New Seeds, Now What?

I should be receiving my seeds in short order. I read a number of useful posts, but perhaps too much information. I live in Southern California (Zone-10). Please comment whether my procedure is correct.

I will set the seeds in water for 24 hours
Then place them in rockwool until they germinate
At what point can I put them into a pot with soil and set them outside?
Can I use regular garden soil or should I use “starter soil”

Thanks, Jerry

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Watch out for the tap root appearing and you’re good to go. I don’t do the rock wool bit. As soon as the tap root appears they’re into soil and we’re off. Be cautious with your choice of soil as some soils can be way too hot for your seedlings so do a bit of research on that front and welcome to a great forum with a great support team

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Davyg,

Thanks for your informative reply. I have the rock wool cubes so I thought I’d use them unless there are reasons to avoid said product. I understand to plant them in soil once the tap-root appears. My question is should I go directly to a 10-gallon pot (that’s the size I was thinking of) or can I first move them to something like a 12-oz dixie-cup and then to the larger pot a few weeks later.

As I live in sunny Southern California where as of March our daytimes temps are in the mid 70’s and evenings in the 50’s, can I leave my outside full-time?

Jerry

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Hi Jerry,

Im in So Cal. I don’t like Rockwool as it holds a lot of water. I would suggest germinate in shot glass of water with a few drops H2o2. Once you get a tap root to break you can then transplant to moist, not wet paper towel on a plate and place in ziploc bag and keep half open.

Once you have a tap root of 1" go into 16-32 oz cup with a mild soil(I use Fox Farms Happy Frog).

Once it fills that cup I would go to a 3 gallon pot.

Then, final home. It sounds like you are starting early, so you will be growing some big plants with a lot of veg time. I would use 15-30 gallon pots(light color fabric pots are best).

Starting too early can run the risk of flowering early then reveling which you don’t want.

Best time to start outside is Mid April to May, IMO.

Here is my journal:

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Welcome to the forum @jerrythesurfer1
Starting them now so they will be ready when the daylight is long enough to stay in vegetative stage and naturally move to flower as daylight gets shorter and have enough time to finish as aaa suggested.

While progressing from smaller to bigger pots until moved outside to final pots you’ll want the starter soil to begin with like @AAA suggested like Fox Farms Happy Frog in a Starter sized pot. The next size pot you’ll want to up the soil to a more nutrient dense mix like Fox FarmOcean Forrest In the next sized pot as the small first one won’t support the plant until ready for the big final pot outside.
For the final soil choice in the big outside pot there are options depending on if your going to supply them nutrients or want to soil to contain what they will need to finish through flower. Aaa would be best to answer or suggest to you what he does as he grows outside like you will be and I’m stuck in my basement lol.

Happy growing

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Welcome to I❤GM!! Your in good hands!

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What a beautiful basement it is!

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I’d skip the rock wool and go straight to soil after 24 hour soak. I find everything else unnecessary. Plants grow faster if started in smaller containers which have more frequent wet dry cycles and transplanted as needed. I like solo cup to 3 gal to 7 gal or bigger final pot, keeps growth fast. Small plant in big pot = easier to overwater and slow down growth.

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AAA, et. al.l,

Thanks for the information. Buying bags of soil may be too costly and impractical as I will need about 80 1.5 cubic foot bags for my project. I need something like 3 cubic yards of soil. I was planning a small dump truck delivery of bulk loose top soil (no bags, just 5,000 lbs. of top soil). I’ve done this for vegetable and flower gardens. I’m hoping that marijuana is no pickier than my tomatoes, citrus trees, or roses.

As for all the other great suggestions regarding timing, and germination, etc, my many thanks.

Jerry

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This works fine for in ground growing, but not individual container growing. You mention pot size, so can’t imagine you need 3 cu yd of soil to fill 10 gal pots, or do you?

Yes, my intention is to use somewhere in the order of 35 20 and 30 gallon pots. My calculation show that To be about 3 yards of soil. What is the season why topsoil is not good for growing weed?

