About 3 years ago, I started smoking. Somewhat soon after that, I popped a bag seed in a window sill, in a nug jug (ya no drainage or foresight). It started growing, was tiny, smelled like marijuana, then I moved and had to trash it. That was my first attempt at growing, but it was a fun process and captivated me. I've tried several times since, some more successful than others. Too often, things don't end well due to outside influences, or I'm hindered by a continuous error. Or many errors. Well, the majority of my research probably coming from the fine People of GC, from their personal experiences, links to finding information, various studies... I want to grow marijuana as a career. I'm not looking to make money, I'm looking to help as many people as I can doing something I have come to love. Eventually I want to move into breeding, looking to bring out characteristics that people are looking for specifically in a marijuana strain, but may not be knowledgeable enough to produce. I'm always talking about pot, or pot plants, or legislation. I feel I've also learned a lot about people, looking at where the genetics of plants originate and their characteristics, and how the melting of those extremely different characteristics can produce some of the most beautiful hybrids EVER. But enough about that, just stoned ramblings, a bit of a back story. I've been looking into organics for a few months now, pouring countless hours into... research. I feel like a fuckin' scientist, and with all the information I've absorbed, I'm like a fountain of information, with nothing to show for it though. At first my friends felt like I was talking some dialect of Chinese, but in time, they start to wonder, and ask questions. And now I'm going to put all that information together with my limited funds and extremely limited engineering skills. Finally I get 5 seeds, and pop them using "wet-paper-towel-in-plastic-bag- between-stereo-and-speaker" method (started 11/12), then a few hand fulls of old ass "Light warrior" in half of half liter bottles. Supposedly these come from a "lemon haze" of sorts. Cross pollinated with who knows what. So hey, maybe I'm already stuck with HermieGirlies. By the end of the week, they had popped the surface (11/15-16). For several days after, I was vegging under a 125 watt blue spectrum cfl/hood. Upgraded to 6'' pots... not a big deal but hey, they liked it. On the 25th, I finally got a new bulb (HPS) for my 400 watt switchable no name brand ballast that I only got to use once for 2 months. The same day I got the bulb, I also purchased: -Panda film -3 gallon smart pots (off brand) -Vermicompost soil-less mix, was a few dollars cheaper than FFOF, which was my original choice, still had same ingredients as far as I could tell, bennies included -bag of pure EWC -high N bat guano(jamaican) -high P bat guano(mexican) -palm bunch wood ash (high K) -granular mycorhizae Now... I didn't measure shit. I just went about creating a "super-soil" using about: 1:2:1/lightwarrior/vermicompost/EWC And, to add to that, still not measuring: Some of the high N bat guano, but not too much, as this is only going in the bottom third of my cloth-pots. Then liberal amounts of the high P mexican guano. Looking back, I feel that I didn't properly research the way wood ash in used in gardening. I have a feeling i might have over did it, but so far, the plants haven't showed ANY burn signs. But my main worry is that it will bring the Ph to a very alkaline. So far though, I haven't added anything but straight, set out for a few days water. One plant was showing a purple stem and droopy leaves, but Looking into it I am guessing it's PH issue, which no one else seems to be having. I think that this is from mixing the regular soil to buffer the babies into the hot super soil. I think thats from the palm bunch ash. I've been using the LITFA method (leave it the fuck alone), just watering when they need it... which isnt often yet, hopefully my soil isnt *too* compact. But they arent wilting, and still growing. The only real issue I have, is getting the money together for an inline fan. I am in the process of building a 4'' filter (4" ducting, its pretty long tho ). This would solve my only two "main" problems. Cleaning that lovely, but incriminating smell out of my closet (i live in an apartment) and allowing me to hook ducting up to my 400 watt HPS. Been looking at many DIY's of cool tubes, and im confident that i can rig up a glass candle one for under $50 usd. Temps are at 82-86F, too high for my liking but all I can get with out stretching my babies out. RH humidity runs low thirties to 70s. So far, these plants are looking great to me, although I know they can be so much better. I'm always up to constructive criticism, i'm thinking about flipping to flower before they are fully mature so that I can minimize stretch, these do look somewhat sativa-ish in color and stature. sorry these pics aren't fantastic, and they really don't show the true colors. its my 2MP phone camera. Wish me luck on this hopefully healthy garden pictures are leading up to now, starting the 17th. also is a picture of my closet... just so you know, this is in a studio apartment. gotta work on stealth lol.
This is great. I am doing the similar thing except my lights are fluorescent and my soil is basic moss/manured soil. Do you have any tips for avoiding noobish mistakes?
