Hey everybody, just signed up after finishing up my first ever grow. i was both overjoyed and disappointed with my results. joyful because it can be done, disappointed because i didnt have enough knowledge to have a better yield. started with six pretty ladies (all came from random seeds found in bags over the last couple years) and brought 3 to flower. harvested a little over 30 grams total, so i know i did something (a few things?) wrong, but for my first grow, and with little $$ investment, i cant really complain. saved me a couple hundred bucks by providing my own herb instead buying from a dealer. anyway, i grew in a space that measured 9'7 long, 3'6 wide and 7 feet tall and had plenty of room. for lighting i had two 4ft bulb cfls, and a little cfl desk light that my wife was using for her house plants at work for some side lighting. potted up the seedlings on March 2nd, and saw early signs of flower on may 21. let them go in flower for only 10 weeks. i was going away on vacation and didnt want to leave them unattended. i know it was early to chop, but i was in a bind. one plant in particular produced fairly dense buds, but the other two were very "fluffy"... i used no nutes. well, i used vigaro twice during veg, but they didnt respond well, so i stopped. after the chop i left about 5 or 6 small buds on the plant that produced the best buds, and they continue to sprout new pistils to this day... so i'm letting them go. i tried to fertilize these buds with some pollen from a male that a friend had (i need seeds for grow 2) and im waiting to see if it took. continuing 12/12 now. so, thats all i got right now. pic will come, have to charge my camera. anyway, for grow two, i want to improve my yield without spending a lot of money on lights,nutes,etc...also, i was wondering if anyone can recommend how to get good light reflection off the walss of the room. i read flat white paint is good for reflecting light. true? thanks in advance i look forward to getting to know some people through the forum, and appreciate any solid info/advice/tips/tricks to have a succesful small grow. peace, J
Welcome to the forum Well certainly a common response to this would be to use not just more nutes, but nutes in general. There is an entire group of growers here who grow EXCELLENT weed without the use of readily mixed nutrients (liquid form or what have you), but rather make their own nutrient rich soil by mixing orgnaic ingredients. Bagged potting soils that have little to no nutrients that you would get from Lowe's won't be enough. Nutrient rich soils like Scott's or Miracle-Gro will burn your plants up, they have time release nutes that are not simpatico with cannabis' grow schedule If you aren't looking to invest a whole lot in bottled nutrients (like Advanced Nutrients, Cyco, Fox Farm, etc), then you may want to go the route of a more economical approach for your soil by using organic ingredients (worm castings, kelp, etc). As someone who uses liquid nutrients, the matter of convenience is just too great to not use. Soil growers here are very creative especially when it comes to compact spaces. There is an entire forum here dedicated to Micro Growers. Besides needing (proper) nutrients, you also need more lighting and it needs to be the correct K (Kelvin) through the stages of growth. Lots of info on wattage, color, distance of light, etc if you read around or ask specifically. Just wanted to wish you luck on your next grow. My overall suggestions based on your scenario: Use nutrients More/better lighting Fresher seeds (bag seeds are fine, chance of germination goes down over time and depending on how/where they are stored.....keep them in a dry/dark/cool place at all times while storing....use the largest and darkest seeds that don't have cracks or splits, and that you can squeeze with your fingertips and are solid)
thanks for the reply potroast- its not that i didnt want to use nutes, i just didnt know which ones to use, and rather than chase my tail trying different ones, i figured, hey it's my first grow, lets just get a feel for the life cycle of the plant, and go from there. as for the seeds,i started with 6(all very hard,"tiger striped" and i got all six to a good spot in veg phase, and as i was rasing my light one day, i dropped it. right on four of the plants. 3 never recovered, and one that looked really mangled actually was my best specimen at the end.lol... but yes, more/better light. the bulbs i used had a K rating of 5800. 40 watts/bulb i think. haveto look at them and check that. but anyway, better soil is key i think as well as proper drainage. i noticed the soil would stay wet for longer than i thought it should. i could go 10 days without watering. i never noticed any root rot, and when i pulled the two of them the roots looked very good, but there were not as many as i thought there should be. can you recommend a liquid fert? also should i put some stone or something at the bottom of the growing container to help with drainage? im looking forward to trying again. putting to use what i have(and will) learned.
on a side note about soil. i used 75% miracle grow potting soil and 25% compost from my compost pile. at one point right around the beginning of flowering, i actually found a few baby earthworms in the pots as i was cultivating the soil surface. i figured that cant be a bad thing and just left them.
Sounds just like my grow I have going right now! Got three plants 4 weeks into flowering, with miracle grow potting soil, no nutes (only cause I'm broke, not by choice). Only difference is I use sunlight from my "backyard" as their lightsource. 30 grams is nice. Any pictures of the process so I can compare??
i dont have any pics...i have a few at various stages on my phone, but i have no idea how to get them onto the computer. its a shitty little tracfone, not a smartphone..anyway. im finding some great info around here, and cant wait to start grow#2. if only i had seeds. as i said up above, i dusted some smaller buds that i didnt chop, and im waiting for some seeds. does anyone know how long it takes for seeds to mature? or what to look for in this process? maybe i should just order some.
What stopped you from cloning? I've got 4 clones right now that I'm gonna use for my next batch. One of em I put into flower a week after rooting and it's already started growing pistils, only 2 weeks into flower. Clones are nice and fast, and all I did was cut from the mother, shove in some soil, and water water water for a week.
well, i guess the fact that its called cloning is what stopped me. i assumed it would be a difficult process. right now i have one plant left...jesus how do i post a pic??
It's really not that bad, look it up while you've got another batch growing, it'll save a world of time. It's a lot easier than people try to make it, like I said all I do is cut off a node at the stem, stick it in some soil (since that's what you use), and water it till there's new growth. This new plant will have all of the attributes of the "mother" plant hence the title "clone"
sound seasy enough. thanks. i have on estill goin right now, i cut the main stalk and harvested what was on that, a nice big cola, and i left some of the smaller branches with buds on them, tried to fertilize it with some pollen, and continued the 12/12 to see if A) the buds continue to grow(so far so good,seeing new pistils popping) and or B) see if i get some seeds for grow#2.