Hey everyone. I just started my second grow (first was six years ago) so figured I would post where I am at to share my experience and get some thoughts from the community.
This story begins back in 2015 with my first grow. A friend and I decided it would be fun and challenging to plan and grow a crop of cannabis. We did our research, each spent a few hundred dollars on gear and a few hundred on seeds and off we went. Six or seven months later we had a few pounds of delicious buds, some of which we enjoyed and most of which we gave away to friends.
I’m not sure if I can mention where I got my seeds, but they were from two of the most popular places online. I purchased a total of forty seeds. Ten each of AK-47 and OG Kush from one site and ten each of Purple Kush and Super Silver Haze from the other. In the original 2015 crop, I germinated two seeds of each strain and all were successful, eventually growing a total of four amazing plants. Having more bud than I knew what to do with, I packed up my gear seeds. I stored the seeds in Ziplock bags with lots of silica gel. I put them in a small box and in the top of my bedroom closet where they sat for six and a half years.
Fast forward to about a month ago and I decided that although I have a legal weed card, it is too expensive and inconvenient to use dispensaries while other channels of obtaining cannabis are few and far between. So here I am starting out another crop. Since I had all the gear from the previous grow and still had my seeds in storage, I only needed some soil and was all set. I setup four seeds of each strain on papers towels to germinate. Since the seeds were old, I started with twice as many hoping to germinate just one seed of each strain. After searching and failing to find many stories about successfully germinating such old seeds, I had very low expectations.
Not surprisingly, after three days of germinating I only had one shell start to pop, an AK47, with the tiniest taproot showing. I put the plate of old seeds back in a dark, warm, and dry location and added a second plate where I started germinating the remaining 16 seeds. Another two days pass and now the AK47 from the first batch has a healthy-looking half inch taproot. One of the other two AK’s has split as has one SSH. From the second batch, no movement at all yet. I planted the one AK in a starter pot and put the rest back. Another three days pass and the second AK and the SSH from the first batch look good and there is one AK, one PK, one OGK from the second batch. A total of 6 out of 36 germinated successfully. Pretty good for six-year-old seeds… or so I thought. Also, I think I may have overwatered the seedlings when they were very small which didn’t help things.
My setup is a 48 x 48 x 80 tent with a 1000w HPS 24/0. My last setup was 18/6 so I figured I’d try something different. I use Fox Farm Ocean Forest and I water twice a day, just enough so that the top of the soil is almost dry about 12 hours later. I regulate the temp around 80 and the RH about 50%. I'm feeding according to FF schedule. Haven’t tested ph yet. Meter is on the way from Amazon.
21 days here is the current status:
I bought a cloning kit, so my hopes are to get each of the four strains to grow large enough to clone, then start a fresh crop from those clones so they are all the same age/size. Then I’ll salvage whatever bud I can from the batch that is growing now.
My only real immediate concern is the discoloration on the OGK leaves. Pics of all plants below.
Thanks for reading. Any comments or suggestions welcome.
This story begins back in 2015 with my first grow. A friend and I decided it would be fun and challenging to plan and grow a crop of cannabis. We did our research, each spent a few hundred dollars on gear and a few hundred on seeds and off we went. Six or seven months later we had a few pounds of delicious buds, some of which we enjoyed and most of which we gave away to friends.
I’m not sure if I can mention where I got my seeds, but they were from two of the most popular places online. I purchased a total of forty seeds. Ten each of AK-47 and OG Kush from one site and ten each of Purple Kush and Super Silver Haze from the other. In the original 2015 crop, I germinated two seeds of each strain and all were successful, eventually growing a total of four amazing plants. Having more bud than I knew what to do with, I packed up my gear seeds. I stored the seeds in Ziplock bags with lots of silica gel. I put them in a small box and in the top of my bedroom closet where they sat for six and a half years.
Fast forward to about a month ago and I decided that although I have a legal weed card, it is too expensive and inconvenient to use dispensaries while other channels of obtaining cannabis are few and far between. So here I am starting out another crop. Since I had all the gear from the previous grow and still had my seeds in storage, I only needed some soil and was all set. I setup four seeds of each strain on papers towels to germinate. Since the seeds were old, I started with twice as many hoping to germinate just one seed of each strain. After searching and failing to find many stories about successfully germinating such old seeds, I had very low expectations.
Not surprisingly, after three days of germinating I only had one shell start to pop, an AK47, with the tiniest taproot showing. I put the plate of old seeds back in a dark, warm, and dry location and added a second plate where I started germinating the remaining 16 seeds. Another two days pass and now the AK47 from the first batch has a healthy-looking half inch taproot. One of the other two AK’s has split as has one SSH. From the second batch, no movement at all yet. I planted the one AK in a starter pot and put the rest back. Another three days pass and the second AK and the SSH from the first batch look good and there is one AK, one PK, one OGK from the second batch. A total of 6 out of 36 germinated successfully. Pretty good for six-year-old seeds… or so I thought. Also, I think I may have overwatered the seedlings when they were very small which didn’t help things.
My setup is a 48 x 48 x 80 tent with a 1000w HPS 24/0. My last setup was 18/6 so I figured I’d try something different. I use Fox Farm Ocean Forest and I water twice a day, just enough so that the top of the soil is almost dry about 12 hours later. I regulate the temp around 80 and the RH about 50%. I'm feeding according to FF schedule. Haven’t tested ph yet. Meter is on the way from Amazon.
21 days here is the current status:
- AK1: Looks healthy
- OGK: Looked healthy - recent discoloration of leaves – about one week behind AK1
- PH: Looks healthy but is growing at slower pace than OGK
- SSH: Seed casing got stuck on and seedling was damaged removing. Currently growing slowly and unevenly.
- AK2: Seed casing got stuck on and seedling was damaged removing. Currently growing slowly and unevenly.
- AK3: Only initial pedals grew, not even first set of leaves. Pedals continue to get larger, but I don’t think this plant is going to make it.
I bought a cloning kit, so my hopes are to get each of the four strains to grow large enough to clone, then start a fresh crop from those clones so they are all the same age/size. Then I’ll salvage whatever bud I can from the batch that is growing now.
My only real immediate concern is the discoloration on the OGK leaves. Pics of all plants below.
Thanks for reading. Any comments or suggestions welcome.
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