2021 PEV Photo Contest Dane_812

***Please ALWAYS read my content. This will be my first real grow diary and have no doubt I'll have a learning curve and make a few mistakes. I will however always make sure to put in the comments all the important info. As a background on me, now that it is finally legal to grow in my state, I've plunged head first into growing cannabis. Like a good portion of society I got a degree, but am now in a profession that I don't need to use that degree. Due to my degree being in botany, this starter hobby has quickly become an obsession of mine! I started the seeds on 6/26, but only had time to take photos and make notes up until now. To grow, I was sent: 1)It's CBD Time (CBD/Fem), 2) Jack Herer (Fem), 3) VLC Critical Plus (Auto). Moving forward, for the most part, I'll be referring to the seeds as either their number #1, #2, #3 or by their names only abbreviated a bit (CBD, Jack, Critical). The first thing in noted is that they came well packaged with cotton in the .2ml PCR tubes. A few seeds I have gotten so far are just loose and show the wear and tear from shipping. I included a photo of each seed from my digital microscope. Each one had great striping on it. I germinated all three seeds in water for 36.5 hours in a dark environment (closet) at 76 degrees F starting on 6/26. On 6/28, I pulled them and saw that ALL 3 Cracked open! On 6/28 I transferred the seeds into the wet paper towel and ziplock bag method. I put the seeds back in the dark environment at 76 degrees F. I checked them at 24 hours (photos above), but they weren't quite ready. I put them back and checked them again at the 60 hour mark (on 7/1). There was fantastic embryonic root growth measuring up to 2.5 cm long on #1 & #3. Now that the seeds are ready for planting I'm trying out a method of 95% soil, with 5% germination mix. For the soil, I'm using Fox Farms Ocean Forest. For germination, I'm using a local nursery mix. As shown in the photos I fill a small pot with Ocean Forest soil, then make a small hole for the germination mix. My thought is that this helps me skip a replanting step, and allows the embryotic root to get some mild nutrients from the soil as soon as it reaches it, while giving it some growing room in the light germination mix initially. Then once the plant gets about 3-4 nodes I plan to transplant it into its final pot. I feel this will help reduce some plant stress. Once I have the germinated seeds in the small pots, I covered them with a lid in order to create a warm, moist microclimate for the seeds to emerge in. I placed them back in the dark environment at 76 degrees. The next day on 7/2, only 24 hours later, all three seeds had not only emerged from the soil, but #3 (Critical Plus) had shot up a full 4 cm out of the soil! Though I do not have much experience at all with growing cannabis yet, this by far has exceeded anything I have done in the past so far. All three plants cotyledons were starting to open as well. At this point it will be a bit before I report much more due to all of the energy taking place in root growth. I'm starting to see baby true leaves on all three, however I have to wait until the plants are better established before I see more. I'll post a few more photos soon.