Cultivation Corner Starting Seeds

So you want to sprout those ganja seeds you found in your stash?
First off I want you to be sure that your grow space will be warm enough for seed germination.
Most indoor grow rooms will not have an issue, but many will be too hot due to poor choices in air flow control.
You will want your soil between 60-80 with 65-70 being ideal. More heat or cold than that range and the plants may grow, but they will not thrive.


When you start your seeds many folks are tempted to use the expandable peat cups sold in garden centers across the land. I do not advise these cups at all. They have given me more trouble than they are worth.
Instead I recommend that you plant in a 6-10 inch pot. Get the soil properly moist before placing it in the pot to avoid dry spaces in the soil. Put the pot on a small tray to catch the water and to water into.
You will need a spray bottle filled with water to keep the top of the soil moist. Watering the plant as a seed or a sproutling directly is a bad plan. Your plant can be buried by floating soil, or if it is still a seed, washed out from the planters center to the edge of the pot and buried too deep to survive sprouting.


So after you have your pot filled with moist soil and on a catch tray, put a single seed in the center of the pot and push it into the soil with your finger about 1 knuckle deep. Cover the seed with just enough soil to level the top soil.
Next day you will spray the top of the soil of the planter down with your spray bottle making sure to get enough water on the soil that it should last the day or longer. Now I want you to check the soil 2 times daily, just in case you need to re-water on dry days. You really need to keep on top of things the first few weeks of the plants life. I have ruined some pretty great seeds by not paying attention to this detail on hot days. Learn from my mistake.
Be sure to water from the bottom every other day or so to maintain the soils moisture.
Once the plant is about 6 inches or taller, you can directly water the plant and not worry too much about flooding out your plant and washing it out of its space or burying it.
Once this sprout is about 8-12 inches it is ready to transplant to a larger pot. These small sprouting pots are not going to work for the plant beyond this point. If kept in this small pot much longer, your plant will be artificially dwarfed and have issues.


How wet is too wet?
When you grab a handful of the soil and squeeze it, it shouldn't drip unless you squeeze as hard as you can. With a modest squeeze the soil will not drip, with a heavy squeeze a few drops come out. This is ideal seed sprouting wetness. When you are growing established plants the soil should be just a hair dryer and not drip but maybe one drop when squeezed as hard as possible. It should leave the hand moist but not wet. This is a general rule, it is ok to give your plants a good soaking when you water them. Just be sure that you have good drainage so that excess water leaves the soil.


contact candiussell@yahoo.com
for seeds that are affordable

Cultivation Corner, Tips for Marijuana Cultivation Cloning...

Many folks have problems with cloning. You follow the best practices on choosing which branch to cut from, leave ample stem length, cut proper and used this or that rooting medium and it still fails...
My best bet?
Temps are your problem. The rooting medium is getting to chilly.


I want you to go out and buy some things...a bag of washed sand from the pet supply store, a seed tray, a seed tray heating matt and a mechanical electric timer with 15 minute intervals.
You are going to put your cuttings into the washed sand. Cut the same as you always do, use the same rooting hormones.


The sand should be wet but when you squeeze it, no water should drip out and our hand should be moist when you drop the sand. Then you place the cutting tray on the heat matt. The heat matt is set to the timer and will only run for 15 minutes an hour during daylight, and when it is lights out the timer should be set to 15 minutes on and 30 minutes off until the light turns back on. This will keep the washed sand warm enough to encourage cell activity, but not so hot that it cooks the clones.
Be sure to check water level in the sand a couple times a day. The near constant heat source can dry out the sand and that would spell disaster. Covering the tray may seem like a good idea, but it isn't in the long run. Often it will encourage rot on lower leaves that may touch the soil and set the cuttings up for shock when the fresh rooted cutting are transferred to pots.


Now if you live in an area that cold isn't the issue I suggest that you root clones in a place in the home under a T-5 light. Home temperatures are typically held at comfortable rooting temperature.


Again as always, if you need affordable dank seeds contact:
candiussell@yahoo.com

The cultivation corner...Marijuana master cultivation tip #1

So you want to grow good marijuana? Don't we all!
First thing you need is some clones or some seeds. (I sell seeds. Shameless self promotion.)
Now before you get your hands on those seeds or clones, you really should familiarize yourself with the plants life cycle. Just good farming.
Now to that end I would highly recommend the book "Marijuana Horticulture, by Jorge Cervantes".
That book and numerous other tomes written on the topic will get you solidly on the way to growing good plants.


