Help_Needed's first grow - second attempt

[Help_Needed]

For those who haven't seen my threads about my previous attempt I'll throw in a synopsis -

I am a complete marijuana newbie. I've never taken so much as a single hit. Since I've developed a stomach ulcer, I can't drink any more so I've decided to see if weed makes a good substitute. Unfortunately I don't know anyone who smokes and my discrete inquiries have all struck out. So I decided to grow my own.

I looked around on the web and ended up buying some seeds from the Amsterdam Seed Company. In addition to my purchase, I got 10 free seeds of an unknown strain. I started with 5 of the freebies - 4 germinated. After many mistakes I finally got them growing well....and they were ALL male . So, I pitched them and now I'm starting over. On the plus side, I'll be able to learn from my previous mistakes. Hopefully this grow will be a bit easier. Now...on with the grow!

Strain - Remember, I'm a complete newb. The strain names meant nothing to me. I picked the strain because the seed bank indicated that this one produces a balanced high, gave a smooth smoke, and was easy for beginners to grow. They called it Le Fruit Defendu (forbiden fruit). It's a 70/30 indica/sativa. Unfortunately, I've never heard any mention of it anywhere else, so I have no idea if it's a good strain or not. Then again, since I have ZERO tolerance, I'm guessing that for me any weed is good weed lol.

Grow style - I'm going to do a small SoG this grow. I'm germiating all 10 seeds that I purchased. My goal is to produce a modest quantity of smokable weed in the shortest possible time frame, so I'm not too worried about my actual yields. Once I've got the females identified, I'll move one or two back under 24/7 lighting (or take some clones) and use them as mothers for furture grows. Assuming I actually like this stuff, I'll worry about maximizing quantity and quality next time round.

Grow location - This is going to be a cabinet grow. My first attempt was located just in the back of a large walk-in closet. This presented a few problems, namely that the closet was small enough that heat and ventillation were an issue, but big enough that it would have taken a lot of work to really regulate the environment. A cabinet will offer a smaller space, which hopefully will be easier to regulate.

Grow medium - I'm still debating this one. On the one hand I've got all the stuff to do this grow with soil. All I would need is to buy some smaller pots (I used 4 gallon ones the first time around). On the other hand a hydro grow of some sort will cut down the time to harvest by several days or even a couple of weeks. I've found a design for a five plant bubble bucked made out of a rubbermaid tub that could work well. And there's a hydro store in town where I can buy all the supplies I need. I could pay cash and not have to worry about leaving a paper trail. And I don't think I'd have to worry about the shop owner turning me in. She spent about 30 minutes with me yesterday telling me how I could have an entire vegetable garden growing in my living room. I really think she's as clueless as she seems.

Lighting - For the first few days I'll be using the army of CFL's that I've got left over from the first attempt. I'm shopping around for an HPS light which I'll use for flowering in a bit, assuming I don't have temp issues in the cabinet.

So, that's the plan so far. Input from the more experienced growers out there is appreciated.

[OmniscientOnus]

Sounds like you have a good handle on things for a new guy. I'm not exactly an expert myself when it comes to growing the stuff seeing as how I'm going through my first grow at the moment, but I have smoked it for a long... what was I talking about? No, j/k, but I have been smoking for a long time. With that said,

Don't know anyone that smokes? That's hard to believe. The more likely explanation is that you don't know that anyone smokes. Try bringing it up in a conversation with a few of your friends. Maybe just make mention of the war on drugs and see how he responds. If it's all F-this and F-that, or at least some form of negative attitude, then you may have just found yourself a closet pothead (closet to you at least). Not always true, some people just agree with stoners, but don't partake. Either way, if they don't seem to have anything against the stuff, they probably won't have a problem with you smoking it. In fact, they may even sell you some, or at least point you in the right direction.

Everyone knows a pothead, just not everyone knows that they know a pothead.


STRAIN: I'd have to agree with you, strain is pretty much meaningless when you first start smoking. Often it's pretty much meaningless through the first half of your smokin' "career". Weed gets you high, that's it. Now, there is a difference between strains, especially between indica and sativa, but other than that... well, lets just say that I've never met anyone who could tell you what they were smoking just from the effects. Odds are you aren't going to smoke a joint and say "That's White Widow!".

Also, on a personal note, I'm partial to the indica strains myself. They're more of a body high rather than a mental high. Personally I have higher tendencies toward paranoia (still very low, but higher with sativa) with mental highs because I feel like I can't get a complete grip on my ideas, which I don't like. With an Indica high though I can sit down and read a book for hours and hours on end. Sativa high's always end up with me under a blanket "watching" a movie and constantly going from "man this couch is comfy" to "why am I even watching this movie?".

If you're looking for something close to alcohol, 70/30 indica/sativa is actually probably your best bet. Maybe even a 50/50... but it's still going to be a lot different (and a lot better).

Grow Style: 10 plants all growing on SoG will produce more than a "modest" amount of weed, especially for a newbie. If you're smart about it, you'll learn how to control how high you get (from "am I high?" to "where am I?" (the answer to the first is always yes by the way; if you have to ask, then you're high)). I can make 3.5g (1/8 ounce or an eighth or an eighter as it is often referred to) last as long as 3-4 weeks. And that's while getting REALLY high. All it takes is a pipe (or bong) a lighter, and a little know-how. Usually an 1/8 technically lasts me about 6 weeks because I like to get what I call "concentrated high" which means that the weed makes me only be able to think about 1 think at a time, but I can think about it very, very intently. Basically, I like to get high and read or watch movies. When I first got heavy into marijuana I went through about an ounce a week, darn near by myself though. So, I know how it goes both ways. Frankly it's cheaper and smarter to do it my way... but my way doesn't allow for joints (joints waste a lot and are harder to control how high you get. Who doesn't finish a joint after all?), and cheap isn't an issue when you're growing your own.

If you get the 50/50 ratio nailed in your seeds, which is possible, then you're going to have 5 females. Even at 1/2 an ounce per plant that's still 2 1/2 ounces, or at least a years worth of smoke to the conservative smoker like myself. And yes, I smoke just about, if not, every day.

Not that there's anything wrong with that amount of weed, I just wouldn't want you thinking that you're growing enough for a few tries with a couple pals, or something to that effect. 2 1/2 ounces (and from what I understand that's underestimating what 5 plants can do even for a newb) is a decent amount for any smoker, even the heavy ones. Unless you plan on smoking a lot, either save some of those seeds for later so you can have a constant supply of fresh weed instead of having to dig through your fridge/freezer every few days when you need more.

Also, one last quick tip about having lots of weed: Try and keep it in one bag, and don't get a scale. Having your weed separated into multiple bags, and/or owning a scale (a small scale, not a bathroom scale) puts you into the category of "possession of a controlled substance with the intent to distribute" which carries much heftier legal ramifications than just plain old "possession of a controlled substance". Even if it's just for you, it's going to look like you're planning on selling, the law states that having it separated is automatically considered intent to distribute.


You may also want to consider cloning instead of creating mothers. When you make your own seeds you are wasting the potential for extra THC from your plants. If you're going to do a lot of growing, it's more beneficial to waste some THC in a few plants than to constantly buy seeds after you can't clone anymore, but seeing as how you can clone plants over and over and over again (I've heard of 1 plant being cloned as many as 20 times successfully) that shouldn't be one of your concerns on your first grow.

GROW LOCATION: There's nothing wrong with either a cabinet or a closet. Personal preference is all that matters really here. However, 5 or so plants in a cabinet is going to equal one fairly large cabinet, in which case it may be just as easy to regulate a closet's environment as it is to regulate the environment of a closet sized grow box/cabinet.

GROW MEDIUM: Once again, personal preference, but if you have the stuff, I'd just go with soil. After all, they grow in nature in the soil, and mother nature has a damn good idea on what she's doing. She has had millions of years of practice after all! But, mankind is pretty smart too.

I wouldn't bother buying smaller pots. From what I understand you're going to get about a foot of growth for every gallon your pot is. However, since your plant isn't a goldfish (goldfish's growth is determined by the size of their home) my guess is that it will continue to grow and the roots will begin to tangle and run out of room after about 4 feet in the pots you currently have. Unless you start flowering early to compensate (which means less bud, less potency, but also less time) I think you'd be better off keeping the ones you have. Also, I've heard it said that farmers who grow outside with deeply tilled soil have a higher female to male ratio (as high as 4:1, or 80% female), though I don't see how that can be true seeing as how the sex of the seed is predetermined. Perhaps they meant that less turned hermie on them.

