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-1 week equipment:
Ankace grow light (https://tiny.one/ankacelights)
Coco Coir pots
Seedling trays with lids
I began by planting some Brandywine tomato seeds to test the peat pots and coco coir medium a week before planting my seeds. Right away I disliked the coco coir pots and ordered some seedling trays. I left the tomatoes in their pots to grow.
Week 1
Saturday my brother came over and we planted four seeds; 3 GSC (Nirvana) and 1 Seedsman Blueberry. One of the GSC seeds must have been planted with the root upside down. It tried to correct itself and ended up poking out of the soil. I decided to throw it out since it looked more delicate than my hands can handle. No big deal, I had two more seeds I could plant. Unfortunately, I ended up pouring them down the drain along with the water softening them. The water method is useless and can lead to loss of product if not careful. I can't imagine the wives' tales and folklore that went into that nonsense. If one cannot germinate seeds directly into seedling mixture, they should probably throw those seeds into the garbage and use a seed hearty enough to germinate. I have grown all sorts of herbs and vegetables and not once have I encountered this. And it pisses me off I threw money down the drain.
The first week was 18 hour lights on quickly sprouting those seedling heads. I believe there was not enough light which caused the seedlings to stretch for the light. I would need to solve this issue quickly.
So with leggy seedlings and hundreds of dollars worth of medium, nutrients, etc, I decided to buy more seeds. I will begin a separate diary for those. My first priority was making sure the same thing won't happen with my new batch. I bought a dome with a top and a new light (https://tinyurl.com/newgrolight). I'm also running a fan to gently move the seedlings. I read that this can make the stems stronger and help prevent leggy plants. I don't know if that's true, but I see no harm in training a plant for outdoor growth. I remember the first time I started tomato seedlings and learned quickly that being outdoors could shock those tiny plants destroying the hard work and time to get to that point.
Other than the leggy nature, I would say that the seedlings seem fine.
The weather here in Los Angeles has been cold and darker than normal for this time of year. I pushed forward by doing 18/6 until two days ago. Now I am doing regular daylight hours to acclimate the plants to outdoor conditions. I have replanted the plants into larger pots from the seedling tray to promote root growth and more effective nutrient dispersal without exposing the roots to concentrated nutrients within the confines of a seed tray. I have been hardening the plants, first with a fan, and then outdoors increasing outdoor exposure daily. I am setting several gallons of water aside daily for feeding to remove chlorine.
I was determined to build my own scrog. I added some pictures of the result of that. I am considering covering my plants when they begin growing to prevent pests and rodents, though I don't have any idea how effective a net would be against rodents. I have several different insects to control pest issues: lacewing, praying mantis and ladybugs. Hopefully they will come in handy preventing any pests from invading all the different plants in my garden.
The girls are doing well. Feeding has had a positive effect on veg, however I noticed some leggy growth. Days spent outside, these plants are hardened nicely. Just waiting for the containers to fill with roots to transplant. Nights seem too cold to leave outside.
Edit: I had to move all my plants to another area which has more sun.
Transferred and replanted girls outside. Soaked the Coco-Loco medium in Myco+. Placed straw around the girls for mulch, though I haven't seen other people use straw for mulch, I am hoping it won't lead to issues with bugs. I plan on releasing beneficial insects as control for pests once they grow out a bit.
A lot of vegetation this week. I am feeding twice a week or so, and supplementing with water on hotter days. I began main-lining the larger of the GSC. I was reluctant to do so in fear of hurting the plant. But things seemed to go just fine. I was looking forward to having some warm sunshine to help her regain strength and grow the nodes large enough to tie down. Alas, it's 60 degrees and cloudy; kind of an anomaly for this time of year here in the Southland, and apparently we won't see a nice day until Tuesday, 5 days from now. That's some bullshit.
Finally the temperature in the Southland is getting hot, and the vegetation is increasing in speed. The pre-mainlined plants, one blueberry, one GSC were growing strongly so I decided to trim them before it got past seven or eight nodes. Boosted them with some extra nutrients to help them recover from the stress. Kelp me Kelp You, Boomerang, and MYCO+. pH is around 7. I have thought about lowering the pH, but I am not sure I want to take the chance since I have never had to adjust pH in the past with garden plants. It so happens that I have some squash that (I believe) are iron deficient due to higher pH than they like (6.0-6.5). I will study the technique and see if the pH has evened off, after I adjusted the H2O I watered the squash with. The cutting from nine days ago, which I put in water for the house looks as good as it did when it was still attached to the plant. Today's cuttings are limp, but maybe they'll perk up.
Just vegging out here. There's not a lot to tell. The broken node never came back, so I pulled it off to let it grow on one side. I have read that a non symmetrical plants don't do well. I am going to try LST on this once it veggies out some more. Two juvenile mantis are still occupying two of the plants which is excellent. I love those aliens. Did you know that a mantis is the only insect on earth that can swivel it's head to look around? I am waiting for the mothership to land only to watch mantis beings walk out. Good stuff.
Well, I haven't been updating much. But I've been taking pictures. It seems to have been a very long time since I planted my seeds, but they are flowering and I am pretty psyched. I ended up removing the scrog because my room was tight, and the canopy wasn't quite even. Not top mention I have to get in between the plants and water, clean, etc. Sometimes I sit right in the middle of my plants and just chill. It's pretty good. Pay no attention to the amounts of nutrients listed. It changes almost ever watering. But I am using the schedule from FoxFarm.
This was all new to me, and like anything new I approach, I get a little information and go from there. I made a lot of mistakes because I learn through mistakes, and already with my second grow I am having much more success. I am going to have a lot of bud between all my plants, so I am not upset about the mediocre results. I am planning a new outdoor grow when I get my new seeds, a late summer/fall grow. I understand in SoCal that is possible.
GameCat
