This is my setup using coast of maine sprout island blend which is their seed starting blend. 

I want to shout out Mr. Toad from Boneyard Seeds Norcal ,FCP, and dagga.garden for the seeds.

I don't know them personally but I have learned a lot from listening to their shows.

OK I forgot how exciting it is to plant seeds!  Super exciting to get to watch them sprout on the very first day is always a good sign in my book.

My technique is to use good seed sprout soil, a heat mat on/off every 15minutes for 24 hours( I cant afford a thermostat yet), and a thin layer of water in the lower section of my setup to keep the environment humid.  Dampen off using the vents throughout  2 days.   Then i ditch the hood after dampening off. 

I lost way too many expensive seeds, so this is what I came up with.

This technique is the same one

Unfortunately the Broken Bone seed(bought 3 years ago) has not sprouted yet but that doesn't mean a thing.  I have had seeds sprout 2 weeks later after I tossed the pots to the side and forgot about them.  So now I keep an eye on them older seeds. Sometimes it just takes a few extra days. 

Day 2 the broken bone seed sprouted! Yea man!  

Here's a close up of the broken bone.  I have become an expert at saving seedlings from helmet head.

Thank you ! Heck yeah! what a great way to start the labor day weekend !  I am so wicked pumped about winning !

Here is another photo update.  I am guilty of having the seedlings too far from the light.  I got organized and now have them up close to the light now.   They were starting to stretch for light.  Problem fixed.

I hope everyone is having a good labor day weekend.  

I got to watch Tommy Chong tonight which was awesome!  I am a long time fan of his work and enjoy any interview that he does. 

Here is Day 6 and the light is now moved again to 18".  My current light recommends 18" for vegetative growth.  It is a constant challenge adjusting the heights to get each plant to the best spot.  I think a great idea for a product would be a plant stand that is adjustable.  

Here is an update.

Mars Hydro LED 60Watts at 18". I am watering when the soil seems dry with a spray. I did water while soil was damp. I am re thinking using such a small container to start seedlings. Next time i will try a 1/2 gallon container. And let the soil dry more before watering again. 

I am always learning and have noticed that reviewing grow logs really does help me. 

Here's an update. going good.

I just transplanted into 4" pots a few days ago and updated with a photo.  I think that I will transplant again to a larger pot maybe tomorrow night.  It seems that I have had too small of a container in the beginning to be able to flip to flower in a couple days. Dang-it. Didn't start soon enough is all. It is difficult to get started on time for these contests.  But it definitely gets me motivated to try and document and journal more.  I really do enjoy the journaling part though for sure.

Mystery solved.  House has been way too cold for veg.... dang it.  The heat is on.. now!  (energy prices are extremely high where I live so I try to use as little as possible)  As far as flipping to flower I will have to just flip one plant tomorrow to stay within the rules of the contest.  The rest I am going to veg with some warm air for a week or three,  after another transplant tonight.  If it wasn't for journaling I might not have realized for another few weeks!

Growers Love Yawl!

I messed it up by not feeding anything. 

I realized it when the leaves started showing issues. 

I used promix but I forgot to add anything else to it so it had zero plant food, zero soil food. 

This is why it didn't grow much is my thinking now, not from a cold floor, as I had thought originally. 

I feel like I made such a rookie mistake on this one. 

It is fun deciding what to grow next.