Indoor Soil Grow, 250w HPS, Autoflower Himalaya Blue Diesel

Hi to everyone, I'm brand new to this growing malarkey and before I go out and spend my hard earned wages I've been trying to get the basics of what I require to give me the best chance of success.

Basically I've got a condition that means I suffer from muscle pain 24/7 and don't sleep too well. I started self medicating a few months ago and I've seen a significant change in the level of pain and also in the amount of rest I've been able to get - good times. However, given the lack of professionalism / consistency in the trade I've not always been able to regulate my medication properly - bad times.

So, I'm looking to grow a nice Indica biased strain that I can cycle (essentially looking for about 2oz every couple of months), which is easy to grow for beginners. I don't have to be particularly stealthy, I have a room in my house which the missus is letting me use but of course I don't want to stink the street out, I have zero understanding of horticulture but I'd say I'm not daft and am quite practically minded.

I've read a lot of contrasting things on the web (this site seemed to speak the most sense) but as this would be my first grow I wonder if I can just get a bit of clarification.

My idea (assuming an autoflowering Indica / Sativa like Lowryder - thoughts please???) is to construct my own grow box from chipboard painted with matt white paint on the interior and with a 2ft x 2ft base, 1 x height adjustable 250w HPS light through the top and a soil grow technique. I'll only be looking to germinate 1 seed at a time on wet tissue before planting as this is all for Percy.

OK, so now the questions:

• How high would you build the box assuming I might go for other strains in the future, such as Afghani #1, Northern Lights or Black Domina, when I'm a bit more confident?
• When transplanting the seed to the soil would it be best to go for a propagator by the window or straight in the grow box with the HPS on it (and if so at what kind of height)?
• Is it best to use unfertilized soil and to add one's own nutes and what kind of plan would you have for adding the nutes AND what are the best nutes I can get in the UK?
• Do people have more success with a 24/0 or 18/6 light/dark ratio with autoflowering crops?
• When do you know it's time to harvest?
• What's the best way to dry the crop out?

Obviously the last couple of questions won't need answering for a couple of months but any help I can get here would be gratefully received.

As I've noticed a great number of grow logs get started but never finished, as a thanks to anyone who helps and hopefully to help people in my current position I promise to update from seed to vape.

Ta

Edited by junkiedays, 14 August 2010 - 10:20 PM.
Fixing title for OP

I'll only be looking to germinate 1 seed at a time on wet tissue before planting as this is all for Percy.

My friends just completed their first grow, so I'll share some experience they gathered and shared with me.

First of all, not every seed will germinate. My friends started with 4 feminized seeds. Two of them germinated and grew, the others never did anything but rot. I'd recommend starting germinating with at least 4 feminized seeds. If you use non-feminized seed, I'd recommend germinating at least 6 seeds. That way, you can have a couple of seeds not germinate -and- cull up to 50% of your plants as males and still have couple of female plants left to grow to maturity and harvest.

OK, so now the questions:

• How high would you build the box assuming I might go for other strains in the future, such as Afghani #1, Northern Lights or Black Domina, when I'm a bit more confident?

My friends intend to grow sativas down the road, so they made the side walls of their box 8 feet high. If you don't intend to grow mostly-pure sativas, then you can probably get away with 6 foot side walls.

• Is it best to use unfertilized soil and to add one's own nutes and what kind of plan would you have for adding the nutes AND what are the best nutes I can get in the UK?

My friends made the mistake of using Miracle-Gro soil in their 3-inch starter cups. Then, just when then corrected that mistake when selecting the soil for the larger pots, they used Miracle-Gro perlite in the soil (only brand they could get locally), which has more fertilizer in it. That ended up being the biggest regret/mistake of their first grow, as the MG fertilizers made it impossible to use the nutes they'd planned on using.

Please read your prospective soil containers carefully to ensure there are no time-release fertilizers in it. My friends have used 50% pre-washed perlite/50% potting soil mix in subsequent grows with much better results. (They also use the additional nutes with this mix.)

• When do you know it's time to harvest?

My friends used a 30x jeweler's loupe to examine the trichomes on the buds. They wanted more of a "high" than a couch-locking "stone", so they harvested when the trichs were milky, but not amber yet. They all didn't turn at once, so they kind of used the color of the majority to determine when to harvest.

• What's the best way to dry the crop out?

