🌱 Germination Summary — Punch Pie Grow (Started 9 June 2025)
I began germination on the evening of June 9th, 2025, by soaking all five seeds in pH’d water. After about 18–24 hours, most of the seeds had begun to crack, so I transferred them into moist (not wet) cotton pads, placed inside Tupperware with a loose lid and covered with a bowl to keep it dark and warm — around 22°C.
By June 11th, taproots had reached about 1–2cm in length, so I transplanted them directly into their final 11L fabric pots, filled with Shogun 70/30 buffered coco-perlite. Before planting, I moistened the coco with pH 5.8–6.0 water mixed with 0.5ml/L of Shogun Katana Roots. I gently placed each seed taproot-down into a small hole, lightly covered it, and added loose humidity domes to help with moisture retention.
🌱 From Planting to Sprouting — June 11th to June 14th
On the evening of June 11th, I planted the pre-germinated seeds (all with visible taproots) into their final 11L fabric pots. The coco was moistened with pH ~5.8 water and 0.5ml/L of Katana Roots, and I made sure not to compact the medium too much — just a light cover over the seed with coco to allow the shoot to break through easily. After planting, I placed clear domes over each site to help maintain humidity and warmth for the first few days.
🔆 Lighting & Environment
I had my HID lights set to 250W, hanging about 70cm above the pots initially. My light cycle was 18/6 (on from 6pm to 12pm the next day), so the seedlings had a consistent warm environment. Temperature stayed around 24–26°C, and humidity was kept in the 65–70% range. This gave me a strong vapor pressure deficit (VPD) for germination.
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🌱 Emergence Timeline
June 12 (24 hours post-planting):
First signs of activity — Hannibal was the earliest to break through the surface. I also noticed movement from Jack. No light stress or damping off.
June 13:
Jack had fully emerged. Alana and Abigail were just behind. Some slight stretching was starting to show, especially in Jack and Alana — normal for early emergence under HID.
I kept domes on overnight and made sure the coco surface didn’t dry out.
June 14:
All four healthy seedlings (Hannibal, Jack, Alana, Abigail) had fully sprouted and were upright.
I removed the domes at this point since humidity was stable. I also noted that Jack and Alana were quite stretched, so I kept an eye on stem length and firmness.
Meanwhile, Will had emerged, but looked weak and underdeveloped — he never really stood up properly.
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📝 Observations
Stretching: Jack and Alana showed the most stretching early on, so I planned to bury their stems deeper later to stabilize them.
Abigail and Hannibal stayed shorter and sturdier — great early structure.
Will remained curled and floppy, with little development in the cotyledons. I monitored him closely but he never picked up — more on that in the next phase.