On lights: I do plan to combine CFL and incandescent as per my original plan, unless I decide to go for The Test when I have 4 plants in the system.

None of the baggie seeds I tried this round sprouted. Awww. But I had one seedling from around 8 weeks ago that's been to Hell and back, and it is now vegging happily all by its lonesome in my system.

Seeds from Hemp Depot were shipped out on the 4th... Woohoo!


The Saga of the Seedling Surviver

So this little seedling was doing okay in a Jiffy Pellet on the windowsill, where I had been largely ignoring it, save occasional tap water straight from the faucet, and a bamboo skewer w/ dental floss to stake it, since its stem was so weak.

I decided to relocate it and give it some serious light, and to switch to "rested" tap water. It was happy under its new CFL, but the stem was still so weak (and now 2-3" long), that it was too late to use a fan - it would've just blown the little gal/guy into oblivion.

Here's where I got a case of the stupids - I tried to re-stake it with a straw that was slit down one side (as in to encase the stem), thinking this would provide better long-term support to the weak part, and allow me to use a fan for new growth without the interference of the bamboo skewer.

In my attempt to straw-stake, I pushed the straw into the soil, and inadvertantly severed the seedling from its root system. (DOH!)

Well, this little seedling is a surviver! I trimmed the stem short, and put it into a glass of water, and moved it back to the windowsill - I guess to give it a view while it died. But it did not go gently! It grew a couple new roots. Encouraged, I dipped it into rooting compound, and replanted it in the Jiffy pellet.

Then my bubbler arrived. You know I had to try...

I carefully removed the seedling from the Jiffy, rinsed all the dirt from the roots, and returned it to water (still on the sill) for a day or two while my system got established. The roots grew more than an inch in this time - Likely owing to a decent amount of dark time (roots like), and the residual effects of the rooting hormone.

About a week ago, I carefully pulled open a damp rockwool cube, laid the roots in it, closed it up, and put it into grow rocks in net pot.

This champ is thrilled! Due to uncertainty about how to age a plant that's been thru so much, I started it on light nutes, and then added more yesterday when I noticed some yellowing (N deficiency) in the leaves.

Overnight, the leaves began to green up nicely, and Champ grew 2 new sets of leaves - Literally overnight.

Perhaps I shouldn't be surprised... It is a weed, after all... But I'm proud of the little guy/gal.

The morals of the story are:
1) Don't mess with your seedings too much with your bright (or dim) ideas.
2) Don't give up until your plant does.
3) If you have a plant with a stem so weak/long you're thinking of trashing it, try cutting the stem very short, placing it it water, and seeing if it tries to grow new roots. Champ's stem is now very strong!