I set the seedlings in two- to four-inch containers. Sixteen to twenty-four ounce disposable plastic drink cups—such as the types found at parties—make excellent containers for planting. Drainage holes are all that is lacking. To make them, use an electric drill with a three-eights-inch drill bit. Each cup needs four holes drilled at the very bottom. Stacking ten cups at a time will help quicken the hole drilling process.
The container is filled with the soil mix and it is gently tapped and shaken down to fill all vacant spaces equally. The soil level should fill approximately three-quarters of the container. There should be an adequate space between the top of the soil and the top of the cup or pot. This is to allow for more soil to be added later as the stem grows. Once the soil is sufficiently tapped down to at least two-thirds full, it is time to moisten it.
I place up to two dozen cups or pots in a 10" × 20" grow flat (or tray). Next, I’ll fill the appropriate size bucket or container with the water/nutrient mix. The common turkey baster is the best tool available to evenly soak all of the containers thoroughly. Larger gardens may require some kind of pump and tubing device to aid in the watering. Excess solution may be re-used until the entire medium is fully saturated. Just prior to saturation, use a standard chopstick to poke a hole, as deep as the sprout roots are long, into the middle of the soil. I then add more nutrient solution.
I take a sprout from the paper towel gently, handling it by the stem below the sprout head and transfer it to the hole in the soil. I carefully guide the root tip all the way down the hole, using the chopstick if necessary. Be certain that the root tip is pointing down and not curved up in what is called a “J” root. A badly crimped J-root may be fatal to the sprout. Once the sprout is situated in its hole, the root is running down the hole and the sprout head is above and as near to the soil level as possible, the soil may be gently packed around the sprout stem to hold it firmly in place.
Next, the sprouts need to be watered. The soil is already saturated but this first watering enables the root and stem to make direct contact with the medium. I also do this with a turkey baster. The sprouts will not need watering again until after the soil dries a little in three to five days. Don’t leave any standing water in the grow flat. Use the turkey baster to soak up any water left in the tray.
In one to two weeks, the healthy sprouts will stretch and grow up over the top of the cup or pot. Then more soil is added to give the sprout more stability and root room. This lends support to spindly plants during their early development. This step also promotes and stimulates root growth. Roots will grow from the soil-covered stem in a week or two.
Repotting Sprouting Plants
Transplanting becomes necessary when the roots outgrow the medium. Check one or two of the average plants’ roots. Gently turn the whole thing upside down and carefully separate the root mass from its container. Gentle tapping may aid the process. When the white root wad is becoming entwined, growing into itself or turning brown, it is time to transplant. I transplant when the root system is semi-dry, a day or two before the plants need watering. The medium in the larger container should be saturated to its maximum density with nutrient-rich water. The semi-dry root wad is placed firmly into the saturated fresh medium and the rest of the space in the larger pot is filled with fresh, semi-moist medium. The fresh medium should cover the old soil level and the loose soil is gently packed into place throughout. I gently shake the soil fully into place and level the soil top by hand. As with the original planting, the fresh transplant is watered to its saturation point. New roots will quickly and eagerly find their way into the fresh new medium, and accompanying growth will develop above ground.
Hydroponic Sprouting
With hydroponic sprouting, a seed is placed in a rockwool cube or fiber pellet and kept moist. It will sprout and root in this porous and nutrient-rich medium. Hydro transplanting is also quite simple. The pellet is placed in a larger rockwool cube or gravel medium and the roots grow quickly into the new material.
Checking the Shell
In some varieties, including Kush, sometimes shells do not release. The seeds sprout and grow roots. The problem, however, is that the seed shell does not come off of the sprout on its own. The shell hardens on the head of the sprout over the cotyledon, eventually causing its death if not removed. There is a thin sheath that may also need to be removed. It is worth the effort to gently, often with a surgeon’s precision, remove the shell.
3
Light Sources
Perhaps the single most important influence on the success of the indoor grow industry is the advance in electric lighting, especially the High Intensity Discharge, or HID systems. These included the metal halide and high pressure sodium systems that revolutionized the scene. The metal halide arrived in approximately 1978, and the high pressure sodium followed about a year later. These systems provided an indoor light source that could deliver an adequate amount of light, and full bandwidth of spectrum necessary to mass produce high quality product. Before these systems, the best light source product available was the fluorescent.
Fluorescents
Fluorescent systems come in many sizes and wattage increments, but the most common sizes are four- and eight-foot bulbs. The standard four-foot bulb is 40 watts, and the eight-foot is 80 watts. These systems often come with two or four parallel bulbs. Fluorescent systems are still a must-have for any form of commercial production. Seedlings and clones thrive when placed within one to five inches of the bulb. The fluorescent tends to promote root growth along with foliar spread. The “cool” light seems to be just the right thing for freshly cut and rooting clones.
It is important to never let the leaves of the plant touch the fluorescent bulb, which results in burning of the leaf; however, it is, recommended to let the plants get as close as possible to the bulb without touching. Therefore, regular checking is crucial to optimum success. It is also standard procedure for fluorescent systems to be hung by hooks and chains to facilitate ease of raising and lowering, and for the plants to be arranged by height.
The problem with fluorescent systems is that the intensity of light diminishes exponentially with distance from the bulb. Within one to five inches from the bulb, the concentration of light is strong enough to produce sufficient growth. But beyond five inches, the intensity of the light drops off sharply. A successful fluorescent system ends up creating a canopy approximately four to six inches thick, which spreads out and up to consume as much of the potent light as possible while shading out most undergrowth. The experienced fluorescent farmer knows how to prune away the unwanted undergrowth to optimize production and stimulate the growth of the canopy. This canopy is capable of providing fully mature finished product, but the buds are more often than not airy and lightweight—usually rather wispy.
I have seen fluorescent systems used to complete maturation with good quality results. However, quantity lacked considerably. It needs to be noted that fluorescent systems are perfectly capable of producing small quantities of high quality product. Production may be somewhat increased by setting up more fluorescent systems along the sides, as well as the top of the garden. Therefore, these systems may be perfect for the person who doesn’t need much finished product but would like to make their own medicine using a simple low-cost system. The other advantages to fluorescent systems are: they don’t use much electricity; they don’t produce much heat; they are easy to find and easy to work with; and they are relatively inexpensive and safe. Suffice it to say that any successful indoor grow system will require at least a few fluorescent lights, and some of the simplest of the successful indoor grow systems may be totally fluorescent.