First time grower, long time smoker

Same old story here. I am tired of dealers, dry spells, and all the other bs that goes with having to buy cannabis. Ive decided it is time to take matters in to my own hands.

Grow area: 4w x 2d x 8h closet grow

Lighting: 400w htg setup. Mh for veg, Hps for flowering

Ventilation: Intake is 2 x 2" pvs elbows pulling from under the house, and 1 x 4" flex tube connected to a flange I added on to my ac system under the house. Exhaust is currently a 6" in ceiling bath exhaust fan, but I have a 6" growbright 424 cfm on the way from htg. Will be ordering a carbon filter for it before flowering.

Seeds: Mixed bag seed from the last year of smoke. I had everything thrown in the same bag from trainwreck and lemon skunk to mexican brick stuff. After germing and thinning down the herd I have 6 plants going. I hope to have three or four make it to flowering.

Germed in paper towels, and the transferred to jiffy starters. Moved starters into solo cups. They poked out of the jiffy starters 5 days ago, spent two days outside. Due to unforeseen circumstances I was postponed on getting my lights. Have been inside for three days now. Was battling heat issues at first, temps crept up as high as 90, but were averaged at about 85. After adjusting my home ac down 5 degrees, temps are hovering at 80, but I still have to leave the closet door open. I hope the better fan will resolve this part.

Anyway here are what I hope I can refer to as the ladies.

Edited by joker865, 01 August 2011 - 08:27 AM.

Any opinions or constructive criticism is always welcome.

so many things to do ....

Also, I know it isnt time yet but I will be repotting into 12" pots as soon as they need it. Going with local potting soil, and 1/3 perlite. I have Jacks classic all purpose 20-20-20 and blossom buster 10-30-20 on the way for nutes.

Day 12 update. Tansferred to 2.5 gallon pots on day 9. The solo cups used were showing roots at the bottom. Medium is 2/3 earthgrow potting soil, 1/3 perlite. Replaced small circulation fans with larger oscillating fan. Lowered light 3" closer to canopy. Average temp is down to around 77.

Edited by joker865, 07 August 2011 - 12:40 AM.

Off to a good start! Sub'd

Thanks!

Looks good, I'm on the exact same day as you, my babies are on day 12 today, (I just added my grow log here, should be up tomorrow). My temp and humidity match yours.

Looking good, your babies seem to be just ahead of mine, I germed my seeds in soil, so I'm counting from the day I put the seed in the soil to germ.

Looking good though, I'm also a long time smoker, first time grower, so your grow log will be very valuable to me. thx!

Duplicate post, whoops.

Edited by EvasiveGrower, 07 August 2011 - 04:27 AM.
Duplicate post

Looks good, I'm on the exact same day as you, my babies are on day 12 today, (I just added my grow log here, should be up tomorrow). My temp and humidity match yours.

Looking good, your babies seem to be just ahead of mine, I germed my seeds in soil, so I'm counting from the day I put the seed in the soil to germ.

Looking good though, I'm also a long time smoker, first time grower, so your grow log will be very valuable to me. thx!

Yours are probably about the same then, I am counting from the day they broke out of soil. I started germing about two days before that. I germed 30, 20 developed. From those twenty, I put 16 in jiffy starters. 12 of those broke ground and were put in some sun while waiting on cash for my light. From those 12 I narrowed it down to the six I thought were gonna do the best sorting out ones that looked stunted and abnormal first. That's one good thing with bag seed, it is cheap and plentiful. Keep on trucking man, I'll definitely check out your journal, and thanks!

Edited by joker865, 07 August 2011 - 04:38 AM.

Well it's a good start my man. I myself would say do 20-25% perlite not 33%. You don't wanna have to be watering daily, especially with 2.5 gallon pots. I'd say with the 2.5 gallon pots I'd try to veg for 30 - 45 days before flowering, but this will also depend on how the plants look after that and how much space you got left since they're all unknown strains. The exhaust fan your getting will definately cool the room, I can't see your light, is it the htg regular with just a aluminum reflector or one with a cool tube hood? Either way the exhaust will cool the room down about 5-10 degrees. I used an aluminum reflector my first grow and just upgraded to a cool tubed hood when i purchased my 600 watt. If you thought you liked smoking weed, you're gonna love growing it and reaping the rewards. I'm going on vacation for a week, but I will check back in when I return on the 12th of august...or if my iphone has reception I'll check it out on the grasscity app haha. Feel free to check out my grow journal too, always good to have people to respond too haha.

