Operation Grow My Own Hemp: DEVASTATION!

So, it seems this second attempt is not a success as well. I don't know what went wrong. I had 12 germinated seeds. I had "good" as far as I know top soil. I watered them everyday. The soil was not too moist, it was not too dry. I even covered it with some bubble wrap, leaving plenty of room for ventilation, to give it the greenhouse effect and keep the soil as moist and warm as possible and ward off small critters and after 5 days this is what I'm left with. 

The soil was still moist, but as I dug through it to see if any of the seeds began to take root which none of them did I noticed the soil had a bad smell. Like a bad water smell. So, the only educated guess I can make is that the soil itself was maybe packed too tight or the seeds even though they germinated may have sat in the water glass for a little too long. I don't know for sure. If you have any kind of green thumb and can pass along your two cents I greatly appreciate it. 

Since I planted these seeds last Saturday night I have picked several dozen more seeds and placed them in water to germinate them but none of them did. So, I will this weekend attempt for a third time to germinate more seeds and then plant them in the hopes of growing my own hemp. It's all about trial and error and I've got the error part down pretty good the only problem is that I'm not quite sure what my errors could be. I will try again. I will before this Summer is over grow my own hemp. MARK MY WARDS MOTHER NATURE! I WILL WIN THIS DAY! 

Wish me luck and thanks for reading! 

The Louniverse. 

Operation grown my own hemp: PART DEUX

Hello to everyone who read my previous OGMH blogs! If you've been wondering what happened, well my first experiment was not a success. The few seeds I had did not take root or grow into anything. I found a few more and attempted to leave them in water as to germinate the seeds but none of them grew roots. They were just too old, too dry or both! 

So, I ordered more hemp as you see in the photo. This is organic CBD hemp. It contains zero THC and can be used for tea, oils, food and drink, etc. I am going to use it for all of the above but I am going to germinate as many of these hundreds of seeds and attempt to grow my hemp. I have the science! I have the tech! IT SHALL BE DONE! or at least I'll give it a good old fashioned try. Who knows! Maybe I'll be the next big hemp grower in the US or just have a backyard full of suspicious looking plants. Only time will tell. I'm going to separate them from the buds tonight and place some in a cup of water. In a few days I will know if they're germinated and I will keep you posted. 

HAIL HYDRA!

Sincerely,

The Louniverse

Operation grow my own hemp: Day 4

Another hot day today! It was in the high 80's most of the day. Plants are blooming and growing all around me, but still no growth yet on my little green seedlings. The soil was still moist and there was a very small amount of runoff in the lower pan. I think the green plastic cover is allowing a good amount of evaporation and rehydration. So far so good as far as I can tell right now. The most important thing for me right now is that no animals have disturbed the soil so far. Last year I did throw a bunch of seeds in a pot of soil and bury it and two little tiny plants out of maybe 25 seeds pushed through to the surface. For about 2 days I was growing hemp! Then on the third day it was clear a squirrel found his way to the pot and ate the plant and it's roots. Nature can be cruel, but interesting none the less.  This time I'm putting forth more effort and keeping a close eye on my project in the hopes of growing my very own hemp!

It's pretty uneventful but exciting! I will keep you posted, thank you for reading and please feel free to leave a comment or any feedback whatsoever. 

Goodnight,

The Louniverse

Operation grow my own hemp: Day 3

Everything looked good today.  No visible growth yet, but that was expected.  We had our first really warm day so far this Spring,  it was in the high 80's and humid. When i lifted the plastic I could see and feel that the soil was still wet and dense but there was no excess water runoff so I assume all is well at this point. Depending on how moist it is tomorrow I may add water, if needed. I think going forward I'm going to use a glass gravity watering despensor.  This hopefully will keep the right amount of water in the soil for optimum saturation and guarantee water on the plants should I ever forget to water them, I will.