For those who do know about marijuana cultivation I would like to discuss the practice of re-vegetation.
Re-vegetation happens when we introduce a plant that has already flowered back under 18 hour vegetation light cycle. Preferably you would do this with a plant that is harvested, why waste the nuggets. Eventually the plant will start to g back into vegetative mode and prepare itself for another harvest.
To do this successfully the harvester must leave the bottom 1/3 of the plant intact. Now some may balk at such a 'waste of nuggets' but it really isn't a sacrifice in the grand scheme. Most plants have just tiny nuggets on those bottom branches that do not amount to a hill of beans. Now the more you leave on the plant, the better the plants chances...to a certain point. You want to expose the undeveloped under nuggets that still have white healthy hairs to plenty of light. So removing some amount of bud is needed to get a good re-vegetation.
Once a plant has shown definitive proof of re-vegetation it will be safe to transfer the plant to a new pot. In fact it is advisable. The plant will become a huge bush the second time around if you leave ample buds after initial harvest and you get it into a larger pot for the second go around.


Why do we re-vegetate when growing from seed or procured clones will make a faster crop?
Easy, you re-vegetate the best plants of your crop, those real winners that blew your mind. After the plant gets properly re-established and in solid vegetative state you can clone this plant and have a nice private strain. I use the re-vegetation to keep some plants around until the next male growing cycle. Pretty hard to pollinate plants that are not still alive. Now if you are willing to sacrifice some of todays nuggets to make more nuggets later many plants will make more nuggets the second go around if you optimize the plant.


Re-vegetation typically adds 3-5 weeks to a grow cycle, but good things come to those who can wait.


Have a great garden,
Cynthia Lee


To procure seeds contact candiussell@yahoo.com
put SEEDS in the subject line.

Cannabis Sativa Seeds

If you are in one of the medical marijuana states (or any Oregon State Resident) and are looking for marijuana seeds I can put you in contact with a seed provider.
Their seeds are very affordable and proven producers.


Shoot me an email:
candiussell@yahoo.com

Cannabis Seeds in Washington State

If you are looking for cannabis seeds in the state of Washington and can provide verifiable bona fides that you are a medical marijuana patient, contact me as I can put you in contact with a reasonable priced provider of seeds.
candiussell@yahoo.com


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Buddy Dog Report

Buddy went and tore his other ACL last night. This time we are fortunately able to afford his surgery and the surgeon was available to do the surgery today. We haven't got him back from the vet yet, but the prognosis is good. He has been down this road before with his other leg and this time we were able to get to the surgery immediately.
I wanted to once again thank everyone who helped Buddy pay for his surgery three years ago. I figured all of y'all wonderful folks would appreciate the update and knowing that he will be ok this time around.


So how did the goof-ball do it this time?
He was running around the yard, at warp speed acting the fool and having a blast. It is such a shame just being a dog and doing what dogs do has such a taxing effect on his legs. Poor guy. But the veterinarian surgeon that fixed the leg the last time expected to see this happen in the other leg. And the surgeon doing the surgery today is the same guy who did the wonderful job on Buddy's other leg. So we are confident that the big guy is in good hands.

So PSA time:
.
Spay or neuter your pets.
Adopt a rescue. (Buddy was a street rescue and he has been the best dog ever.)
If you can donate time at your local pet rescue or veterinarians clinic.

