"chronic"les of a rookie

[iowPumpkiN]

I have no idea if im posting this kind of thing in the right place, but this forum seems to have a lot of people who know their shit.

im a first time grower and i just feel like i need some "advice" on a few things.

first off, here are 3 of my 5 plants: http://img191.imageshack.us/img191/6316/img5509.jpg

from what i have read here and elsewhere i have been able to sex them to all be female (they all have those two little tiny tiny leaf things coming out of a branch points). I also THINK that they are sativas because of their slow growth (they are about 4 weeks old and are about 3-4 inches tall), and "chubby" leaves. can anyone second those two observations?

i was also wondering about the fact that all three of them are in one pot. is this a bad thing? if so how bad and why exactly? when i first started, i used the one month starter soil and i just re planted them in the 3 month slow release miracle grow stuff (no other additives). the roots were somewhat, but barely entangled, i separated them VERY carefully as to not rip any of the fragile roots off, they have been doing fine since then.

i would also like to know if you guys strongly suggest to add some fertilizers and such the the miracle grow mix. if so, what kinds of stuff and why.

thanks in advance ;)


ps. have a nice bowl before replying so i could get a little chuckle when i read :D :D

[frostedwonder]

Hey, just thought I would try to help a little bit.

First you cannot sex your plants at the seedling stage. That happens in about 3-4wks depending on many variable but that's about when its able to happen.

Second please take the time after you have smoked a little green to read the section on frequently asked questions and then basic growing. You will learn by others who once asked the same questions and more then you are.

It is faster to do this for many reasons. And it is not smart to roll with your plants in the same tub or container, many people do and after weighing in any possible positive I can still only see the tons of reason why you shouldn't. Those topics are covered in the Frequently asked section, and its nice because you get to read many different experienced growers responses and they have pictures uploaded on the very topic your intrigued by. After all that and you get your garden going I would log it on here and you will be surprised by all the helpful people on here just waiting for you to succeed.
Basic Growing - Cannabis Forums Message Boards - Medical Marijuana, Cannabis Club, Dispensary, News (http://boards.cannabis.com/basic-growing/)
Grow FAQs - Cannabis Forums Message Boards - Medical Marijuana, Cannabis Club, Dispensary, News (http://boards.cannabis.com/grow-faqs/)

[iowPumpkiN]

thanks! i will most definitely read through those sections.

about the sex of the plants though, if you take a look at the picture, the plants ARE 4 weeks old and i was JUST able to sex them. what i was asking was that if it was true that only female plants have these two tiny tiny leaves by the branch out points.

[ShastaCoMan]

bro, for a month old those are teenie

you better get the right lights,ect going

[frostedwonder]

You cannot tell me those are four wks old? Nothing that looks like that pic is something anyone can sex. I would love to see a close up clear pic of something that young looking, showing any sign of sexual maturity. That is more like four days and I am not kidding on that.

[senorx12562]

Those plants are too small to even have a sex. All they have at that size is undifferentiated vegetation. And sativas don't grow slow in fact they usually grow pretty fast. They take longer to flower is all. Finally, indicas have broader leaves than sativas, not the other way around.

[iowPumpkiN]

ill post a macro of the plant later on in the day, so you can see what im talking about.

[jakester]

ill post a macro of the plant later on in the day, so you can see what im talking about.It's a branch bud. You will be looking for little white hairs, not leaves.

[frostedwonder]

Ok so you thought a branch was a preflower...it happens.
You can move forward and throw some big ass lights to your little seedlings and they will still be able to make some magic. Usually after about four weeks depending on many variables you should see preflowers. Those are the white hairs people talk about. Before the hairs even protrude you can see either a club-like nub if its a male or a slipper looking growth at or about the fourth node of growth. I have some closeups of a few preflowers in my past grow logs on here, and there are others if you search the forum using preflower. If you read thru the previous links above regarding FAQ and Basic gardening you will get the run down.

