glog GyO = 2025 = BACK IN BLACK IS BEAUTIFUL PLANTS MATTER

growyourown · Feb 25, 2025

welcome back, folks, and thanks for watching!

the big batch of seeds hit the cells on the night of the 16th (and some are already up now, since i slacked so long on completing and posting this - i really need to get better at glogging).

here is what was sown:

as you see, i was forced to choose a few extra non-dark varieties because although i mathematically had room to fit 7x each of my dark ones, keeping each type to a "six-pack" in the grid is much easier to look at and keep track of.

here is the layout of the trays:

and here's what we have so far for life on the earlier starts:
(rear tray is rocotos, front tray tazzies and choc bhutlah)

6/9 tas black, 2/3 giant yellow (third was up but died due to helmet), 3/3 epfh, 2/3 choc bhutlah, 0/3 rio hualaga, 0/3 scotch brains yellow. with the casualty it's 13/24 overall. really pissed off about the brains, and glad i dropped another three on the second sowing. i will have to check my records as to whether i even had any germ on those last year...

i will also have to get the pots ready to up-cup these tazzies.

now for the new ones up as of today:
(eye test: how many can you spot?)

there are 11 (but 2 are helmets thus more camouflaged). the other 40-cell only has one up and it's a helmet too. and the 24 cells of black and assorted types also nothing up yet. going to go and rotate them on the mats now, something i forgot/was too lazy to ever do in the last ten days.

and an updated pic of the tazzies with many first leaves formed (and a big EPFH in the back tray):
GAME ON, GROWDOWNERS!

wishing all of you the best with your grows. today is that day for me where the first bunch of seeds pop all at once and it is uplifting to see your efforts reward you so wonderfully.

smell ya later,
-GyO

growyourown · Feb 25, 2025

since this post has likes and the issue it was referencing has been fixed, i'll put a dad joke here - my favourite so far from the page-a-day calendar i got this year.

Don't start a pillow fight with Death, unless you're willing to deal with the reaper cushions.

and i guess you could omit the pillow stuff for a pepper joke like:

Don't eat the hottest of hot peppers unless you can handle the reaper-cussions.

growyourown · Feb 26, 2025

quick update as well with a number of additional hooks showing today:

totals:

just mspaint-ing screenshots is the way to go for now, since i'm recording it all anyway and the copy/paste of cells did not work, but maybe i need to emulate the thp background colour in the white space though so it's not as offensive to your eyes.

but i, of course, use dark mode...

growyourown · Mar 26, 2025

welp what else is new? took a month to make an update, sorry to keep you hanging off a cliff-edge:
(it's actually quite boring, although mostly all positive)

no news is good news? things are chugging along here. we've had a few early ones not make it, and we've had a few bonus late arrivals. diagrams and stats to follow, following the rest of the words and pics.

3/24 table overview:

we did not have a third round of sowing, as the number of plants and ratio of blackness i've already achieved is acceptable for my needs (see below), and i didn't have any heat mat space without up-potting a bunch of them off the table to the tent-structure, which had yet to have been assembled.

but many of them badly need to come out of their cells, as you see (along with the blackness):

but instead of doing that right now, i'm here posting instead. now that the tent-structure has been erected, and i've gotten my up-pot pots washed (weekend was fraught with distractions, by that i mean i was lazy af), i plan to move all the largest specimens from their cell into the pots as many as i can each night until all with any leaves are transplanted. there are a few quite fresh ones who could stay a bit in the small cells, because quite frankly with the action this last week i feel like some may still be yet to come and not to flush all the starter cells.

the tent, waiting:

(needs a new reflective foil blanket wrapped 'round it)

the older kids (the rocotos and tasmanian black, one of whom will be my champion for the growdown):

so who have we got here, now:
2nd sow chart:

(some of the "Not-black" group are just young ones that popped this week, and likely some/most will go black. anyways, of the black types that germed i am close to 75% showing black, so the only complaint is that "NERO" (NEyde x Reaper Orange) is 33% confirmed green and possibly only 16% black)

totals including first sow:

real bummer about nothing sprouting from the two gifts that came in my #growdown2025 package from @Bou, as i was touched that he chose to contribute to my black grow theme with some favourites from his own collection. because they were all placed in the same 12-cell tray, and not one thing ever came up, i wonder if it was something i did such as the tray being contaminated or i watered it too much or something; it is definitely mouldy inside now...

nonetheless, i'll soldier on and just try them again next year. thanks again @Bou and to @Downriver as well for hooking me up with @PaulG Purple Thunder which did grow 4 of 6 seeds i planted. you guys really made me feel like a part of the community by offering your generosity. PPATB!

THAT'S ALL ON THE PEPPER FRONT...
but for those of you who read my glog last year, you may remember our family welcomed a baby in 2024 and it so happens to have been on this date. :bday:

my son Malcolm is 1 today, well done kiddo! :bday:

Bou · Mar 27, 2025

You're on a roll @growyourown! Sorry to hear about the BJS and CGN not sprouting

I haven't grown BJS in a while, so it could be a viability issue. On the other hand, I sowed a lot of CGN this year and had a very good germination rate, although they took longer than most to emerge.(>3 weeks).

Your Tasmanian Black are looking great by the way!

Downriver · Mar 27, 2025

Things are shaping up, GYO. Plants are looking good and healthy. :bday:

to Malcolm!

growyourown · Mar 27, 2025

thanks fellas! i have the day off tomorrow, but i'll looking after the boy; hopefully when he naps i can get a start on the transplanting.