Hi GC, My name is "Ruby", I am a West Aussie female deciding to grow for the first time. So glad I stumbled upon GC, it has been amazing at giving me all the information I need to confidently start a harvest. I am still only in the seedling stage, but guess I am technically on day 4. As WA has cracked down super hard recently (thanks Labor government) I was a little paranoid about security and detection. I did already have a VPN/DNS setup on my internet to get Netflix and Hulu, so rerouting my IP was a non issue for me. I am a little paranoid about the drug IR helicopter flying over, but after discovering some awesome LED red/blue panels which are only 13.5W of power I have since been reassured. So now to source the seed. This proved to be the hardest of all things. All my friends that had friends who were friends with someone who dealt, didn't actually know where it came from. So getting seeds in state was difficult. Seed banks were a great idea, but importing into Oz was super risky and a pricey mistake waiting to happen. There is a seed bank over east but they have the Australian Tax on it, making them stupidly overpriced. It was then I discovered my roommate use to be in the business and within a day had sourced me grain. Now, we have no idea what we are growing, but growing it is! Monday 10/2 I started germinating the seeds. 50% were pale and a decent number of the darker ones were cracked or split, so chose the 3 best looking seeds to start my crop. I have also done some online shopping with a Melbourne company to get my 1.2x1.2m grow room ($130), and Brisbane company to get 2x 225 LED red/blue lighting panels ($77 for 2). They will be arriving this week. Tuesday we went to Bunnings to gather some pots, basic duct fan, power point timer and watt counter. Also grabbed some active carbon and 2 pasta strainers from Big W. So far setup has cost about $350. This week I will be getting the potting mix. After 48 hours nothing had happened. A little disheartened, I decided to germinate all 20 remaining seeds. From this I have managed to get 8 to germinate. Once germinated, I transfer them to my smart herb garden (www.clickandgrow.com) to turn into a seedling. 3 are currently thriving, bearing their first leaves. The other 3 are about a day off from being there. I only planned to grow about 3 plants to start, so will have to get some more pots. But I also don't plan on keeping any boys, so hopefully will get a few girls in the batch. After a lot of reading, I want to do an organic grow. Going to go down during the week and see what I have that is an equivalent on the recommended mixes. Will go from there. Very excited to get the show on the road. That is all for tonight. Will post some piccies tomorrow when the lighting is good. Any suggestions/comments/critique please leave below Regards Ruby
welcome Ruby ill be sub'd in to this due to also being in wa and having just ordered a led panel from topledgrowlights I'd like to see how you go . I've been growing here for a wile and yeh the law sux and I get fairly paranoid too especially after a mad sesh .
Here is the Smart Herb Garden from clickandgrow.com I do have 2 seeds per section atm, but will move them into individual pots once they are a little bigger and my LED arrives.
I've honestly not Hurd anything good about those specific LEDs the / 225led.from eBay are mainly only good for supplemental lighting which is why I spent the extra $ and got a mars2 and also why I'd like to see pics of how well they work
Presenting my lovely tent that arrived yesterday. 1.2m x 1.2m x 2m Also went and got some core ingredients; Perlite/vermiculte Dolomite lime Peat moss Coir Mulch Potting mix Plus PH Test kit Small pots Few more larger pots Paper coffee cups (borrowed from work) Looks like there has been a good amount of growth over night, but didn't have time for photos this morning. Will update when I get home. -R
May I recommend that you try to get your hands on a "Grow Bible" or two. Amazon is a good source to purchase a copy if they service WA. The books will teach you everything you need to know about growing marijuana regardless or style or location ( in/outdoors). It is well worth the money spent an will greatly help you grow with less mistakes and result in overall better harvest. It will help you diagnose any issues you may come across and I still reference mine time to time. I skim mine at least a few times a year along with having read cover to cover at least twice. That also egos for my second book. Doing this you will be a step or so in front of most other movie growers. As you learn to grow I would eventually purchase quality seeds even though the price. They will produce better plants and the cost is worth the flowers it produces. Good luck with the grow and I plan to follow.
I agree everyone should own a grow bible I downloaded a PDF for free by Greg Green it's for iPhone but I'm sure there's other free ones .
The problem with free ones are they don't have anywhere enough information. They stay too vague. They are not going to give away to much info for free. Enven PDF copies are hard to have everywhere you may need to take. A Hard copy is the best. To many times computers have issues or you upgrade and loose the copy you had. Trust me it's worth buying a well written grow bible. Anyone can write a book about growing. It doesn't mean it's a "grow bible" A grow bible is a book that a majority of the grows turn to and read just like a religious bible. They are considered to have everything you EVER need to learn. Jorge Cervantes is considered one due to the completeness of when written and he has been writing grow books forever. He is also a pioneer and expert in the field. That also goes for Ed. In addition to that his book is the course guide at Oaksterdam. So you can says it's the book of value.
I Agree again yes paper is better than computerised . But I use what's at hand and it did help me it explained what I already know but in detail other than the breeding side of it and establishing a viable strain which I still haven't read it's to technical for me . I was just pointing out that there is free copy's with helpfull tips .
