Bacchus' outdoor garden

[Guest bacchus]

Germ' Update

 

5 of each strain were put out to germ in moist paper towel, have now been put into seed raising mix (despite other opions to the contrary i have never expereinced problems with seed rasig mix) in seedling trays and placed in a warm sunny position...

 

*C99 - all 5 have cracked with three showing taproots

*Grapefruit x Haze - 4 have cracked, with the last almost there

*Swazi x Skunk - all 5 are swollen and side "seam" of seeds is turning

pale and showing signs of cracking

*Ozgum - 1 has cracked and rest are swollen and side "seam" of seeds

is turning pale and showing signs of cracking

*Verri Berri x Blue Hen - same as above

 

i will be placing regular posts up during germ and seedling stage to show any of you new to growing how easy it is to germ....there are lots of bits and pieces of complicated advice and "superstitions" regarding germinating our favourite plant...but believe me it is very, very easy...just worry about keeping them in a warm dark spot, keep the medium moist, don't fiddle with them, give them a few days (some seeds can take this long) and carefully transplant into whatever you are going to use in seedling stage and remember to label which strain is which....practice on bagseed and find a method you re comfortable with...do some searching around the boards and read about other peoples experiences and make your own informed choice and remember above all else that there is no hard and fast rule on what method to use...just use your common sense and if you still aren't sure..ask around

 

 

 

now one other thing i thought i would share with you guys is a great tool for sorting and/or handling seeds..

 

in my other life as a working human, i have had the task of sorting through and inspecting gems (all legitmate guys)...so i have things like calibrators...digital scales, loupes (small hand held magnifiers) and specially designed tweezers....now the latter is what i wanted to mention

these tweezers look like your normal long handled pointed tweezers except for the fact at the tip of each side, where the scored "grip" is found, there are also shallow moulded grooves..this prevents your valuable bits of rock from chipping, but i have also found that they are perfect for picking up seeds with...not much pressure is needed and your seeds will fit into the groove and not slip...making it easier to sort/plant/bag...

you can find them at any gemmological supplies shop

Edited August 25, 2003 by bacchus

[Guest bacchus]

oops forgot the pic of the tweezers if anyone is interested...

[Guest weekprik]

what is the best for viewing trichomes in your experiance?

[Guest bacchus]

what kind of device? is that what you mean?

 

well use my canon 18mm 10x loupe generally, they show up well enough under that strength, but you can purchase them with 30x lens as well...

the best thing i have ever used to inspect trichromes is one of those magnifiers used by crafts people....maybe 15-20cm in diameter with little feet off the bottom of the frame...you hang it by a cord around your neck and prop the whole magnifier up on its feet on your chest at any angle you like....no need to hang on and great for walking around your outdoor garden....highly recommended

 

bacchus

 

added a pic of the hands free thing...available in different magnifications...check craft shops or optometrists or gemmological shops....

Edited August 25, 2003 by bacchus

[jaikai]

gemmological?...is that a real word?...anyways, all sounds good so far. as i said a few weeks ago, still too (damned) cold down my way... boo-hoo, sook-sook...

 

cmon spring!!!

 

JAIKAI

[Guest bacchus]

gemmological?...is that a real word?...anyways, all sounds good so far. as i said a few weeks ago, still too (damned) cold down my way... boo-hoo, sook-sook...

 

cmon spring!!!

 

JAIKAI

jaikai....it most certainly is a real word...referring to all things gem related

 

hope the weather warms up for you soon!

 

bacchus

[Guest bacchus]

another quick update

 

*C99 - 3 have broken the soil with the remaining seeds forming a bump on the soil, ready to break through

*OzGum - 2 have broken the soil with remaining forming bumps

*Grapefruit x Haze - 1 has broken the soil, the remaining forming bumps

* Swazi x Skunk - None broken through, but again showing tell tale bumps

* Verry Berry x Blue Hen - Alas, no further signs of life...will keep watering and be patient

 

due to a loss in the family, i will have to be away from home for 3 days....as there is really nobody i can call on to babysit, i am contemplating lwatering before i leave and then leaving the seedling trays in a warm position in a tray with a small amount of water...any thoughts on whether this is a good idea...unfortunately i don't really have any other options...

 

will be back with more updates soon....

