Howdy Y'all! 
Cheers to you for clicking on this diary! Glad to have you here and hope to have you follow along and join in this adventure!
Personally I'm very excited to do a grow journal on an international forum alongside so many other personal growers from all over the world.
And many thanks to the hosts and mods making this forum happen!
This will be a single crop grow started from seed and will be documented all the way to the cure process.
I'll be going into detail every step of the way. You'll see some very familiar things and some very unfamiliar things happen here.
Feel free to ask any questions about anything and I'm always open to hear suggestions and be made aware of new innovations!
This garden and any garden I grow is designed to be efficient and produce very resinous flowers and leaves from several diverse strains at one time.
The bulk of my harvest goes into making hash and oils while only the best cola flowers are kept for smoking.
I grow without pesticides and chemicals but I would not consider this garden organic.
This room uses several types of grow lights.
Dimmable CMH or LEC in three different spectrums and two different types of LED.
One LED, a California LightWorks Solar System 550 is programmable with a variety of spectrums and power settings.
The medium I use could be called soil, potting mix, or soilless mix. The method in which I control watering and feeding is with an ebb & flow hydroponic system.
My grow room is outfitted with total air and temp control. The controllers maintain temps and humidity automatically and the room has two exhaust systems for odor elimination.
All electrical is centrally located with an automatic fire suppressor watching over it in case of fire.
Co2 is monitored but I do not gas my gardens. Between my wife, two dogs, a cat, and myself we produce plenty of co2 during the Summer.
In the Winter time our gas appliances produce huge amounts of co2 so my room is never lacking the gas and I dont need to be concerned with adding it or trying to preserve it by sealing my room.
The room is painted black to enhance the dark periods but there are hammered aluminum panels attached to the walls where they can help with light reflectivity.
Let's Get Started!!!!
I keep my seed stash stored in a C-Vault container with humidity and oxygen absorbing packs then the container is kept in my refrigerator.
They remain at a constant 40*F (4.4*C), 30%RH, and zero oxygen
These will be the packs I dip into for this grow
Kung Pow Thai from Master Thai Genetics
Ript Banana from Ript Genetics
Mendo Haze from Gooeybreeder
Island Mix from Gooeybreeder
To germinate I use a technique known as Vertical Germination.
It's the same thing as the paper towel process with a few exceptions.
I use toilet paper instead of paper towels.
I put the toilet paper inside DVD or Xbox cases, dampen it with purified water, add seeds, add the cover layer of toilet paper, then stand the DVD cases on end in a pitcher with a shallow pool of water inside for the paper to wick up and keep the seeds moist.
The pitcher is then placed on a controlled heat mat. In 24-48 hours the seeds will pop and begin to grow
The reasoning behind placing seeds in a standing container is to get the tap root to work with gravity.
When a seed pops it's first agenda is determine which way is up. Gravity and then light help the seed orientate itself.
Once the seed knows which way is up, the cotyledon will move skyward and the root will go down.
If the seed remains on it's side like on a plate, it cannot determine which way is up so the root will grow in a spiral pattern and look like a pig tail.
Vertical germination keeps the tap root straight. The longer soak time waiting for the root to grow softens the shell which eliminates the shell from being able to stick on the cotyledon creating the problem known as "helmet heads"
When the sprouts are at least half as long as my index finger I plant them.
My potting mix is a blend of coco and peat with added crab meal and few other mild nutrient additives that are already in the coco/peat mix.
I also use airpots at this stage of the grow.
To begin planting I fill the airpot with potting mix and water it in very well. When the mix settles after watering I may add more to make sure the airpot is topped off with potting mix.
Then I add the sprout by taking my finger and making a hole down in the mix then sliding the tap root down in the hole.
When the cotyledon is slightly above the medium surface I collapse the potting mix around the tap root and lightly pack it around the baby sprout. If needed I sometimes add a little more water to make sure the sprout is seated well in the potting mix.
And that pretty much completes how I germinate and gets heads to the surface!
These first four KPT are ahead of the rest of the beans but the peloton is coming along either splitting shells or starting their tails right now.
I'll repeat this process until every dropped seed either sprouts a tail or becomes a known dud.
As the sprouts come ready they're going under a single 315 watt CMH (4200k lamp) dimmed down to 190 watts
And with that, day one is in the books!
Thanks for tuning in and I hope you enjoy the show!!!
Peace, Luv, and Light 'em up!!! 
