Dazed & Confused

[Cameltoe]

I wish I had something to add; instead of this just being another "help me" post from a beginner...
/sadface

For a long time now I've been successfully killing everything I touch.
Thomas Edison went through thousands of unsuccessfull prototypes before he got it right. But I'm not inventing anything here, so I dont have any excuses..but isn't it suposed to be difficult to kill weeds?!??

Let me give you a quick rundown of my setup and what I've been doing. Hopefully someone can point out wtf :wtf: I'm doing fately wrong everytime?


☻ wooden frame, insulation, norbord and drywall
☻ closet 3x3x8(tall) - in garage - (50°c at night)
the closet is (60°c at night) without the heater on
☻ 6" exaust vent in the celing, 4" intake dryer hose from celing runs to floor so fresh air travels the length of the closet.
Lately its been too cold to run the fans so fresh air hasn't been circulating in; but they're not closed off so air does trickle in.
☻ portable heater/fan with digital thermostat; not directly facing plants
*i mention that because i killed an entire seedling tray from windburn once*
☻ portable 12hr humidifier; on a timer. (id like to get a humidistat to be more accurate)
☻ tub o' yeast (cant afford Co2 yet)
Is grocery store: Fleischmann's RapidRise *Highly Active* Yeast, ok to be using?
1 packet in a clean milkjug with 1cup of sugar and I fill it half way with water and stir untill its disolved. Then every day I drain half the water and add another cup of sugar and stir. I got the idea from the book: Gardening Indoors by George Van Patten - The Indoor Gardener's Bible
☻ Seedling Heat Mat with Thermostat
☻ 1" Rockwool cubes

One thing I havn't been doing is pre-soaking the rockwool. Does that matter?

I take the shwag seeds and soak them in room temprature filtered tap water.
Should I use a 10% bleach solution?
As soon as they sink I move them to the empty sterilized cd case lined with a paper towel. Then I add a few drops *halfed Clonex solution* close it up and put next to my computer fans where its nice and warm. After 1-3 days; when most of them have taproots...
Am I messing up by waiting an extra day for more to sprout..when I should be moving them as soon as they sprout?
...I move them carefully with tweezers 1/4" - 1/2" into the rockwool
I keep the closet temp 70-73° and the seedling heat mat set at 80°.
I leave the humidy dome on (humidifier off) untill i see the first one break ground.
Then I remove the dome and turn the humifier on which because its cold here flucuates the humidy up and down a lot. I try to keep it between 50 and 70.

Its pretty cool watching seeds go through this process. Unfortuneatly for me this is where they die. After more break ground they all soon die.
I've never had anything live past this part.

Windburn was the cause of one failure..fixed that; directed the fan towards the wall to break the wind up.
Damping Off was the cause previous. I've since educated myself more on this and hopefully have a better understanding of the ammount of water to feed.
They are so delicate at this stage.

I'm beyond frustrated at this point.
I've read through a lot of posts on this site; very informative :thumbsup: but I still dont have a clue wtf I'm doing wrong.
I wont accept I'm just one of those people with a black thumb.

Please help save me from insanity.. :blueknife:

Cameltoe Reviewed by Cameltoe on 02-21-2007. Dazed & Confused I wish I had something to add; instead of this just being another "help me" post from a beginner... /sadface For a long time now I've been successfully killing everything I touch. Thomas Edison went through thousands of unsuccessfull prototypes before he got it right. But I'm not inventing anything here, so I dont have any excuses..but isn't it suposed to be difficult to kill weeds?!?? Let me give you a quick rundown of my setup and what I've been doing. Hopefully someone Rating: 5

[SaanenGoats]

Hmm. Ok, I'll tell you what I've done and how far I've come and my success rate...

I bought 8 seeds from a relatively cheap seed company, one of which arrived crushed so it probably was not viable but I still gave it a shot. I put 3 seeds directly in moistened paper towel (moistened with tap water... rather hard water too, leaves scales on all my pots, uh) and 5 I soaked in a glass of tap water and happily bobbed them under for about ten minutes with the end of my pen until I got tired of waiting for them to sink (die damnit, already, DIE) and then stuck them in similarly moistened paper towel. The paper towel I put in a standard plastic ziploc bag left opened and then layed it on top my stereo. After a day I got bored of waiting so I took tweezers and squeezed the seeds sideways until they cracked a little... hey, I was helping the buggers get out, I hear that shell can be tough.

