Hello Grasscity!! I'm Vince! Nice to meet you all, your forum is just a great way of learning stuff about growing and pot. So, after thinking a lot and being able to order some seeds I think I'm ready for my first grow! I ordered the feminized mix pack C from greenhouse, containing: -Big Bang -Hawaiian Snow -Super Silver Haze -White Rhino -Lemon Skunk Since I have never grown before, I'm going to start with one, and learn from the process. This will guarantee that I don't ruin my best strains (Hawaiian Snow and Super Silver Haze). So I'll probably start by growing the Big Bang or Lemon Skunk, which one do you think will serve best as a starting plant? The space I'm going to grow in is not completely determined yet, I'm going to either grow in a closet space. The pros here are that the space is already finished and ready to be used. The other possibility is constructing a growspace, which will take more time. I'm probably going to use the closet tough. this is the closet, If I remove the shelfs, the space measures 130 x 50 x 50 mm So the sides and bottom of this closet will be covered in Black/White foil (or radiatorfolie as we call it in The Netherlands) for light reflection. I will measure the temperature and humidity to see whether or not I need ventilation (placing a standard fan will probably be enough, considering the closet is not airtight). Light is important too, I ordered a 125w purple CFL a few days ago, It will arrive soon I hope. It's the 'Eco-Light', you probably read about it, or grew with it. My thoughts are that this lamp is good enough for one plant a time, and the purple light spectrum covers both the growth- and bloomphase. Do you think this light will cover the plant's needs? If not, during the grow I will probably get some 55 or 38w Fluorescent tubes (color code 827) and place the vertically in the corners as supplement light. I'll see if I can get the soil/perlite mix here. They probably have it at our local DIY/Gardening store. The plant will grow from a sprouting pad into a 10L pot. Is this a good way? I suppose the 10L is big enough for the plant. If will water the plant every so many days. One of my questions is when to water. Of course when the plant is thirsty, but every other day? Water, then not for two days and then water again? What's a good way? Then another question is, what's best to do in this environment? How long should I keep it in vegetative state? Or should I start 12/12 from seed? And since it's a single plant, would making a ScrOG be a good idea? Would this affect the end-result positively? If so, any tips? Also you have to know that I'm always very sensitive to homeshopping television. Where I saw this amazing 'gadget' which could make watering super easy (unless you have automated watering, in which case you're probably growing commercially). Take a look at the picture below: The Aqua Globe! call the number you see below me on the screen and get a free copy of the ''loose weight before you gain it'' booklet!! This odd looking glass globe is supposed to be filled up with water, after which you can stick it in the grow medium. Gravity and the thirst of the plant affect how much water comes out of the globe. This means that you're plant gets the water it needs, nothing more, nothing less. Do you think this would work with our beloved tree of knowledge? Thank you for reading my long first post on Grasscity.com, I hope you can answer some of my questions! And if you have tips, suggestions or corrections, don't hesitate to reply! Vince0
1. try to not get some overfertilized pre-mix, it can harm very young plants 2. sprouting pad into a 10l pot sounds nice, i do the same 3. yes, 10l is enough 4. i water every 2nd day, usually you will see when your plant is thirsty, it will let the leaves hang down (but be carefull, it will do the same if overwatering), you can also stick a finger into the soil, if its not moist at the second joint - you might wanna water it 5. veg it first, usually you sprout it from seed until you can see the first embrionic leaves (usually 2-5 days), then veg it vor about 4 weeks (might wanna go shorter/longer, depends on what you want) 6. maybe you shouldnt scrog the first time you grow - you will have enough stuff to care about, scrog will be another thing to care about if you want optimized results you should go with easier things like topping, you can easily find some topping instructions on google/this website. its easy and will almost double the yield. i wish you the best with your plants, welcome to growing - its a really rewarding thing (not only because you get some pot out of it) also you might wanna check out my grow journal, leave a comment if you feel like. i went from seed too, i posted good quality pictures and a short description almost every day. have a nice day
