Mama coca

[druglessdouglas]

excellent
are you using a light? if you are, moving it closer to the plant usually stops the plant stretching. they usually stretch when they arent getting enough light. its not easy to get a light close if they are in a propagator, but you should take them out as soon as they are above the soil anyway to stop them damping off.

edit: i had to look at the other pics. the light is hanging at an angle which is good. put something under the tray so the plants are closer to the light, and arrange them so the tops are the same distance from it. avoid the end inch of the light because it gets too hot. smallest seedlings under the lowest section of light, tallest towards the middle. about 6cm from the light tube is ideal, closer when the true leaves open, they wont stretch then. they look healthy so far
and take the top off the propagator, they dont need it and it just encourages mold.

 

[GOD]

How tall are they and how many leaves have they got ?

 

[HeartCore]

Thanks for the tips!

Ok so far they range between 1cm - 8cm. The earliest one has six leaves, 2 just starting and pointing up, two small ones and two that start to look like real leaves. She is the one I repotted yesterday where I just let her slide down so her stem got about 3cm's more below ground. I doesn't look like it stressed her at all. One other has four leaves which still have to open completely. One still has the seed pod hanging and a few others are just emerging above ground.

The reason the first one stretched had indeed to do with the light but since I put all of them under 2 cool white tubes, they are doing great. The other seedlings stopped stretching, I noticed the difference in how they looked after even one hour in the light (they started to look like they feel good ). I prefer to keep them in the propagator until all of them are a bit more developed. I take of the lid a few times a day for longer durations of time to get them used to dryer air.

I work from home so I'm able to keep an eye on them throughout the day. So I keep clean the propagator, remove excess water with a towel and I just mist a few times extra instead of soaking everything and give way to molds and insects.

More pictures in daylight this weekend.

 

[GOD]

Has anyone got any thoughts / experience with fertilising them ? The when , what , how much and how often ?

 

[HeartCore]

Has anyone got any thoughts / experience with fertilising them ? The when , what , how much and how often ?

The guy I got the seeds from used bumblebees to fertilize them and if I am informed correctly, they flower four times per year. There's some good info on www.cocagrowers.org but that site is down temporarily, there's a mirror right here:

http://www.cocagrowers.i-formatie.com

 

[druglessdouglas]

i think God meant feed when he said fertilize. in english plant food is fertilizer.
(i dont know what they require in terms of food)

 

[HeartCore]

Sorry I guess I was very stoned when I replied.

Of fertilizer:

The plants can be fed when they are three months old. You need fertilizer in the following measurements:

N-P-K/9-3-6

10 grams per liter of potting ground plus 1 gram of magnesium sulfate (MgS04.7H20).

If the plant is in growstop due to low temperatures during a longer period of time, the mix is changed to 3-3-9 to give them better resistance.

HC

 

[GOD]

Nice one HC . Thanks . I think i was unclear in my last question .

Does anyone have any information about how big they should be and how many leaves they should have at what stages in their growth ? So . How old everyones plants are , how high they are and how many leaves they have ?

 

[HeartCore]

Nice one HC . Thanks . I think i was unclear in my last question .

Does anyone have any information about how big they should be and how many leaves they should have at what stages in their growth ? So . How old everyones plants are , how high they are and how many leaves they have ?

Young plants grow about 2cm per month. I've seen pictures of plants one year old and they still look like young plants. I have yet to find out what the turning point is, an adult plant can grow 2cm per day. How many leaves they should have is difficult to say. Young plants which are still becoming adult, will not have very much leafs but this will improve over time.

Each spot where you pick a leaf will return two new leafs. This is one of the reasons why you have to trim/cut the plant so it will not overgrow itself.

Here's a nice shot taken today of my firstborn:

 

[restin]

beautiful.

 

[Meduzz]

I think you should take in account that the stretching of plants when they don't have enough light isn't actually growth but cells that fill their vacuoles with water for elongation.
I've had cannabis plants that stretched a lot when they emerged and they were very weak, they needed support and they all died because of an insanely hot weekend when I wasn't around to water

 

[HeartCore]

I think you should take in account that the stretching of plants when they don't have enough light isn't actually growth but cells that fill their vacuoles with water for elongation.
I've had cannabis plants that stretched a lot when they emerged and they were very weak, they needed support and they all died because of an insanely hot weekend when I wasn't around to water

Ok thanks I didn't know that. What helps if you have cannabis seedlings like this, is to gently remove them from the soil and then just put them one or two inches deeper. It also seems to do well for coca plants

 

[HeartCore]

Update (no pics sorry). Plants are a little over two months now. All the stems but one (more on that in a second), have developed a more brown color opposed to the green they where before. The stems start to feel more woody.

One of the plants was still in the ground with her head after the other ones where already a month above ground. Her stem was coming out the ground but bent back with her head and seedpod still under. It turned out her head was tied up with her newly grown roots so very carefully I helped her get up. She is recovering and I think she will survive.

I've moved the plants to a slightly bigger room where there's more room for the light. Humidity stays between 40/50 % there so I'm trying to get it a big higher.

No ferts yet. Will post some nice pics in a few days.