Newbie Guide on Big Bud

Hello everybody,

I am trying to germinate a few big bud seeds bought from an online shop, but so far I am just 50% successful. I had 5 seeds and I planted 2 seeds, one of which didn't germinate in 5 days so I'm not hoping in it anymore, and a second one, which I held into a glass of water for about 16 hours then moved it into a little bucket (1 liter volume) filled with soil I bought from the flower shop, and placed about 3-4mm of soil on it, then watered (not excessively, with fresh water from my fish tank, dechlorinated). After I moved it into the bucket, I covered the top with transparent plastic foil (the type you use to package sandwiches and stuff), and put the lid on it (so it would stay in total darkness), then placed it on the radiator in my living room. It stayed there for 3 days now, but it didn't yet come out of the soil (I opened it today and saw that white little "tail" starting to come out though).

My question is, if anyone here has grown big bud so far, how long does it take until it actually starts to grow? Is it a slower growing species or what? It seems to me like I'm doing something wrong, since it has made such little progress in 4 days, so I could really use some professional help. What would you advise me to do? This is my first setup, so any help is very appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

I've also placed the bucket under fluorescent lights (2/4 on for now - that's 1900lm, I'll start the other 2 when the seed actually becomes a plant). Attached the picture.



Also, please recommend other beginner suitable types of plants...Thanks.

As it turned out, it was the seeds that were faulty, not the methods I used. I placed another seed into a glass of water on the same radiator last night around midnight, and it already has started to sprout now.

I would, however, like to know which other strains you have grown and were easy to deal with, as I am a beginner. I saw here in the forum that some strains labeled as "medium" (ex White Widow) or "experienced" in the seed shops were actually recommended as newbie plants here in the forum, so I sure trust experience more than theory

Thanks a bunch. I'll come back with updated pics as soon as my plant is starting to develop...I was kinda disappointed at first, but now I'm back!

Oh, also please let me know what you think about my setup. I know it's kind of small (it has 20cm x 55cm x 30 cm - width x height x depth), but I intend to build another larger one in a few weeks. and maybe keep this one only for vegging. If I won't be able to afford a larger one, will I be able to start flowering into this one or maybe 2 plants? Also, all 4 bulbs produce 3700 lumens. I have also bought some activated carbon which I'll turn into some "pillows" as someone has made here in the forums to put in there as soon as it starts to stink the place up. In terms of lighting and keeping the smell away, I believe a smaller space is easier to maintain (I might be wrong though), but what about the health of the plants and they're yield?

imo bigbud will out grow that room pretty quick its a sativa dom which means its gonna grow quite tall even if you lstd and topped it 55cm would be too small to flower it

Okay, it seems like you are on the verge of breaking through. Your setup seems fine for a beginner and you have to read a ton to get where you want to be. It can be discouraging at times but you have to learn from your mistakes and push forward. Good luck and I will be waiting to see your plant after it peeks out of the soil. Try not to kill it with kindness. As for your germinating technique, you were spot on. These designer genetics can be tricky.

Thanks for your answers. After reading some more, I think it would be safe to move the plants to a closet, which is waay bigger (I'll just split it in half, giving me a space of about 1.2 meters high, about 60 cm wide and about 40 deep). The only reason I didn't do this from the beginning was that I saw lots of people saying not to put your plants into the bedroom, but I couldn't find more specific reasons. I have limited space (living in a 2 room apartment, excepting the kitchen and batroom). However, if I will be using activated carbon filters, then I guess I should be fine keeping the plant in the bedroom, right? Also I'm considering this because I then could get myself a HPS lamp for the flowering stage, which I would not be able to mount in that small cabinet I'm using for now.

Also wanted to ask: ventilation is absolutely required for my current small grow room? The cabinet I'm using right now has an improvised card board "door", and if I mount a small computer motherboard fan on it (which I tried), I end up with alot of noise due to vibration. The temperature inside stays at about 22-23 degrees, with the door closed and after almost 2 days of continuous light. Could the fluoros heat the space so much as to catch fire? I'm trying to put safety before everything, I don't want to burn the apartment down just for one plant lol.

Thanks again!

yes you need ventilation plants need fresh air

I'm starting to believe now that the seeds were crap...still the seeds didn't break the soil, not even after 3 days...I'm trying to understand what I'm doing wrong, but I don't know what to make of the situation...could the soil be a factor here? I didn't plant the seeds deep into the ground, just about 1cm below the surface, and I didn't press the soil over the seed or anything...just added a little water so the soil is moist, but nothing more...when I planted the seeds, they were "open" and a little tail was showing, so I guess germination couldn't be a factor. Could the strain be bad, hence growing so slowly?

I'll just let the seeds there for the weekend, as I'm leaving the town for a couple of days, and hopefully they will be sprouted when I get back...