Follow up to some of my gardening research last night. I watched a few videos on growing hemp and it seems the best method is to germinate the seeds before putting them in the soil, which I did not do regrettably.  This will do a few things: 1. It will show you which seeds will grow at all and which will not. And 2. It allows the root to grow out of the seed outside of the soil which I think would ensure faster growth of plants. It's really simple,  all you have to do is place your seeds in water, preferably distilled water and wait an hour for them to sink. If they haven't sunk after an hour you can nudge them and they should sink. After that you leave them in the water until roots begin to show, but no more than 2 days. After that, if roots have grown you take the seeds and place them in wet paper towel until you're ready to plant then in a day or so. I'm gonna go do more research tonight as well.  I will definitely do this with my next batch of seeds but I do have hope for this batch. 

Well, that's it for day day 3. Thanks for reading!  Please feel free to post any comments or feedback and hey why not subscribe to my blog while you're here!

Until tomorrow!  Goodnight,

The Louniverse

Operation grow my own hemp: Day 2

Ok, so as I was rereading my post from yesterday and I realized that some of you may not even know what hemp or CBD is so I found this short YouTube video that will explain what it is and some of the health benefits as well.

https://youtu.be/31SrjjgPbhU

Last night it started to rain and rained throughout the night and pretty much all day. I uncovered the soil as you can see in the photo and it's very saturated but not flooded which I assume is good. I guess this is a good time for me to do more gardening research. I drained the overflow tray to allow more water to filter through the soil. Hopefully tomorrow it will be warmer and sunny so I can see if the plastic bubble wrap works to produce condensation and keep the soil at the right level of moisture and utilize the water better. Again, I will do some gardening research tonight.

Right now my number one goal is to get some growth and a few plants to choose from. Once I get a few little plants my plan is to separate them and have several bud producing plants. I know it takes about ten grams of buds to produce one gram of oil. The buds will also supply me with seeds for more plants. With more plants I can make oil, tea, and even have some to smoke or make tinctures with. I don't want to get ahead of myself, I'm on day 2 and looking forward to seeing some green stems poking out of the dirt. 

Thank you for reading!

The Louniverse

Operation grow my own hemp: Day 1

 I've used cannabidiol (CBD) for about a year now. I've used tinctures, oil, dabs, vape products, and Omega fatty oils and smoked and drank as a tea the leaves and buds. So far I would say it's great. I use it to relax, stay calm and focused,  keep a positive mood and sleep. I'm now attempting to grow my own CBD strain hemp for all the above reasons. For those of you who've used CBD products you know how great this herb can be and how expensive it can be as well, at least the oil. The buds and leaves are pretty cheap and can be purchased on Amazon or from one of many suppliers online.  I'm growing my own in the attempt to make my own oil, tea, and tincture.

As a former pot smoker I initially sought out the CBD strains after I noticed THC wasn't working for me any longer.  Back in college I used to be able to enjoy Marijuana almost daily for about two years. Gradually I noticed after smoking or even eating edibles I would have more energy than normal and even become jittery. After a while sometime during my junior year it was clear that Mary Jane gave me more anxiety than relaxation. I could not relax, I would have racing anxious thoughts and just general uncomfortable feelings. I'm not blaming Marijuana at all. I still love it and have since my college years given it numerous opportunities to enhance my mental state. It's been pretty hit or miss, mostly slanted towards the anxious state rather than relaxation. Again, I'm not blaming weed, I'm pretty sure my anxiety was there years before and with or without the THC I would have found my anxious state around that time in my life anyway. In-fact, over the past ten years I've struggled with anxiety free of Marijuana for most of this time. It's in me and I'm dealing with it best I can right now.

  CBD does make a difference,  a very noticeable one. It's no cure as I'm pretty sure there is no herb or chemical cure in existence but it helps a whole lot. So, today I decided to take some seeds I saved from the last batch of hemp buds I had and stuck them in Miracle Grow all purpose use top soil. As you can see in the photo, I put the soil in a four inch deep aluminum tray, poked holes about 1-2 inches apart and added some water. I also poked holes in the bottom of the tray for drainage and covered the tray with some green bubble wrap I found. I hope this will create a greenhouse effect and aid in the hydration and growth of the plants. Today is just day one and I'll be checking up on the little green monsters everyday and updating the inter-webs with this SUPER COOL BLOG!!! JOYGASM!

I hope you've enjoyed reading this and I would love to read your thoughts and hear any questions, comments or concerns you might have. If you have a green thumb and would like to give me any pointers they will be greatly appreciated!

The Louniverse thanks you!

Lou