latigid aikon Posted September 19, 2023 Share Posted September 19, 2023 I can't remember where I heard/read this but there is a variety called Futura 75 that is supposed to have some interesting smells compared to other hemp vars. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crow River Posted September 19, 2023 Author Share Posted September 19, 2023 4 hours ago, latigid aikon said: I can't remember where I heard/read this but there is a variety called Futura 75 that is supposed to have some interesting smells compared to other hemp vars. That's one of the French varieties I think. France is interesting because it's all controlled by a few large farming co-operatives. There's one that has a virtual monopoly on hemp seed varieties. Apart from the Finola, I have no idea what strains I'm dealing with, all guesswork. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crow River Posted September 20, 2023 Author Share Posted September 20, 2023 The French hemp seeds have turned out to be quite vigorous. Another couple germinated, so that's 14 out of 20, or 70%. Another 3 have broken the soil too. The Finola, not so much. Still only 3 germinated fully, only 1 has broken the soil as yet. The Turkish hemp seeds have gone into paper towels now, already a few are showing radicles. Just waiting on some Chinese "monster" hemp seeds, "standard" hemp seeds and Chinese organic seeds. Then I'll have the set. All this fun and thousands of seeds for the price of a pack of fems... I am pondering whether to try and grow these by the window now, at least until they show sex. Treat them as I would a normal grow, topping, training to keep them manageable. Especially the Finola, as it's an autoflower and probably the most suited to growing outdoors at my latitude, I want to study it closely. Even the others, which are likely to be photos or semi-autos, I need to check phenos, vigour, and determine sex. If I get any true males, I could collect pollen. If I get true females, can consider crossing with THC strains to give unusual hybrids maybe. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crow River Posted September 21, 2023 Author Share Posted September 21, 2023 I have put more Finola seeds to soak, as most of the first batch are doing nowt. A few Turkish hemp seeds are starting to grow roots. Observations on seedlings so far. The French hemp is tall and leggy, a foretaste of things to come perhaps. Nine above soil so far. The solitary Finola seedling to have emerged looks just like a normal cannabis seedling, average height, not too spindly. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crow River Posted September 21, 2023 Author Share Posted September 21, 2023 The rest of the hemp seeds arrived today. All Chinese, but marketed for different purposes. Some for humans to eat, some for fish. Some organic, most not. I won't soak any of these straight away, as I've the Turkish seeds and a fresh batch of Finola to look after just now. Maybe next week... Chinese hemp seeds Chinese organic hemp seeds Chinese "standard" hemp seeds for fishing bait Chinese "monster" hemp seeds for fishing bait 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crow River Posted September 23, 2023 Author Share Posted September 23, 2023 Final check on the original batch of Finola seeds in paper towels today. Found one that had started to sprout, straight into a pot. Binned the rest. Then checked on the second batch, which have been soaking for 48 hours. The extra soaking time seems to have helped, a few had germinated. Instead of putting these in paper towels, I planted them straight in soil. We'll see how they get on. The ungerminated went into paper towels. Still only one Finola seedling above soil... I now have twelve French hemp seedlings, some of them getting very leggy. They will need potting up soon. No sign of any Turkish hemp seedlings yet, but early days. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crow River Posted September 24, 2023 Author Share Posted September 24, 2023 Quick update. French hemp potted up, still only one Finola seedling so far, though eight seeds germinated up to now. Eleven Turkish hemp seeds germinated to this point, two seedlings have broken soil. Hopefully more Finola on the way... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crow River Posted October 3, 2023 Author Share Posted October 3, 2023 (edited) Thought it was maybe time for a wee update on this hemp thing. I have some seedlings growing by the window, with some low wattage supplementary lighting coming on at night to give approximately 20 hours of light per day currently. This will reduce naturally as the nights get longer. I also have a few seedlings still by the cable modem behind the television, they'll join the rest soon. The ones by the window are getting no extra heat, just room temperature plus whatever heat the sun brings during the day. The French hemp seeds have been the most vigorous, and the best germination rate. A couple have died, maybe damping off, not sure really. A few are very stringy and spindly, others look more normal. I'll let the weaker ones just die off, I want only the strongest plants to survive. At some point fairly soon, I will probably pot up the survivors into small fabric pots, which hopefully will keep them relatively