Complete newbie 1st time grow

Let me preface this by saying I know very little about growing anything, much less herb.

My wife and I love a good toke, but times are getting hard and we really can't afford to keep spending money on pot... We have a bunch of seeds we've collected over the last 2-3 years of smoking. I don't know whether they are indica, sativa or a hybrid. I've been reading a lot on here and I recently sold some of my toys to try and finance our own little grow.

My wife uses herb medicinally for her back. The prospect of not having any is extremely tough on her. I really want to make this work because it looks like a ton of fun. I don't plan on growing more than 2 at a time right now, but that could change in the future if this does well. We went to the local hydroponics shop today and the guy there was amazingly helpful. He recommended Flora Duo to us and loaned us one of the books he had for sale to get us started (Gardening indoors with soil & hydroponics). He didn't try and make a huge sale with us which I really appreciated. Between the Nutes and the B/W poly we walked out with a good bit of free stuff to help get us started.

I'm pretty much shamelessly ripping off Beeze's set up. I really enjoyed his entire journal and it made me feel like I might stand more than a snowball's chance in hell of actually getting something smokeable.

Our little tent is 3'w x 3'l x 6'h, the SCROG is 2.5 x 2.5 x 2.5. I'm currently using four 23 watt CFL's for my seeding phase. I've ordered a pro source 90 watt LED UFO ($200 on Amazon! ) and it should be here next week hopefully. I'm into the entire set up for a little bit less than $360 so far. The pots are set up with 1/2 potting soil 1/4 perlite and 1/4 vermiculite. Right now we have a watering can and a small mister, nothing really complex.

Right now I have:
Grow tent - 3'w x 3'l x 6'h
SCROG is 2.5 x 2.5 x 2.5
four 23 watt CFL's on a timer running 18/6
2 seeds put in the pots today (9/11...)
90 Watt Pro Source UFO LED light (on it's way)
Flora Duo nutes (A and

I don't know what I need to do as far as ventilation or CO2 generation so any suggestions would be fantastic. I'm really looking forward to this whole experience.

Move lights way closer...

Move lights way closer...

Did, I have them sitting right at 2 1/2" from the pots right now. I had literally just put them in and was still getting it all set up.

Thank you very much for the advice!

While browsing through your photos I noticed the length of the sprouts and couldn't help but wonder if you had made quite sure your fingers, or whatever utensil you used to plant them with, were sterile? Great care must be used when planting with sprouts as long as those so as not to bruise the tender sprouts. In the future I would suggest planting as soon as the sprout appears from the shell. I am interested to see this grow of yours become successful. My wife has been sick for many years and marijuana is the only thing now that makes her feel better. Good luck and I'll be following along. Although I've only grown a few times I would be more than happy to share what little knowledge I've manged to retain over the years, as there is so much to learn.

While browsing through your photos I noticed the length of the sprouts and couldn't help but wonder if you had made quite sure your fingers, or whatever utensil you used to plant them with, were sterile? Great care must be used when planting with sprouts as long as those so as not to bruise the tender sprouts. In the future I would suggest planting as soon as the sprout appears from the shell. I am interested to see this grow of yours become successful. My wife has been sick for many years and marijuana is the only thing now that makes her feel better. Good luck and I'll be following along. Although I've only grown a few times I would be more than happy to share what little knowledge I've manged to retain over the years, as there is so much to learn.

Thank you so much for your words of encouragement. I washed my hands thoroughly before handling them, I hope that was sufficient. I was very gentle with them and did not touch them for more than 10-15 seconds. I also did not touch the budding stem at all, just the shell. I prepared the pots first and brought the seeds over on a damp paper towel.

I've read several different opinions regarding watering, most of it relates to vegetation/blooming though. How often should I be watering my seedlings?

Thank you for all your interest and help!

I used a spray bottle and merely kept the soil damp with two or three good pumps of the trigger each morning and they popped their little heads out in three days. I had buried them between a quarter inch to a half inch each. I also had the little party cups on a heating pad that was made for a germination dome to keep the soil moderately warm.

I used a spray bottle and merely kept the soil damp with two or three good pumps of the trigger each morning and they popped their little heads out in three days. I had buried them between a quarter inch to a half inch each. I also had the little party cups on a heating pad that was made for a germination dome to keep the soil moderately warm.

Awesome, thanks for the info! When I left this morning my soil temp was at 77 degree's f. Ive read that this is a good temp, do I need to heat it any more than that? I will give them a bit of water when I get home today after work. Right now I'm focusing on getting some ventilation set up and getting a hydro/temp gauge put in place.

It's possible that when I put the seeds in one may have gotten flipped over as I was covering ir up. IE: the part sprouting from the seed may be facing up. Should I check it and see about turning it back the other way or should I leave it alone? I don't want to induce any more shock than absolutely necessary.

The reason I'm thinking that is I saw a small stalk rising out slightly this morning and I don't think it would be a stem, but I could be wrong.

That temp is fine. I wouldn't disturb the one that may be upside down. Give it a chance to do it's thing. I'm sure it happens in nature half the time. Of course, nature can afford it, she's got thousands so it's a percentage game. But in my opinion you have a greater chance of doing more harm than good by stressing it further.

That temp is fine. I wouldn't disturb the one that may be upside down. Give it a chance to do it's thing. I'm sure it happens in nature half the time. Of course, nature can afford it, she's got thousands so it's a percentage game. But in my opinion you have a greater chance of doing more harm than good by stressing it further.

Awesome, I really don't want to disturb them if I don't have to. I like to let them do their own thing.

Try to post as many pics as you can as you go, my friend

Per request here are some pics!

The one that is most advanced was actually planted on Friday (9/9). I got a wild hair up my ass for some reason and on Wednesday just threw four seeds into some damp paper towels and stuck them in a cup with a lid on. I didn't honestly expect any of them to work and wasn't prepared at all. Two popped first and I threw them in a clay pot and set them outside trying to figure out wtf I was actually going to do. The others (the two in the 1st post picture) were slower to pop.

I pretty much decided Saturday night I was going to take a real run at this and everything you see so far is 1 days work. I'm really happy 3 of the four have for sure broken ground, I think another is trying to but I haven't actually seen it yet.

Soil temp is currently reading around 82f. I'm going to pick up some stuff to do ventilation, humidity and air flow tomorrow. I've got the door of the tent propped open right now to vent some of the heat, I'm also having the lights cut off during the day and on at night to try and help stabilize the temperature. My lights are about 2 1/2" from the plants. (23w cool white CFL's)

I just gave them names; Bebe, Betty and Poly.

I really appreciate everyones help and advice.

good times...good times..

Ooops... I can't believe I updated my thread on your thread. lol.... I'll get rid of it. Sorry.

That's really weird, they look very different. I don't have enough room to do separate grow times so I will have to switch them all over to flower at the same time. Was having some issues with heat in the tent tonight. I opened a window behind my tent and threw in an older CPU power supply with a few fans to get some air circulation. My tent sits in front of the window so when I get a chance tomorrow I will start working ony exhaust so it blows it straight out the window. I'll be running an intake with ductwork inside.

I'm going to re-do the tent a bit, I'm very unhappy with the SCROG where it's at. I'm going to pull the legs off of it and use some chain to attach it in the center and keep it about 2' from the top. I'll use it to hang my lighting etc. My wife is going to get her medical card shortly and once that's done I'll feel better and will probably rebuild a bit.

I wish I had spent more time doing research, I'm pretty much treating this as a learning experience. Hopefully I'll get a zip or two and will learn a lot, I'm really happy with the results thus far but I'm trying not to get my hopes up.

ventilation is very important. You have time to get things situated before they get too big. You're doing fine. Use whatever fans you can to exhaust hot air from the top and have passive intake from the bottom, they (the passive intakes at the bottom) really don't need fans. As I'm sure you know, hot air rises and when you blow it out at the top, cooler air enters through the passive intakes at the bottom in an attempt to equalize the air pressure inside and outside the tent.

Whew! I did a good bit tonight. I wasn't happy with how the room was set up so I re-did it a good bit.

The wife and I both did a good bit of shopping. We picked up four more CFL's (27w 5000k) along with four Y sockets. So we went from four 23w bulbs to a mixed bag of 4 23w and 4 27w. I picked up a nice circulation fan and a new powerstrip with 4 timed sockets.

We hung the SCROG about 1-1/2' from the top of the room. I've decided if I'm going to do anything with them it will probably be LST, so right now I'm just using the scrog to space out my lights and mount things on.

The plants seem to be growing good. One of them may be showing a bit of stretching, but that was probably due to having a crappy incandescent bulb on it. Now that it has it's own set of CFL's and they are close enough I expect it to do much better.

So far the oldest plant has only been planted in soil for 4 days. the other two have only been in 2 days. I think they are really doing well for how long they've been in there. I've noticed they seem to be drying out every 8 hours or so, I've been lightly misting them about 3 times per day. The clay pot is holding it's moisture really well, the other two are 1/2 soil 1/4 perlite 1/4 vermiculite and seem to be drying out faster. I'm only giving them about 3 good squeeze's each watering so I hope I'm not doing any damage.

