M14 Forum

huntinghawk

Those 30 buckets I had ordered is changed to 50 buckets. Getting a great price on buying volume. 50 more buckets will put me at about 80.

HH

huntinghawk

Now you can see those sprouts coming up.

HH

huntinghawk

I went & checked the field my neighbor offered I could use. Its about 40X80. Its fairly overrun with weeds & briars so would have to mow it down some first. But my guess it would handle about 100 plants.

HH

huntinghawk

I've several hundred sprouts, way more then I can use. But research says you always want extras just incase. If you don't end up with enough sprouts to plant it puts you many weeks behind.

Upon trying several methods of germinating next year I will go exclusively with using egg cartons.

So in a few weeks I'll be ready to put sprouts in containers outside.

HH

huntinghawk

The egg carton method seems to work real well for getting any seeds germinated. Take two egg cartons & cut the top off of them. Top carton poke a single hole in the bottom of where each egg sits then fill with potting soil. Take the bottom carton & put alittle water in the bottom then put the two together. Wet down the potting soil. Then lay seeds ontop of the potting soil & mist the seeds with a misting bottle of warm water. An old spray bottle for cleaning products works fine.
Mist the top 2-4 times a day with warm water. You can monitor water by separating the trays & checking water in the bottom tray.

You can put the cartons under a light which will help alittle. Also, you can cover the top with cling wrap which will make it like a green house trapping heat & moisture inside.

HH

huntinghawk

I lost all of my first two trays of sprouts. Put them outside in the sun & forgot about them. It got cold.
But still have some other sprouts.

HH

huntinghawk

I ended up loosing all my srouts. Put them out in the sun too soon. Have new sprouts started using the double cup method.

And finished up the cloths dryer rigged for drying the tobacco.

HH

huntinghawk

New sprouts are doing well but loosing the first batch has put me behind. But long growing season here.

And picked up ten 5gal buckets at $2 each, no lids. Got a big bag of potting soil while I was at it.

HH

huntinghawk

This is my tallest sprout which is about 1.5"

HH

huntinghawk

My plants need more light but can't put them in direct sunlight yet. I need a darn grow lamp.

HH

huntinghawk

Plants are dying off again. Time to try something different.

HH

huntinghawk

Maybe this will give me what I need for sun but not direct sunlight.

HH

huntinghawk

This morning I transfered the first four plants to the coffee containers. Tops had four leafs & all four had good root systems.

HH

huntinghawk

DO NOT pull plants up out of the soil to transplant. There are very fine hairy roots that will easily break off & the plant will most likely then die. A better option is is dumping them onto a tray & carefully separating the soil from the plant then transplant.

HH

huntinghawk

I have now had six batches of seeds sprout then die. Seems I'm giving too much water after they sprout.

HH