Feminized Abyss

[Wizard51]

Hey guys, starting 2 new strains for me, Abyss and Black Strawberry, both Feminized seeds. Started them germinating on the 30th, and have one that has cracked already. Will be posting pictures once they start showing. I am hoping to start this outside and move them indoors once the suns light starts diminishing. Really hoping these do good, as I purchased the seeds locally and the price was a little too good to be true. The retailer advised me they have had some people complain about the seeds, and others that had no problems. They won't tell me what seed bank they got the seeds from, but at 15 dollars for 5 each, the old adage "You get what you pay for" has me worried. Especially with only one seed showing signs of cracking after 36 hours.

[Schmokin]

Normally with seeds it pays to get the best you can afford. But sometimes you can get great plants from anything, I've had some good ones even from bag seed. You never know until you try. Good luck with it Wizard, I look forward to seeing how you get on. :-)

[Blaze4daze]

Good Luck Wizard!

Can't wait to see the photo's. Wish you all the best.

[Wizard51]

Germination rate

I started 3 seeds each of Abyss and Black Strawberry, and of those 6 seeds, 5 cracked and have been planted. 3 of Abyss, and 2 Black Strawberry. So obviously, my fears were a little unfounded. The industry here is fairly new compared with some other areas, so it may simply be inexperienced growers who didn't use a valid procedure when they were germinating their seeds. I started mine in paper towels soaked with purified water on a heating pad. All the seeds but the one Black Strawberry had cracked within 72 hours, and were planted within another 24. Currently I have one plant showing, Black Strawberry, and it's a little over an inch tall now.

These will be grown using DWT, or Deep Water Technology. I chose this route as everything is re-usable, except of course, the nutrients. The majority of the roots actually reside in the nutrient solution, and the plant sits in a net basket with just enough grow rock medium to provide support, and an Air Pump is used to force air through air stones in the solution to provide oxygen to the roots.

[Wizard51]

Seedlings

Can someone take a look at these seedling starts and advise me what you think the issue might be? The Black Strawberry I planted are all standing up straight, with leaves forming. But these 2 Abyss seeds are doing something really weird. I can see the leaves below the level of the rockwool cube, but all that is sticking up are the root tip itself, bent over in half. This is happening on 2 of the seedlings, the third seed hasn't poked anything above the rockwool yet, but the root isn't growing either.

[Blaze4daze]

Hi Wizard

From what I can see, they look like their unfolding from their casing (shell), and It's going to take a several more days, for them to grow roots out to where you can see them. But they are on their way, that's outstanding. It just takes time.

[Schmokin]

Patience my friend. They just need a bit more time to unfurl.
When I do mine I usually leave them a bit longer to open out while they are still in the tissue paper.

[Wizard51]

Seedlings died

Well, patience didn't work. Of the three I started with, 2 have died before being able to raise themselves out of the Rockwool. I suspect the third may not make it either. I lifted it partially out of the Rockwool, and one of the leaves is still green, and looks like it is trying to grow, but the other curled over and turned black. Started 2 more seeds, will see how they do. Personally not real happy with the results I've seen from this strain. I started 3 Black Strawberry at the same time, and 2 of them cracked. Both of those are growing fine in the exact same setup, with the same care and treatment as the Abyss. One of them is a tad weak, only has the starter leaves so far, but the other is on its 4th set of leaves, and growing very well. I showed the pictures of the Abyss to a local grower who told me he thought the seeds may have been too old to grow. Have any of you heard that? Personally, I always took it for granted that if the seed cracked and showed a root tip, then the seed was still viable and would grow. Am I wrong?

[Blaze4daze]

Fresh seeds are usually viable, with high germination rates.

Seeds more than two or three years old may not germinate as well. Older seeds may have a higher percentage of week plants, and slower germinating seeds are more prone to attack from molds and bacteria.

Intact, dark brown or gray seeds are most likely to germinate. Whitish, light tan, or cracked seeds are usually not viable.

Seeds usually germinate in three to ten days. Germination time is affected by the seeds age and health and the media temperature.

[Wizard51]

Unlnown age

In all truth I have no idea how old the seeds are. I purchased them from a dispensary here in the state that advertised them on their website as feminized seeds, at a price of $15.00 for 5 seeds. I bought 10 seeds, 5 each of Abyss and Black Strawberry. All of the Abyss cracked within 2 days and I planted them in rockwool cubes when the root tips were half an inch long. The Black Strawberry took a couple of days longer to crack and grow root tips, but they are growing the best of the two strains. All of the seeds were dark green with a couple of exceptions. The exceptions were a lighter green. So far, ALL of the Abyss seeds have germinated. I haven't had one yet that didn't crack the seed case and grow a root tip. The issue seems to be more along the lines of they just won't grow once they've been planted. I'm trying 2 more now, they've both cracked also, within 48 hours, going to put them in a different system for a few days while they settle into the cubes. Just seems weird to me that the seeds that took the longest are growing the healthiest plants.

[Blaze4daze]

I just went thru this too, and I hear what your say'in. I was just using the paper towel, method (with good germination results, previously), but this last time, they would just sit there, for days, and more day's. I actually thought I had smothered them with too wet of conditions.

I finally talked to a grower/buddy in the UK, who told me to just get them into cubes, and a heating mat under a dome, with the vents closed. I soaked the cubes for an hour, and squeezed them a tiny bit, stuck the seeds in them, a half inch down, and into the dome they went. I put a towel over the dome, and I swear that in two day's, they popped~up. I was like, are you kidd'in me. I kept them in the dome until their tap root showed~up under the cube. No water till they have established a tap root long enough to plant into their medium. They were under a double socket CFL light till last night. and I just took my jock horror outside today, for the first time.

I stuck the cube into soil, when the tap root got about 3/4 inch long, and started curling around under the cube. You got to elevate that cube up enough to allow the tap root to fit under the cube a tiny bit, like say a 1/4 inch up from the bottom of the tray, or container that the cube is sitting in.

You can make a dome from a deep Tupperware with plastic wrap streached over the top, and use a standard heating pad on low to get them started. It was the temp., and the moisture, that made them pop, I'm sure of it.

I wish you luck, and hope that this can help you in some sort of way.