Hello everyone, I'm new around here, and a new, first time grower. I'm pretty excited about it. I am however, trying to be discreet about everything, as I don't want anyone in my home finding out. I'm sorry for the long post, but I wanna make sure I don't miss anything. I bought a bit of weed from my connect, and in it were 4 seeds. I know that's not the greatest thing to get when your buying weed, but for me I hit the jack pot. I thought I could definitely grow them. So I waited for a few days while I was doing a lot of research. So after all that, I went ahead, germinated a seed, and it went perfectly. The strain is Afghan Kush. I also tried to do another seed as well, and started off with leaving it in a cup of water, then germinating, but that failed. Probably because I used outdoor soil from my garden. And I'm currently germinating the 3rd seed, to get 2 plants for better chances to get a female. I planted it on August 24th, in Scott's Hummus and Manure soil, straight from the bag. I have a good water draining setup too, so there's no worry about that. When it finally sprouted, I threw on a top half of a cut water bottle, as a humidity chamber for the first 3-4 days. I'm using a CFL bulb in a desk lamp as a light source, and keeping it a couple inches off the plant. I am also using tin foil to help reflect light back into the plant. I am currently doing a 18-6 light cycle. The four leaves on the plant are also stretching upward, which after a little bit of research, shows that my plant is nice and healthy. And the soil is kept nice and moist, with oxygen access for the roots too. I'm not watching any PH, nitrogen, etc. level's or anything like that. I wanna try and keep it simple and easy for my first grow, but if necessary, I will make adjustments. I am keeping the plant in a closed cardboard box, and am planing to attach a little fan to it from Wal-mart to it to help get good air circulation. But as for the moment, I occasionally flap the panels a little to help circulate air. Now, the only thing that concerns me is the feeding part, its more of an insecurity feeling. I want to feed my plant something, but I don't know what. I know the basics like nitrogen and stuff, but I wanna be able to either simply buy or easily obtain something to feed it. I keep hearing that pretty much everything out there is bad for your plant, burns your plant, or just ruins everything in it. I have however, Miracle Grow Bloom Booster is great for the flowering stage of the plant. And the other thing is how long should I wait for each step in the growing process? Like how long should I wait till I change the lighting schedule to begin vegetation, and eventually flowering? I wanna keep my plant nice and small, to keep it discreet, which I read is possible if you time it right. I wanted to know specifically for my strain, Afghan Kush. So, hows my grow going? If you need to know anything else, just let me know. Thanks!
Hey bud You don't need to change the light schedule for vegetation stage, 18/6 is fine...seedling stage lasts around 2 weeks, after that they reach vegetative state themselves...only need to switch to a 12/12 light schedule for flowering, about 5 weeks or so from now. I would spend the $10 it costs for a ph meter though....you say you want to keep it simple, and that is the simplest way. It is far easier to test ph levels before feeding and make adjustments rather than deal with the issues incorrect ph levels will undoubtedly throw up along the way. Great thing about GC is that it brings together growers from all across the world. Some running $10,000 DWC systems to create the finest MJ on a commercial scale, and some that are sat alongside their tin foil covered Walmart boxes flapping the panels for ventilation lol. (no offence mate, just found that image hilarious). Hard to say how it's going so far without pics bro, but yeah, invest in a fan, and some nutes...your plants will thank you.
Hey, and thank you for the very useful info, it'll definitely help alot. I'll also be grabbing a PH scale ASAP now. You made it a lot simpler than I thought it was, lol. And as far the ventilation goes for now, I just gotta work with what I got until I get that fan, lol. It is a sight worth laughing at, haha. After reading up a bit, I learned my soil prob has very good nitrogen levels, as it has hummus and manure. As for the other 2 main nutes, I got a Bloom Booster from Miracle grow that'll do wonders once I reach the flowering stage. So I should be set for nutes. I'm planing on moving the plant to a bigger pot, probably when the 2 weeks are up. And I'll try to get some pics up soon. Thanks for your help!
