[ Soil to Oil ] Guide to Growing Indoor Cannabis - Germinating Seeds

in #cannabis5 years ago (edited)

Learn how almost anyone can produce top quality cannabis for free at home!

Meet the next cannabis crop grown from seed in my little indoor garden - with every step posted to the Steem blockchain!

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Soil to Oil

With my 2nd such crop now wrapping up, this post begins my 'Soil to Oil' series, which will follow my 3rd crop. The series intends to help intermediate gardeners adapt their skills to producing high quality clean organic cannabis, in their living room, for essentially no financial cost. If you've grown tomatoes, or other fruit and flowering plants, you won't have trouble using what you know to succeed with cannabis. This guide isn't intended for brand new gardeners, but I encourage them to follow along and start developing their green thumbs. The cannabis grown will be cured, and the oil will be extracted for medical use.

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On a budget of essentially zero, I've grown a crop of 4 pink kush, and a crop of 1 Steem OG and 2 Northern Lights. Cannabis plants don't need anything but soil, air, light, and water. I never fertilize my plants, never spray anything on them, and I don't have any equipment! I'd be honoured to show you how it can be done.

You'll have to provide your own seeds, of course. I get mine locally, from the vast black market here in Vancouver. Often they're gifts from friends, donated for activism, or traded for at a market. If you're really stuck for seeds, and you're in Canada, let me know and I'll see if I can send you a few.

Germination

I didn't label this post "post #1" even though it is the first in the series, because I don't believe there's a first or last step in life. The plant life cycle doesn't have a beginning or end. We're jumping in at germination because it suits us.

Seeds are baby plants, looking for the right moment to sprout. They have one shot and one shot only! As I wrote about seeds at the beginning of crop 2...

Seeds are fully-formed baby plants, and they're alive - just in a suspended state of growth! A seed is already the whole plant, and simply needs to sense the right conditions. A seed is neither a beginning nor an end, it's simply one stage in the ... process ... of this glorious plant species, as it continues an unbroken genetic line.

I'll show you how I'm germinating my seeds. You might do it the same way, or a completely different way, or something in between. A lot of gardeners prefer to put the seeds right into the growing medium (soil) and see what comes up. I have 8 seeds and I want 4 adult females, so I can't afford to lose many along the way.

Yes, you can put your seeds into water to germinate, if you want. Once the little white root begins to poke out, the seed is ready to sprout, and won't benefit from being underwater any longer.

Before I show you exactly how I'm germinating this time, I'll introduce you to the new crop!

Super Skunk!

These 8 seeds were obtained from a friend (I'll keep him anonymous unless he wants to make himself known), from a 2016 crop of Super Skunk! They're not feminized, so there could be males.

Here they are, 'named' A through H!

A

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B

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C

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D

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E

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F

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G

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H

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Any observations? Please comment!

Super Skunk is a cross between Afghani and Skunk #1. Skunk #1 is a cross of Afghani (indica landrace) with Acapulco and Columbian (sativa landraces). This makes it a distinctive Indica-dominant strain which I'm excited to grow!

Crop goals

In my first crop here (the pink kush), not only did I prove cannabis can be grown with nothing but dirt, I also taught myself how to clone cannabis plants with nothing but water. In the second crop, which is just being harvested and cured, I experimented with more than one strain at a time, upped my topping game, and improved my soil to increase nutrients and erase pests naturally.

This time I'm going to focus on increasing my skill at topping and training (encouraging the plant to grow in the shape you prefer).

I'm also going to increase yield. Yield has never been my top consideration, and still isn't, but I do plan on continuing to up my production and find ways to make the process more efficient. More worm castings in the soil (especially during flowering) will help.

The Germination Station

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I put a glass pyrex dish on the table, and measured out a piece of paper towel so that it hangs off the bottom.

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There's the Super Skunk seed lineup, placed along the top edge.

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Cover the seeds with the paper towel and moisten.

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Put a layer of plastic wrap over the moist towel and seeds, clinging to the pyrex.

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Attach a label for the seeds, and put the pyrex dish on an angle, inside another dish.

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Add water (use tap water which has been sitting out overnight), which soaks up the paper towel to keep the seeds damp.

When the roots sprout toward the center of gravity, they'll grow along the glass at an angle (and won't get tangled in the paper towel). The sprouts will be easy to see, and know when to transplant.

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The cupboard above my fridge is a warm, dark place, perfect for germination. The seeds want to feel like it's a warm spring day, and they're underground (in the dark) with plenty of moisture. That's what will coax them to awaken for their one shot at life.

Canada "legalized" cannabis in October 2018. Even though prohibition and legalization of cannabis are both founded on lies, it means many Canadians are going to grow weed for their first time! I'd love to help them adapt their current gardening skills for cannabis, and show them just how safe and easy it is to do, right in their home, with cheap or free materials they probably already have.

Get ready for Soil to Oil, my guide to growing cannabis and extracting cannabinoids in your own home!

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Cannabis oil is easily extracted from the flowers, and cures many cancers and other conditions, so information like this isn't just useful, it can save lives.

DRutter

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Resteemed this for reference, and to notify my hempous followers!

Speaking of reference, I'll be linking back to this post regularly over the next several months. It's both a summary of where I've been, and a starting point for my next project! <3

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