My first grow (Indoors)

[budlover13]

Well, I've been browsing the site for about a week now and have finally decided to log my first grow and hopefully get some good advice from some seasoned growers. I've done alot of online research and checked out the faq's so I don't have alot of questions at this point, but I'm sure some will come up along the way. To those of you that have been growing for years, I humbly ask for your input. To those of you who are new like me, I hope you find this an interesting and educational read.

Not gonna give much background as it would just waste alot of space. I'm a 36 yr old ex-police officer, MMJ cardholder, and currently run a Land Surveying crew. On to the grow!

I started on July 13th with 2 trainwreck, 1 White Widow, and 1 OG Bubblegum Kush. I bought all 4 as clones from the local dispensary, brought them home, immediately put them in 12" pots filled w/ MG organic potting mix, put them into my 2'X4' closet that I converted into a grow area, under 6 gro-lights that I got @ Walmart. 6X17w=102w set @ 18/6. The closet isn't airtight and I have a 6" fan to circulate. All four clones have been treated the same as far as nutes(MG @ 1/2 strength), schedule, etc. These two ladies are OG and WW, I got the trainwreck clones the next day and repeated the process.

[budlover13]

The little lady in the back is a cutting of Rockbud that a friend gave me. Unfortunately, she didn't make it.

I light-proofed the closet with black plastic and velcro, and continued the 18/6 schedule. Obviously, not ventilation caused my temps. to jump so I piped in A/C from a nearby vent. Even though I kept the lights within 1-2" of the ladies, my OG started to stretch immediately.? No clue why, so I topped her in the 2nd week of veg. She put out more side shoots, but continued to stretch. A LOT of space between nodes. My WW grew to about 6" and turned 90 degrees even though there was only reflected light where she reached out to. I thought about SOG, but decided it might be too much for my 1st grow so I staked her and straightened her out and she has done well since. My TWs are looking great as far as I can tell so I would assume that the environment I set up is accidentally very good for that strain.:wtf:

I forgot to mention that the lights are 7800k. I was afraid that might be too high on the scale, but the veg went well. :bonghit:

[budlover13]

I almost forgot to add that when I started the 12/12 I put together an inexpensive home-made co2 generator by mixing 6c water, 1c sugar, and 1/2tsp yeast. I took 25' of aquarium tube and put it through the lid of my 2liter bottle, sealed it with caulk, punched pinholes every 1/2", and ran the tube through, above, and around my ladies. I know that the co2 output for this setup is minimal, but I figured WTH! It cost about $5.:D

[budlover13]

Is there anyone out there that would be kind enough to give me some feedback? It would be GREATLY appreciated! Please?

[Shovelhandle]

I forgot to mention that the lights are 7800k. I was afraid that might be too high on the scale, but the veg went well.

The plants look lovely. :thumbsup: Best of luck with the harvest.

Shovelhandle

[budlover13]

So, I've been slacking on the grow log update. Sorry! Here I sit on day45 and the biggest problem I'm having is keeping my ladies from touching the lights and having to tie them down because they're growing so fast! They have almost doubled in size in the last 2 weeks since I started flowering. That being siad, I have kind of a late sog thing started. All the flowers are looking good though and they are getting sticky and stinky(I love it!). i can't believe how successful my first grow has been so far(fingers crossed)! Thank you to all those who have given me input and posted helpful info for all to share!!! :jointsmile::thumbsup:

[weeddaddy50]

yep my plants did the same thing...start flower double in size in 14 days....

just keep LST them and they will put on more but sites.

Good luck and keep us informed

[budlover13]

So I'm 4 weeks into flower and have added 165w of cfl for a total of 330w cfl and 128w t8 fluoros, 458w total. 4 ladies in 8 sq ft. I'm having a little trouble with heat build-up even though I have a/c piped in and my closet is not airtight. The only thing I can think of is to add an exhaust fan to the top right hand corner.