Power Gamers and the Mini-Max Character

To the Mini-Max Player

You can take a character with half the points everyone else has available and you can build a mini-maxed, twinked out character that is a combat god. You are impossible to kill by normal means due to your diligence in knowing every bonus and trick in the book. When the Loremaster scrutinizes your hero before play they must try and figure out your angle every game. If the Loremaster tries to deny the Hero for play you are diligent in pointing out how your character fits into every rule and regulation. Your Hero is completely legit in all ways. And you are right, technically these heroes are most often the best written up heroes when it comes to point allocation. Never will you find a mistake in calculation, they never take an extra point, but they never miss one either. Then the Loremaster must argue rules or just put their foot down. This is not fun at all.
Or the Loremaster misses the super smart twink job the player is pulling off with this hero’s character sheet. They have figured out an exploit if you will and they can’t wait to get into game and try it out. Then mid game the Loremaster and Players realize that your Hero out classes the rest of their heroes substantially. The Loremaster has to stop and think hard, and the players are now worried they will have to face challenges out of their league due to the new dynamic you have introduced into play.
Ok, we get it you are the smartest and best ever. Now can we get back to playing a proper Role Playing Game?
I am not aiming this at the player of the Hero that is really good at a couple of things, or even has a reputation as a force to be reckoned with. Nor is it the Hero who through game play develops into a powerful hero with End Game powers; it is the player of the hero that is designed to rule the game in combat or a spell caster that was built around a single spell who gets the collective ire of the game table. The combat god who is unhittable, who also lays down killing blows every hit and knows every weapon type knowable is an End Game hero Skippy. Yet the only thing End Game about your Hero is your combat skills. You have no skills beyond combat and you don’t have the end game magic items to back your play.
When you write up such characters you put the Loremaster at a calculated disadvantage. The only thing that matters to you is the survival of your hero regardless of anyone else’s need. To deal with your Twink I have to up the power level of the dungeon. But when I do this the other players are placed at a serious unfair disadvantage. Also I am faced with a player who wrote up a vastly over powered character compared to the rest of the group, who will at the drop of the hat get upset and argue the rules or call cheese when the big guns are pulled out and their hero was killed off or defeated. ‘You singled me out’ is the cry of the player. Yes, you were singled out, your overly powerful; pain in the ass character was hashing my storyline and putting the other heroes at an unfair risk.
If the only way I can harm one of the heroes is with an End Game monster, then I have to put said monsters in the game. Yet here we are supposed to play a Starting Saga and you already are rolling 19+ True Grips to hit and dodging out of every blow with your ungodly 19 Hit Goal. Sure these are fine power levels for an End Game Saga, and I have no problem with these power levels when everyone is playing at that power level. The essence of a great game is game balance. End Game powers at Starting Game are inappropriate.
The other players don’t like your characters. You put the focus on you and your hero. There is little glory for them when you are the only one who can harm the End Game monster.

Also there is this issue with your Hero; you have no skills beyond combat. The other heroes have to pull your weight in all Role Playing scenes. They can’t send you to do shit but kill something. Your hero can’t haggle for better prices, rally troupes, lie to the constable, ride a horse, and socialize with the elite, swim, read, or anything else that may come in handy when actual role playing is going on.

And it isn’t just warrior players who are guilty, Wizard Twink players, you are just as guilty. When you do things like make a single spell so powerful that it rivals Rune Powers you also limit your hero in so many ways. Now I am not talking about a Hero with a high Enchantment taking a favored spell. Sure no problem, but when you write up the Hero so that you can walk into the Spell Crafting dice roll with 18+ dice and you have max proficiency you are twinking. Rolling a grip of 12-15 dice wouldn’t kill you. Not having +15 due to Proficiency and Enchantment won’t kill you. Sure your Hero can at least read and write, it is a must for the spell caster hero, but you only have one real thing the others rely on from you. But here you are with an End Game Power and the rest of the players are at actual Basic, Hero or Legend play. But you only have that one end game level power. No one else in the group has a hero with an end game power. To be able to deal with this wizard the Loremaster has to put more powerful adversaries in the Saga, which puts the other players Heroes at a disadvantage.

When you introduce Heroes that are over powered compared to the rest of the heroes or Saga, you force a power skip in the Saga. There are wide swaths of low level monsters and villains the Loremaster could use, but this Hero makes it so these bad-guys cannot be put into play.

For the Saga to be an actual game, there to be that excitement of chance for all parties, the game must be balanced.

Why do we even allow these players at our tables one may wonder? But it is a matter of friendship or social politics in most cases. We don’t often play a Role Playing Game with people we don’t care for. We most often game with our friends, family and associates. It is hard to say no to friends and family. You like these people and value their friendship. What is a hero between friends? So we let it ride and suck it up.

Strive for game balance. Don’t look for every angle and advantage. Part and parcel of the game is being challenged. Also consider those times when your Hero may get stuck in a Role Playing intense game session and how much of an anchor your character might be if you combat twink your hero. How are you supposed to smuggle goods past the city guards if you can’t be sneaky, wear a disguise or bribe them? How are you going to get an audience with the Mayor if you have no social skills? How will you be able to haggle for bargain prices at the bizarre? Ever notice that your twink hero has to do everything the hard way? It is not a wonder when you roll only on your attributes.