I'll start with this- Thomas Edison found 100 ways to not make a light bulb before he made a light bulb. its all learning, we all make mistakes. even the pros. luckily with plants, especially plants in soil, and ESPECIALLY plants in organic soil, are usually quite forgiving, allowing mistakes to happen and still yield you some quality. flourecents, no matter if you are using shop lights, or a big self ballasted 200 watt cfl, dont have nearly as much penetrating power as HID's. get them as close as you can, with out burning your babies. for the most part, as long as you're leaves aren't touching the bulbs (1-2'' away) you can still achieve fantastic results. and remember, depending on you're growing area, cfls can get hot just as much as small HID's in a small box. Did you're soil come straight out of the bag, or did you mix manured soil and moss together? you might find yourself having to add more nutrients, but for that, a simple EWC based compost tea (bio-multiplier), exact measurements I'm not good at, i'd say 1-3 cups EWC per gallon, probably not as much amendment, as some of it will be immediately available to you'r babies and the rest will be broken down to usable nutrients once the EWC beneficial bacteria start working on it. But there are many other places to get better information on compost teas on this site I hope I helped with that information, just remember, there are thousands of people on here just like you, trying to strike out for themselves, for different reasons, and hundreds of people on here that started just where you did, many years ago. And for the most part we are all here to help you do what you want to do. Above all, have fun with your grow and keep it simple! Let us know how things are growin man!
So I've seen pretty good growth in a couple days, even with the high temps, which fluctuate from 82-88. rarely 90, that's if i have the panda film closed for an over extended time. I don't think I ever really watered enough at transplant, as I didn't have a decent source of no chlorine water. I have a big watering can and a little one, it takes quite a bit to cover these guys, so I decided to water two separately and wait a day. They turned out fine, so I went ahead and got everybody pretty wet last night through today (had to let the water sit out awhile). I'm thinking that now some of the micros are starting to work, especially with some added water. Still having minor issues with the purple stemmed plant. The purple stem has actually dissapeared for the most part but the leaves are still droopy on the ends, almost curly, and the new ones have a slight taco. I'm still just going to water and see if everything will sort out before flower. Speakin' of which... I'm going to do the flip the same day as my next pic update (Wednesday). they *should* be mature by then, at least enough. I cant really deal with super tall plants in my location. Plus I have them in 3 gallon smart pots, which is a tight fit. I'm already pushing it for them to get root bound by the end of flower, as these have some pretty sativa looking characteristics.
okay i think maybe you are over watering your plants thats one major problem with growing you can killing your crop you have to get a feel on how your bags feel when they are feed and when they are stone dry and tacoing of leaf could be caused by the heat in your room also the purpling in stem could be caused by a couple of reasons such as n,p defi or maybe genetics also could be they still young btw your plants look beatiful what nuts are you using btw
also dry ive read that clones like high humity and heat when they are vegging my grow room was hot just like yours just when you flip them to 12/12 make sure you have the inline fan beacuse the room has to be between 70-75 good luck and do you know what size of fan you need for your room??? http://forum.grasscity.com/grow-room-design-setup/594150-ventilation-faq.html
Hey man, thanks for all the sound advice I appreciate any input everyone has! So far, they have all seemed to be bouncing back pretty well, (as much as they needed to ). So far no nutes, just what i added in the beginning to my soil and water These are actually from seed, not clone, but I may take some clones of these, not sure yet though... Good link, i've been there before, and i now what i need, unfortunately i just cant afford a inline fan right now. Also just need a little more carbon for my DIY carbon filter to finish it. It's a 4'', and my closet is apparently only 3'x1.5'x5.5'=24.75cuft. Basically any 4'' inline fan will do the trick, and im going to build my own cool tube too (hopefully, some vented hoods are actually quite cheap tho...). But right now I'm living on my own, two jobs that don't pay great, but I need some steady work history, and working to pay off a few grand in med bills and collections from a few years back (me being a dip shit, looking forward now). I'm not looking at this as a way to pay those off, I just like to smoke, and it does help with the reasons I have these medical bills. But right now getting funds together to get the right shit in place is a pain in the ass.
