First Grow Cherry Cookies bag seed

[Arkados]

Hello GWE! I am Arkados and this is my first attempt at a grow, I originally planned to start off with Fem White Widow seeds I ordered from Nirvana late December that I am eagerly waiting for to arrive. This past weekend I obtained some Cherry Cookies which smelled delicious but I was quite disappointed when I came to find the buds riddled with seeds but on the bright side I have seeds to play with and play I shall !
The true strain will remain a mystery as I am unware how the seeds were formed , they could have been pollinated by a male or hermaphrodite of another strain. Im hoping it wasn’t male pollen. On a side note I plan to upgrade and improve my grow space as this journal progresses which will also be documented in this journal. I am missing a couple of important pieces. I am on a budget and have been buying/ Mc Guyveringu items as I go. Wish me luck and feel free to chime in !! Sorry if I don’t reply right away I will keep this journal updated as time permits


Current Setup:
4’x4’x6.5’ grow tent in a garage
Air cooled hood with dimmable 1000w hps/mh ballast,
T4 4’ 4 bulb open hood reflector, DIY cfl light for seeds and clones. Germination station and heating pad.
GO box nutrients, happy frog potting soil and ocean forest soil

Need
Ph reader, thermometer hygrometer with probes, oscillating fan,
2 6” in-line fans and 6” carbon filter.

 

[Arkados]

Day 1 1/9/2018 - inserted seeds into rapid rooters

Day 2 1/10/2018

 

[Arkados]

Day 3 1/11/2018

 

[Arkados]

Day 4 1/12/2018

 

[Arkados]

Day 4 1/13/2018

 

[Canyon Grower]

I suggest you get to work right away with your wish list. The better you can prepare before you grow, well "the better". Now you are in catch up mode. These plants need your tlc ASAP.

 

[Little]

Hello And welcome to the Forum,, wish u the best on ur grow , u didnt say if u have or dont have a PH pen but make sure u get something to read ur PH if u dont have something already, growers love from the heart

 

[Arkados]

Thank you , good looking out, I felt I missed something else pretty vital.

 

[Little]

No problema my friend we r all here to help each other , growers love from the heart be safe my friend

 

[Campesino]

Curious how you plan to "play". Sounds like they are almost a practice run for the White Widows. Will help you dial in your equipment needs and work out the process. Do you plan to grow them out full, or flip them early to sex them? Will you bring them all the way to flower if that slows down the White Widow run?

 

[Arkados]

They are a practice run not necessarily for the white widows but it will help me “dial” in what needs to get done regarding my setup and process of attempting to sex them in veg preferably, train them and flower them..I didn’t pay for the bag seeds so I would rather make my mistakes with seeds I didn’t buy. I want to put to use what I’ve read about and I would like to bring them to flower and would start the white widows after. I’d want to save a plant of this strain to keep as a mother. If it dosnt Work out then it’ll be a learning experience regardless. I have to post my new update and I must say that even though I didn’t buy the seeds and I don’t know if it was male or female i can’t help to feel disappointment in the death of a seedling quite saddening . I appreciate you taking the time to comment on my journal and you make very valid points to consider

 

[Arkados]

Day 4 - 1/14/2018

seedlings perished , I can only assume they were over watered ( I believe I’m improperly using rapid rooters) along with heat stress. I went away for a day over the weekend and the night before I thought hey let me improve my germ/prop cabinet before we leave. I covered the inside of the cabinet with a reflective material. I immediately noticed the intensity/color of the light seemed a lot brighter. It didn’t cross my mind the impact it would have. All four seedling were wilted. I was a bit disheartened but I got over it “why do we fall, so we can pick ourselves up again”

 

[Arkados]

1/15/2018

No new sprouts I realize there’s a great chance I cooked the seeds as well. I added 4 more seeds to compensate for seedlings lost. I’m going to keep the other seeds germinating as well just Incase.

 

[Arkados]

I have questions regarding germinating and rapid rooters.

