Cracking Seeds? Feb 1st or March 1st?

analogcricket · Jan 17, 2015

Ive heard different opinions. Some say go earlier while the others say the go later. Ive heard people claim that cracking feb 1st the plants get mature to quick and stopping being as vigorous in july compared to younger seeds cracked march 1st dont stop growing and end up yielding than seeds cracked feb 1st.

whats your opinion?

:peacock:

DoubleTripleOG · Jan 17, 2015

I usually start mine in late January/ February(fems anyways). With regs I usually start them right after harvest in the fall. This gives me time to sex/pheno hunt well before the plants need to go out. I usually try and flower everything that's going outside at least once before I decide if it's worth it to put outside.

I've taken 6+ month old mothers that were rootbound in7 gal. grow bags and put them outside with great success. They grew just as good as any of the clones I put out. One of them was a 4' Wappa(cloned multiple times). It turned into a massive 10' tall 5' wide plant.

Koondense · Jan 17, 2015

All depends on genetics, soil prep, photoperiod and weather.
I guess if you want growing trees, start earlier - like now; but sometimes also april seedlings can grow big if not huge.

TRH Seeds · Jan 17, 2015

Why not try both and see what works out best for you? I'm starting some now under a 400 watt and I will be cracking more out in my hoophouse in march-

TRH Seeds · Jan 18, 2015

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Bo Hasset · Jan 23, 2015

seeds and clones for outdoor get started/rooted in april according to hippie moon cycles at my camp. i've sometimes done a march wave as well and while i've never noticed a tremendous difference in vigor between the two plantings i will say that it always seems the older plants tend to be more vulnerable to late season meltdowns from disease, pests, etc. but don't listen to me... i do crazy shit like foliar feed 6 weeks into the flowering cycle. i'm full tard.

snuggles · Jan 23, 2015

depends on your area, strain and other factors.
since i use hybrids for outdoors (mostly indica dominant), i aim for a certain height of the plant by a set date. this date may vary.
i crack beans, make clones, plant outside accordingly.
small detail: i consult a moon calendar and my local weather station for this.
greets

Powder2Burn · Jan 28, 2015

It's about sex

It's about sex

snuggles said:
depends on your area, strain and other factors.
since i use hybrids for outdoors (mostly indica dominant), i aim for a certain height of the plant by a set date. this date may vary.
i crack beans, make clones, plant outside accordingly.
small detail: i consult a moon calendar and my local weather station for this.
greets

We start in early Feb. so we can sex plants. if you use Fem seeds anytime will work. i just don't care for fem seeds. I like to sex and sort the females for traits. been working for us this way.

GanjaRebelSeeds · Jan 28, 2015

analogcricket said:
Ive heard different opinions. Some say go earlier while the others say the go later. Ive heard people claim that cracking feb 1st the plants get mature to quick and stopping being as vigorous in july compared to younger seeds cracked march 1st dont stop growing and end up yielding than seeds cracked feb 1st.

whats your opinion?

Sometimes Feb starts will run out of vigor or at least be harder to keep healthy than March starts. And they can and have flowered if they sex too early. See what the moon schedule is and try to plant on the new moon. I would recommend Feb starts for very large amounts of soil per plant,1.5 yards+. And I wouldn't plant until the 3rd week of Feb.
March starts will catch up fast and will still fill out a lot of soil space. They will be easier to keep healthy.
Plant both. I like to plant several rounds of seeds, gives you more to choose from. I like Feb 21-25 (8-10 lb+ potential), March 1-7 (6-8+lb potential), March 21-25 (4-6+ lb potential).
I've also hit 4-6 lb'ers planting the first week of April. And had Feb seed plants run out of fuel and hit the same.

oyvaydude · Jan 29, 2015

What seeds exactly do you plant to get those 10 pounders? Id love to find some for this upcoming season to put in my 400 gallon smart pots.