They put a clothesline between the top-end of the chains used to hang the lights, clipped some large binder clips over the line and clipped the entire plants upside down from them. Below the line, they put two small 4-inch fans on top of the lights (pointing up) to circulate the air; these fans were previously used around the plants to simulate wind. They hung the plants for a week, then trimmed the buds off and put them in a glass jar for 2 more weeks. They kept the lids tight on the jars except during daily gentle swirling of the contents of the jars, which they did with the lids off.

This process resulted in some lovely, basil-smelling buds that were absolutely delightful!

As I've noticed a great number of grow logs get started but never finished, as a thanks to anyone who helps and hopefully to help people in my current position I promise to update from seed to vape.

I bet some folks don't get great results from their first grows and are embarrassed to show the results in their journals. My friends' results were less than they hoped for, but they still produced high-quality bud that would easily sell right along next to all the other kine/dank/medicinal stuff a dealer would sell you. Some of the buds had more crystals on them than I'd ever seen before. (And they grew bog-simple feminized Big Bud...not something renowned for crystals like White Widow, etc.)

I think once they get the bugs worked out of their growing system, they'll be producing amazing quality (and respectable quantity) bud for their own medicinal use. I just wished I lived closer so I could help them in the quality assurance testing of their product.

Good luck!

first of all, with an HPS light, a closed box will probably get to hot, if you have a room, use the whole room. as for doing 1 seed... I would do two, just in case it is a male plant.

For starting, use a plain old organic potting soil, no miracle grow or anyones that have chemicals added, as this will make the weed taste off, and miracle grow can burn it right out of the soil.

24/0 and 18/6 is arguably the most argued about factor, go with what you want.

generally speaking, it is time to harvest when the pistels turn from a clearish white, to an amber orange color, and the trichomes do the same (you need to use some sort of magnification tool to see this).

edit: this can be used in a few ways, you can run an exhaust fan with a hose into your attic and have it diffuse, or you can do a method I've rarely heard of, which is have 2 fans on either side of a 6-7 foot piece of peipe, with an incline ozone generator, pulling and pushing air through it at approximately 70cfm, the idea is simple, stinky air goes in, clean air comes out. this is more if your windows are full closed and covered, but you dont want your house to smell. I've only heard of two people who did this, they said it helped to circulate the air, and greatly decreased the strength of the smell. However, additional fans are required to move air around more.
as for the smell, either chose a strain with low smell, or use a carbon filter, good luck!

Edited by Bubble_Bubble, 14 July 2009 - 05:08 PM.

ok i cant answer all your questions but..... if you get a pocket microscope you can look at the trics to tell when its ready to harvest depends on what high your after but half amber and half cloudy is a good mix
its best to use soil without added nutes alot of people recomend this and add your own nutes as for what nutes in the uk i brought baby bio because of its high nitrogen content (good for vegging) i got it from wilkos cost me about 2 quid tops? loads of info about drying out in the havesting section of this site. usually the seedbank tells you what light cycle is best i have used 20/4 all the way through my lowryder grow and its going well as for a 250w hps if you are growing one plant i wouldnt bother hps kicks out alot of heat and you would need a taller growbox to facilitate it if i was you go for cfls minimum of 100 watts (actual watts not equvilant)
sorry couldnt answer all hope this helps
gl
ps just saw this is your first post welcome to gc and hopefully alot of people should help you out

Wow, thanks guys, really pleased with those answers. I know it was an original long post but it seems worth it.

OK, unless there is an overwhelming clamour to the contrary I'm going for feminized Lowryders, growing 2 at a time starting with the tissue paper option. I'll pop them straight in the unfertilized soil under lights when I get root and come back to you with no doubt a myriad of newbie questions and hopefully some pics of shoots.

Just lastly, as there has been some uncertainty around the lights and box can someone tell me definitively if I should:
a) Use a box or just suspend the lights over them somehow
If growing max 2 at a time, is 250w HPS necessary or will a 100w (actual) cfls set up (thanks elitenoobuk) of some kind do the job, there is a recession on after all

Thanks again, great community, and thank you very much bubble_bubble, nice to meet you all

If growing max 2 at a time, is 250w HPS necessary or will a 100w (actual) cfls set up (thanks elitenoobuk) of some kind do the job, there is a recession on after all

im running a 125 watt bulb on both of my lowryders and its working well if i started again i would use cfls but i would throw in a few smaller ones to provide light under the canopy (cfls have bad light penetration)

but anyways hope everyones resposes were helpful gl

make sure you use paper towels and not toilet paper or tissue paper (kleenex, etc) to germinate. also, make sure you do a search for watering advice...it's complicated.

