The Continuing Education of a Noob Wanna B

Hey everyone. Started. thread about my wacky mini plant and decided I may as well start a journal.

Never been much of a smoker. I mean I have smoked, and sometimes actually enjoy it, but was never really a stoner. I became a chronic pain sufferer (long story, but severe gun-to-the-head stuff) in my early 40's (mid 50s now) and besides everything else it severely cut my social life! I don't know anyone that smokes so I have no access, and it's not legal in my state. Saw American Weed on NatGeo and thought what the heck....if mj could help my pain level I'd sure enough like to TRY! Found Grasscity, read a bunch, bought some seeds and here we are (that wasn't tooooo long was it?).

I have a closet lined with mylar, a table fan, and have added cfls as I learned and realized the need. Started off with Fox Farm ocean soil and the trio of nutes. Smart pots (2 gal) and Wonder Woman regular seeds to start. They've been vegging for about 6 1/2 weeks and with the exception of a bonsai plant and a not too serious case of nute burn early on (never pour the little bit of nutes left in the bottle over the leaves and then put them right back under lights) it's been a pretty easy grow.
Back later with pics....lots more details to follow (gotta lay down for a bit) and a link to my other thread as well...

Added: ok, here's my mini plant thread with photos

 

Ok, so I have 3 Wonder Woman (6 1/2 weeks in veg) which includes 1 mutant bonsai, and one that decided today (running 18/6 280 watt 6500k cfl throughout) that it wants to flower, so I put the two large ones into flower which will be two plants, under 250w 2700k cfl 12/12.
The mini Wonder Woman, auto fem Jock Horror (2 1/2 wks) and 2 fem White Castle (2wks) are still vegging under 240w 6500k cfl for 18/6.
Here's the Wonder Woman that looks like it's getting buds to my untrained eye



Here's the Jock Horror





and the babies (White Castle)


(the other White Castle is posted in the mini plant thread).

So far I'm totally HOOKED! The one thing I was NOT prepared for was the smell. Got some ultra Ona the other day and so far that's taking care ofmy skunky Wonder Woman girls

 

So the ladies (I'm being optimistic, one may very well be male) made it through their first night in flower ok, and mini Martha and the seedlings look good in the new veg set up. I was worried about closing up the closet for the night even with lights off as there's no ventilation with the doors closed. There is a small table fan moving things around, but when the weather gets warmer it's going to be an issue....for sure. I have an inline fan....ducting is easy enough to find around here, and the attic is right above the closet so there will be some hole drilling going on ....soon.

I think I'm going to need another veg set up as well. The 'plan', and things NEVER go according to plan around here, was to have one Jock Horror and one White Castle going in veg while Wonder Woman flowered, but the White Castle seeds kept failing. One popped, but had a hair thin stem and died overnight. The second popped but brought the entire thing with it!! I mean tap root, shell, stem....everything was just laying on top of the soil like the cat dug it up or something. We don't have a cat. So I panicked and reburied the thing about an inch deep thinking it was a goner, but I had to try right? I mean I only had 5 seeds, and was looking forward to trying the strain for pain. So, I planted a third seed....deep. I've always planted about 1/2" but since WC seemed to like crawling out of the soil (it's like the taproot pushed everything UP) deeper would be better right? Well that worked......seed 3 popped and was lovely, but seed 2 reemerged as well! So anyway....now I have a Jock Horror, 2 White Castle and mini on a small shelf vegging. Things are going to get reeeeeeeal crowded around here

What was I thinkin?

 

Well the Jock Horror is insane with growth, and the White Castle are doing well as well. I rearranged the flower closet today to make more room in anticipation of all the vertical growth I'm led to believe will happen any minute I have a 6" inline fan, but need to run ductwork to the attic and get it running....summer's coming, and my temps with just running cfl in that closet with doors open are 75-80F.

I'm seriously thinking about a 400w MH/HPS set up as well....any suggestions? I've already spent more than I'd planned, but I figure if I'm going to grow I may as well get the most I can out of them right?

I'll post pics of my set up tomorrow, and get some more plant shots. As always, comments/advice welcome and appreciated

 

Hey Spank...nice to know somebody's lookin in

As promised, here's my set up. Flower area was veg room until I just converted. It's a small closet...about 3 1/2' wide by 2' deep and maybe 4' tall.



This is the new veg area...cheap 'greenhouse', free standing from BigLots lined with mylar.

 

And here are progress reports.
The Jock, as I said is exploding. I swear everytime I look it's bigger! She's just 3 weeks from germ and look at her go!







The White Castle at 2 and 2 1/2 wks




And last, but certainly not least, the Wonder Woman girls. Stumpy is in the foreground...still being mini. They are all 7wks from germ




I've also thrown in some heirloom tomatoes from seed...why not right?



I ordered all the ducting materials today and should have it installed by the end of the week hopefully. Now....if I could just decide about that light. Thing is, we live in an honest to goodness 'village' with neighbors that don't miss much, and there's a sheriff's deputy that parks next door to catch speeders. The window is on that side, and I worry about the light. Can't really block it because I need it for fresh air. CFL's look pretty natural all hours of the day and night, but a 400w hps/mh might draw attention

 

Well it got real warm here yesterday....temps in the 80's and I knew there was going to be an issue closing up the girls for lights out. I left the room window open (got down to the 60's last night) and have a 2" hole drilled into the top of the closet but nothing to pull the air out yet. Temps were 90F when I opened her up this morning If that doesn't hermie them I don't know what will.