hell yeah it you should look for some friends that are discreat and ask them if they want to invest some of there money i did this with 2 friends and everything worked out its less of a money issue if you have partners and for now i would just keep the door open to let some of the heat out and about the clones you should take some cutting the sooner the better also if its that small i think you can get away with a 6 or 8 inch duct booster i had a similar grow space are you growing in a closet??also i would advice you to use nuts ive notice a big diffrence when i use nuts on a plant to when i dont they seem to grow faster also i would top or fim them
Alright, I've been itching to put up some new pics, these babies seem to be doing rather well. I will say, I'm pretty sure I put too much EWC in my soil mix, it holds water waaaay to well, but it isnt straight up murdering them, and they are still performing well, so it's been LITFA this week. Due to size restrictions, I JUST set my timer to 12/12, keeping it off 7am to 7pm to help with heat. Temperatures fluctuate in the 70's, dropping to 60s at night. still looking to get a cooltube/inline fan so as to get my carbon filter going and be able to drop the light even closer to the plants. This is a couple pics I took a few hours ago, they look pretty healthy to me, except that over watering. I'm sure they'll pop out of it, any roots i can see are still white and nice lookin' PS: I can't wait to get some budporn
they looking good only thing if i where you i would top them of f.i.m the sooner you do it the better and where you located?? also how long do you plan on vegging them for?
Hey Reyes! I appreciate all your feed back and the fact that your interested in this! This is day 30 from germination, today I did two things. First, set my timer to a 12/12, so the veg is over (it barely started, I'm in a small area). And secondly, I took your advice and went ahead and topped all the ladies, the short one already was topped at a younger age on accident. I wanted to just go "Au natural", but fuck it, toppings happen in nature too right ? OH oh oh! I also just ordered a new inline fan and a cool tube off of ebay, both new and had great reviews, while being inexpensive as well! I'll post pics in a week again to show how they are doing with their tops off (hehe), and to see how the stretch goes. hopefully i'll have at least a few colas each now
okay and wow wow wow stop stop they are wayyyyyy to small to flower they wont get that big trust me on this also if you topped them you want to let them grow more so they can split in two like the first pic and you want your plant to be at least 12 inchs tall the 2nd pic is of my babys they look much bigger now i flowered them also you
ugh! Maybe i'm just impatient, but I am still worried about keeping them small, as i am using a small closet. Also one thing that I keep in mind is that (average) each gallon in a pot will support *around* a month of growing for the plant. I have them in 3 gallon smart pots that aren't completely filled yet (about 3/4full), i'll get some more dirt either the end of this week or next week. I'll try to let them veg one more week, to at least let them recouperate from the topping. Then I HAVE no choice but to flower. These have sativa genetics in them, so I could have a plant that doubles, or maybe even triples in size. The color on your babies is just beautiful, but how far are your lights from the canopy? they look a bit stretched out. and i can tell you are working with clones, how long have you been using the same mother? It's good to replenish genetics every couple of years, you can lose potency and yield from genetic drift or just an old mama
i keep the light at about 18inch away from the top of my plant and you have to veg them way more then that i vegs my babys for like 3 weeks and switched them to 12/12 and these pics are old ill try to show you how they look now they grow like double the size or even trippled and i lst them and you should be fine with the space you have i have 7 in a closet around the same size as your and its kinda of pack so with 5 you shouldnt have no problem ooh and to answer your question about the mother plant i only use them 2 times and usally trash them my plants are afghan and one l.a kush if your near L.A i would love to get one clone from one of those babys
What's goin on FryMaster?! Hope all is well! Good looking grow so far by the way. Gotta question for ya tho. I noticed you've got some black/white poly over top the top of your plants? Hows that working for ya and what's you logic behind it? I'd guess to either retain moisture a little long in your topsoil, or to reflect light shining down to the stem? And prior to seeing this thread I just transplanted and watered in pretty much the exact same way that you did, I feel I made a good decision! Good luck on the rest the grow. Ill be following. #finesmoking
i think the thing your talking about is to bounce the light back up to the plant ive seen ppl use this before but with rockwool so the light doesnt hit the rockwool and cause mold
Yeah I was thinking in both terms. It looks and seems like a good once so I think I might borrow that idea! #finesmoking Good looking plants as well!
Thanks man, good to see another soul drop by lol. If you're dirt is still pretty wet and you're in a small space... i'm not sure if i'd recommend it or not. there are two sides to my reasoning. First is the bad, which retains too much moisture and my leaves were dark and kind of curling under, kinda shiny. Looking around it seems like the leaves were having a hard time transpiring water from the roots. But... on the other hand.. when I removed them, there were perfectly white root shoots poking out! They've since dried up pretty well and are growing quicker again. Dude those are fantastic looking! Did you transplant them to 5 gallon bags? I'm a little worried cause I cant fit anything bigger than what i have. Think i'll have to worry about getting root bound?