[iowPumpkiN]

damn.. you guys are right. those ARE branches ... they were just so small that i though they were preflowers .. silly me.

anyway i started out with five plants and now im down to two. i decided to cut back because the maximum lighting i can get is 200-300 watts.. after i took out three and left one plant per pot (as suggested), they started growing a bit quicker.


no point in posting those macros, i can see that they are branches now, the small hairs are now turning into leeves :D eh o well.

thanks for the help though!

[iowPumpkiN]

i have another little question. a friend of mine who seems like a pretty credible person, has told me that miracle grow has some sort of weed killer in it that will kill the marijuana plant at some point (since its a weed).

yet a lot of the mixtures that i have read about for soil contain miracle grow and some also say that using that alone with no additives should work just fine as well.

im a bit scared that he might be right about this "weed killer" in miracle grow, but the plants look so healthy right now and i just dont want to re-plant them again in some other soil if not necessary.



so. should i stay away from miracle grow as a soil?

[iowPumpkiN]

ok so i know im posting a lot here in my thread with no replys unfortunately.. but the plants have gotten to be pretty big. i think i can now sex them but again im not sure. i got ur help with the first post and figured out that it was way to early to sex them. well i got some macro's of the branch spots. i THINK and hope that these are signs of female plants. any thoughts?

pic1: http://img189.imageshack.us/img189/8207/onenf.jpg
pic2: http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/1175/twom.jpg


ps. i also would like to hear ur thoughts about weed killer in miracle gro.

[frostedwonder]

Your friend is not credible. I mean he/she doesn't know anything about growing by stating something that dumb. Don't listen to idiots just learn by reading grow logs on here where your able to read a log and go back and review where they think they went wrong and how they fixed different things. You will absorb actual knowledge from people who don't talk but do. And soon enough you will know what works for you based on your own experience.

I don't like Miracle grow soil but it will work just fine. I like to feed my plants nutes based on when they tell me they need something. MG with nutes is something I would only ever mix into a few mediums together to get what I want. The organic stuff is good for someone who is beginning to grow if your without access to other options IMO. Some people try to feed plants way to early and because Miracle Grow that feeds for 3 or 9 months is what some people use they can over feed and kill their plants. If you use common sense and back off the nutes until farther into the grow it works just fine IMO. I like promix and foxfarm and happy frog soil, but you can use damn near anything as long as you have an extra helping of common sense.

Oh and when your 3-4wks in, your plants will then be mature enough to show sex. Some faster or slower then other strains. There are some closeups of Preflowers in my logs as well as tons of others on here take a peek. Your pics show nothing regarding sex or even type of MJ you have. You need to either hop into a time machine going forward three or four weeks or just sit down and smoke one and chill out. Your pics show usual vegetation. do you think MJ is a plant that is a main stick with just leaves? Branches my friend there the beginning of a plant that is going from seedling to a plant nothing more. I would like you to read thru the faq and growing basic stickies on this site....if you do I doubt you will have many questions until your plants stink like a raccoon humped a bag of fruit! Good luck

[LOC NAR on probation]

Miriacle death or grow has got a bad name because it is very easy to get. It is everywhere. So peeps use it. The problem is small plants are put right straight into MG and water the hell out of it and release abunch of fertilizer and burn up little young plants. Such a shame no one knows how the harden off thier plants.

[Faddenator]

ok so i know im posting a lot here in my thread with no replys unfortunately.. but the plants have gotten to be pretty big. i think i can now sex them but again im not sure. i got ur help with the first post and figured out that it was way to early to sex them. well i got some macro's of the branch spots. i THINK and hope that these are signs of female plants. any thoughts?

frostedwonder is right, you gotta chill out. Growing takes a lot of patience, especially using cfl's, which i assume you are using. you'll need a lot of them to see any result that is worthwhile.

As for sexing, If your plants aren't in the flowering stage, you shouldn't see sex unless it's an autoflowering strain. yours is not. you can take cuttings from the plant, root them, and put them in a separate room under a 12/12 cycle to sex them before flowering. otherwise, you're just going to have to wait! When the time is right for sexing, there will be almost no doubt what sex they are. If you are unsure, wait until you are sure. You don't need to pull males the second the pollen sack starts to protrude, and in fact, doing so may cause you to accidentally pull a female.

You'll know, believe me. :thumbsup: