Hello there fellow growers!This is my first grow and a journal! I'll be growing three varieties of strains, 1st - Blueberry X Lemon Haze X Skunk 1 (friend's baby, super strong and ultra potent smoke), 2nd - Sour Diesel (came from another friend, it was a decent smoke and he says it's super high yielding, we'll see about that!) and 3rd comes 3 plants which are of unknown strain and phenotype is supposed to be an Indica, but we'll see how these gifts turn out! For the grow I'll be using regular soil, it's actually from the friend's garden, he uses the same for his ladies. A 400 W MH is utilized as light source. The plan: 1. Cheap grow - I am looking to make this grow as cheap as possible but also retain quality where I can. I will be focusing on different and strange techniques which in combination will possibly help me achieve some astounding results when taking into consideration the tools, devices and instruments I will be using. To be honest, the MH is a gift from my friend's as well, I will not be using PH meter, or anything but the MH, the soil, the fertilizers (of course) and perhaps a magnifying glass to identify when ladies are dank! 2. Maximum potential - I'm going to push the limits on everything, it is my first serious grow, but I have had another attempts in the past, including my failed outdoor grow for this year - I guess nearby me there's just no good ground for outdoor grows, but I love indoors anyway! I will try to grow a total of 8 plants. 7 are already kicking, I have a few more seeds which are trying to pull out, but we'll see about them below! The fertilizers are from a local store, cheap-ass-shit, but they did a great job on friend's ladies during the winter so I guess they will do the same on mine! I will be vegging them until they reach 25 days or 30 - 35 centimeters height. Seeds aren't feminized, so we're expecting intruders! But my girls will be dirty and have some sex, real bitches but .. They must make it certain that their children will keep the generation smooth in my garden! Flowering time for the BBxLHxS1 (Blueberry X Lemon Haze X Skunk 1) I am told to be 40 - 45 days, Sour diesel is at 55 days and the unknown ladies ... Well they are unknown. xD We will see what they have prepared for us! I am also looking for a trippy effect, so severely early harvest is what I will do. 3. Problems - I am expecting to encounter many and different problems, I will need your support with them guys! I'll make a stand-alone section regarding problems, investigation and proper solutions. 4. Updates - I'll try to make daily or pseudo-daily updates, in worst case there will be no update for up to about a week. 5. Goal - The goal is to produce as dank as possible buds, as cheap as possible. I don't believe that you need a 4 kW HPS to grow super dank dope that has the best high and stone you've ever consumed before. Lol, I am really gonna push the shit out of myself and the plants. Problems section:My MH light might be nearby it's end, more about this can be found in this thread - http://forum.grasscity.com/absolute-beginners/1321754-questions-regarding-hps-first-time-grow.html Exceptional discovery of vital importance! One of the problems in the very beginning was that I was told that I am given an HPS lamp. Truth is I am given an MH lamp ... I'm experienced enough to know that MH will be troublesome for flowering, so I did further research and I found out many conflicting comments which pushed me to seek not only opinions, but scientific evidence of what, why and how! As I just began the voyage in this direction I encountered a whole new different topic revealing itself ... How is THC produced in the plant, why is it produced in the plant, what makes the dope dank? All good questions which now shift the scene in a superbly major way. I found out more comments along the scientifically proven for true content and I also found this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfiI78uN3Ks This all reminded me of past experiences, opinions of friends, evidence of dope I smoked, differences of dopes I have had in the past and a new picture started to shift from the concurrent stressing situation which could have turned to be vital to the grow, in fact it now turns to be vital, again, but in a positive manner! THC formation, development and quality is increased in times by the UVB light spectrum. So to get the great trips, we need UV lights ... HID - MH provides loads of UV lights. It does not however provide light from the red spectrum which decreases the overall plant material development, but does not affect much the THC development. Conclusion: You need light from the Blue, Red and UV spectrum to grow super dank dope! What I currently miss for my grow is the red spectrum, which is required for flowering, but I do have enough time to find a quick work-around for this in my cheap-ass-grow by adding a Quartz light which is cheap as fuck and in fact by this remedy I am accomplishing the mixture of HPS + additional UV light. I do also believe that an MH + Quartz light is even more suitable, as plants need the red spectrum mostly during flowering, where the HPS + UV light will still slow-down the vegetation. I'm opened to further discussions regarding this subject, I do find it hell-a interesting! Shall we begin? Day 6 from beginning of germination: Currently there are 5 plants Sour Diesel, 3 unknowns possibly Indica phenotype and 3 BBxLHxS1. This makes a total of 9 plants, 1 above our ideal, but how can this be a bad thing? I also give a try to those unlucky seeds mentioned above, so the real total count of plants enjoying the MH are 11 figured it ain't a bad thing to have a bit more in fact, as the seeds aren't feminized and we could encounter a real bad luck having many intruders! All plants are enjoying the 400 W MH, and let us see how they are doing! - The circle of witches sitting in the den. - Close up of the den. - First four on the left side of the den. - First four on the right side of the den. - The unlucky witches in the end of the den. The whole family and their current house. I'm going to assemble a grow tent with reflecting material all over the insights, add proper ventilation, but that'll take a couple of days, I figured, why waste time when I can simply put them there! We are also going to acknowledge every individual plant in the further posts, but as said above there is yet some stuff I have yet to prepare for the circle of witches!