The rapid rooter 50ct bag of plugs states to keep the tray filled 1/4 inch of water, initially it made sense to me because the heating mat warms the water in the tray and the rooters stay warm but maybe that only applies when using with a rapid rooter tray? I eliminated a lot of the water and only left enough to barely reach the plugs but now the rooters are very cool to the touch they seem to not be getting any heat from the mat. Do I hand water the plugs ?

Do i germinate in complete darkness? I’m confused as I’ve read to germinate in darkness but then I’ve read that you can keep your lights on to warm the environment if your lacking heat. I sprouted the seedlings that died under my CFLs they seemed okay until I cooked them.

I have four new sprouts and I don’t want to inadvertently kill them .I feel as if though I should hand water the plugs and not give the sprouts any light until the serrated set of leaves grow , but then with no light I can’t compensate for the heat I don’t think my heat mat gets warm enough but maybe with a heat thermostat for the heat pad ? Please Advise
soon I will be getting the instruments to monitor my plants environment temps humidity and Ph .

 

[D.A.A.S.69]

Hey Arkados, it's really simple, put a sprouted seed inside a wet rapid rooter about one quarter inch deep, cover up the hole. Place in a warm place like in front of a cfl, light bulb an inch away an keep the rooter moist. If the seed is any good ,it will come up in 2-3days.
Then keep the seedlings under some kind of adequate light. Good Luck.

 

[Arkados]

Thanks for clearing that up for me I’ll try that next

 

[Arkados]

Okay so If you take a gander at the pictures in my last post you can see the seedlings popping out of the plug that was around mid day yesterday. When I got home yesterday the seedlings looked like they were running away from the plug I thought maybe it was too humid or that I was overwatering I don’t know I’m a noob and they statrted to look like they were wilting aswell. It dawned on me that I had previously raised my cfl lights in order to avert the tragedy of cooking my babies again

My seedlings were stretching ! I think , please correct me if I’m wrong literally . They wanted more light but it seemed strange to me because they still had their hulls and no exposed cotyledons. The remedy to this was for seedlings that had rooted , transplant from moist soil to new dry soil to promote root growth but bury the stem up to the cotyledon. I wasn’t in soil but hell I tried it anyway. I removed the seedlings from the plug gently luckily there was no additional roots just the very long tap root. After the transplant I covered them with halved water bottles and placed the babies 4 inches away from my t5 in my tent.Now the babies are looking better the cotyledons opened up and little serrated leaves are showing. Oh and I “watered” them with a spray bottle only to slightly moisten the soil and cotyledons. I think I did good but I don’t know. I know I may have stunted them in the process , I definitely need to get the tools to monitor the babies environment.

 

[Arkados]

Found some neat stuff at the 99 cents only store near my work, that’s actually where I found my 45w 3200 lumen cfls for a dollar. I looked mighty suspect buying lots of cfl bulbs . Anyways, Today I picked up some pot stands and it looks like they’ll provide good drainage for my 5 gal. fiber cloth pots , also picked up some thick plant ties and some labels. I’m happy I feel satisfied about my purchase lol!

 

[Arkados]

Just a little up date , so far the first set of 3 babies are doing great they are under my t5 and on a 18/6 schedule. I’ll start feeding them GO box nutrients at half strength starting Feb 1.

I also popped 4 more babies trying out a soil, “sweat” germination method and they are under my DIY cfl light at a 24/0 schedule they are looking good far as I can tell .I’m just misting them until the serrated leaves unfurl then I’ll give first watering and set to 18/6 schedule.The nutrient feeding date is set to start Feb 5.

I have a total of 7 weeds when I am able to top I will top them all at the same node to try to bring them down to the same height. I intend to train 4 with manifolds, 1 a training experiment the other 2 Im unsure but I may want to use to create more seeds Of course the ladder is subject to change.

I also remade the frame for my current cfl light its better now lmao! I plan on making another cfl fixture with 12 bulbs, reflector and 3 on /off switches in the future. Until next update

 

[Jibblerjoe]

I would leave light on constantly for seedling and most of veg. Keeps nodes close.