Indoor Northern Lights/zkittles soil grow

[AltheGardener]

Due to the benevolence of a dear friend I have some autos to grow this winter. Happy holidays to me.

Soil grow, basic very light potting soil from greenhouse.
Additives: small amounts each of blood meal, bone meal and Epsom salts.
Nutes: Neptune's veg (2-4-2), Neptune's bloom, Max Sea bloom, and hopefully Megacrop. Will be attempting to use as little as possible of any of these.
Water: rain water/snow. (my well water is over 8+ ph)
Final container size: 2 gallon plastic. (Note: the fabric pots are great but not in my grow space. They do not dry out fast enough in this environment, and the plastic actually dries out faster and more thoroughly in less time.)

With annuals we always prefer to let their roots fill the container then more up to the next size, which is almost always about one inch larger around than the last pot. I'm trying to stay with that routine as transplanting is a breeze and that is the time-tested way to make sure the rootball is growing evenly throughout the pot.

Started them on the heat mat two days ago, 11/9/19.

This is my first time with either of these varieties, should be a blast.

 

[AltheGardener]

Day four, zkittles just breaking the shells, NL up and running.

 

[Death The Cultivator]

Due to the benevolence of a dear friend I have some autos to grow this winter. Happy holidays to me.

Soil grow, basic very light potting soil from greenhouse.
Additives: small amounts each of blood meal, bone meal and Epsom salts.
Nutes: Neptune's veg (2-4-2), Neptune's bloom, Max Sea bloom, and hopefully Megacrop. Will be attempting to use as little as possible of any of these.
Water: rain water/snow. (my well water is over 8+ ph)
Final container size: 2 gallon plastic. (Note: the fabric pots are great but not in my grow space. They do not dry out fast enough in this environment, and the plastic actually dries out faster and more thoroughly in less time.)

With annuals we always prefer to let their roots fill the container then more up to the next size, which is almost always about one inch larger around than the last pot. I'm trying to stay with that routine as transplanting is a breeze and that is the time-tested way to make sure the rootball is growing evenly throughout the pot.

Started them on the heat mat two days ago, 11/9/19.

This is my first time with either of these varieties, should be a blast.

Could you talk about your method of transplanting more? Is your environment more humid?

 

[420Forever]

ppp

 

[AltheGardener]

Transplanting annuals, or anything really, should be a matter of maintaining the rootball/soil the entire process. Having the seedling fill out the entire initial container, say either a seed tray or a 4 inch pot, with roots, is of primary importance. Once the plant has filled out the pot you can usually see a few roots through the bottom holes, or the seedling may simple halt growing for a day or two. Time to transplant. With decorative annuals we pot up from seed starter trays to four inch pots. Generally you don't want to go more than one or two inches larger size pot than the last pot they were in. This gives the feeder roots, which are the outer most roots, new space, but not too much, as that outer rim tends to dry out first and makes watering difficult if it's too much space.
Procedure for transplanting is simple. Make certain the pot is damp but not wet. You want to keep that rootball intact without the soil falling off. You may lose a little soil but NEVER let the root come out bare.
Lay your hand on the surface of the soil with the seedling or plant between your fingers, securely. Flip the pot over in your hand. Now you have the entire rootball intact and can simply flip it over into your prepared pot. Make sure your new pot has a hole the same depth or a bit deeper, cannabis will root along the stems like tomatoes so if your seedling stretched a bit you can go a tiny bit deeper. Firm the soil around the plant, make sure you water to eliminate any air pockets.
I've transplanted more annuals and perennials than I could ever count, and this is what works. And it takes a little practice.

It is humid here in the middle of summer, we are surrounded by lakes and rivers, but at this time of year it's all firewood heat and gets rather dry in the house. Makes keeping the powdery mildew down in summer tough work.

 

[AltheGardener]

Zkittles standing up but hasn't shrugged off her shell yet. NL about two inches tall, first true leaves unfurled. Dropped in one White Widow, already sprouted and just breaking soil. Progress!

 

[AltheGardener]

Update: Took nine days for zkittles to break soil.

 

[AltheGardener]

Update: Northern Lights, first to germinate, Zkittles, who took a long time coming up, and a White Widow just to fill out the space.

 

[AltheGardener]

Here's one for the 'longest grow'. A Blue Dream'matic I gave up on, sat in the windowsill with the houseplants, and basically forgot was up there until this afternoon. She's a bit over five months this week and 8 inches tall. She's even dusty.
Her siblings in that grow all grew normal, flowered and are in cure. All in same soil and conditions.
I'm going to repot her, she's in a two gallon right now, rough up the roots, and start treating her like a photo in veg. She may have simply stalled when her roots hit bottom. BD is supposed to be a larger plant, that might account for some of this.

We'll see how it goes.

 

[AltheGardener]

I was correct, blue dream dropped a root right down to the bottom of the pot and stopped. She's now transplanted, her roots scruffed up as if she were a perennial that's been in a greenhouse pot too long. Gave her a nice dose of megacrop and we'll see what happens now.
In other news I repotted the zkittles, widow and NL into two gallon pots.