This is my first grow from seed of the year. I have 3 gardens -- two indoor tents, and 1 outdoor space. This diary will be for 1 of my indoor gardens, growing in a 2x2x1.5ft raised bed with a custom soil I've been working on for a while.
I took a break from growing (and consuming) for a month or so, to focus on building a soil that can grow me some medicine. It has become increasingly difficult to find a cultivar that doesn't induce seizures from my medical conditions. Some strains worked very well, while others did not. This was always an issue I dealt with in the more than two decades growing and consuming. Some very high THC or very low THC, worked well to ease my symptoms. Some well-rounded specimens also worked well. The problem is some did not, and I haven't been able to discover any pattern except for a long shot -- all of them had trace amounts of CBD and CBG from the CoA's I've analyzed. So, for the first time in my growing career, I gathered a few high-CBD ratio cultivars to see what effects they bring to my condition -- as even not consuming cannabis brings on seizures and other debilitating symptoms randomly -- just not as often as when I consume the wrong cannabis.
For the first CBD strain I ever grew, I chose two autoflower seeds of the same cultivar: Purplematic CBD from Royal Queen Seeds. I acquired more cultivars which I plan to introduce into my other growing chambers in separate diaries in the near future, but this diary is dedicated to this specific cultivar, growing both in my raised bed, which sits in a 1 meter squared tent indoors.
This particular cultivar is advertised to contain 17% CBD with less than 0.5% THC, or about a ratio of 34:1 CBD to THC. My hope is that this genotype will bring out a specimen close to that, but even if not, chances should be good that a phenotype will contain a large percentage of CBD over THC. If funds can allow for it, I will send a sample off to a lab after harvesting to verify that.
I germinated these ones using Root Riot cubes, primarily because I only had two cubes left. I don't seem to notice any difference with how I germinate seeds, and have had a near 100% germination rate for years. There was no logic in choosing this substrate other than to use the last of them up, as I wanted to try them last year to see what the praise was about. Root Riot cubes work well, but so did all of my other methods.
Indeed, these seeds sprouted quickly, visibly protruding the substrate about 36 hours after sowing. I'm happy, considering they were a couple year old seeds sent to me from overseas by a good friend during my search for a collection of high-CBD genetics.
My germination process was quite simple. I simply soaked the Root Riot cubes (they were mostly dried up, being about 6 months old) in fish excrement water, and every day I am giving them a light foliar spray of the same solution, in a cheap humidity dome with a plastic cellular divider tray. The temperature and humidity of my germination chamber are automated with some sensors and computer code I wrote, maintaining around 82F and 62% relative humidity outside of the dome, with 3x 3ft 15W LED strips mounted above them, as well as a heating mat under the tray set to 90F, which keeps the substrate around 84F from the indirect heat. The automation software controls an exhaust fan and a small heater contained in my germination chamber.
In a few days, we will transplant the peat cubes directly into my raised bed. Well, after a bit of lawn mowing anyway, as I planted a cover crop for reasons explained in my soil preparation diary -- it shouldn't be hard to find if you check my recent diaries. It only took about four days for that to become a legume jungle -- their future home at the current moment is posted in the images above.
We'll see where this takes us in the end. We have never grown in a large(ish) raised bed before, nor used a ScrOG net before. Additionally, we abandoned autoflowers after a brief attempt last year, so I don't have much experience with them. Only time will tell...
Happy growing matey ๐ This strain looks amazing ๐
Im also growing CBD strain and will be making RSO oil from high THC and high CBD plant to help with my ankylosing spondylitis ๐๐๐
Beautiful garden! I plan a living soil box inside my basement. Now I grow outside with a homemade terra preta. Different species in the garden is good!
@Drgreen13, hiya mate. Yeah, I had to take a step out of the spotlight. Personal time and stuff to heal. I'm back and better than ever. Hope you are doing the same.