Quote Originally Posted by NowhereMan
on that note
i want a strong plant
not some pansy ass one that needs coddling .

if a lil stress is induced by it doing what it NATURALLY will do
so be it

i just think yaw try make it complicated when it aint
how can it stress it ?
you put it in compact soil and it will fight its way out i'd call that EXERCISE not stress
how is it stress,,,stress would be starved of water and nutes' or light or adverse temp changes and such,
stressed is not its natural act of growing a taproot,shooting a stem up to light
even if in soil that aint so great,some clay or crappy shit like that
stress free,i find that funny

im happy ya try to help folks with growing though i really am
but there is never just ONE way to do things
do it as you wish
but please consider the newbies may take your words as gold
when in fact they are lead wieghts pianted shiny,
peace
Howdy NWM,

You sound so much like my friend,who's been growing outdoors for years. He starts all of his seeds in an old wheelbarrow,filled with dirt from the garden out back. He makes a furrow with his finger and simply drops the seeds in a row,then covers them with dirt and waters them down. He doesn't try to sterilize the seeds,soak em in water or gently crack them open..to further help the 'baby' out. He has a high germination rate with no damping-off disease,or root rot. He swears up and down,that miracle grow fertilizer is the best,and that his biggest enemies are grasshoppers and critters. Like you,he believes that the strongest are meant to survive. It's a basic law of Nature..that the strong will survive.

It's hard to argue with his success..he breaks alot of the 'rules' and still,his plants thrive and yield mightily For the first time,I've helped him set up an indoor grow room,with a 1kwatt mh,and he loves it and is fascinated with the results so far. He says that the mh is making them shorter and stouter and bushier,than they would be outside and every so often,he's been misting them with Peter's 20-20-20,just because I told him that miracle grow was too harsh,and he's trying to give me the benefit of the doubt...lol.

Have a good one !