First Post, First Grow

Discussion in 'Growing Marijuana Indoors' started by ajg6, Aug 5, 2011.

  1. Greetings Grasscity!

    So I've been reading these forums for a lil minute now, I've been learning A LOT, and I think its high time I showed y'all how my very first grow has been progressing.

    First, let me tell you all that this has been a seriously low-budget grow as I am seriously strapped for extra cash. All the equipment I am using, save for a couple of lightbulbs, I have either accumulated over the years or received as a gift. That being said, in no way did I want to half-ass this grow. If you're gonna do it, might as well do it right... Right? Right.

    As far as seeds go, I just started with some bag seeds that I had collected over the last couple years. I know for a fact that at least half of them are Bubblegum, there were several Silver Lemon Haze seeds in there, some Ice Cream, Strawberry Cough, and some miscellaneous stragglers.

    My attitude to this grow has been less about stealth, and more about increasing my probability for a decent yield on my first go round. So I germinated every seed I had, and almost all of them were viable. I let them seed in some party cups and when they were big enough, I transplanted 7 of them into an Aerogarden, and 6 of them into larger window box pots, and I planted 4 of the weaker ones in my backyard, just for kicks (if they actually start to thrive and get big, I'm def. going to move them inside). I'm just thinking with more plants, should some of them come out male or somehow get really messed up, I'll at least end up with 3-5 females, which is really an ideal number for me.

    As far as lights are concerned, its been a real DIY/Gerry-Rigged setup, but i think it's both effective and adjustable. I have the 3 CFLs on the Aerogarden, 2 100W 5500k CFLs with a little y-splitter, a 75w soft white CFL just cause i had it laying around, this under the counter daylight CFL tube light I somehow just had, and (the cherry on top) a 660W HPS floodlight that I got for $Free.99

    Since I have this setup in my closet, I was able to utilize the existing shelving in there to hang my lights from. I had some heavy duty nylon cord with a high-tensile strength (used for stringing lacrosse sticks) laying around, so I used that and some wooden hangers and created a little adjustable rig. You can move the hangers side to side along the hanger rail, and raise and lower the lights with the little knot system I created. I used a street sign i stole long ago to keep the HPS light level and steady... It just happened to fit the width of my closet perfectly, go figure.

    I have the lights hooked up to a surge protector with a built in timer, and an oscillating fan going 24/7. I gave the plants a couple weeks of 24hr light, about a week of 18/6, and last week after reading the thread about 12/12 light from seed, I decided to move to 12/12 a little early. I'm impatient as it is, and I hear that running 12/12 from seed can speed things up considerably... so i figure i might as well give it a shot.

    I did take the initiative to buy some nutes though. Im not a TOTAL tight wad. I went out and bought some Fox Farms Tiger Bloom and Big Bloom which I am using in tandem, at a little less than half the recommended concentration.

    So now that you have all the details, how about some pictures?

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