Never grown a thang in my life...until now

Discussion in 'Hydroponic Growing' started by MjAlchemist, Jul 29, 2013.



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  2. Hey gc I'm 33 and this is the 1st time I've ever attempted to grow any thing before. Coming out of a particularly rough stage of my life (opi addiction/severe depression) I discovered that growing offers many therapeutic benefits. now I ain't gonna get all philosophical on y'all it but I will say since I started growing i at the very least have stumbled upon a hobby with an obvious reward when completed. At best though i have found a new way of life, a host of unmet friends, a treasure trove of knowledge, and a Serenity within myself that I had lost somewhere along the way. if ur still reading u can probably identify with some of this stuff but if u can't its still all good. Either way thanx for taking the time to read that through and now its on to my setup. (3)100w cfls, (2)13w cfls for veg (will be adding more soon) "Grow mama" 5 gallon dwc bubble bucket (black) 4" rockwool cubes, hydroton, 50 gallon aquarium pump with (I think 6") air stone small temporary grow room maybe 3' by 3' or something idk lol. I also have 2 tiny diy bubble buckets running separately off of one 50 gallon pump with double airline attachments (as temporary homes for seedlings.) After painstakingly choosing the darkest, most robust, most uniform, brown spottiest, seeds from about 200 seeds I've been stashing from decent mids Ive been buying over the past year. Although sadly I don't know their individual strains I do know the color of the nuggs they came from so that's how I will label them. And finally for nutes I have roots excelurator (from sprouts through flower) ,GH 3 part micro-grow-bloom (1/2 strength after 3 weeks) couple other things I have to work with are, Ph up/down dropper test kit (gonna get an ec/ppm meter asap!) a small desk fan, AC always on in grow area keeping room at a pretty steady 70-78 F and humidity generally low, humidity dome (for sprouts until roots appear.) I will be purchasing an at least 400w hps or mh hopefully next week, and (eventually) a grow tent. Now I've done a good amount of research on hydroponic growing mostly online but some word of mouth from my peepz at the local hydro store. I plan to continue to upgrade my setup as I grow I mean go along also plan to start ordering feminized seeds after my first successful harvest right now I have 3 seedlings in my grow area in separate bubbles 2 from some purple colored mids and 1 from some really yellow gold colored mids. I think I have enough knowledge right now to get them through veg in my dwc but still I'd appreciate any feedback as it is my first grow ever. As for sexing and flowering I gotta be honest this is something that gives me a Lil anxiety lol. I've been researching this and finding a ton of info/images about it but still lol I get anxiety about it from time to time so im open to any and all criticism/suggestions and I'm sure I'll have plenty of questions for y'all. Anyways, I think I covered most of the important stuff so now imma get back to blowing these mids then visit my garden. peace!
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  3. welcome and good luck  :smoke:   read the sticky,s at the top of the page for your chosen style then try a dairy or 2.
     
    1. make a plan .2 get gear for op sorted .3 Grow for it . best of luck you can do it  :gc_rocks:
     
  4. Thanx 4 the response! What did u mean by op gear? And yeah I got some pretty good seedlings going now been taking pics every day since sprouts 2 were planted on July 4th (the two purples) and one on July 15th these pics were taken yesterday

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  5. This is the plant 2 from the same nugg

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  6. And here's the seedling from the gold nugg I planned on the 15th

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  7. Hello m8 it looks like you have most of your veg needs met and plan to upgrade as you go. not a bad way to play imo. 
     
    have you thought about how to remove heat and smell ? them cfls wont be very hot but mh/hps bulbs do put a bit heat out
     
    can you put a pic off your grow space up not the plants and i will look nd see if i can spot future issues nd nip them in the butt 
     
    them lil ones look good m8 . :metal:
     
  8. Honestly I'm working with a cheap cardboard setup temporarily but it seems to b getting the job done for now. My check comes on the 3Rd so what do u suggest I use my $150/month grow budget on as far as priority upgrades? Here's my Lil ghetto grow space

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  9. Morning MJ  :bongin:   man you had me searching my groom trying to work out what is needed and what,s not  
     
     
    Lighting . I have not used cfl (household bulbs) but do know you can get a good veg form them. so not light this month 
     
    meters . ph is a biggie unless your organic and in soil .  Ec/ PPM. Also a biggie but you may be able to get away with the labels on bottles just use less and work your way up. if you run to waste it can be done. I will check with a mate see if i can find a plan to fit your needs.
     
    ph meter i need and use daily . ec ppm not so much.( more of a piece of mind tool these days) Im leaning towords a ph meter this month m8 atm.
     
    what nute,s do you have available atm without spending $$ ?
     