Thanks bio1 for your reply! Do you think this LST is a good way too? I think I'll be able to do this, and it will significantly increase my yield! http://forum.grasscity.com/absolute-beginners/122936-how-lst-low-stress-training.html#post1294604
thats the method i am using but today i found a new LST way: http://forum.grasscity.com/advanced...orial-w-topping-sub-tutorial.html#post5260236 might wanna use that one, looks delicious to me :]
So I covered the closet today, and started germinating the Lemon Skunk seed. I bought 20L of coconutfiber soil, which I think will be a good medium because of it's lightness and high oxygen level. I bought some fertilizer, but i'm curious to know if it's any good for canna. Used light-reflecting/mirror board to cover the sides and bottom. Suppose this will do the trick. My light still has to arrive, but I don't need the CFL for germinating and first day's yet. I will cover the blue sticker you see, with more of the reflecting plates. This is the seed in the first phase of poppin´. When the colored layer has dissolved there are a 2 things I can do: 1: Put the still closed seed in between two layers of cotton and some humidity and wetness. 2: Put the still closed seed in the Sprouting Pad I have, and put this in the 10L pot. Cover the pot with a ziplock or some aluminum foil and put a hot halogen light on it. This would ensure warmth and humidity. What would be best? So I bought some fertilizer, NPK 7-3-5. Any good for my future Lemon Skunk?
1. Welcome to growing, be prepared, it's quite addictive!! 2. Mirrorboard, kind of ineffective, mylar or gloss white paint will work much better. 3. If you are doing a test run, use a seed from a bag. On my first grow I ruined $80 worth of seed. 4. Can you get fox farms products there? If so, I highly recommend using the Ocean Organics soil they sell. It has everything in it you need, hassle free and you can grow with confidence knowing that if there is a problem, it is most likely not your soil. 5. Biggest mistakes made by new comers - over watering -over fertilizing be careful with these 2 6. Read, read, read, before you buy a thing!! I wasted lots of $$ on things I never used 7. You will definitely need ventilation, even if it's just a few low volume computer fans. Moving the air around your plants is very important for a number of reasons, a few being - Prevent mold - Strengthen stems/stalks - Feed the plants. New co2 is introduced with the new air. They are just like us, would you want to be in that cabinet w/o ventilation? Might not kill you but you'd be a lot healthier with fresh air. - exhausting the heat from your lamps. You want an intake and an exhaust. Both can be achieved with 1 slightly more powerful fan. Intake can be as simple as a hole. The fan goes on the exhaust side. The sucking of this fan to exhaust the cab creates your intake (get it?) Good luck!!!
Why is that? Important is that no light is absorbed by the sides right? Reflective material causes for the light to bounce off, so no loss of light? Or am I wrong there? I'm just going to try, if I follow the germination method that Greenhouseseeds suggests, I can get replacement seeds if they don't come out. I can get bagseed too I suppose. Will see. Nope, no Fox Farms here, I bought cocofiber soil. It has organic fertilizer in it, but before the roots grow in, the seed will be in a sprouting pad (coco too). I will, I won't overwater, or at least try not to. The nutrients I got are NPK 7-3-5. I won't use it in the beginning, only when I start the LST. And a little bit, I wanna feed nutrient solution every week. Like, what kind of things? If I put a regular fan in the closet, I suppose it creates enough Air circulation. The closet is far from airtight, so I think this will be enough. CFLs don't have a lot of heat, right? Wouldn't the regular fan take care of that?? Thanks for your reply man, Vince0
The actual material actually matters. There is a test report posted here somewhere. Mylar was best. 2nd was high floss white. Even aluminum foil has VERY little reflective value, that one can actually damage your plants. Mirror doesn't work, just creates burn spots, etc. Trust me on this one. Even when you use the right stuff, the refracted value of the light that makes it back to the plant is something like 1/144% of the original light when it left it's source. Yup, just a suggestion, something to think about. Cool. Good plan. Watering is a learning thing. Just something that comes with time but it's short time. You'll even be able to just lift the pot and feel the weight to know if she needs any eventually. My rule is that I'd rather have it too dry (just prevents me from keeing them