[Thule]

Originally Posted by Only Ornamental

Little update on my quick&dirty indoor Finola grow (day 24 after the seeds cracked):
I had them for one week in the living room but they had not enough light so I put them under a 80 lm LED (warm white) 24/7 which still wasn't enough so I changed to a 600 lm LED (warm white) 24/7. The latter was a bit too much of a change (lumen and temperature wise) and most plants got slightly light burned, turned red, and several even died (mostly dried out). I raised the bulb a few cm and ensured a better air circulation a few days back which visibly was a good idea as they now start growing nicely.
The lil runts are now at internode 4-5 with ~8 cm in hight (most of which is the elongated stem beneath the cotyledons).
The interesting thing is, that the males start showing flowers since two days!
Question: The 2 cm of increased bulb distance can't have been the trigger as it was just a day or two before flower onset; hence, is their flowering stress induced (heat and light shock), caused by the constant but weak lighting in week 2 (which, with regard to seedlings, sounds illogical to me), or against your opinion autoflowering?
I should prolly start a new proper grow... as we have up to 15°C outside (crazy weather, like in April), I put some seeds directly in a small greenhouse today.

Node 4-5 is where you would expect to see flowering anyway. Dark periods can trigger them to flower at 12 days already, and stressful conditions can make them flower while still very small. Note that in Finland they are basically vegged in constant daylight in unlimited rootspace, they can reach a height of up to two meters tall. How much soil are you are you using?



Himalayan jungli x Finola 2 meters tall at 62n.

[Only Ornamental]

Originally Posted by Thule

Node 4-5 is where you would expect to see flowering anyway. Dark periods can trigger them to flower at 12 days already, and stressful conditions can make them flower while still very small. Note that in Finland they are basically vegged in constant daylight in unlimited rootspace, they can reach a height of up to two meters tall. How much soil are you are you using?

Himalayan jungli x Finola 2 meters tall at 62n.

Wait... if you expect flowering at a certain node N°, then that would be autoflowering, wouldn't it?
They had semi-dark nights the first week (we have a #+/ç%& street light shining into the roof window and you can see everything quite clearly, just no colours) but then it was lights on 24/7. I think they just got stressed too much... but seem to grow really quite slowly in the beginning.
I have the remaining 10 germlings in a 15 cm pot for now, looks to me like that's enough for the next week. Before repotting, I'll wait a bit to see if the females start flowering too and give them some quiet time.
Got to organise some better soil for the real grow (along with the Nanda Devi and Ciskei) in 10 litre buckets.

Your cross looks nice! Does motivate me even more to do some fun crosses myself . Still not sure with what to cross; something similar like the short flowering Ciskei or the hardy Himalayan or completely the opposite like a tropical sativa... Some advice on that would be highly appreciated .

[Only Ornamental]

And here some pics (self-explaining I guess)...
The colours are a bit off, the leaves are rather green in reality.

[G.O. Joe]

Perhaps many hemp strains autoflower indoors and are sensitive to indoor light intensity. The local ditchweed is like that - had to top them to keep them from spiking, under 18 hrs HPS. 6" internodes on those, so the best cross for those is probably something very very indica like the NL5xHaze x Sour Bubble that I'm using for that.

[Thule]

Originally Posted by Only Ornamental

And here some pics (self-explaining I guess)...
The colours are a bit off, the leaves are rather green in reality.

Yeah, I consider them autoflowers. Looks like they were reaching for light and then had a bit too much, they probably haven't grown a lot of rootmass and just decided to flower

If you can't decide what to cross them with, why not do them all. That's how I make compromises. I did a couple of f1 crosses of the kind you described, they were interesting and fast plants but clearly had trouble deciding a balanced phenotype between the two very different types, if that makes any sense. The stuff was ok for edibles but the buds were few and far between, on top of that cannabis sativa ssb. sativa doesn't swell it's seedless buds, and the trait is dominant, so is the lack of branching.

[mexcurandero420]

Originally Posted by Thule

the trait is dominant, so is the lack of branching.

A bit of coconut milk will help for more branching.

Keep on growing

[Only Ornamental]

Originally Posted by oldchuck

I may as well update my little test batch too. I have nine little plants going out of 40 seeds. Very poor germination, in my opinion, and leads me to think the seeds were stepped on, attempted sterilization.

Mine are about a week younger than yours, OO, and the tallest is about 12 cm, on third node. Haven''t seen any sex indication yet. Kind of slow growers. They are under a two light T-5, 18/6.

Maybe you should try what's called 'stratification'. As a cross between two very similar Russian landraces from 58°N, they might need frost to break dormancy and to properly germinate? I know that 'frost germinating' seeds can need between just a few days in the fridge to well over 2 month in the freezer.

Maybe Thule has some experience?

[oldchuck]

I thought of that, OO. I put my pound of seeds right in the freezer as soon as I got them. First test batches have not had the benefit of much frost but I'll continue to do test germinations over the next few months and see if it makes a difference. What was your germination percentage? To me a 25% rate is very poor. The plants that sprouted are doing fine although a little slow compared to what I consider normal.

In a couple of weeks I'll be attending an oilseed producers workshop sponsored by our agricultural extensions service. Hemp is on the agenda. State bureaucrats will be on hand to answer questions. I may be planting a legal test crop this year. Maybe I can get some legal seeds.

[Only Ornamental]

Originally Posted by oldchuck

...What was your germination percentage? To me a 25% rate is very poor. The plants that sprouted are doing fine although a little slow compared to what I consider normal.

In a couple of weeks I'll be attending an oilseed producers workshop sponsored by our agricultural extensions service. Hemp is on the agenda. State bureaucrats will be on hand to answer questions. I may be planting a legal test crop this year. Maybe I can get some legal seeds.

100% cracked shells when soaked in water but only about 80% showed cotyledons (maybe I haven't paid enough attention when putting them into soil). About 50% grew nicely even in the rather dark conditions during the first weeks but several got burned or dried out when I switched the light.
After all the torture I put them through I have 10 left (=20%).

I'll do a second batch together with some other strains in the next days.

[Thule]

Originally Posted by Only Ornamental

Maybe you should try what's called 'stratification'. As a cross between two very similar Russian landraces from 58°N, they might need frost to break dormancy and to properly germinate? I know that 'frost germinating' seeds can need between just a few days in the fridge to well over 2 month in the freezer.

Maybe Thule has some experience?

Healthy fin314 seeds have a very thin husk and should sprout within hours, no need for stratification. That's why I find it so very hard to believe the original two strains were wild.. there's a massive difference between finola seeds and the wild seeds I've worked with. Perhaps the seeds are just old or stored badly. They don't sterilize seeds inside the EU.