bringyalungs · Jan 29, 2015

GanjaRebelSeeds said:
Sometimes Feb starts will run out of vigor or at least be harder to keep healthy than March starts. And they can and have flowered if they sex too early. See what the moon schedule is and try to plant on the new moon. I would recommend Feb starts for very large amounts of soil per plant,1.5 yards+. And I wouldn't plant until the 3rd week of Feb.
March starts will catch up fast and will still fill out a lot of soil space. They will be easier to keep healthy.
Plant both. I like to plant several rounds of seeds, gives you more to choose from. I like Feb 21-25 (8-10 lb+ potential), March 1-7 (6-8+lb potential), March 21-25 (4-6+ lb potential).
I've also hit 4-6 lb'ers planting the first week of April. And had Feb seed plants run out of fuel and hit the same.

hmmmm, soil prep? or you just let those beatches run in the natural soil

Kygiacomo!!! · Jan 29, 2015

i start my seeds april 1 and set out in the hills on may1..i did start some on march 15th one year and i found that they do not grow as fast since its colder here then the ones i started on april 1..by june1 the ones that i started in april is either the same height or taller then the ones started 2 weeks early..i dont have a indoor light system so i have to rely on mother nature to provide the heat and light..

Team Microbe · Jan 29, 2015

I like to start 2 months prior to transplanting. This allows me to get the plants big enough to harden them off before hauling them out to my patches.

Being at 42N, I transplant between May 25th - June 1st. So I'll start plants from seed on April 1st indoors, and set them on 16 hr light cycles until bringing em outdoors at the end of May. 2 month old plants are big enough to handle the great outdoors, yet small enough to fit about 8 inside a 30 gallon tote for transporting. If I didn't have to transport young plants to my outdoor patch I would start 3-4 months prior to transplant and open up plants as much as possible with topping and LST'ing.

atropurpureum · Feb 2, 2015

mooncalendar

mooncalendar

a question to the mooncalendar, for hemp i use the bloom plant days right? first picked the fruit days and now im just not 100% shure, but i think its a stupid question xD

MJPassion · Feb 2, 2015

I plant by the lunar cycles as well.

A waxing moon is used for planting above ground crops while a waning moon is for below ground or root crops.
Of course, this is just a general planting guideline & can be broken down according to planetary alignments as well. For example:
Feb 19,20 & 28 are "flower" planting days.
Start seeds on these days if you are planting for the purpose of harvesting flowers.
If you intend to use the plants to produce seed, plant on Feb 17 & 18.

Here is a link to the calendar that I use.
http://www.astrologie-info.com/mocal.cgi?language=eng&sidtrop=sid
It is a basic calendar broken down by the days.
A person can go further & purchase a Maria Thun calendar that breaks these planting cycles down to the individual hours of the days.

atropurpureum · Feb 2, 2015

thanks thats what i needed

i have the Maria Thun calendar and can really recommend it or something other with the exact hours, if you want to stick to the planets.
example the flower/light day Feb 20 is only until 10 am, then comes leaf/water.
im litte stocking about making seeds on 17 und 18 feb, that are root/earth days in my calendar, from where is this info? in your linked calendar i can see nothing from seedplants on these days (but the sign for seedplants looks similar) im litte confused i would sow and harvest flower seedplants on flower days too....

MJPassion · Feb 2, 2015

Yeah... that link is what I use now.
I purchased a Maria Thun calendar last year but it was a waste of money on my part since I only used it for my buds & not my vegis. hehehe That and attempting to micromanage my days just to plant things for an hour or 3 was just too time consuming. And... I'm not a biidynamic farmer but do believe in the influences of the lunar & planetary cycles.

In that link I provided, the key to the symbols are below the calendar.

MJPassion · Feb 2, 2015

Apparently you need to sow seed with a goal in mind in order to choose the proper planting date.

If your main purpose for those particular plants are for the production of seed, plant on a seed day & harvest at an appropriate date as well.

If I have the goal of both seed & flower, I tend to plant on seed days. I want my seeds to be as healthy as possible.

mendo-local · Feb 2, 2015

The seeds I start sometime in march always catch up and do better than the feb. Seeds. This year I will look for a stretch of nice weather mid march to start in my greenhouse.

oyvaydude · Feb 2, 2015

i hear lots of people talking about running out of vigor if planting seeds to early. Im wondering what size pots these people use, cause I figure as long as the roots continue have room to grow, say in a 400 gallon pot, they should grow to the 8-10lb range if started early enough. Also, with the march seeds catching up...how were the feb seeds started?...In a greenhouse with heat added?...

Cracking Seeds? Feb 1st or March 1st?

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