So far everyone has been very helpful, but the costs are mounting somewhat so it could be a little bit longer before I get this off the ground, could someone just confirm that what I want to purchase will be wise investments in respect of the grow space. I'm going for either a Lowryder or Easy Ryder soil grow, 2 plants at a time from fem'd seeds:

• Chipboad Cabinet 600mm x 600mm x 1500mm painted bright, matt white on the interior
• 1 x 250w CFL with reflective shade suspended from above and a 22w circular fluoro tube around the base of the each of the plants to give a little bit of light from underneath.
• I'm hoping, given the fact I'm usng CFLs and the climate we get in the North of England, that I'm not going to have any serious temperature issues but I'm still a bit unsure about how to get the airflow right, I'm tempted to leave the lid off and run a small oscilating fan in the bottom corner of the box. I think the reflector hood will cover the majority of the space - thoughts...?
• Soil, nutes, water, etc... I'll sort nearer the time - I just want to get building now, all this reading I've been doing is getting me really impatient but I refuse to spend a penny until I'm sure I'm giving myself a good chance of success because this is looking like it's going to be around £150 before I'm ready to go and there's a recession on don't you know.

Thanks again, all tips are gratefully received

OK, so I went to this little hydroponics store in my home town and after a little bit of cageiness (sp?) on both of our parts we eventually started to have a bit of a chat and he told me that it doesn't matter what strain I grow, they always stink and so I'm going to need a carbon filter - is he just trying to sell me stuff or is this right?

Also he said HPS is definitely the way forward and can do me a full 250w set up for £90, any thoughts guys?

EDIT: I've attached a pic of the light I went for in it's place, it's a dual spectrum Sunmaster 250w HPI

Cheers again

Edited by tidyjay, 21 July 2010 - 07:27 PM.

Hi TidyJay - just thought I'd post up and say I'm in the exact same boat as yourself - looking to get a basic first setup for a couple of plants to grow. I've asked a question myself regarding what nutes we can obtain here in the UK, and was directed towards this place: http://www.growell.co.uk/

Luckily for myself, these people are literally down the road from where I work so I can go and pop in there during the week, but thought it may be of some assistance to your research prior to purchasing your setup.

Personally, I'm going for a CFL setup in the attic, not in a box. Our attic is fully converted with windows, so going to see how it goes with the smell. My immediate neighbour is sound and wouldn't say a word about it (he smokes it himself!) so that's not a problem, just hope it doesn't stink the street out!

Anyways mate, just thought I'd pipe up as it's good to see I'm not alone in a newbie grow in the UK!

roflll @ you sayin "malarky" in the opening sentence of this thread...

OK, so I went to this little hydroponics store in my home town and after a little bit of cageiness (sp?) on both of our parts we eventually started to have a bit of a chat and he told me that it doesn't matter what strain I grow, they always stink and so I'm going to need a carbon filter - is he just trying to sell me stuff or is this right?

Also he said HPS is definitely the way forward and can do me a full 250w set up for £90, any thoughts guys?

Cheers again

Lol, I love that conversation. The first time you go to a new shop they are talking about tomatoes, but after a while you understand what they really mean, and they understand what you really mean.

You are going to need a filter, but not for a while. Some strains you can probably get away without a filter, but not the ones that you're looking for - with musle pain, you're going to want the heavy stone of an indica, and those all smell. A lot. Some smell during veg, some wait until flower, but you'll want it sooner or later, which will give you some time to shop around. Take a look at growell, they have a bunch of package deals with soil, nutrients, filters, fans, lights and everything (even a tent in most cases). You'll learn how each part is used without having to go shopping, and then when you decide to expand, you'll already know what all the necessary parts are. Your local shop might be a good way to go too, just make sure you shop around whatever he offers you, then you'll know right away if he's giving you a good deal to try to make you a regular customer or just trying to sell you as much as he can and he doesn't care if you ever come back.

easy now grass city i also live in uk w/yorkshire and in the same situation starting my own persy stash growing in my attic not converted in a grow box useing cfl just been reading every ones coments there all good and thanks to every ojne who shares there wisdom couldnt do it with out you guys lets all hope we all get the high of our dreams seen as im sat here right now and carnt even get my hands on a ten bag really stressing and my mans our shit all shit bud most of the time but its better when i go to dam cos that shit rips my tits of and i love it sorry for ramberling peace out stoers

...So, I'm looking to grow a nice Indica biased strain that I can cycle (essentially looking for about 2oz every couple of months), which is easy to grow for beginners...

