Killer Kush & Sweet Special FV

THE PLAN As my situation has changed, plus my old kit was getting a little worse for wear, it was time for an upgrade to something bigger and better. My DR60, which has served me well over the years, has now been replaced with a 1.2 BudBox Pro under a 600w, but more on that later. The plan is to grow two Fast Version strains, Killer Kush and Sweet Special using Oldtimer nutes, Plant Magic soil, and supplements (I know they’ve changed ownership since I last used them, so let’s hope they still deliver!) plus a touch of Aptus Startbooster during propagation. Once in final pots, they’ll be topped, scrogged and flowered in 12L fabric pots, so let’s see how this pans out. GERMINATION After soaking two seeds of each strain for around 24 hours in room temperature water, the Killer Kush had started to crack, so I placed all four seeds between damp paper towels, sealed in a plastic tub and put into my airing cupboard, checking every 12 hours or so and giving them a light spray of water if needed. Two days later, The Sweet Special had cracked as well and were starting to show their tap roots, so I left them between the paper towels for another 24 hours, while the Killer Kush were well on their way, so it was time to get them in their first small pots. The media of choice was Westland Seed & Cutting Compost with 0.1ml per litre of Aptus Startbooster to help give them a kick start (I had a sample lying around and as I’ve heard good things about it, I thought why not give it a try). Once in the pots they were then placed into a propagator, and put into my trusty Micro Grow Box (Mylar lined PC Case) under a 23w CFL and left on for 24/7 with a temperature between 22-24C and humidity of around 70%. A day later, the Sweet Specials were also ready, so I repeated the above, while the Killer Kush had broken the soil, were shedding their shell and reaching for the light. Another 24 hours later, the Sweet Specials broke the soil, so that’s 100% germ rate with 3-4 year old seeds, the Killer Kush’s were also looking a little bit leggy, so I wrapped a drinking straw around their stems. OK I know straws are evil to our oceans and wildlife, and I really shouldn’t use them, but as I already had a load lying around, which would have been disposed of anyway, I might as well use them as let’s be honest, they do make bloody good support for seedlings. IT DIDN’T TAKE LONG Everything was going OK, then my first disaster struck, as I was positioning the probe of my thermometer, I accidentally knocked one of the Killer Kush with my arm, so after bigging up straws for support, it was actually the straw that caused the seedling to snap (plant on far left), if it wasn’t there, it would have probably have been OK – is that karma at work? I gave it another day to see if it would pull threw, but alas not. Luckily I still had 2 Killer Kush FV’s left as I wanted to grow out more than 3 plants, so germination was started once again and just to be on the safe side, I did both. Using the same technique, both seeds cracked and were put into the Micro Box, but as I couldn’t use the propagator, I put a clear sandwich bag over them to act as a humidity dome. A day later, they’d both broke the soil and were shedding their shells, meanwhile the three established seedlings were showing their second set of true leaves and looking healthy. BACK ON TRACK I had to go away for a couple of days, so with the second batch now germinated, I was happy to leave them, keeping the light on 24/7. When I got back, both were reaching for the light and looking a tad leggy, so I put a pesky straw on for support, while the other 3 were coming along nicely. I’ve also introduced a touch of Plant Magic Bio-Silicon to help strengthen the stems at 0.5ml per litre, along with 0.1ml of Aptus Startbooster. So, finally, all’s now going in the right direction, the only (minor) issue is keeping an eye on the different number of days during veg, which I should work out, although it’s no big deal, so I’ll not worry too much.