 

bacchus

[Guest bacchus]

...so nobody had any advice for me on this one...ah well just as well, due to the weird problems in accessing the site, i wouldn't have been able to check anyhow...

 

well i returned home, and luckily for me the babies did not suffer in my absence, in fact they had a huge growth spurt and are looking great

 

*C99 - 4 are up and most are a couple of inches high

*Swazi x Skunk - 3 are up and standing a couple of inches high

*OzGum - all 5 are up and standing tall

*Grapefruit x Haze - all 5 are standing tall

 

i broke the cardinal rule regarding the germintating of seeds...i had a little poke in the 3 spaces yet to show life (only a couple of mm) and found that the growth is on it's way...

 

*]Verry Berry x Blue Hen - Alas, none of these babies have popped and all hope is lost, when I empited the tray they were in there was no signs of the tap root popping out.....bugger, because i was really really keen to see how those babies would go...mind you, i was unsure of the age of the seeds when i planted...i might try one last time with my remaining beans...

 

pics to follow soon

 

bacchus

[Luke Skywalker]

Hi there bacchus, good to see some outdoor growing going on. Nothin' like au natural eh?

 

Great tips on the comfrey for composting, great stuff that, a really balanced nute supply apparently. But did you also know that whole leaves can be used as a poultice on small scratches and other wounds, and active ingredients in the leaf (it's also known by a common name of boneknit) greatly increase the cell division rate in the surrounding tissues. It leads to faster, healthier healing! Great eh? Just take a leaf and fold it, place on the wound, then use a small piece cut out from a freezer bag to cover it, followed by a piece of cloth or bandage to fix it on. Change the dressing daily, and it should heal a lot faster than if left untreated.

 

Anyway, on to the main points... The ungermed seeds should do okay if left alone, they can take up to two weeks at the absolute outside to germ. Then again it could be a dead seed batch, and you could be wasting your time, I certainly hope it is the former rather than the latter. Is that just a standard seed raising mix? I only ask because if you plan on leaving the seedlings alone for any length of time, then add about a 50% component of coarse vermiculite to the mix, this will enhance the water holding capacity of the mix and let the seedlings weather out dry periods without too much problem. Just a tip for ya if you think you might spend some more time away from the younguns.

 

I'll watch this space bacchus, I'd love to see some more good outdoor budshots... What size containers were you thinking of using for some of them? Any other details on the outdoor setup? And one more, when are you planning on planting out? It's still quite cold outside at the mo...

 

Looking forward to updates...

[Guest bacchus]

hey luke...thanks for your interest

 

yep that comfrey sounds great, will be getting a hold of some soon and planting out around the plants and in the garden, out in the country it's always great to have wound dressings handy...

 

yep, well the VB x BH had been in a while...probably could have been a bit more patient with them, but sitting here thinking, i have decided just to stick with the lucky candidates that are showing good strong growth...

i only want a few babies in the garden, i would be really happy with just one of each, but if i get good female to male ratios, i could be rethinking my plans....

 

i had originally planned to put a couple in pots due to the size of the stealth space, but have just found a brilliant spot that until now did not know exisited...a nice little grove mongst the trees that gets a good amount of direct light during the day, my only concern with the location will be dodging the snakes on my walk to and from (the buggers are starting to wake up and be active)...it is also nice and close, so watering won't be a hassle... it's beautiful rich volcanic soil that has had a nice compost and manure mix thrown in and been mulched

 

so now that i have more space they will all be going into the ground...but then like i said, if i have more females than expected i might just have to put some in pots....

 

as for when i am going to plant out, well i will have to see what mother nature has in store...the days are getting quite warm and the sun is beginning to creep higher in the sky but the nights are still a little chilly...by the time the babies are ready to go into the ground, the weather will be perfect....i plan to keep the sedlings in their trays until a couple more sets of leaves develop, then transfer to small seedling pots, which i will put out in the grow location for a few days before going into the ground to get used to the light

 

i will be covering the area with bird netting over stakes until they get to a good size...we have quite a few scrub turkeys about the place that love digging up my compost and new gardens..so i will be doing my best to steer them away...once they are well established the turkeys will have lost interest...

 

i will try to keep the updates as regular as possible and eventually include a pic of the location....i did put up a pic of the seedlings, but for some reason it didn't show up...will try again