I've ordered some bubblelicious fem seeds from Nirvana last night and hopefully they will be here sometimes next week, and I'll have more luck with that.

try getting one of those sliding matchboxes, a little one and taping a small piece of really fine grit sandpaper in the bottom. stick a seed in there, shake it for about five seconds or less. Get two paper towels wet, fold them in fourths, squeeze out excess water and place one on a plate. stick roughed up seeds on that damp to wet papertowel, palce othe damp paper towel on top of that, place another plate on top(upside down) and put in your closet. check to make sure paper towels stay damp and you should see a sprout in no time. 2 days at most.

Thanks everyone for the great deal of help. I've learned that the soil was the problem, just bought it from a flower shop in the market, I guess it was infested and/or lost nutrients during winter being kept outside. I've now gone under another test, bought myself a nice bag of acidic soil from a more trusted source (my guess is some sort of peat) with a ph of 5.5-6.5 and started over. My last seed germinated in just under 20hrs, then I've moved it into the soil and 3 days later, the following result was achieved:

I'm now waiting my white widow seeds, but I'm hoping in this Big Bud strain, as well. Hehe, looks like it wasn't so hard at all, once you understand where you failed.

i have a big bud strain in my garden right now, you can see it in my journal. but i like it it grows well and the buds seem like they are going to be big i am going on 3rd week of flowering. side note i use jiffy pellets to grow from seed and they work great and grows fast. my one month old mothers from seed are about 2 feet tall now.my big bud seems to grow just as fast as my other strains. i topped them and supercrop them alot to keep them all even with all budsites at the canopy.they also seem to do good with nutrients.i feed them quite a bit and they take it no problem.

Thanks. I was thinking about going without nutes for now, because the plant is still young, but I looked today after some nutes, and all I found was some sort of "Universal Flower Nutrients", which were recommended for all types of plants, but the NPK values were a little high: 8/5.5/5.5. Also, I found something for the flowering period, also some universal stuff, with the values of 4.5/4.5/8 if I remember right. Are these any good at all, or are they too powerful for the MJ plant?

Here are some updated pics (5 and 7 days old, respectively):
Would now be a good time to transplant the Big Bud? The roots are starting to come out of the bottom of the container, which was just about 5cm in height (the soil in it I mean), so I had to go with that for the time being. Also, that little burn on the tip of the leaf I'm guessing came from heat exposure, but I need a confirmation (the bulb was just 3-4 cm away from the plant, I've moved it a bit higher now (10 cm or so).

And my newly "born" White Widow from Nirvana (sprouted yesterday after about 20 hrs - wet paper towel method). Now it's been just 1 day into the soil and it already broke through!

Thank you.

PS: redeyez, when do you top your plants? How many nodes should it have when you top it? I've looked at a bunch of cloning techniques (why not root the tip if I'm cutting it, right?) and they all show large plants (7-8 nodes or so), so I couldn't make anything of that.

Nevermind, I transplanted it and it made it, although a little part of the root broke during the process (not from the main root, anyway, just a little side branch, just about the 1/8th the size of the whole root). Will post picture updates tomorrow with the new home

The BB at 10 days:
The WW at 5:

Your problem was that you were planting them too deep. 3-4 cm is too deep for germination, it should be about 1 cm, or even a bit less. I just thought I'd add that, should you try to germ them in soil again.

jawbrodt said:

Your problem was that you were planting them too deep. 3-4 cm is too deep for germination, it should be about 1 cm, or even a bit less. I just thought I'd add that, should you try to germ them in soil again.

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No, I planted them fine (just 3-4 mm under the soil). Pay attention The soil in the bowl was 5 cm deep.

ValiD said:

No, I planted them fine (just 3-4 mm under the soil). Pay attention The soil in the bowl was 5 cm deep.

Click to expand...

Doh! Damn foreigners, and your metric crap. Haha! :wink;

No prob The tip is good to remember, though, so thanks. Another good tip to remember is never water the soil after planting the seeds. I've found if the soil is moist (not dripping wet) when you plant your seeds, and you just leave them alone for 1-2 days (the soil should not have dried completely so far, depends on the container you plant them in), they will sprout nice and easy, exactly where you put them. Mine didn't take more than 1 day to break the soil, after I've managed to learn the basics. Properly.

My gals seem to be doing pretty great. The big bud started to really shoot up, and the WW is also green and nice.

11 days BB:

Seems like the leaf burns were caused indeed by keeping the plant too close to the light. Since I've moved the light, the burn didn't extend (only it's just the leaves grew a bit more in the mean time).

And the ww (6 days):

Hoping for 2 nice females with long leaves and big buds. Can't wait to see them all grown up...

I was thinking about LST-ing the Big Bud. Would you do it? I mean, is it worth it for this strain? Also, at which point should I tie the top? I was thinking about waiting another week or so, until the plant develops 2 more nodes. Now it only has 2 leaf nodes + the cotyledon but it's still pretty fragile and I don't want to tamper with it just yet. Plus, the current nodes are very close (3-4 mm at best).

Another thing I was wondering: the plant is now 12 days old, and I was thinking to start feeding it after another 3-4-5 more days. Is this a good idea?

Thanks again, guys! Really appreciate the help.

bump?

day 13: