. I don’t know what to do about this issue and didn’t see anything in the forums about it. I’m attaching some photos of the two plants struggling to release the seed pod. Should I try to ‘help’ it along?
Just from what I can see in the pictures, it appears that they are stretching too quickly. I would move your light a bit closer to keep them from growing much taller before they fill out. If not, you will have really tall stems that wont support the weight of the foliage one it begins to grow more and it will just fall over and likely die. As for the seed pod still encasing the leaves, I believe that more light/closer light will help with this as well. If the leaves are underdeveloped due to not enough light/light not being close enough then the seed pod wont get pushed off as it should because there isnt enough significant growth in the leaves to do this. Try moving your light closer and see if they dont grow foliage a bit quicker and then push the pods off. If it doesnt seem to do the trick after a few days, then you may want to give it a little assistance (very carefully & sure not to damage any foliage or the stem). Good luck!
Yup, I think HydroRed has given you some good advice here. I would go ahead and give them the careful assistance right away. The sooner they get those wide leaves freed and have more surface area to absorb some of that light the better, and better able to put some of that energy into putting some strength and thickness into the stems. A gentle breeze from a fan stirring them about will help with this as well, and it will also benefit the plant in other ways that can contribute to better faster healthier growth.