All but the crushed one popped and I took them with tweezers and moved them into plastic juice cups filled with storebought dirt. One I buried too deep and by the time I realized that it was toast. (And yes, in order to find that out, I was digging them up...) Another seedling broke the dirt and then the cotelyden leaves broke off.... that one wasn't my fault, I swear! Anyhow that was the end of it.

The seedlings that remained seemed to be stuck until I gave them a shot of Miracle Gro All Purpose 24-8-16 and then they exploded. Whee hee. So now, a couple weeks later, I have five lovely green plantlings... the tallest got a bit of burn from the CFLs one weekend when it grew too much on me, but other than that they're doing great.

Oh ya, my setup. I took a dressor, ripped the drawers apart, put the doors back together in a sheet to make a door, lined the door with mylar and stuck the seedlings in there with a desk lamp and a 23 watt CFL, giving off 2100 lumens. (Now I just upgraded to two CFLs, which will soon be four as soon as I finish wiring the lampholders and the possiblity to upgrade to more if I want) There is no fan, no humidity control, no odor control (though I'm gonna have to move on that, the puppies smell exactly like dried bud, and their just babies yet) no CO2... etc etc.

Anyhow, my point is: these plants are made to grow. KISS. Keep It Simple, Stupid. I mean, I could have killed mine lots of ways already. My advice would be for you to try it the totally simple way. You got the germinating down, stick 'em in some dirt, and let them do their thing.

Of course, this IS my first grow, and I AM only three weeks into it, and my plants aren't exactly outrageously successful, but I'm more than happy with how their doing. And you did ask for opinions!

Good luck!

[Cameltoe]

thanks Saanengoats.

I've taken everything out and wiped down the walls and all equipment with a light bleach solution. I also have an Ozone Generator that I'll run on a timer today.. (1 hour on, 1 hour off) ..to sterilize the room.
I should be able to take some pics tonite and upload them.

Anyone else have any more suggestions? :weedpoke:

[Cameltoe]

sorry I havn't posted pics yet. I should have a new camera soon.

A friend just gave me a small bag of shwag seeds. :baggy:
I'm going to germinate them and get them started in the seedling tray, tonite. I really hope I've corrected whatever I was doing wrong because I have some feminized seeds on the way.

I REALLY really could use some advice from some of the more experienced growers. I know its a pain in the ass answering noobish questions everyday, but your advice helps us out a lot. Is their something obvious I'm doing wrong?? or just any advice to help me get past the seedling stage would be VERY appricated.

Thanks

[KL4D4]

I was going to say, sticking the seeds in the soil will work just fine too, I've used both methods and each has worked. The seedlings hardly need a fan right away too is what I'd say. let it grow for a week with all the glory it can find in a single light

[Cameltoe]

I use a hydroponic system, so I cant use soil. I've had horrible luck with rockwool though, Id like to find something better.

c'mon now, you stoners :stoned: I need more advice n'shit. lol

I have 40 seeds germinating that will be ready to be put in rockwool in about 2 days. I CANT LET THESE DIE OR MY WIFE IS MAKING ME QUIT!!!!!!
hey..in her defence she's been overlly supportive of my hobbie..but with a 0% success rate I'm half tempted to throw in the towel myself.

Help me get these seeds past the seedling stage, and I promise to post pics with their progress. (getting my new camera tomorrow).


thanks!

p.s. thanks for the

[Cameltoe]

...podcasts, Zander
*my brower crapped out on me, lol..sorry for 2 posts)

[Cameltoe]

omg you guys are killing me. I was hoping for a ton of responces. lol

The shawg seeds soaked overnight. The next day when they had all sank to the bottom I removed them and put them in a papertowel on a plate. Then I wrapped a black plastic bag around the plate and put'm in my growroom where its 73° and 55 humidity. So by saturday night they should all have taproots and be ready to go into the seedling tray. ..ya I'm gonna use rockwool again
This time though I'm gonna pre-soak it in Clonnex /SuperThrive solution.
I think a big part of my problem is improper watering as its difficult for me to judge the rockwools moisture..I need to invest in a moisture sensor of some kind i guess?

after this batch of shawg seeds, the seeds I ordered should (if they dont get stuck at customs) be here and that will be: The Final Showdown. Wife is making me get a job if those die. Im gonna need everyones help, seriously. lol Not so much that I dont want to get a job..more because Im tired of failing.

Even though I havn't had many reply posts, I've read a TON on this site and feel more "informed". Thx :thumbsup:
Still.. any info experienced or inexperienced growers can throw at me..to help me get past the seedling stage is again, VERY appriciated.

I'll keep ya'll updated on this shawg run and I'll start a new thread for when the "good" seeds arrive.