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I believe that topsoil is meant to be used to “refresh” your existing outdoor soil with organic matter, basically compost.

No really added nutrient sources like worm castings, guano, kelp meal. minerals, etc. Plus Im sure there is no aeration which should be used at 20-30% ratio in containers.

You should check out Buildasoil dot com. They have excellent customer service and can help you with a plan.

I just mixed up 18 Cu ft of soil using their Coots mix.

The coots mix comes with a nutrient and mineral package. Then I added a 3.5 cu ft bale of peat moss(expands to 6 cu ft), 6 cu ft of compost, and 6 cu ft of Aeration.

3 cu yd = 81 cu ft

so you would need 4.5 coots mix kits.

-Nutrient/minerals: $450 approx
-Aeration:
1/2 lava rock: 14 cu ft: $112 approx
1/2 rice hulls: $80 approx
-Peat moss (3.5 cu ft bale= 6 cu ft) so 5 bales: $75 approx
- Compost: Depends on what you use

You are at $717 without compost.

I’m not familiar with Coots Mix Kit. I Googled it and see that it is a bunch of additives to soil. The issue is I need 3 yards of soil. Buying by the bag is way too expensive and that’s why I was looking to have it delivered in bulk. If I use the “Coots Mix” do you think I will end up with a decent grow medium?

Jerry

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Yes I do. Coot is an old school cannabis and other plant grower.

You could purchase the topsoil as your compost, but you need more in it than that.

This is whats in the “coots mix”

Nutrients:
(Use at 2.5 Cups Per cubic foot of soil or about 5-6 Tablespoon per gallon of soil)

1. Crustacean Meal - Crab and Shrimp
2. Kelp Meal - Thorvin Organic Icelandic kelp
3. Neem Cake/Karanja Cake 70/30 - West Coast Hort. Neem and Ahimsa Karanja
4. Milled Malted Barley - Premium Organic 2 Row Malted Barley

Minerals:
(Use at 4 Cups Per Cubic foot of soil or about 1/2 Cup per gallon of soil)

1. BuildASoil Basalt - Our Favorite Rock Dust for trace minerals. Highly paramagnetic.
2. Gypsum Dust - Calcium and Sulfur
3. Oyster Shell Flour - Calcium Carbonate - Adds available calcium and limes the Peat moss.

Is there a reason you cant go direct in the ground?

Lets tag in @Budbrother and @Skydiver. I realize a truck coming and delivering “topsoil” would be convenient, but I don’t think it’s “enough”.

Budbrother and Skydiver, what are your thoughts on using bulk topsoil for potted plants?

I’ve tried just using top soil in pots for veggies and the issues I had where that the soil compacted and settled so much that it didn’t hold water very well nor aerate the roots well. Of course if there is enough compost as well as perlite mixed in along with adding amendments into the top soil that can work. The top soil alone in containers probably won’t get them through harvest as the roots are restricted from searching out as they are Contained unlike in the ground.
I built a 16’x4’ raised bed for veggies and I too had a couple yards delivered but it was about 60% top soil and 40% composted cow manure which provides the food and some nutrients for the living soil.
This was my first year (last summer) with that bed and did add some limited amendments when layering / filling the bed with yard waste and the soil/compost mix and I had to add some dolomite lime as the tomatoes started to get blossom end rot and that top dress watered in did the trick.
In soil they are unrestricted in containers it’s all up to you as to getting them the needed nutrients.
I’m by means no expert but these are my thoughts.

Hope this helps @jerrythesurfer1 and looking forward to seeing your progress and with those size containers and the sun as your lights you should get some monsters!

Edit to add: hopefully the top soil and or compost delivered will be free from contaminates etc and a healthy product. That’s always a concern of mine knowing where it comes from etc.

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If you are going to get a truck load most suppliers sell a bed mix of some sort which has topsoil , sand (for increased drainage) and compost. That should work better than top soil which has more clay and will tightly compact