100% Organic Sour Diesel, Godfather grow as I promised....

[Radeon]

Used those cups for wide mouth, easy birth. Clear, see the roots. Used a torch lighter on a Phillips to put a hole in the bottom for drainage.

Sprouted seeds in paper towels for 48 hours. 3 cracked, 1 still nothing. On the 5th, had 3 with taps, 1 cracked. Planted all 4 on the 5th. It's been 9 days.......

Using soil pictured, tap water, this is where they are at. I disconnected 1 Evo and lowered the other to 12" inches above. Measured PPFD to 250, which is level 2 out of 10. I don't need 2 evos for seedlings. Cuts down on e cost. Also, instead of 24/7 on, I switched to 16 on. When triggering, I'll switch to 12×12 o/off. I have a humidity dome, but to birth 4 seedlings is a pita. With these wide mouth cups I get to see roots, wide mouth for easy birth, and perfect size for plugging a 5 gallon.

These pics are as of today. 9 days since the cracked seeds were planted.....

I decided not to try to use my homemade compost. I added the DiamondK gypsum too late. Lost too much nitrogen. Trying this soil. Stay tuned......

[Gator]

Nice, but the medium looks dry

[Orggrwr]

Roots don't like to be exposed to light. I would drop those clear cups into a darker cup or wrap them with something. Curious how that soil works out. Good Luck 👍

[Ckbrew]

Agree, the roots need to have light blocked.

[Radeon]

The medium looks dry on top where I didn't water. I just water around the sprout. No need to water the whole cup, yet. My watering gets wider and wider as it grows. Way too small to water the whole cup. I do that as not to leach nutes prematurely. As far as the roots and clear cups, I did not know that. I will fix next watering. The roots are still small and haven't reached the sides yet.....Thanks for commenting and checking it out.....

[Radeon]

This is what I use for watering sprouts and seedlings. You can get them at any pharmacy. The pharmacy I used didn't even charge me for it. It makes watering so much easier and precise. Not the measurement, the delivery. It literally takes 2 minutes to water all 4....No spillage and easier to control overwatering......

[golfnrl]

That's what I use...works like a champ

[Gator]

Ohh cool,the pharmacy across the street doesn't charge for the little ones that we get to give the cats medicine

[Orggrwr]

Syringes are also the best things for measuring out liquid nutes and supplements, much easier and more accurate than measuring spoons. Especially when used with long blunt tips to reach into bottles. The industrial blunt tips are available cheap online.

[golfnrl]

Syringes are the way to go IMHO. I drilled a 1/4" hole in the bottle lid and inserted a black tube to draw from the bottom.

[Gator]

I'm trying to get away from using bottles, experimenting with down to earth dry amendments,so far so good 👍

[Orggrwr]

Same here. Been mixing my own living soil the last couple of years with mostly dry amendments. Definitely my favorite way to grow.

[Gator]

Orggrwr I'm open to any advice you want to share

[ductwizard2]

I just use reg. composted soil, ( food scraps, leaves ) do you think its worth it to add nutes? and/or is it ok to bring this soil inside and use it there?

[Orggrwr]

I'm no expert by any means but have learned a few things. First there is no substitute for quality homemade compost. Compost makes up around a third of my soil mix and between that and the veggie garden I never have enough compost even though I start a new pile as soon as one is done cooking. I used subcools recipe i found online to start and for reamending i adjust according to how the last grow went. Knowing how to read the plants is critical for reamending and deciding if you need to add anything. Also you don't want aggressive dry backs to keep the microbes happy. Remember we are just feeding the microbes and they are feeding the plants. Also the soil mix needs at least 30 days in warm temps to get the process rolling before the plants are added. Bigger pots also help if you want to get to harvest without adding nutes, i use 10g inside and 15 or 20g outdoor. Many people use much bigger pots outdoor but i try to keep mine smallish to fit my 7 ft tall greenhouse. Feel free to ask more questions. If you go over to the THC Farmer forum there are several threads and grow diaries about living soil, i learned mostly on there. Sorry to hijack your thread Radeon. Also a flowering top dress a week or so before flip is necessary if you don't want to have to add nutes.

[Orggrwr]

Also like to add i use a lot of homemade L.A.B. and fermented plant juices.

[Radeon]

Update. Solved the clear sides with aluminum foil. Just took an empty cup and made foil molds. I guess it was actually a good thing I messed up because if I want to inspect for root problems, I just slide off the foil and can do a quick visual inspection. Also, I waited to see the first roots to reach the sides in order to get a good mental picture of where the water needs to go. Now that the roots started to reach the sides, I know now to water the whole cup. Lemons to lemonade.....

Didn't water. Top of soil still damp. Bumped up ppfd measured with meter in pic to 430ish yesterday. The one with the stuck shell (see previous pics) did make it. I had to do surgery to get it off. I didnt think it was going to. That was the seed that didn't grow a tap root under the towels and was behind the other 3. I didnt even know if it would sprout. I'm still going to keep her going until its time to transplant to the 5 gallons to judge if its worth putting the time and resources to go through flowering.

I rechecked the light height, and it's at 18", not 12".

Next update probably in a week.......

[golfnrl]

I appreciate the DIY solutions. That's awesome. An on the spot improv is cool. I actually liked the clear cups when I used them. Maybe the roots don't like the light but I cabbaged onto the ones I used for a while from some herbs purchased at one of the big box stores. They worked perfect for transplanting, just the right height and circumference. Then I was doom scrolling on youtube and ran across some plastic cups designed for sprouting MJ. The bottom is removeable, makes transplanting a snap. They are washable and reusable. Now that's what I use.