Ruby.... if you are really interested in growing organically, I highly recommend that you come spend some time in the Organic section of Grasscity. There are tons of really experienced, knowledgeable growers over there who will be more than happy to answer your questions and help you with this grow. I have to respectfully disagree with the advice about buying anything called a "Grow Bible" or similar. They are filled with misinformation, like advice on how to flush nutrients out of your soil, or how to use molasses to "sweeten" your buds. They are written by grow store owners and industry insiders and are designed to get you to buy their latest "dank" product..... Advanced Nutrient's Liquid Candy Tiger Paw (or whatever they call their gunk..... slap Humboldt or Dutch in the name and it'll sell). What's in the Hortico potting mix? Couldn't find info on the ingredients..... A good living organic soil should be approximately 1/3 base, 1/3 humus, and 1/3 aeration. The base can be peat moss or coir. The humus should be a mixture of high quality compost and high quality EWC (earthworm castings.....vermicastings). The aeration can be anything..... perlite, rice hulls, buckwheat hulls, pumice, etc. Then we add "food" amendments..... kelp meal, alfalfa meal, neem meal, crab meal, bone meal..... these are examples. Pick at least 3 and no more than 10 lol. Add 2-3 cups of food mix per 1 cubic foot of soil. Then you need minerals. And rock dust. That's it! An organic... living.... water only soil.
These are almost certainly the best Grow Bibles money can buy..... except they're free Edit: Hard copies are available for purchase
This is also an amazing document that could be used as a Grow Bible of sorts.... just compiled posts about organic gardening by some of GC's finest.... loosely organized lol
no disrespect intended mate but you advise against grow bibles then post 2 lmfao and the one ive got was written by a gc member with several gc members contributing to the end product and has no reference to what nutes or lighting or anything brand related but I think your right gandalf . ruby you should check out the organics forum it is a sea of info .
I was jokingly referring to them as "Grow Bibles"..... they are in fact nothing of the sort. The first two (Teaming with Nutrients and Microbes) are more like soil science textbooks lol. The third one is just a collection of useful posts by some of the best organic growers out there.... 95% are posts by LumperDawgz, who was a true organic genius.... with multiple post-graduate degrees... 2 Masters Degrees in both horticulture and agriculture (Oregon State) with doctoral study in the area of organic processes specifically as it relates to the use of AACT (Active Aerated Compost Teas) and related technologies. He also did post-graduate work in the area of tissue-culture propagation, in an attempt to revive dormant and long-lost genetics. But those things I posted are 100X more useful to actually "growing" plants than any book called a "Grow Bible" would be. The only Grow Bibles I know of were written by "Whore-Hey" Cervantes, Kyle Kushman, and Greg Green. And they are all about equally worthless to the Organic grower...... and possibly all growers. They don't try to sell you a specific brand.... they don't own Botanicare or Advanced Nutrients.... They own grow shops, so they try to sell you on all supplements.... especially high profit margin ones. Like telling you that you need a bottle to solve the mythical Cal-Mag lock-out. Greg Green is probably the least offensive on this front.... not sure if he owns a grow shop or not, so his motives may be a little more pure. But it doesn't make his book any more relevant or useful for organic growers. I thought you had Greg Green's Grow Bible? His forward says "I would also like to say thank you to the members of www.cannabisX.com and www.overgrow.com with a really big thank you going out to X, ~shabang~, The Penguin, Kryptonite, Strawdog, Slowhand, Chimera, BushyOldGrower, Ralpheme, RealHigh, Clone, cannabisX, and Vic High." As far as I know, it's not based on anything from GC. Excerpts like these (that I found skimming through first few chapters) are how I know to disregard Greg Green's "Bible" completely: "The three major nutrients that are found in soil are Nitrogen,Phosphorous and Potassium or NPK for short. NPK can come in two forms - with the soil or as a stand-alone fertilizer (usually in a bottle)." "Vermiculite is another product like Perlite which should be treated the same way." "Always buy soil from a gardening shop. Soil is the cheapest part of your grow." "It is always good to check the pH at least once every week for plants that grow in soil." "Feeding is the process of adding to your soil what the plant has taken out. You will only need 3 types of feeding solutions throughout your plants growth. You will need a bottle of feed where the NPK has equal or higher levels of N than P and K and you will also need a bottle that has higher levels of P than N and K. The first one is to be used during vegetative growth and the second is for flowering. You will also need a third bottle of secondary nutrients. Keeping a 4th bottle of micronutrients is also handy just in case." That stack of quotes would receive a good chortle in the Organics section lol There are dozens of people ready to help in the Organics section.... I'd say easily the most helpful part of GC. And growing organically.... whether or not organic buds taste better is debatable... I think so, but that's a personal choice. I can say for a fact..... that growing MJ organically is the cheapest, least effort intensive, and healthiest way to grow.
ok fair point I forgot about those name drops lol and admittedly was pretty baked when I read it . I can honestly say I'm not an organic grower I grow in any medium but never just plain organically . I will however check out those links you posted I'm always willing to learn . So in closing for the present because I'm to wasted to sit under a tree and take in good advice atm . thanks for the info about my PDF being usless I'm so happy to know I wasted my time reading it bahahahaha oh well , we live and learn hey . I think in future I'm just not going to take anything written as gospel and add a grain of salt to everything . I hope you can show me the light again sometime because it means I'm still willing to learn and not just being a nuisance and giving bad info honestly thanks mate chat soon I hope ( when I'm straighter )
This is crucial.... is always my goal to be willing to learn as well. I like the subtle reference to the bodhi tree lol Yeah.... most people will teach you to grow decent buds, in an expensive, time-intensive manner. Growing organically emulates nature the most closely. No grow bible comes close to describing the organic grow process. I'm not a true organic teacher yet lol. I'm a good student who is good at remembering lessons and repeating them. LumperDawgz is the true teacher. He's not around anymore..... but if you search his posts you'll come out better for it.... or just sort through these...
I must thank you again I had no idea about the bodhi tree but you have enlightened me twice in one day . thank you I was only expressing how I usually spend spare time with friends ( under a nice old tree debating and learning from the people who are wiser than me ) and just shooting the breeze .