What's up my fellow Cannabis Lovers and Enthusiasts!? It's time to welcome you all back to another edition of:
This new addition to my "After Hours" series has been in the works for quite a while now, and after a few personal issues, I finally have my temporary indoor closet setup up and running! It isn't much to speak of, just a small grow light (which was donated by a fellow WeedCash Community Member!) and a desk fan for the time being, but I do have hoods and ballasts ready to go for both a Vegetative State setup and a Flowering State setup.
These hoods and ballasts actually came from a close friend of mine, so other than the $10 I spent on shipping for the tester seeds, I am able to reuse most of the supplies from my first outdoor grow! So, this is, yet again, a very budgeted grow operation, using a decent-sized closet and reused/donated materials. Hopefully, this will inspire some others to start a grow, even if they are on a budget as well, because it can be done! (My first grow only cost me a total of $80 for good soil and buckets)
My friend also brought me a few extra supplies that may get me started with a Hydroponic setup at some point, but for now, I'm going to stick to soil! I have heard of the benefits of Hydroponic, and that it's a lot easier to maintain proper pH levels, but I also know it can get rather costly to start up, and since everything I do is extremely budgeted, that isn't exactly feasible at this point in time!
But anyways, let's get on back to the real reason for this post!
Our Irvine Seed Company Level 1 Tester Seeds!
I first found out about Irvine Seed Company, and their tester program, from @ericwilson on the WeedCash Community Discord! He had mentioned that the testers were free, and all you had to do was pay for shipping. So, I headed over to their website pretty quickly and I found a link to their Discord server (link below) where I was able to find out more about their tester program and the seeds that were currently included!
Their tester program changed a bit since I first joined, but it's still a pretty good program! As you could imagine, you start with Level 1; these are all regular photoperiod seeds, but they all seem like pretty outstanding strains to grow! As far as I remember, you used to have to share posts on their Discord server and social media in order to level up to Level 2 status, but now they have opened it up more for Discord members! How did they do this? Well, when they release the newest Level 2 tester seed drop, they include a Promo Code to be used during checkout in order to get them for free (normally $100), all you have to do is pay $10 USD for flat-rate shipping! Although, these do come as a "first come, first served" basis.
I'm unsure what you have to do to level up to Level 3, whoever, these seeds are more all more exclusive strains, and normally cost $250 per pack. Although, once you officially level up in their program, they are completely free other than shipping. Like I said, not a bad deal when you really think about it.
The testers do change up every month or so, but two of the strains that were available at the time were Blue Dream x Lemon Diesel, and Sour Diesel x Cheese, and a third that I'm unsure of now. I wasn't sure which strain I would get since they were picked at random according to availability, but I also ended up getting a free Discord gift of their signature Northern Lights x Perfect Circle strain (feminized photoperiod seeds) when I signed up, so I order one of the tester seeds packs and I hoped for the best.
About a week later, I was able to claim another free Discord gift, which happened to be their Lemon Kush feminized photoperiod seeds, and I went ahead and ordered a second batch of testers!
I ended up getting both of the Level 1 Tester Strains listed above, the Blue Dream x Lemon Diesel regular photoperiod seeds, and the Sour Diesel x Cheese regular photoperiod seeds! I was really excited, to say the least because I personally love both the Blue Dream and the Sour Diesel strains, so having an opportunity to grow a cross strain of each of these is thrilling! Now, while I do plan on writing two separate blogs for these testers, I figured I would include the germination process of both into one post!
The ISC-Verified Germination Process
I started the germination process on both sets of testers on October 1st, 2022, and although I wanted to start them sooner, my personal issues got in the way and prevented me from getting a lot done around the house as I had planned.
I followed the instructions that Irvine Seed Company had included in the package with the seeds (shown below), and let them float in a cup of water in a dark cupboard for the next few days, checking on them periodically to see how they were progressing!
According to these ISC-Verified instructions, it could take anywhere from 2-7 days for the seeds to germinate, which isn't too bad! Also, this was a very first for me, but apparently, the seeds that float on top of the water are good, and the ones that sink are bad! I've always kept seeds that sunk, as long as there was no visible damage to the casing itself, although, that may explain way some of my plants in my first grow didn't make it past the initial seedling stage!