wet all the time) They DO want a good drink once they get dry though and when flowering begins, they soak up even more. Another point about watering is that we have fans blowing air around and this tends to dry out the very top soil. That's why new folks tend to be tricked into overwatering. It LOOKS dry. but brush away the top soil and stick a finger in there a bit to feel for dampness and you'd be surprised. Couple more things about water. You don't want to go straight from the tap. Allow your water to sit out for at least 24 hrs. Fill a big pasta pan and let it sit. You will want to buy a ph kit. No, the ones from fish tanks don't work, you need a gardening one. You test the runoff water that will be in the collection tray after you give them a good watering. You also test and adjust the water you are feeding them BEFORE you feed them, ESPECIALLY once you start adding nutes to it. Seems like a pain in the ass but if you take the time to do these few simple things, it can avoid costly and time consuming , even grow ruining, situations. That water that you get in the collection tray need to be emptied after each watwering, they don't like to have their roots sit in a puddle. This forum. Read grow journals, see where people fucked up and learn from their mistakes. Grow room set-ups. Again, what worked and why and what didn't. No 2 grows are the same so you just filter what you read and apply the things that you envision in your grow. The closer to airtight, the better. You want control of that environment to keep it optimal and consistent. It HAS to be light-tight come flowering time anyway so....It's cheap and easy to add a few computer fans ($4 ea) to the rear of the cabinet, an investment that will pay back 100 fold. No brainer, your plants need all the air you can get them. Not as much as an HPS but they give off plenty of heat, don't be fooled there. Especially when you put them in an enclosed environment like described before. Heat NEEDS to be vented. Keep asking questions
Okay, So I'm going to make an air-intake at the bottom of the closet, and an air outtake at the top? Since CO2 is heavier then air, a bottom air intake seems like a logical thing to do? Would 2 pc-fans do the job? One intake and One outtake? I'm going to stick with the reflective board for now though, Maybe in the next grow it'll be matte white. Or Mylar.. thx!
And maybe a hose going up, so the co2 comes out and slowly sinks to the bottom? The fresh made oxygen by the photosynthesis will rise and be sucked out by the top fan? (Get it?)
put both fans up top and just an intake hole at bottom. Put the hole in the floor, less chance for light to get in during flowering.
don't use the watering bulb, do it by hand. if you use the bulb the water will saturate the portion around where the 'needle tip' is but a lot of other places in your container will stay dry. the best way to water ganja is to wait 'til the soil almost dries out (not crusty, but you do want a lot of the water that was in there from the last watering to be gone) and give the plant a nice, thorough watering 'til water drains out the bottom of the pot. that way you'll insure there are no dead spots receiving no water that could kill your roots and eventually your shoots. there's no way to overwater a plant if you do it like this. what you SHOULDN'T do is water again before the soil has dried out well enough. that's where people get in trouble. good luck!
Okay people, Just checked on the Lemon Skunk seed, and it is popping, the pretty white tail is slowly coming out of it's shell! Tomorrow it'll be planted in the sprouting pad into the 10L. I think it'll be best to cover the pot with aluminum foil and keep a warm lamp shining on it. I don't have a soil heater or anything, but the foil will keep the air humid and the ground warm, right? Also, you're saying 2 outtake fans up top, and one bottom intake hole?
Yes. You don't need a fan on the intake, the exhaust fans will be pulling air in as they push it out so all you need a is a hole
But since the closet is not airtight (it is lighttight (is that even a word?)) I can put a intake fan on too, So an intake is steady intake is guaranteed?
I suppose the rootgrowth is slowly coming, and hopefully within days there'll be a picture of a baby lemon skunk girl here! Ciao!
Awesome!! Yes, u CAN put a fan down there for intake but it's not necessary. You'll get better air movement if you just make an intake vent and have the exhaust pulling the air in, thru and out.
everybody say Hi to lemon skunk! So, if I'm not going to do LST and just see how this plant will grow under my light, when is the earliest I could start 12/12 light cycle? Is it immediately, after a week, after the third set of leafs or much later??