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(Non cannabis)Seed for testing gear and ideas

Superauto

Member
I have a ton of ideas for side by side grow to figure out the best way to grow with my soil, nutrients and equipment.

But starting to use expensive cannabis seeds in a large scale will be risky business.
Don't wanna get caught with hundreds of cannabis plants just in the name of science ;)

So before I start side by side with the real thing I want to do some "replica/dummy" test with seeds from a plant growing similar to a cannabis plant.

Anyone having an idea what seeds to use?
Need to be cheap and easy to get, and of course not to hard to grow, just like our beloved cannabis :)
 

Douglas.Curtis

Autistic Diplomat in Training
As far as quality goes, you should practice with another hyper/dynamic accumulator plant like Indian Mustard plants. ;) Most plants only use the "passive ionic uptake" method for nutrients and are difficult to overfeed without you noticing it happening.


Cannabis absorbs quality killing levels of needed and un-needed elements from the root zone, using additional pathways of uptake. It does this will still looking great, which is a feature of hyper/dynamic accumulator plants good at phytoremediation. ;)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phytoremediation


(edit: This won't help you with how to handle the growth structure of cannabis. You'll definitely get a great idea about sprouting and growing plants at scale.) :D
 

scrogrow

Active member
Rare orchids?
Cactus?
Tomato?
Cheap seed? (I know, I know but at least ya get a little smokey for ya troubles mukka?)
 

Lost in a SOG

GrassSnakeGenetics
how about growing a dwarf hop variety,, it's the closest relative I can think of, but if you want to test how well you can keep certain parameters in check throughout growth then growing anything will kind of test that.

https://2xuwao2gok1v2wn2em9n5ys8-wp...16/09/High-PPFD-Cultivation-Guide-9.27.16.pdf

picture.php
 
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Superauto

Member
Just figured out another one:) Breadseed/opium poppies!
You get about a trillion seeds for a couple of bucks.
And they can be useful as well ;)
 

exploziv

pure dynamite
Administrator
Veteran
You talk about not wanting to be caught with cannabis on this scale then you mention opium poppies. Are they legal if not scared to get resin? Or why is that better option than cannabis?
 

DemonPigeon

Member
Veteran
Poppies also are very different to cannabis in terms of both needs and structure. They certainly have similarities in ecological and societal niches but they're very different in practicality
 

St. Phatty

Active member
Growing poppies will definitely test something - the grower.

Poppy seedlings are very allergic to hot weather. Normally they prefer 60 degrees F and colder temperatures.

In 80 to 90 degree weather, a baby seedling often seems as if they have disappeared. Sometimes you can see what happened, a wisp of wilted seedling stalk.

Definitely, if you want to test yourself, try growing poppies in the summer. It's almost impossible but can be done.

What you end up doing is hunting around the landscape for areas that stay cool when the temps get into the 90's & 100's.

For example, if there is a crevice in the hillside, with a seam of gravel-clay-sand-rocks that collects water, making an aquifer.

If you dig down to the top of that aquifer, far enough to hit mud, then you have a cooler place, where poppies MIGHT make it.


Because it's a controversial subject, I suggest we limit our normal text discussion of California poppy growing to seedling germination only.

So the US gov. doesn't get too hot & bothered.

It's also good to have a non text method of communication.

Anybody guess what this says ?

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MJPassion

Observer
ICMag Donor
Veteran
Poppies flower on an increasing light schedule.
The exact opposite of cannabis.


What, specifically, are you trying to figure out?
 

Superauto

Member
Poppies flower on an increasing light schedule.
The exact opposite of cannabis.


What, specifically, are you trying to figure out?
Thanks a lot everybody

MJPassion, I think about many things

Like to feed or not to feed the seedlings, and if so how strong nutes and at what age to start

I want to keep it organic so I want to test out different nutes, soil and bokashi

Does companion grow(legumes) make a difference?

Wide pots, deep pots
How big pot is big enough

The same with lights
How much is enough or too much in my grow room?
Does 24/0 give higher yield than 18/6 or is it a waste of electricity?
Can I grow small scale with cheap Chinese LED or does it have to be expensive HPS?