The girl at the hydroponics store shouldn't be an issue either. Either she's clueless or she doesn't care. Otherwise she probably wouldn't work in a store that's geared towards growing plants indoors. Her job is to help people grow plants indoors, and it would make for a very tiring workday to get suspicious of every guy who walked in and wanted to buy a product from her. If she was selling wedding dresses and you went up to her with bloodshot eyes, eating funyons asking her about growing tomatoes in your bathroom and peas in your kitchen, she might be suspicious, but a person who sells hydroponic equipment doesn't usually call the police because someone bought... well, hydroponic equipment from her, lol.

LIGHTING: CFL's, HPS's, Fluro's... it's all essentially the same. Each one has it's benefits for different situations.

CFL's are nice in small area's because the heat is minimal. Also CFL's don't spike your electric bill. Low heat emissions with little change in electric bill means a lot less chance of Uncle Sam using his X-Ray Specs to see what you have under your nighty.

Personally I like the CFL's, but I've never used the others. Well, I should say I'm not using them seeing as how this is my first grow.

THEE biggest tip I can give you though is to make sure you have something to check the pH in your soil, and that you don't get soil with time released ferts. I am going through a nightmare of a case of fert burn due to a case of fert burn and high pH combined. It's making for one strenuous grow, that's for sure. After that, the plant is a weed, and it usually will grow - as it's been said before - almost in spite of you.

Good Luck with your grow, and I hope smoking weed grows on you.

That was a terrible pun. I should actually hit the delete key instead of putting in this apology, but frankly, I just don't wanna.

[Help_Needed]

Originally Posted by OmniscientOnus

Don't know anyone that smokes? That's hard to believe. The more likely explanation is that you don't know that anyone smokes.

Unfortunately it's not very likely that your correct. I'm not exactly the social-butterfly type. I'm more the type that has a small circle of very close friends. In fact I've been hangning out with the same 4 guys for the last eight years, and I'm possitive that none of them smoke. One of them used to, but gave it up when he went in to the Catholic seminary. And I heard a rumor that one friend's fiance's daughter's boyfriend *might* smoke, but I've never even met the guy. I'm sure there are some people at work who smoke - it's a pretty big building - but none that I know well enough to even bring up the subject with. I'm still looking though, just haven't hit paydirt yet.

Grow Style: 10 plants all growing on SoG will produce more than a "modest" amount of weed, especially for a newbie....If you get the 50/50 ratio nailed in your seeds, which is possible, then you're going to have 5 females.

Yeah, I understand that. My original wish was for a single female. In theory there *should* have been at least one female out of the four in my first attempt. The Canabis Gods laugh at me! lol. My decision to SoG 10 plants is born more out of frustration than anything else. With 8-10 plants, at least ONE of them should be female lol. If I do actually get 5 of them, then two will be put back into veg for later use. If I get more than 5, then I may need to thin the crop a bit...then again, might not. Oh, and if I get only a couple of girls, then I'll snag some clones before they go into full flower.

Even at 1/2 an ounce per plant that's still 2 1/2 ounces, or at least a years worth of smoke to the conservative smoker like myself. And yes, I smoke just about, if not, every day.

If I really end up with that much weed, then not too worried about the next crop. By the time I'd get around to needing another crop, if all else fails, I'll just buy some more seeds.

GROW LOCATION: There's nothing wrong with either a cabinet or a closet. Personal preference is all that matters really here. However, 5 or so plants in a cabinet is going to equal one fairly large cabinet, in which case it may be just as easy to regulate a closet's environment as it is to regulate the environment of a closet sized grow box/cabinet.

It's actually a large armoire style cabinet, so all 10 plants should fit ok, at least at first. Part of the problem with the closet is that it's still a closet...and going to work with all my clothes smelling like weed might be a bad thing lol.