hi Abe,,,like to keep my grows very simple to See 'my grow' by mactheman,,,,,i just use soil/potting compost from the supermarket...i start them off in in 3ins pots and as soon as the roots show though the holes in the bottom of the pots i pot up in to a bigger pot i do this a couple maybe 3 times in veg ,,and i find i dont need to feed them in veg ,cuz of being potted up a few times...plus if you have even half decent soil you wont need to pH ,,,ive never Phd my soil or the run off of the water..keep it simple,,get a grow book by ed rosenthal who as books for the first time grower it may help you ,,or any book on growing plants in side in pots,,,,,,mac
Keep the cfl close as you can and should should have added perlite to your soil as thay helps the water drain and roots breath. Look out for hermi at 4 weeks into flower mate sounds like you got weed from a hermi plant or a careless grower. If your gonna use MG then use like 1/5th strength its not the best where you live uk/us In soil of your organic you dont need to ph if chem then ya do. How many watts of cfl you got? And whats is its kelvin?? Kush genrally will stay small in stretch If ya uk based i highly recomend getting plant magic Ahh ya us based hmm bio bizz or if you want to order frpm buildasoil there organic all you donis water the plant thats ot no test or owt. And id let the soil get dry cannabis roots likes the breath and dont like wet feet all the time auto help page http://forum.grasscity.com/index.php?/topic/1294434-Need-help-with-autos?-Welcome new vote page http://www.dutch-passion.nl/en/photovote/2014-04-05-autoxtreme%C2%AE-loki_1624/
Mactheman, thats good to hear, makes life alot easier not having to check all that, lol. Plus, I got really good soil, and I wont add any supplements, so I should be good. And Im def check out your grow. Thanks for the tip Loki125, didnt realize that I bought hermi stuff. But after some research, I found some people saying that it'll prob be hermi, others saying it'll just be a normal seed. I am using a 13w CFL that replaces a 60watt one. Im not sure of the kelvin. I still need to get pics up, I know, lol. But I barley get any computer time, and it wont let me upload it at school. So once I get the chance I'll put them up. The only thing thats worrying me now is the purple stem. Not sure what that is. Also, the seed is still attached to one of the leaves, its like stuck/attached. Not sure what that may be, but Im guessing its still providing nutes for the plant. Im planing on moving it to a bigger pot in about a month, it was planted on about August 24th, give or take a day or 2. So I wil prob move it to a bigger pot Sept 24th, or when some good branches come out. Thats also when I plan on moving to 12/12 light. And I heard if you cut the top of your plant while young or something, more branches will come out and stuff, which means more bud. Whats that all about?
Don't worry about the seed mate, that's normal, it will come off in it's own time. I think you misunderstood loki, He/she was just saying it's possible that your seed may have came from a hermi...doesn't mean yours is, or even that that was lol....remain optimistic! Your lighting is my biggest concern, a 13w cfl is not enough bro, don't stress the purple stem either, that's fine, but you need to think of it like this yeah....plants need light like we need food....how strong would you feel if you ate nothing but a small salad every day for 3 weeks?. If you can upload pics, we can see the setup you have going, and most likely somebody cleverer than me will be able to advise in a more exact manner, but for sure, right now, you need more light happening bud.
Oh, okay, thats a relief, lol. Thanks Breezey. And I really hope the seed really does come off, cuz the leaf its stuck on isnt as big as the other leaves. As far as the CFL bulb goes, its replaces a 60w bulb, shouldnt that be fine? It uses 13w, but replaces a 60watt bulb. It says so on the packaging. But who knows, I my be wrong. You prob know better. But if theres a bulb I can buy from Home Depot or Wal-mart that would work best, just let me know. I hear LED's are really good, but I dunno. And you happen to know what the thing is where you cut some part of the stem, so it grows 2 stems to grow the bud, and you can keep doing that? You cut it before flowering or something, Im not sure. And I can finally get some pics up! These where taken just today And I just looked, and the seed fell off! I just sprayed it with some luke warm water and less than 20 mins later, and it came off. Which is a huge relief, since the leaf it was attached to was smaller than the others so it was def doing something bad.
Yeah that amount of light might be okay for very early seedlings mate, but round about now they are going to start struggling....5 plants under an equivalent 60 watt light is only 12 watts per plant....you should really be closer to 50-60 bro. I would grab another 4 of those bulbs, and give each of the babies their own light....it will help them along massively. The technique of cutting the stem you are referring to is called topping. You don't want to do this yet, only once you have at least 3 true leaf sets....then you snip the top of the main stem, which stops the plant from sending all the energy to the top, and creates two colas instead of one....you can then top again a week or two later to get 4 instead of 2, it helps keep the canopy more uniform, making the plants bushier instead of christmas tree shaped. Never do topping in flower though mate, and always allow a week or so for the plant to recover from the shock. I would also consider purchasing a higher powered light for when you do reach flowering stage too bro....something along the lines of a 400 watt HPS would be fine (although 600/1000 watt would be better, just not always practical). The plants need a different lumen spectrum once they are flowering, and HPS lights are the best at providing this in my opinion. LED lights aren't bad too by all accounts, and they are a lot cheaper as far as the electric used, just more expensive to buy initially.