And sure many more, and I will test it out with cannabis seeds, but want to make some test with other plants first ;)
 

exploziv

pure dynamite
Administrator
Veteran
Tomatoes is probably the closer you can get without going into a grey area like with hemp.
But I would say a small scale test with cannabis will probably yeld more valuable info (regarding cannabis) than a big test with other plants. Once u figure out the best environment, soil mix and feeding for 1-2 sq meters you can basically go unlimited and what you figured out in small scale will still hold. Then you might want to test the big space with cheaper stock to make sure you introduced enaugh fail safes into the system so they don't die from some unforseen error in the management software or some situation that wasn't planned for when designing the system.
 

DemonPigeon

Member
Veteran
Thanks a lot everybody

MJPassion, I think about many things

Like to feed or not to feed the seedlings, and if so how strong nutes and at what age to start

I want to keep it organic so I want to test out different nutes, soil and bokashi

Does companion grow(legumes) make a difference?

Wide pots, deep pots
How big pot is big enough

The same with lights
How much is enough or too much in my grow room?
Does 24/0 give higher yield than 18/6 or is it a waste of electricity?
Can I grow small scale with cheap Chinese LED or does it have to be expensive HPS?

And sure many more, and I will test it out with cannabis seeds, but want to make some test with other plants first ;)

Well if you want a plant most similar to cannabis in terms of light/nutrient needs, potential size, etc. everybody tells me it's tomatoes.

I've experimented with poppies, roses and many other plants and I have come to the conclusion poppies do not always benefit in being in a high intensity light grow environment compared to say, on a Windowsill, in fact I found the opposite, perhaps a dimmer tent environment would be better. Likewise biobizz was far too rich. Poppies are far earlier a plant in the succession of plant species that colonize disturbed areas of habitat, humans cause environmental disturbance and the plants that suited became our domestic crops, they're generally "pioneer species" in nature, but poppies are a much earlier succession species than cannabis, they reach 1/3 the height and their seeds are more numerous but far tinier with less stored energy, they're generally adapted to scarcity and thus are easy to over supply with nutrients or light in an environment suited to cannabis. Transplantation they hate, cloning isn't an option and poppies have a really deep tap root, many cannabis strains are fairly diffuse in rooting.

From my experiments with roses in under MH/HPS in hydro I'd say they're a pretty good analogue for cannabis too but obviously they're perennial so they just reveg so to speak, no chop which you do still have with tomatoes.
 

St. Phatty

Active member
I have a ton of ideas for side by side grow to figure out the best way to grow with my soil, nutrients and equipment.

But starting to use expensive cannabis seeds in a large scale will be risky business.
Don't wanna get caught with hundreds of cannabis plants just in the name of science ;)

So before I start side by side with the real thing I want to do some "replica/dummy" test with seeds from a plant growing similar to a cannabis plant.

Anyone having an idea what seeds to use?
Need to be cheap and easy to get, and of course not to hard to grow, just like our beloved cannabis :)

OH now I get it.

I believe Neville Schoenmakers used red peppers as a surrogate for Cannabis. He is the original breeder that started the original Seed Bank.

I've met the soil scientist at the large 22 acre compost facility in Sonoma County. It is a very cool facility. They use red clover to test their soil batches. Different than being a surrogate for Cannabis, but thought I'd mention it.

Poppies are WAAAY different than Cannabis.

Poppies are also very root sensitive. They hate being crowded, I think because of the root chemistry, hormones etc.

Cannabis is much more tolerant of crowding.


Anyway, the best answer I could come up with is, red peppers.

I suggest asking General Hydroponics or whoever bought them, the same question.

They use red peppers in the label drawing for GH Micro. Maybe because it makes a pretty drawing - but maybe there's a botanical reason too.
 

exploziv

pure dynamite
Administrator
Veteran
Be sure to chose a determinate type of tomato. Flowers by daylight changes. Stays more compact.
 

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