I had 3 seeds from each Tester Strain, so 6 total, and I also started one of each of the feminized strains just to see how they would do! Out of the tester sets, only 4 out of the 6 germinated, leaving one of each strain to sink to the bottom during the process. I may have been able to put them in a paper towel and attempt to start it that way, but I wanted to follow the steps that ISC had recommended and test out their germination instructions!
I wish I would have gotten some more pictures of the process, but unfortunately, with everything else going on, it wasn't the first thing on my mind, to be honest. But anyways, our testers had germinated and had a nice taproot going by October 5th, so I went ahead and transplanted them into plastic temporary "starter pots" (the ones used to start your tomatoes seeds before transplanting then into the ground).
As of November 5th, it has officially been a month since they were planted, and I am happy to report that 2 of our testers are thriving in the closet environment! The other two testers, as well as the feminized seeds, don't seem like they will make it. There was a little bit of yellowing in the first set water leaves, which has slowly creeped up to the bottom set of fan leaves. This left 4 of the 6 seedlings to dry out and wither. Personally, I have wondered if my light was too close at first, or if the pH levels are off in the soil and/or water.
I was also a little inconsistent with my light-to-dark hours at first, and to be honest I still can be, although I make sure they receive more than 12 hours of light per day. Exactly how many hours vary from day to day, but I do try to keep it as consistent as possible. I am pretty ashamed to admit that I have left the light on for over 24 hours, but I did allow the plants to have almost 10 hours of darkness before restarting their light cycle, so I hope this does create any long last effects on the plants in the long run. I do plan on getting a timer, but for the time being, I will need to get better about turning the lights on and off at a more consistent time!
I've also made a change from my original grow, and have been attempting to use bottles of water instead of tap, and the 2 Testers seem to like it, but the others don't seem to be making a comeback as of yet. So, I may start using tap water as I did with my outdoor grow, letting it gas off for 24-48 hours before use, since that's the only major change I have implemented into this grow, other than being indoors! The soil I am using is the same mix of Fox Farms' Happy Frog and Ocean Forest Potting Soil that I used in my outdoor grow, so I hope that this mix of the two wasn't too acidic for these specific strains. I will have to do some research, but this should be available on either the ISC website or Discord, so I will include those in my next post, as well as the crude analysis of the pH levels of the soils I am using!
I do have a little bit of faith in the Lemon Kush feminized seed, as it is still attempting to make some new green growth on top, although, it definitely isn't as healthy looking as the Testers! I'm waiting as long as possible to declare the death of the other 3 plants, and although it doesn't look promising, I know that if there is any life left in these plants, it will find a way to live.
This little side note is purely for an experiment that has been brought up in the WeedCash Community before, which is the "Seed Sexing Theory". Supposedly, if the taproot starts from the side of the seed, it will be a male; alternatively, if the taproot starts from either end of the seed, it will be a female. This was the main reason I started feminized seeds with my testers, so that way I could compare the taproots from the feminized seeds to that of the regular seeds. If the theory is correct, I believe that both of these testers will be female, and although I didn't get a picture of them, each of the taproots had started from one end of the seed, before growing downwards into the cup of water.
But, now that it's been a month, and since the tester seedlings have started to grow their 3rd node, I believe it will be time to transplant them into a bigger pot soon! I also believe that I will attempt to supercrop these seedlings as well as attempt to clone the clippings! I've never attempted cloning, but you have to start somewhere!
Below: Blue Dream x Lemon Diesel Level 1 Tester
So from here on out, I'll be keeping an extra careful and watchful eye on these plants, and make sure to post regular updates on each of these Tester Strains! Unfortunately, I still haven't managed to get a pH tester for water or for soil, but I'll definitely be looking into that in the future!
Thank you all for joining me in this journey, and for all of your continued support! I hope you all have a great week, and don't forget to tune-in next week for another "After Hours" ISC Tester Update! Stay Trippy, My Little Hippies! ✌️💚
Irvine Seed Company logos provided by Irvine Seed Company via Discord! Edited from original using Canva!
Dividers provided by @canna-curate via the WeedCash.Network Discord!
Signature provided by @doze, stop by his blog to see his newest Hive inspired creations!
"Saturday Savers Club" banner provided by the @eddie-earner and @susie-saver's Saturday Savers Club blog!
"Gardening with the Anarchists" and "Level One Tester" Banners created using Canva! Background taken with my Moto G Stylus and Edited using Photoshop Express App for Android!
All photos were taken on my trust old Motorola Moto G Stylus!