Mephisto Genetics First Mephisto grow! Stilton X 3 Bears OG BX. 2nd grow ever!!

[hod928]

Hey everyone and welcome,

I wanted a place I could document my journey and also ask questions and where better to start then with a bunch of Meph Heads! I first wanna give a MEGA shoutout to @slowandeasy. A few months back I asked a question here on the forum and Slow and I went back and forth via private message for quite some time. He answered every single question I had and made some great suggestions to help me get going.

Im open to all suggestions as im still so new. Please if you see anything im doing wrong or think I could be doing better let me know!!

Here is a quick overview on my grow equipment
Tent: 2x2x4
Light: Budget LED 250W 3500K
Pots: 5 gallon Root Pouch X2
Soil: Living Soil from a local farm
Strain: Mephisto Genetics Stilton X 3 Bears OG BX

This grow is my 2nd attempt and my first time using water only living soil. I plan on using PH water only, maybe adding in a cover crop and maybe using some compost teas throughout the grow. I found a local shop that specializes in all organic growing. The living soil is made in house and they also make and bottle there own compost teas. Being able to partner with someone local to bounce questions off of it going to be great!

The seeds sat in a shot glass of water for 24 hours and now have been between some moist paper towels in a warm dark place around 78 degrees for another 24. I plan on popping my two seeds first thing in the morning so around another 12 hours yet. All 4 have popped but only 1 has a sizable tail. Two of the seeds are going to my neighbor for his tent!

The first question I have you everyone is how much water to give the seedlings. Im 80% sure my first grow I stunted both plants by over watering at first. Im hoping to get these babies off to a much better start!

Thanks everyone and welcome to the ride!

 

[derek420colorado]

Hey everyone and welcome,

I wanted a place I could document my journey and also ask questions and where better to start then with a bunch of Meph Heads! I first wanna give a MEGA shoutout to @slowandeasy. A few months back I asked a question here on the forum and Slow and I went back and forth via private message for quite some time. He answered every single question I had and made some great suggestions to help me get going.

Im open to all suggestions as im still so new. Please if you see anything im doing wrong or think I could be doing better let me know!!

Here is a quick overview on my grow equipment
Tent: 2x2x4
Light: Budget LED 250W 3500K
Pots: 5 gallon Smartpots X2
Soil: Living Soil from a local farm
Strain: Mephisto Genetics 3 Bears OG X StrawBerry Nuggets
View attachment 1203903View attachment 1203904

This grow is my 2nd attempt and my first time using water only living soil. I plan on using PH water only, maybe adding in a cover crop and maybe using some compost teas throughout the grow. I found a local shop that specializes in all organic growing. The living soil is made in house and they also make and bottle there own compost teas. Being able to partner with someone local to bounce questions off of it going to be great!
View attachment 1203905

The seeds sat in a shot glass of water for 24 hours and now have been between some moist paper towels in a warm dark place around 78 degrees for another 24. I plan on popping my two seeds first thing in the morning so around another 12 hours yet. All 4 have popped but only 1 has a sizable tail. Two of the seeds are going to my neighbor for his tent!
View attachment 1203906

The first question I have you everyone is how much water to give the seedlings. Im 80% sure my first grow I stunted both plants by over watering at first. Im hoping to get these babies off to a much better start!

Thanks everyone and welcome to the ride!

You want them to be moist but not saturated. I just take a cup of water and pour a couple inch circle around the seedling site. That way the drier soil around it will wick out any excess moisture and keep it stable. When you start to see the dark circle(darker soil from it being wet) shrinking water the outer edge again to get your original diameter

 

[derek420colorado]

Do that for the first 7-10 days or so after That I water the whole pot

 

[slowandeasy]

Hey everyone and welcome,

I wanted a place I could document my journey and also ask questions and where better to start then with a bunch of Meph Heads! I first wanna give a MEGA shoutout to @slowandeasy. A few months back I asked a question here on the forum and Slow and I went back and forth via private message for quite some time. He answered every single question I had and made some great suggestions to help me get going.

Im open to all suggestions as im still so new. Please if you see anything im doing wrong or think I could be doing better let me know!!

Here is a quick overview on my grow equipment
Tent: 2x2x4
Light: Budget LED 250W 3500K
Pots: 5 gallon Smartpots X2
Soil: Living Soil from a local farm
Strain: Mephisto Genetics 3 Bears OG X StrawBerry Nuggets
View attachment 1203903View attachment 1203904

This grow is my 2nd attempt and my first time using water only living soil. I plan on using PH water only, maybe adding in a cover crop and maybe using some compost teas throughout the grow. I found a local shop that specializes in all organic growing. The living soil is made in house and they also make and bottle there own compost teas. Being able to partner with someone local to bounce questions off of it going to be great!
View attachment 1203905

The seeds sat in a shot glass of water for 24 hours and now have been between some moist paper towels in a warm dark place around 78 degrees for another 24. I plan on popping my two seeds first thing in the morning so around another 12 hours yet. All 4 have popped but only 1 has a sizable tail. Two of the seeds are going to my neighbor for his tent!
View attachment 1203906

The first question I have you everyone is how much water to give the seedlings. Im 80% sure my first grow I stunted both plants by over watering at first. Im hoping to get these babies off to a much better start!

Thanks everyone and welcome to the ride!

Ok, little advice. Paper towel is useless and actually looks way too wet in your picture. You need to up your temps to 80-85F and just soak it in the shot glass for 24-48 hours next time for better results. Moving them to a paper towel will just slow things down and potentially cause failures. I do not advise paper towel usage for 3 reasons. #1 Useless #2 wastes time #3 Can and will cause failures. The temps of a wet papertowel can be many degrees colder than your ambient temps. The paper towel can and will destroy root hairs. Roots need Oxygen. Folding seeds in a wet paper towel gives minimal oxygen. Next time do this and thank me later. Get your temps 80-85F. Not lower for 48 hours, in the dark. Take a drop of h202 and fill cup with water. Set in 80-85F spot in the dark. Dont touch or even look at them for 24 hours. Check on them at 24hours. If they need more time give them 24 hours more. 95% of viable seeds will be opened by then...IF your temps are 80-85F. Lower can extend time. Anything below 75F is a waste to even try germing. Please stop using paper towels, too many variables and chances for failures. Think about it like this. How cold does a wet towel feel on a hot sunny day at the beach? Now go in the dark with that wet towel. And watering at seedling stage is most important part of watering. Less is more! Dont water right near the stem for atleast 10 days. Roots seek moisture. Your soil will wick the moisture inwards if you keep a distance away from the stem when watering. Personally, I water my Coco plants around the OUTSIDE of the pots always. However Coco wicks much better than soil. It is better to water less amounts, but more often vs overwatering even 1 time at this stage. Use a small cup, dont use a large cup to water at this stage. For example, use a 5oz cup at this stage and once growing good upgrade size to a Solo cup. Smaller cups at seedling stage will reduce risk of over watering. Or just fill a Solo cup up 1/3 the way for now. Increasing amount after a minimum of 7 to 10 days. Good luck, slow

 

[hod928]

Thanks everyone!

The seeds made it into soil this morning. I took a cup and placed it over the seeds once it got into the soil and I watered about 7oz of water around the edge of the cup so that it will allow it to draw the water inwards. My plan is with each watering to water another ring like I did but just a little bigger until I got myself to the outside edges like recommended.

 

[hod928]

Hey everyone just wanted to post a weekend update. I had something come up that caused me to go out of town for the weekend but before i left Friday I gave each plant about another 6-8oz of water around the edge of the cups.

When I got back home sunday evening I gave each plant about 9oz of water around the edge of the cup. Should I be spraying water directly above the seed site or do I continue watering around the outside edge?

Thanks!

 

[slowandeasy]

Hey everyone just wanted to post a weekend update. I had something come up that caused me to go out of town for the weekend but before i left Friday I gave each plant about another 6-8oz of water around the edge of the cups.

When I got back home sunday evening I gave each plant about 9oz of water around the edge of the cup. Should I be spraying water directly above the seed site or do I continue watering around the outside edge?

Thanks!

Today is monday. Are they above the ground yet? If not, you have a problem. I am not there to know the moisture level or what kind of soil you are using. But it looks rather dry to me in the pics where you planted seeds. Good luck, slow

 

[hod928]

Today is monday. Are they above the ground yet? If not, you have a problem. I am not there to know the moisture level or what kind of soil you are using. But it looks rather dry to me in the pics where you planted seeds. Good luck, slow

One looks like its starting to show the other nothing yet. I also think I misread your guys information about the watering and that is there I went wrong right off the bat. I watered around the edge of the seed in a small circle like you can see in the picture. What I did not do was water directly on top of the seed in a small circle.

Going to give it until tomorrow but thinking of cutting my losses and starting fresh and right since these were the free seeds from my order!

 

[slowandeasy]

One looks like its starting to show the other nothing yet. I also think I misread your guys information about the watering and that is there I went wrong right off the bat. I watered around the edge of the seed in a small circle like you can see in the picture. What I did not do was water directly on top of the seed in a small circle.

Going to give it until tomorrow but thinking of cutting my losses and starting fresh and right since these were the free seeds from my order!

Please tell me exactly how you prepped your soil. It looks very dry in your pics and I have no idea how moist it was when you loaded them. But let me be completely honest. On 1 seed looked somewhat happy when you took pics in the paper towel...so here is what you do for proper germination and planting next time. Soak your seeds as I told you before, in a cup of water at 80-85F for 24-48 hours. By 48 hours u will most likely have some nice long tails. Once you put your seeds away to soak, immediately go and prep your pots. You need to water your soil, but bot to run off. Get the whole top layer wet, but not soaked. Put a cup over the area you will plant your seed in a day or 2. This will hold the moisture in that area and not dry out. When you go to plant your seeds, gently spray the area to be planted or use a small amount of water with a cup, just enough to moisten it. Plant the seed and cover. Now use a small cup of water around the outside of the cup, so that area is more moist the planted area. If you did not prep your pots ahead of time and you didnt moisten the area to be planted at all...the roots can easily dry our and fail quickly. Use a chop stick or something and uncover your seeds to check if they are not up by tomorrow. Honestly, I am guessing they either dried out or possibly even fsiled in the paper towel. Sometimes seeds can open, but fail before planting...so I am not sure if its the way you prepped soil or paper towel. Proper moisture level is the single most important part of seed starting. PM me if you need help. Peace, slow

 

[hod928]

Please tell me exactly how you prepped your soil. It looks very dry in your pics and I have no idea how moist it was when you loaded them. But let me be completely honest. On 1 seed looked somewhat happy when you took pics in the paper towel...so here is what you do for proper germination and planting next time. Soak your seeds as I told you before, in a cup of water at 80-85F for 24-48 hours. By 48 hours u will most likely have some nice long tails. Once you put your seeds away to soak, immediately go and prep your pots. You need to water your soil, but bot to run off. Get the whole top layer wet, but not soaked. Put a cup over the area you will plant your seed in a day or 2. This will hold the moisture in that area and not dry out. When you go to plant your seeds, gently spray the area to be planted or use a small amount of water with a cup, just enough to moisten it. Plant the seed and cover. Now use a small cup of water around the outside of the cup, so that area is more moist the planted area. If you did not prep your pots ahead of time and you didnt moisten the area to be planted at all...the roots can easily dry our and fail quickly. Use a chop stick or something and uncover your seeds to check if they are not up by tomorrow. Honestly, I am guessing they either dried out or possibly even fsiled in the paper towel. Sometimes seeds can open, but fail before planting...so I am not sure if its the way you prepped soil or paper towel. Proper moisture level is the single most important part of seed starting. PM me if you need help. Peace, slow

Yup I 100% messed this part up im thinking. I did not pre soak my soil at all. I placed the seed directly into the soil in the center and watered around the seed maybe giving it a few small drops on top/seed center.

Im gonna reset/redo this grow. Its super early into it and Im using freebies from my order. I wanted to use my freebies for this exact reason to live and learn. Aslong as I live and learn from this I can make my 2nd attempt stick!

Thank you as always for the words of wisdom!