for journal, is Official Day One 'germination' or 'appearance of sprout in soil'?

[NebulaHaze]

I think this is a great question and we get it all the time! It's a personal preference but I agree with the others, I count first cotyledon leaves as day 1 However, I have heard the occasional grower start their count at the day seeds are started.

I know you didn't ask about this but when it comes to clones it gets even more complicated! In that case I personally would count day 1 as the day you first see roots, but if you get a clone from someone else there's no way to know how old it is!

[bobsakamoto]

thank you, NebulaHaze !! i sure wish there was some way to define it sufficiently so that we could better compare apples to apples, but hey, i guess those are exactly the nice things you don't get to have when the thing your interested in is illegal to research....

but thank you for the info on clones, very helpful...AND...AND...you beat me to having to ax about it later, you know, when i start cloning for the first time...

[DingusKhan]

I think a few days of wiggle room is tolerable.

In my first grow (still on going, thanks for following!) I planted 3 seeds and I tried to keep track of which one sprouted first, then which one had it's first true leaf, etc. After a few weeks, I skipped taking careful notes and I lost track, and then I couldn't tell just by looking at them anymore, so I lost interest in counting days precisely. I became more interested in physical growth milestones, like numbers of nodes, fingers on leaves, numbers of branches, how much leaf trimming I do, etc. I will be content if I can keep track of which mother the clones came from so I don't throw the wrong ones away, and they don't taste like shit.

Actually, if I can keep even one from dying at all, I will be happy, even if it tastes like shit. I'm sure whatever standard you choose, it will be good enough for us to enjoy and learn from your grow. But that's just me, and I'm trying to get a break from a world of careful note-taking (I suck at it at work, too) and precise measurements. I love that pot can be done well either way.