GROW MEDIUM: ...I'd just go with soil....I wouldn't bother buying smaller pots...LIGHTING...THEE biggest tip I can give you though is to make sure you have something to check the pH in your soil, and that you don't get soil with time released ferts

Yeah, gonna stick with soil. As for the pots, I have 5 four-gallon ones right now. Will need more. will probably start with 1.5 gallon ones at the beginning to save space and such until I get them sexed. Lighting will stay with CFL's for now, until I see what happens with the heat since that was a problem with the first attempt. Already have a PH meter and finally (after three tries) found some non-fert soil. Got some of that left over and will use that for the seedlings.

Thanks for all the input. Much appreciated

[OmniscientOnus]

Sounds like you got this all nice and planned out. Hope everything works out great for you, and I hope you have lots of extra weed to go around.

Part of the problem with the closet is that it's still a closet...and going to work with all my clothes smelling like weed might be a bad thing lol.

Actually having your clothes smell like weed at work would probably be enough to help you find someone that smokes, lol. I guess I could see the downsides too .


Maybe your friend who used to smoke can hook you up with a place to buy a little until your crop turns up. Of course, if he quit to join the Catholic seminary, maybe he wouldn't approve of you taking it up after him.

I heard a rumor that one friend's fiance's daughter's boyfriend *might* smoke

It always works like that. Even if you know people who smoke, if they run out you end up talking about where to find some, and someone always brings up "well, my brother's best friends, niece's, second cousin's daughter's mother is a pothead... i think."

Good Luck with the grow, and remember, think estrogen!

[Help_Needed]

(Note: This post is actually two days late - seeds were planted on Saturday)

Well since this is supposed to be a journal and not just the random mussings of a wanna be...I'll get things started.

Went out to the hydro store and purchased a propigation kit to get the seeds going. It's an organic kit rather than rockwool (they were out of it) but should work fine. Planted all 10 seeds in the kit and set it under the light.

Still a bit on the fence with regards to medium. A part of me really wants to try hydro, even if it is going to cost more to get it going. Maybe I'll do some hydro and some soil so I can compare the two.

[Help_Needed]

Five of my babies have sprouted.

Need to make a decission on hydro vs. soil today. Found a couple of other hydro stores in town that are closer to the place I went. Will probably check one of them out at lunch today.

[OmniscientOnus]

I just watched a 9 part video on youtube where the guy grows with hydroponics. I have to tell you, even though the video wasn't the best quality, and it's not exactly thee best video on hyro growing ever, he still got me really wanting to do a hydro grow. It not only seems like it would be more fun, but it turns out that plants actually grow faster (and possibly somewhat better) without the soil. With soil you have problems with time released ferts, dirt clumping up, pH levels that are somewhat difficult to fine-tune, and some difficulty getting oxygen to the roots at times; but hydroponics solves all of that. Not to mention it's a whole lot cleaner and prettier.

Once I finally got over the idea that plants need soil to grow (which the oh-so-useless education system beat into my head) I actually like the idea of hydroponics a lot better.

I'd say go for the hydro (yeah, I changed my opinion). I'll link the video. Maybe it'll give you a push in one direction or the other. If nothing else, it does accurately show you how to easily make your own hydroponics grow room quite well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KVO26htvoQ

Every 15-20 mins you'll have to find the next part and click it to see the whole thing.

Sorry for clogging up your grow journal.

Good Luck with whatever you decide!

[Help_Needed]

Yeah, actually ended up buying a 6-plant drip feed hydro kit at the grow store. Was fairly reasonable price wise for being a complete kit - nutes and everything - and they threw in a bottle of ph up and ph down with my purchase.

Assuming I get more than 6 sprouts - I'll run the 6 hydro and the rest soil so I can compare the two.

[Help_Needed]

4 more of my babies sprouted last night, so I'm up to 8 total now. However two of them have already decided to become problem children. The seeds were germinated in some organic plugs made by General Hydroponics. For some reason the roots of two of them, rather than growing down into the plug, have pushed the entire plant upward out of the plug, leaving a significant part of the root exposed to the air.

I carefully ripped the plug open to free the seedling and then repostioned it. Then I tied the plug back together with a piece of string. Hopefully, once the side roots grow they'll hold the plug together when I go to plant them.

********

I also went to a new (to me anyway) grow store yesterday. Ended up buying a 6 plant hydro unit. There's some debate as to whether this unit can support 6 MJ plants though (http://forum.grasscity.com/general-i...ml#post1761573). The guys at the grow store were fairly young (20ish) and I'm sure they knew that my "tomato plants" were all my granny's wooden teeth. They felt confident that this unit would do the job, though.