Pics!

Hi there...!

Now you're looking good on the CFL's on the babies. I'm an oldtime toker and a complete rookie at growing trying to make a go at it for much the same reasons you are. You're cordially invited to stop in on my journal below, I wish you the best of luck. There are some great people around here so dont be afraid to ask questions. I think you're doing fine so far. Take a look at least at the LST method, its very effective and not as hard as it looks. I got a nice bushy plant on my first try at it!
Dont get discouraged when things dont always go perfectly, it really is a lot of fun watching them grow, and I always try to remember something one of the wise ones here told me whenever my head is spinning with what to do "They're just weeds man, let them alone and watch them grow" for me, that was pretty good advice for a newbie tending to overthink things sometimes.
I'll stop in and check ya out now and then

CS

Edited by CunningStuntz, 14 September 2011 - 04:19 AM.
grammatical deficiency

Hi there...!

Now you're looking good on the CFL's on the babies. I'm an oldtime toker and a complete rookie at growing trying to make a go at it for much the same reasons you are. You're cordially invited to stop in on my journal below, I wish you the best of luck. There are some great people around here so dont be afraid to ask questions. I think you're doing fine so far. Take a look at least at the LST method, its very effective and not as hard as it looks. I got a nice bushy plant on my first try at it!
Dont get discouraged when things dont always go perfectly, it really is a lot of fun watching them grow, and I always try to remember something one of the wise ones here told me whenever my head is spinning with what to do "They're just weeds man, let them alone and watch them grow" for me, that was pretty good advice for a newbie tending to overthink things sometimes.
I'll stop in and check ya out now and then

CS

The babies are asleep right now. I haven't had a chance to look at them yet today, I'll have to wait about 5 1/2 more hours to peek in on them.

I'm pretty comfortable with the idea of doing LST. I used to grow and form bonsai so I'm very familiar with tying and training plants. I'm not really sweating the plants at all, mostly just the environment. Once I get that sorted the rest of it should be fairly simple. I did a lot of gardening with my mom when I was younger. Nothing along the lines of pot, mostly vegetables and flowers, but she taught me a lot.

I checked out your journal and it's pretty awesome. I hope you can get your temperature issues sorted out. I managed to build a 38"w x 38"l x 74"t grown tent out of 1/2" PVC and B/W poly for under $65. You would have to get creative with your venting but I'm working on some solutions for that and will post up pics of what I come up with.

Good luck bro!

Made some fairly major modifications tonight. I picked up used 400w HPS system off of craigslist pretty cheap. I shored up my grow tent with some boards, I know I disturbed my poor little plants moving them around and shuffling lights but I needed to do it, the whole thing was trying to fall over.

I know that HPS bulbs are much better for flowering than vegetative, but my current set up wasn't working for me. The lights were swinging around pretty wildly and would randomly fall into the planters. As it stands my HPS system is about 32" above my seedlings and I have 4 CFL's no more than 3-4" away from them.

Is my HPS too far/too close for plants this age? The guy I bought it from said the bulb inside is a Belgian bulb (not sure what that really has to do with anything) and was only used for 1 cycle.

The fabrication I did for the tent to hold the light was pretty significant. I cut and installed 1' tall sheets of plywood on 3 sides of the tent. The two on the sides I installed near the bottom and screwed them in to the boards the pvc is mounted on, I then screwed the pvc directly into the plywood with a spacer in between. I mounted the plywood on the back side about 3' off the ground screwed directly in to the PVC, the result was fantastic and completely fixed all the leaning issues I had. I'll take some pics of it when I'm not wiped from doing 5+ hours of work on it.

I also had to modify the exhaust on the HPS hood. It had vents installed so I took off one of them and fabricated a 3" duct adapted from a CD I had lying around. The duct hole was 4" and all I had on hand was 3" ducting. I set the ducting on the cd and trace the size I needed. Then I used a Dremel to cut out the center to fit my 3" ducting. I trimmed down an 80mm CPU fan to fit in the end of the ducting to act as an exhaust fan. It's pretty loud but it was the best I could do for right now.

As always any input/suggestions is greatly appreciated, I will try and get some pics up tomorrow.

Ok, so the fan noise was excruciatingly loud. I had some hot water pipe insulation laying around so I used that to insulate the exhaust duct. It's much better now, I would say it easily cut the fan noise by more than half. While I was at it I went ahead and took some pictures.

Betty was having some issues with her seed not letting two of her leaves pop loose. I did some gentle surgery with a pair of tweezers and I think she will be much happier now. Just call me Dr. Rofl.

Enjoy!