...OK, unless there is an overwhelming clamour to the contrary I'm going for feminized Lowryders, growing 2 at a time starting with the tissue paper option...

if you plan to seed a portion of your plant(s) for future grows, fem isn't the way to go. fem'd seeds generally grow to produce very poor seeds if they germinate at all. since you're possibly looking at a life long hobby/remedy, you might want to produce your own seeds rather than buying new ones every few months. alternatively, a fem'd plant should be fine for cloning.

ok so i did get sorted wit a ten but one of the shitest tens ever were the fuck do they pull this from carnt wait till my own don im looking for a purple strain thats easy to grow for my first time dont know what it is about purple weed just love it this shit tastes like gun powder would taste like if ya know what i mean i heard of one called grand dady purple any comments

roflll @ you sayin "malarky" in the opening sentence of this thread...

Born Lancashire, live Yorkshire, we all talk funny...

Anyway, ordered my seeds yesterday and I've gone for an Auto Himalayan Blue Diesel, it's a Blueberry / Auto Kush hybrid, or to give you the lineage it's White Russian X NYC Diesel X Nepalese Kush. It's mostly Indica, pretty potent and does up to 30g per plant.

Thanks for the advice darookie2000 on where to purchase but as this is a gradual process I'm getting various bits at different times from different places, I'm deffo gonna get the light rig from my local store (in W. Yorks BTW) as I wanna get in with the guys running it.

Next purchase for me is going to be the fans, then the light (deffo going 250w HPS) and then, given the advice, will get my carbon filter(s) when I've started the grow. Hopefully we'll be gowing by the first weekend in September.

And finally Mooner, cheers man, my first aim is to prove to myself that I can grow these babies, following that I'll be looking to expand my capabilities, I'll need to check out a few more threads though - gotta say the information on here is outstanding.

Cheers Guys

Unbelievable, 1 year and one week after starting this thread I've finally got my grow going. It's taken one very false start that saw two little ladies shrivel up and die (root bound) and now I'm finally onto it with a plant that was placed into its peat puck on July 1st. The story so far...

Bought feminised Himalayan Blue Diesel seeds from the Short Stuff seedbank and one was placed in a peat puck, in a propogator, on a windowsill, out of direct sunlight, on July 1st. On July 9th I took the peat puck and carefully removed all of the muslin type material from around the outside (not necessary I believe but I after the last time I didn't want the roots to have any barriers at all) and transplanted into a small, one litre, plant pot that went straight into the grow box on a 20/4 cycle in John Innes Seed Sowing Compost. The light is a Sunmaster Dual Spectrum 250w HPI that sits under a simple reflector.

I was watering daily at this point but only a small amount from both bottom and top to just keep the soil moist using tap water that I'd used pH down on to adjust to approx 6.4pH. The water sits in the box in a little watering can which I believe allows it to burn off a few of the nasties the water authorities put in whilst also increasing the humidity in the box slightly.

Oh yeah, the box, it's a 2 foot x 2 foot x 4 foot MDF creation which has a hinged front door and is painted matt white inside. It currently contains the afore mentioned light set up that is suspended from the top, a 12 inch rotating fan that operates just above the plant, the plant and, the also afore mentioned, open topped watering can.

Earlier this week I noticed that the leaves were starting to droop somewhat and with the help of a couple of guys in the beginners section I diagnosed that heat was the problem so yesterday evening (July 20th / Day 19) I transferred the plant to a larger 8 litre pot (and might I say was very pleased to see a wonderful root system developing) containing Westland Multi Purpose Compost with added John Innes which I gave a good watering to, until the water drained from the bottom, and left it over night but leaving the door to the box wide open. This morning my little lady looks a fair bit healthier, a couple of her early fan leaves are still a tad crinkled but she's a good green colour and I'm hoping she's on the road to a full and speedy recovery.

Today I'll be picking up a memory card for my camera and hopefully tonight we'll have some pics to show you guys who were all so helpful when I wanted to get this going last year.

Thanks to everyone who has helped. I hope this works, I may need more help though

Well as I said I would, here's my first pictures, we're now at day 20 from seed, any thoughts or ideas are welcome - except for ideas that have a price tag attached, I'm skint

I've asked a moderator to move this to the indoor grow journal page now that it's starting to be a grow journal so hopefully see you on the other side sometime soon

Hi man. We have a similar set up.

If I were to do one thing I would get some waterproof paint onto the bottom of that cab. Chip board goes soggy when wet.

Check out my sig. I'm a couple of months ahead of you.

Yeah cheers man, I've got some white lino on the way that'll solve that problem, looks like a good grow so far you've got going on, I'll be subscribing in a second