Assuming I don't end up taking it back, I'll be planting 6 of my sprouts in the unit and growing the rest in soil. It'll be interesting to compare the two methods.

[Mr.GoodStuff]

You are the second person I've met on the net that grew and smoked their own weed for their very first time getting high. It was hilarious to coach him along after he harvested on how to smoke it. The great part was, he loved it. He really liked it a lot- the taste and the feeling of going from normal to stoned he mentioned as being his favorite parts about it. He didn't get stoned until his third bowl, he kept smoking until he felt it like we suggested.

Will you also need coaching on the smoking method? It was a really cool thread to say the least.

[Help_Needed]

Originally Posted by Mr.GoodStuff

Will you also need coaching on the smoking method?

There's a very good chance of it

[Help_Needed]

Don't know if this is due to the type of weed I've got, or if it's caused bye the organic plugs I used to germinate them, but all 8 of the sprouts have developed really long tap roots that have already extended past the base of the seed...so I planted them.

Six of them have gone into the hydro kit, and the other two went into 1.5 gallon pots with soil. I'm a little leary about putting them into their homes so early, and I feel weird letting them get "watered" 24/7 in the hydro kit. But that's how everything I've read says to do it. Guess if they all die I know something is wrong lol.

Lighting is definately going to be an issue on this grow. I need to move the lights I have around a bit, and maybe grab a couple of extra fixtures. Right now the two in soil are getting only indirect light, since my roomate came home early and I didn't feel like explaining why I was drilling holes into the ceiling lol. I'll get that fixed tomorrow. Long term I'm definately going to need HID lighting.

P.S. Looks like a 9th seed has sprouted today. I can see just a hint of green when I peek down the hole in the plug . The 10th seed, however seems to be MIA. After looking down the hole with a flashlight, I still couldn't see it, so I opened up the plug - no seed. No idea where it went lol.

P.P.S My original plans called for this grow to be done in a cabinet. However when I decided to go hydro, those plans had to change. They hydro unit won't fit in the cabinet I was planning to use. I'll probably have to build some sort of box for it, instead, if only to have a better way to reflect light onto the sides of the plants. On the other hand, I discovered that my roommate is looking at apartments, so I may have an extra bedroom that I can use in the near future .

[Help_Needed]

Woke up to a bit of a surprise this morning. The hydro unit I'm using is an air-driven drip feed unit. A fishtank type air pump send air into the unit which then forces water out of little tubes right at the base of the plant. The water comes out in little spurs and it almost looks like the machine is spitting on the plants lol. When I started it up I noticed that the water was hitting the seedlings hard enough to shake them. I was a little worried but then decided that it would have a similar effect to having a fan on them and would make for strong stems. Boy was I ever wrong .

Two of the plants have responded to the constant pressure by laying down so that they're under the stream of water. The top of the seedling then turned back up to the light, making the stem take on sort of a long S shape.

I've stood the two plants back up and tied them to a small bamboo stake for support. Also build up a little water break with clay pellets in front of each plant so this doesn't happen again.

[Help_Needed]

One of my babies just isn't doing well . It's one of the six I have in the hydro set up. The other 5 are going strong and all of them have started on their second set of leaves. But the small one has just barely put out it's first set of leaves and they're still really really small. It is one of the two that layed down yesterday, but I don't think that's the problem since the other lazy plant has sprung back fine and is my second strongest grower. Maybe it's just weak genetics or something. Dunno.

Guess if I don't see some improvement tonight I'll pull it. After all, I've really got 3 more plants than I needed so loosing this one won't kill me.

[Help_Needed]

Well, I pulled the little plant out of the hydro tank this morning. It hasn't shown any growth and did not look happy. In it's place I planted the late sprouting plant.

I'm debating whether I want to get rid of the two seedlings that I've put into soil. I really don't need 8 plants and it's sort of a pain to have two seperate growing systems - I keep forgetting to water the soil based ones lol. Not to mention I don't really have the lighting and such for it. Plus I'd have to make extra room for them in the grow box I'm going to be building today.

On the other hand, it'd be nice to have a couple of replacments ready if too many of the plants in hydro turn out to be male.