Transplanting Day!

After the stems have gained enough stregnth and the containing pot looks like it's getting too small for the plant, the seedlings are ready to be transplanted!

It's important to plan your grow to progress with a minimum of stresses to the plant -- in addition to light, temperature, humidity, proper transplanting and care of the root system will minimize a potential source of stress for your special friends and allow the move from a seedling pot/cube/tray to it's new home as gently as possible.

Obviously transplanting does not occur in the wild, but neither does such a controlled germination and early vegetative stage, so I look to that as an advantage over natural conditions when it comes time to transplant.

Ready to roll:


It's important to focus on protecting the root system when moving from the small pot to the larger and keeping it intact -- don't be concerned if you see all of the roots tangled up in the form of your pot, once they are in the larger container, they will spread out quickly.

I let my plants get a little dry, so I can gently work the rootball out without needing to run an object around the container to pop it out -- this is very dangerous to the roots and an uncecessary step which could also possibly introduce disease or worse yet damage some roots. In the next step, you'll be watering the plant fully, which is another reason why I let them dry out a bit before transplanting.

It's important to drop the rootball in deep enough into the pot to allow the roots to spread horizontally as well as vertically, here's a good shot of the little gal in her new home:


I make sure my rootball is flush with the level of the current top of the soil in the container, digging a deeper hole if needed. Once in the pot, you gently replace the soil around the seedling, gently patting the soil to regain it's firmness -- my soil mixture contains enough perlite and vermiculite so I am not worried about the soil being too compressed.

I add my usual large-container amount of tap water that has been run through the brita and sat out open for a few days to allow any contaminants to dissipate and we are all done.

With transplantation complete, I continue to have them on 24-hour light to maintain the schedule they were on -- changing lighting patterns soon after transplanting is not advised, it's a good idea to let everyone stabilize before moving on.

Back on the attack

Sorry for the delay ladies and gents, the Weedman has been dippin into a bit of the product as of late, but not to worry, I've dug up some items on the best formula for the Vegetative Stage of growth, which comes courtesy of www.marijuana-seeds.net, a new site I've just discovered which despite it's name is not simply a site to purchase seeds and has some solid tutorials on how to grow the reefer

Check it out!


Here's a glamor shot of one of the ladies, R.I.P. sniff...

The New Guys

What's up partiers!

I mentioned earlier that I have a second crop readying for deployment and I'd like to share with you some pictures of the little fellas:



I have been running them on 24 hours of light with a 150W equivalent CFL (compact florescent) with a "blue" or daylight spectrum to maximize vegetative growth, such as you would find in the spring and early summertime.

This simple change has really made a difference, with no stretching towards the sunlight, extremely fast growth and nice tight leaf sets that puts me pretty much on schedule for placing these little mammas into the rig to begin flowering!

It's important not to over-water during this stage -- as one website states "most herbs do not like their feet wet". You can buy any number of moisture meters, or if you're cool like me you can use your finger to check to see if the soil is moist -- if it is, hold off on the watering until the top of the soil is crusty.

Also important is your water at this time, I myself take tap water, run it through the brita and then let it sit with a cap off for 24-48 hours to allow all hard water elements, chlorines and other unecessary byproducts to dissolve.

I will be updating you on their progress, stay tuned!