And those leaves the seeds sometimes cling to always stay small bro lol, they are just the cotyledons..they will fall off over the next few weeks as the plant no longer requires them.
Leds are very good i grow with leds auto help page if you need help with autoflowers http://forum.grasscity.com/index.php?/topic/1294434-Need-help-with-autos?-Welcome new vote page sept please vote http://www.dutch-passion.nl/en/photovote/2014-09-03-autoultimate%C2%AE-loki_1752/
Oh, theres only one plant, but I just put up 5 pics to try to get different angles, lol. But I think what the bulb means is it gives of 60 watts of light, but uses only 13 watts. And I planted another seed too, so I have 2 plants now. The second was planted on Sept. 2nd, and prob has just broken ground today, as I saw it a little bit yesterday. Also, my parents found out Im growing now, and they dont mind. Which is pretty sick and makes my life a lot easier.
Haha, my bad..in that case for the moment you should be okay mate....but in the next few weeks she will start branching out like crazy, so a few more on standby would never be a bad idea. Sweet that the folks don't mind too! haven't spoken to mine in over 10 years so there opinion means very little to me lol, but if you are under their roof it's for sure a bonus not to have to sneak bags of soil and lights into the house! lol
Let alone the smell :/ whem sge flowers haha they would find out auto help page if you need help with autoflowers http://forum.grasscity.com/index.php?/topic/1294434-Need-help-with-autos?-Welcome new vote page sept please vote http://www.dutch-passion.nl/en/photovote/2014-09-03-autoultimate%C2%AE-loki_1752/
Yeah, its definitely nice being on the same page as them. And I can grab another lamp, so I can have 2 lamps on it once it gets big to make sure it gets plenty of light. I also took the plants out of the box now, since theres no need to hide it anymore. But I still have a small fan blowing close by. Loki, thats true too. I heard it smells like really strong weed once they start flowering and buds show up. Now I just play the waiting game. Ill be posting up soon, once something starts happening. Im gonna move the plant into a bigger pot once it gets too big for the cup. But in about a month or so, I will begin flowering. I'll keep you guys updated
As loki suggested mate, add some perlite when you transplant to a bigger pot....it will help get more oxygen to the roots.
Aright, I def will throw in perlite. Thanks for the tip guys And a question about lighting, my lighting schedule it set to this, 3pm I turn my lights off, 9pm I turn them back on for the rest of the night. I'm gonna slowly move the setting to 7pm on, 7am off when I get to 12/12. Durring the day the light will be off, at night the light will be on. So that when it comes to harvesting, which I heard you should do in the dark period, I would be able to do it durring the day. Now, the question, is it okay if my lighting schedule is not on point? Like yesterday, I was suppose to turn on the light at 8pm, but I was out and got home at 11pm and then turned the light on. That was just one time though. UsuallyI'm only off like half the time, and when I am off schedule, it's by about half an hour. Is that fine? I am now also able to move the plants outside into the warm sun. But I bring them in to put them under light when my backyard gets filled with shades, which happens a lot since my yard has a lot of trees around it. Sorry, I got another question, lol. Is it okay if my plant is in the shade, or must it be in sunlight? Thanks
------------# hi abe it wont matter about the light if its just the once you came in late to turn it on ,but dont do it too often,,,,but half hour no thats ok,,..yep putting them in the back yard will help as long as the plant gets some sun for a few hours a day they'll shoot up...one thing though watch out for pests like caterpillars,greenfly..and spider mites ,,check the leaves befor you bring your plant/s back in side,,,,,mac
Aright, thanks Mac, thats a big relief, Im always worried the shaky lighting schedule would mess up the plant. Now, I think I got another problem on my hand. The 2 bottom base leaves are turning yellow. What do you think may be causing it? I noticed it a day or 2 ago, but it wasnt that serious, just a light yellow on the edges. Now it seems like the whole 2 leaves are slowly yellowing. I dont know what it may be. I used good soil to begin with, and give it nothing else but feed it water out of a bottle thats been left out to let out the chemicals. I feed it water now maybe 2-3 times a week, and only a little bit too, almost as much as a shot glass. Because the soil has hummus, which holds onto water real nice.
Also, do the new set of leaves on top indicate that vegging has officially begun? Just wondering Or how can I tell?