06/14 - seeds were dropped in separate glass cups filled with filtered water that had sat out for 24+ hours to let the chlorine and other additives evaporate
06/15 - 24 hours later: one seed showed signs of cracking open. Water was swirled in other cup to get the seed to sink.
06/16 - both seeds showed signs of very small tap roots
06/17 - both seeds had visible tap roots. Thought about planting into soil today but the weather tonight will be unseasonably low and I do not want them to be shocked.
Removed both seeds from their water cups and placed them in a Tupperware with damp paper towels. I plan to leave them in their overnight. The plan is to plant them and get outside tomorrow.
6/18 - paper towel method overnight made a huge difference and both seeds were ready to be planted.
Both seeds went into 5 gallon fabric pots with Fox Farms soil. I layered Happy Frog on top of Ocean Forrest. I did about half of the pot full of Ocean Forrest mixed with a half gallon of Perlite and then layered Happy Frog with another half gallon of Perlite on top of that.
Soil was misted with water until moist and the placed in direct sun for about an hour and then moved into indirect sunlight.
6/19 - pots were misted in the morning and left in direct sun from 9am to noon. They were misted again and moved into indirect sun from noon to 2pm. Misted once again and moved into shade from 2pm-5pm. A bit more water and moved into indirect sun from 5pm-sunset.
Those are some gorgeous buds forming man, great work! I know you mentioned you couldn't figure out the nutrient burn. You also said you were just using tap water, this may be the cause, sometimes tap water can reach a pH as high as 7.3-7.5 at this point the cannabis roots struggles with what's called "nutrient lockout." This is because when the pH is this high the plant has major difficulties properly extracting the nutrients it needs from the soil. You seem to already be working on the correct solution though which is good to hear! Also instead of buying a synthetic one, an excellent (and cheap) pH down I like to use is citric acid! I find that just a pinch of it can lower the pH in my 15L water container by about 0.3-0.4! A little bit goes a long way with citric acid!
Thanks @justin2_m appreciate the comment and recommendations. Being my first grow I wanted to try to keep it simple but I think the pH is what got me. Bought a test kit and I think my tap water here is at least 7.5 if not higher. May need to try out your citric acid trick, like that it’s not synthetic.