small. I will bury those lanky stems as much as possible. The Finola seeds had a poor germination rate, only nine have germinated so far out of forty seeds soaked. From those, I currently have just two seedlings, for whatever reason six never broke the soil. In the paper towels, another seed is putting out a root, and will be potted in soil as soon as it's ready. Bit frustrating having such little success thus far, as this is the only strain where I know all the details. Also probably the best suited to my latitude. I'm going to try and look after these, as I aim to grow them out and either collect pollen or pollinate them (possibly with a THC strain, and/or a dioecious non-autoflower hemp strain) to create crosses. If I get a boy and a girl I can make F3s (these are F2s as the strain is an F1 hybrid). I'm still not mollycoddling them though, I want tough plants, not runts. Again, they'll go into small fabric pots in due course. The Turkish hemp is something of a mixed bag. Decent germination rate, but a few seedlings appear to have stalled, even though the place where they are is reasonably warm. I'm leaving them pretty much to their own devices, as again I only want the strongest to survive. When potting up I will cull the runts. They'll go into small fabric pots when ready. Once I have a bunch of slightly bigger plants, I'll be housing them in little mini pop-up greenhouses by the window. This will isolate the strains from the others, and from my tent grows in the same room. Just in case any males get a bit frisky before I spot them... I'm holding off on germinating the Chinese hemp seeds for now, as I'll soon be out of space. It is pretty mild outdoors for the time of year, but despite that I have decided not to put the plants out because it's unlikely they'll survive long. In the case of the French and Turkish hemp, I really just want to confirm whether they are regs or hermaphrodites. If they're regs, I'll grow a handful out to make F3s, if not I might cull, or I might put a couple in very strict isolation to harvest flowers for CBD. Apart from the Finola, these strains are likely extremely tall cultivars and will need topping, pruning and training to keep manageable. So the numbers will go down, that's for sure. Edited October 3, 2023 by Crow River 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crow River Posted October 24, 2023 Author Share Posted October 24, 2023 Time for a short update on the hemp situation. The French hemp needs potting up, should have done it before now but I've been busy with other stuff and haven't been spending enough time with this lot. Managed to break one of my two Finola seedlings somehow, snapped in half. Not sure how it happened, but I'm down to just one now. Similarly the Turkish seedlings have been dying off in recent days, don't know why, but only one left. I think I'll have to restart with both these varieties, try and take care of them a bit better. If I can manage to get the two survivors to grow out, that will be interesting I suppose. I'll wait until most of the outdoor harvest is in before restarting the Finola and Turkish hemp. Only so many hours in a day, after all... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crow River Posted November 2, 2023 Author Share Posted November 2, 2023 Well, the Turkish hemp seedlings are all dead. Not sure what went wrong, maybe should have potted up sooner. So that'll be a restart when I get a chance. All surviving French and Finola seedlings will be potted up this week. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crow River Posted December 23, 2023 Author Share Posted December 23, 2023 Quick update, sorry no pics. I still have a single Finola plant and half a dozen French hemp by the window. They're all really small, but I'm putting that down to low soil temperatures and root restriction. Interestingly some of the French hemp is showing sex, and I spotted a definite male amongst them. So it may be that this is a dioecious strain, rather than monoecious. If so, that could be good news as the French hemp has a good germination rate and is very vigorous. Also perhaps that means the strain is auto flowering, or at least semi-auto, as the plants have been on at least 18/6 equivalent since seedling stage. At some point soon I'll transfer this lot to the veg cab and switch to 11/13 to flower them out, see what happens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crow River Posted December 28, 2023 Author Share Posted December 28, 2023 Finola plant is struggling, I will put it out of its misery. The remaining French hemp will go in a tent to flower out, maybe some pollination will occur and an F2 generation of seeds created. Could be interesting, as there may be higher variation than in the official planting stock. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DutchFox Posted December 30, 2023 Share Posted December 30, 2023 best tip & recommended for all beginners......learn how to germ and grow in all ways internet provides you... saves you a lot of $$ of wasted expensive seeds from breeders. we all learnd by our mistakes and i tried a lot and failed a lot too happy 2024...new year new adventures in the bush 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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