Okay, so I've got 11 beans I'm currently germinating using the Shot Glass method. They're sitting on an old running laptop with a piece of cardboard as a heat buffer and kept in the dark by a 16oz plastic cup. After 24 hours all 11 seeds have sunk and cracked.

I'm wondering if it's practical to use this Walmart cloner for sprouting with vermiculite. I had planned to sprout in 16oz hempy cups, but I'm not confident about it.

Sure you can use the Popsicle maker to sprout your kids...You should use whatever method you're comfortable with. Good luck.

What's up,

I had bad luck with vermiculite brother but I'm new to growing so the problem could have been me. I went out and bought some Rapid Rooter plugs and a propagation tray with a dome. I got amazing results (pretty much 100% success rate) with the Rapid Rooters. Give them a try if you run into problems, they work great.

-the Corsican.

__________________
My grow journal: http://www.greenpassion.org/f24/cors...st-grow-15533/

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." - Edmund Burke.

"If at first you don't succeed, it wont hurt to smoke a little weed!"

Thanks guys. Wish I had planned ahead for rapid rooters. If this doesn't take I'll definitely use them next time.

Ten seeds germinated successfully and have been planted in the ice-tube tray, in a 50/50 mix of moist vermiculite and perlite. They're in the dark now, starting tomorrow, will be on a 18/6 (light/dark) schedule. I'm going to take it easy with the lights and only use 2 (of 6) to start off with. I'm thinking about 12/12 but leaning against it.

One thing I'm confused about, how much do I water until they sprout?

The rubbermaid box gets over 100 degrees! with all six CFL's. Even with the fan on and passive air hole. Not good.

Hey Brother,

Rapid Rooters will be a must for me from now on. If I were you I wouldn't put any light on your germinated seeds. Keep them in the dark (Thanks Jangel!) until they sprout and once they've sprouted then add the light. I also noticed nice growth in my DWC by keeping the lights on 24 hours. There are a lot of opinions about light schedules, experiment and see what your plants like the best. Keep the seedlings/growing media moist but not drenched.

You'll need to get those temps down brother. I just began running into medium high temps (85 degrees) and need to do something about it. So far though things are still running smoothly and growth hasn't been affected but that could change quickly growing in Hydro.

Good luck,

-the Corsican.

P.S.,

Sorry, didn't know you already had sprouts already.

__________________
My grow journal: http://www.greenpassion.org/f24/cors...st-grow-15533/

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." - Edmund Burke.

"If at first you don't succeed, it wont hurt to smoke a little weed!"

Day 2

4 sprouts. One of them doesn't look good; the tip is browned and burned looking. Fingers crossed for more. Temps around 82 ~ 83 with 2 bulbs.

EDIT: Make that 5 sprouts. There's another that I didn't notice. It's barely broken ground and blends in with the vermiculite.

Poopy,

Sprouts look brown at the tips when they fist loose the seed husk. I wouldn't worry about it at this point. Can you put up a few pics? Have the sprouts opened up yet or are they all still closed from just popping?

-the Corsican.

__________________
My grow journal: http://www.greenpassion.org/f24/cors...st-grow-15533/

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." - Edmund Burke.

"If at first you don't succeed, it wont hurt to smoke a little weed!"

Good luck with the grow friend. Post up some pics so we all can have a look.

Check the vermiculite to make sure it doesn't have any nutes added to it already. This might be the reason the leafs look burnt. And 100 degrees in the Rubbermaid box is way too high they won't make it in there you need to make some mods on the box.

Check out some of the other stealth and Rubbermaid grows to get a handle on the temps and you will be good to go.

__________________

DAY 3

8 sprouts. Woo Hoo! The odds are in my favor for a couple girls. Long story short, I stressed out the sprout sticking out from all vermiculite; it's actually more purple than brown, and since it keeps growing, it looks like it's just slow to split.

Hey Poopy,

They like nice and healthy to me, nothing to worry about. That one in vermiculite still hasn't opened but I think it will be fine.

Good luck,

-the Corsican.

__________________
My grow journal: http://www.greenpassion.org/f24/cors...st-grow-15533/

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." - Edmund Burke.

"If at first you don't succeed, it wont hurt to smoke a little weed!"

Day Ten.

Installed a heat shield. Helps with the temps a bit.

Most of the sprouts look weak and droopy. Two of them have brown spots and shriveled-up fan leaves. I mist with ph checked distilled water three times a day. I'm just went down to one CFL in case that's the issue. I've been using 8/16 for light. Any suggestions?

Poopy you mean 18/6 for light right?

Can you take a few pictures so we can have a look at them? Do you have a thermometer in there what are the temps like? They may not be getting enough light.

__________________

Nope. 8 dark, 16 light. Saw a few grows that did this. Fits in better with my schedule. Unfortunately I'm having problems with camera, can't post pics at the moment. I'm trying 4 CFL's at the moment. Temps are between low 70's to 80's, dropping to around 65 at night.

Hi Poopy,

I experienced similar slow growth when I attempted to grow in vermiculite and pearlite. For those with more experience in growing (I'm inexperienced) maybe it's easier but I had a lot of problems myself. Maybe you should try a different growing medium?

-the Corsican.

__________________
My grow journal: http://www.greenpassion.org/f24/cors...st-grow-15533/

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." - Edmund Burke.

"If at first you don't succeed, it wont hurt to smoke a little weed!"

I started watering with nutes three days ago and they stopped getting worse -- and are starting to look a little better. Lots of hempy guides said no nutes the first two weeks. I guess that's not always the case.

Well there you go then, maybe that was my problem too?

-the Corsican.

__________________
My grow journal: http://www.greenpassion.org/f24/cors...st-grow-15533/

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." - Edmund Burke.

"If at first you don't succeed, it wont hurt to smoke a little weed!"

Okay, I started watering with 1/4th of the recommended dose three times a day for a day and a half. They stopped getting worse, so I started using the recommended dose 3x daily. They are looking much better. And to think I was about to give up!

Excellent!

Glad you stuck with it and didn't give up brother, that would have been a shame.

-the Corsican.

__________________
My grow journal: http://www.greenpassion.org/f24/cors...st-grow-15533/

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." - Edmund Burke.

"If at first you don't succeed, it wont hurt to smoke a little weed!"

They started looking droopy and yellow. Nutrient burn. I've been flushing with water and they are getting better. They're in 20oz hempy cups now.