I'm thinkin that until I get my vent supplies I'm gonna just put them in the upstairs bathroom at night. It's a southern exposure with two windows for air flow, and if I put a towel under the door there won't be any light leaks. The windows face farm land...no street lights or anything.

I'm also thinking about giving up on the idea of screening them. I like handling my plants, carrying them into the tub to water thoroughly, etc...can't do that if they're growing through a screen. I don't know. They're right at screen level so I have a bit of time to decide.

Tell ya what....there's a lot more to this than I had any idea of when I bought the seeds! lol! I'm learning alot, and enjoying it so I guess that's what counts right?

 

I've also decided I don't care for the smart pots. I think if you were doing a screen with a few plants they'd be good. Lots of air flow and less worry about overwatering, but if you handle your plants a lot ...not so good. The roots really get disturbed daily, and that can't be a good thing.

 

Decided to repot mini plant again today. Sure can't hurt...still tiny root system. I'm really beginning to feel like she's a waste of time

 

Ya, I'm a houseplant freak so I'm forever fighting off the knats. Those yellow sticky traps are great if they 'happen' to be where the adults are flying lol! Right before I started my grow I lost an orchid to the f*ckers... So far a hot shot strip, mosquito dunks in soil and I'm still seeing a few here and there.

Before I hung the strip I was getting some leaf chewing. Never saw a bug, but we live in farm country in a house built in the 30's, so bugs get in. Finding all kinds of dead, ugly creapy crawlies on the floor. Man, that thing works, but it makes ya wonder about hanging it huh? I mean, it can't be good for ya to breathe that stuff. If the house was at all well insulated, I probably wouldn't chance it. In any case, it'll come down way before harvest, regardless. I don't want to smoke that stuff!

Thanks for peekin in man.

 

Most of my vent supplies should arrive today ...have a drs appointment so I won't be able to start set up until tomorrow.
My girls seem to have stalled I'm still giving water with every other water, maybe I should just use nutes with every water? I also trimmed some of the lower fan leaves on the established branches...wouldn't think that would do it, but maybe.

They're also getting a few less watts than they did in veg. I'm sure that makes a difference I was running 290w and now have about 200w. I only have 2 mogul sockets though, and I'm seriously contemplating going hps so I hate to buy another 200w bulb and socket if I'm going to go that way. I'll have to wait and see if my venting will help that heat before I decide though. Summer is coming and as hot as it gets there's no sense in buying a lighting system I can't use because it gets too hot.

When I started all this I had no idea about male/female plants, ph, lighting (thought I could use a regular 4' florescent 'grow light' ), none of it! What an eye opener!

 

Well I'm still waiting on parts for my venting...seems the company decided to send it to the wrong TOWN, so the package is on it's way back to them. Emailed em and told em to resend express or give me my money back and I'll run down to the local home improvement store and get what I need...grrr!! Meanwhile, my Wonder Woman girls are getting stinkier and stinkier.

Probably regret it, but I repotted them today. 2 gal smart pots just weren't going to be enough to take them through flower. Mini is still growing...in mini. Will take more pics probably tomorrow if anyone cares.

 

A lot has happened since my last post, and I really should post pics (the plants are unrecognizable from the last ones) but it's a pib being on an ipad, taking pics with a camera, transferring to a pc, then to ipad, then to an app to a forum when no one looks anyway. Plus, my dog died the other day and it's just not a priority. Meybe soon...

Venting is up and working well but the cheapo fan I bought is noisy and evidently 'brushless' so no speed controllers work with it. My other half was b'ing about the money being spent so no hps or better fans....at least for awhile. He'll just have to live w/the noise.

Plants are excellent! Wonder Woman are all flowering and female (including the mini plant). I repotted all the Wonder Woman in the second week of flower and they responded well to it. Jock Horror decided to flower as well (she's an auto) and at 5 weeks looks like she'll finish before the big girls!
White Castle is 4weeks into veg, has been topped once and looks gorgeous, full and happy.

The thing that's most bizarre about the whole grow (besides the mini plant and the fact that I lucked out and got ALL girls my first time) is that looking at the structure of the leaves, both the Jock Horror and both White Castle which were chosen because we wanted to try sativa dominants are not, but rather sport the fat indica style leaves. Sigh.....that's not a WHOLE lot to complain about though!!

Being the noob that I am, and having never smoked anything but bad, leafy, seedy weed my entire life I trimmed some fan leaves and dried just to see, and the fan leaves alone ALL smoked better than anything I've ever purchased....can't wait to try the 'real thing!'

 

[quote name='"Tplants"']Are all ur seeds feminized?[/quote]

Wow....posts! I'm so excited!
Ahh...no. The Wonder Woman were regular. Planted 3 and all 3 were female.
Jock Horror (planted 1) is auto and fem
and White Castle (planted 2) are feminized as well.

Thanks for participating