growing

[AmyRm112]

my roomate and i are thinking of growing!!!

we need help!

can you give us the EASIEST way to grow and the basics of what we'll need??

we just want to use our bag seeds..

thanks so much!!

[mcurry]

do you know what strain your bagseed is?

[AmyRm112]

i have NO idea

[Wizard]

To start out you'll need at least 2 (4 is better) 4' flo. bulbs and the fixture to put the bulbs in - duh!

Use the "cool white" bulbs if you don't want to spend alot,
they'll work fine. (2 for $6) Flo. bulbs are cheap on the electric bill too, hardly know they're there.

You'll also need organic fertilizer or miracle-gro, at least 1 - 6"(diameter) ceramic pot with the drip tray, and some good potting soil

First thing is first, you'll have to germinate the seeds - you can find info on different types of germination on the web but an easy way is to just drop them in a glass of water for a couple of days. The ones that germinate will be easy to spot as they will have a sprout sticking out of them.

Remove the ones that have sprouted with tweezers (try to avoid using your hands) and place them pointy side down in a small pot filled with potting soil. You may want to plant multiple ones since you don't know yet which ones are male/female. The sprout is actually a root so make sure that is the end you point down. Put them no more than 1" down in the soil and lightly cover.

Have your lights at least 6" above the pot's surface and keep them on 24hours a day. Fertilize once every week or 2. You'll have to raise the lights as your plant grows maintaining the 6" gap or your plant will get burned. Or you can place the plant in the corner of a closet for example, and put reflective tin-foil or white paper on the walls next to the plant and stand your lights up vertically so they are reflected back. Remember to turn your plant every couple of days if you use this method - it will grow towards the light. Which brings up stakes, you may want to buy some plant stakes to support your plant as indoor plants tend to be kinda flimsy in the stalk.

After all this fun you'll still have to figure out which ones are male and which are female as it's the girls that you want if you're growing for bud. The girls are usually easiest to spot when they're about 5-10" tall and they have telltale single hairs that stick up where the braches join the plant. After a month or two you'll want to think about re-potting the plant into a larger one. To do this, just lift the plant and soil out of one pot and put it into a larger one with some soil on the bottom, then fill in around it.

Keep the plant watered - 1 or 2 times a day durring the 24 hour vegetative cycle - After 2-3 months your plant will be ready for the flowering cycle. Buy a cheap outlet timer from your local hardware or retail store (like $6). Set your plant on a 12hr on 12hr off cycle. You shouldn't interrupt your plant durring the dark part of the cycle because light can confuse it and it will revert back to the veg. state which makes your buds smaller. Water it when your lights turn on - only once a day now.

As far as fertilizer goes, you should fertilize at least once every week durring the flowering stage. You can as often as every few days however you don't want to burn the roots so watch your concentration.

Once your buds have formed you'll be able to use them as a gage on when to pick and cure. The white hairs will begin to turn orange or brown after weeks have passed (sometimes months depends on the plant). When they are around 80% orange it's time to pick. DO NOT PICK EARLY! Cut the stems with the buds on them or the whole plant if you like, then hang upside-down in the dark for a day or two. After that put them in brown paper bags and place them in a dark place for a week (around 50% humidity if you can help it). ---->This is the curing process - do not shortcut or skip as your bud will suck ass.<---- This process let's the chemicals in the plant change into the cannibanoids we love and use. This cannot be done by using an oven or a dehydrator so don't mess up all of your work - patience is a virtue. After that it's time to smoke.

This can be a long process but is well worth it the first time you spark up some of your very own. One plant can be worth well over $400 so think of all the money you'll save. If you decide to do it more often, start a new plant every couple of months - then you'll harvest every couple of months.

Try to grow in a place with adequate ventilation because your plants need CO2, if you don't have good airflow use fans. The air should make the leaves barely rustle and should be from outside the growing area if it's small like a closet - air is life to your plant.

Don't let your plants get too tall either. 4' is too tall - shoot for 3' or 3 1/2' counting the pot it's in.

This is a good basic layout on what to do - have fun!!!


Roll it up, light it up, smoke it up,
inhale... exhale...

[beanhead]

EXCELLENT write up, Wizard. Even though all this info is on the web and probably already on this forum, it's nice to have a single summary in one post.

[agladius]

yea it helped me out too

[beanhead]

Yeah. Good lights make A L L the difference. It looks like my first grow with 400w MH/HPS is going to give me 3x the bud (per plant) as the grows under florescents.

[AmyRm112]

my baby is growing out of the soil already!!!!!
i'm sooooo excited!!
thanks so much guys!

[chronic_packet]

Which brings up stakes, you may want to buy some plant stakes to support your plant as indoor plants tend to be kinda flimsy in the stalk.

Only if you have insufficient light....which brings me to my point. One of the biggest mistakes new growers make is to use too little light or move it too far away. DON'T be overly concerned about buring the plant vs. too little light. it's kind of hard to burn a plant with flouresants and really easy to starve a plant from a lumens perspective. If your plants become spindley and fall over, it's a sure sign you don't have enough of a light source or the light is too far away.

As far as fertilizer goes, you should fertilize at least once every week durring the flowering stage.

don't you think that's a little excessive, especially towards the end of the flowering stage where you want to completely wean off of any fertalizers. Oh, make sure (for budding stage) you use somewhat high phosphorus (N-P-K), but balanced as well...something like 10-30-10 or 10-30-20.

[agladius]

dont plants produce their own ferts?????