Well it's a good start my man. I myself would say do 20-25% perlite not 33%. You don't wanna have to be watering daily, especially with 2.5 gallon pots. I'd say with the 2.5 gallon pots I'd try to veg for 30 - 45 days before flowering, but this will also depend on how the plants look after that and how much space you got left since they're all unknown strains. The exhaust fan your getting will definately cool the room, I can't see your light, is it the htg regular with just a aluminum reflector or one with a cool tube hood? Either way the exhaust will cool the room down about 5-10 degrees. I used an aluminum reflector my first grow and just upgraded to a cool tubed hood when i purchased my 600 watt. If you thought you liked smoking weed, you're gonna love growing it and reaping the rewards. I'm going on vacation for a week, but I will check back in when I return on the 12th of august...or if my iphone has reception I'll check it out on the grasscity app haha. Feel free to check out my grow journal too, always good to have people to respond too haha.

Thanks man.

The reason for the high perlite content is that the soil I got truly sucks. Left alone it has the consistency and drainage of mud. Newbie mistake number one that was. I dont mind watering daily, but the soil I got holds so much water, even with that mixture of perlite it stays damp for 2 to 3 days right now. I am planning on transferring to 4 or 5 gallon containers before flipping them anyway, and plan on adding some better soil then so that should help balance out the perlite.

The light is the standard open htg reflector. I will be getting a cooled reflector here in a few weeks, but since I got the fan the other day, I am going to get a filter on the way just to make sure I have it before flowering. My budget is about $100 per week for equipment max, so I am having to get stuff one at a time.

No doubt I am gonna love it. I started doing some regular outdoor gardening a few months ago and enjoy it as a hobby without being able to smoke my harvest. Hell, I can hardly read the harvest section on here, it just makes the anticipation horrible. I cant wait to burn that first bowl of MY smoke.

I will definitely check out your journal. Take it easy, and keep on growing.

Day 13 these guys got the first feeding. They were starting to show small signs of what looked to me to be nitrogen deficiency. They were all starting to grow in the second set of leaves, so I figured I wasn't way too early.


Fed them when I watered with 50% pure distalled water, and 50% distilled water with jacks 20-20-20 at 1/4tsp per gallon. If my calculations are correct, that should put the ferts at about 1/8th strength.

They are still growing well, and dont show any signs of nute burn from the feeding, so hopefully I was safe going with just that very small amount.

Well, just a little tip for anyone that may be following on their first grow. Dont wait on your carbon filter or odor control. The are at 16 days now out of soil, and are starting to smell. It isnt too terribly bad YET, but I can definitely smell it in the grow area, and the auroma is starting to come into the house a little since I vent into my attic. Dont know what strain these are, but I am afraid they are gonna wreak big time when they go to flower. I will be filtering by then thank goodness.

Got any new pics? Here's my grow, two days behind you.

1st Indoor Grow: NY47 / Northern Lights x Big Bud/ 60 Day Wonder

Got any new pics? Here's my grow, two days behind you.

1st Indoor Grow: NY47 / Northern Lights x Big Bud/ 60 Day Wonder

Looks good man!

Here are some from today.

Those are looking great man! Much better than mine :-) My soil also get super muddy so I'll be using a different top soil next grow

Thanks!

I bought two kinds when I got mine. Some top soil, and some potting soil both earthgrow brand. The crappy potting soil, I HAD to mix about 1/3 perlite to get to drain good. The top soil was even worse. I swear it just a bag of dried mud because that is what it looks like if you add water. I used it for one outside plant (basil not mj) and had to mix a load of perlite in to it just to get it to drain. Wont use that stuff again.

Yeah, my topsoil is garbage, consistency of pig slop haha! I might try just adding some plain ole sand (bag sand from Home Dep) to the mix and double the perlite to help with breathing and draining. Draining takes days for me :-/ usually 2 fulls days after a good watering.

Why would you try to grow anything with top soil? Its void of anything that plants need....