     
    Ditch and stay away from to opi,s man its a lose lose (trust me i know)  :cry: my garden gives me so much more than the flowers it makes.
     
    Its my space for me and my head and it helps better than anything else i have tried  :yay:
     
    hope this help,s be back asap ..Pete  :gc_rocks:
     
  10. Hey Pete again thanx for the quick response! I was in the beginners section last night and I stumbled on a really detailed sticky about how to take your plants to harvest with different spectrum cfls according to the specifications of the individual bulbs ie. lumens, Watts, Kelvin etc I was excited to find out I already had on hand all the necessary bulbs to get me through veg and 2 of the 5 bulbs I'll need for flower! I plan to follow that cfl tutorial through this grow and I promise you'll be the first on gc to know the results -_- the main reason im so hell bent on cfls is they seem to emit next to no heat with my fan on them! My grow area is in my bedroom and my gf already whines about the noise from my bubble buckets and the lights in the box being on 24/7 I really ain't trying to piss her off more with heat from a metal halide overbearing our air conditioner through August Please also see this thread for further reading
    http://forum.grassci...-heres-why.html

    As far as Ph goes I have a dropper kit with ph up & down and tester drops which I use daily to measure Ph and seems to be working ok its just a pain in the grass to measure Ph on all 3 of my pots (all hydro dwc systems) with the dropper kit! As far as ppm I've been changing the Nute soup every 10-14 days, which by the way is the general hydroponics 3 part micro-grow-bloom (right now at half strength) and roots excelurator (full strength) ok and some quick questions.
    1. Do you think I should continue using my Ph dropper kit until its gone? Or should I just get the Ph meter/is the meter allot more reliable than dropper?
    2.random question lol...how do u feel about Epsom salts in hydro and how much for 5 gallon system?
    3.would you be able to help me at all with sexing? I think some calyx appeared today on one but not sure. As for the opis my friend I'm proud to say that the 8th of August will mark my 4th consecutive mouth away from the poison! Haven't felt this good as long as I can remember!! Not glad u got into opis too but I am glad there is someone here that can identify with the struggle! thanx again for all your help and I plan to stay a journal soon I'm just a Lil embarrassed to post pics of my grow area until I upgrade it. peace Pete! ~Growing & blowing~

     
  11. morning mate  :yay:  I would get a ph meter asap. Them strip,s arnt good enough for me .  Keep the drop,s for back up
     
    Old school grow advice "member cheap old basterd club"
     
    Have a read through that sticky if you get the time its a biggie but  S G knows his stuff .
     
    cloning and sexing ganga is like riding a bike m8  scary as fuck at first but easy when you know how . :metal:  
     
  12. Ok cool! I'm definitely gonna read that through thanx...Lil ones grew like crazy the last few days:D


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  14. Female??

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  15. #15 morange, Aug 2, 2013
    Last edited by a moderator: Aug 2, 2013
    Those aren't pre flowers those appear at every growth node. You won't notice pre flowers until the plant has reached a size where it can handle flipping over, or in some cases until you actually flip to 12/12.
     
    Here's an old picture I like to use as a reference, it's pretty clear to see what you are looking for:
    EDIT: oh snap this picture is huge, let me resize that sorry.
     
    [​IMG]
     
    So as you can see from the above, what you have growing is close to where the pre flowers will be, but those aren't them. They appear at most growth nodes at some point. What you want to look for is a little tear shaped bulb with two little milky white hairs coming out of it. That's the calyx which grows in clusters to make the flowers.
     

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  16. Ok thanx allot! I think I have a clearer understanding now...the pre flowers will grow from what is in the pic. ok so how do I know when its ready to flip to 12 12?

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  17. From the calyx lol

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  18. So what are these called I have 6 on this plant

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  19. Those are the stipules, they grow at most growth nodes after a certain point;
     
    [​IMG]
     
    As far as when to switch to 12/12, it's entirely up to you and your space and equipment limitations. Keep in mind that the plant will at least double in size after you switch over, sometimes triple or quadruple in size. But after a few weeks of vegging, pretty much whenever you want to you can initiate the start of flowering.
     
  20. Ok ok cool...I'm only 4 weeks into veg but I'm definitely limited for space to so I guess maybe another week thanx so much for your patience! Peace blowin ~ growin

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