I'm kinda torn, because I plan on buying a 400w hps in the next 2-3 months, but I want this crop to be productive. I have a large rubbermaid container for seedlings/clones, a 2x4' closet that is serving as a flower room right now. I also plan on purchasing a tent if I am sure that it will work as advertised. Anyone have any experience with them?

Here are the ladies. What do you think so far?

They've stopped growing so fast now and are getting nice crystals on all the growing buds.

[canniwhatsis]

There's a guy on my route that makes some tents that are just badassed, His larger ones that I've seen in action are a bit much, but I fell in love with his prototype little one that I think would be about right for you. I'll ask what his website is next time I see him. ;)

[budlover13]

So here I am again trying to keep my grow log updated. I'm gonna shoot for daily updates on my next grow, but seeing that this is my first, I've been pretty busy.

Anyhow, here I am @ week4 of flower and already starting to be very eager for harvest. Some of my buds are looking more and more mature and the smell is wonderful anytime I have to move or bend or water. I have definitely found my passion. I want to learn SOOO much!!!

Update is that things are going good. I wish I had more weight on there, but I'm pleased with my results so far. I'm pretty sure my next grow will be in a larger space(a tent I plan to buy with the money I save not having to go to the dispensary), pretty sure I will SCROG, and will buy a good ph meter for both soil and water(DAMN they're expensive! Anyone found a good website?) I recently added a 65cfm fan from Radio Shack because I was having some temp problems and wanted to get more circulation. 65cfm should replace my entire air supply twice a minute. Here are a few pics.

[budlover13]

I'm getting excited! Here are a few pics from today. I'm a little disappointed with yield, but I think I'm gonna be very happt with the quality!:jointsmile:

[canniwhatsis]

Raise your lights slightly, or turn your fans down,... something is burning your baby's! :eek:

Don't get disappointed with yield yet, your still early,.... depending on strain, you might have 8 more weeks to go, and you'll gain 20+% in the last week and a half! ;)

[budlover13]

I take it you're looking at the brown tips on some of the pistils? At first I thought it was because of the close proximity of my cfl's, but they are doing the same on quite a few buds that aren't so close to the light. I know I have some tip burn from letting the leaves touch the cfl's, but it's minimal. I thought the browning or reddening of the pistils was just a sign that they are getting mature? I have 2 trainwrecks, 1 white widow, and 1 bubble gum kush. I was told to expect 6-8 weeks flower on the trainwreck and maybe 7-9 for the other two.? I was thinking that the pistils were just doing their natural thing. When do you prefer to harvest? Do you look @ trichs or the overall appearance of the plant. I was thinking that I would wait until I started getting a lot of yellowing, dying lower leaves.?:stoned::confused:

[budlover13]

Ps: I also gave them slight nute burn about 2 1/2 weeks ago but I flushed the crap out of them and they seem to have come back nicely. I can't believe how much I've learned so far and yet how much more there is to learn!:D:jointsmile:

[truepunk87]

Looking good bro.....nice grow:thumbsup:

[budlover13]

Thank you very much! I am jazzed since it's my first grow. It has exceeded my expectations!

[budlover13]

Here are a few more pics. Just updating and trying to be patient!

[Slevinkal]

:thumbsup: looking good

I hope my first ladies turn out this good

[budlover13]

I'm 2-3weeks out!

[budlover13]

Thank you Slevinkal! I'm excited. I've always had a pretty green thumb, but I've never grown anything indoors. I must give the vast majority of the credit to good clones and good advice on this forum. I surf a couple of other forums, but I tend to stick to this one for advice on my grow. There are some very mature growers here that are more than willing to share their knowledge and experiences.

Thank you to all the members who have helped me thus far!:D:jointsmile::thumbsup:;):stoned:

[canniwhatsis]

Looking good Nice and frosty! :thumbsup:


What strains are surviving? (you said you lost one earlier :( )

[budlover13]

Looking good Nice and frosty! :thumbsup:


What strains are surviving? (you said you lost one earlier :( )

I lost a cutting off of a Rock Bud that my buddy gave me. I got it when I first got my clones and knew nothing about rooting hormones or any of the other steps in taking clones. Unfortunately, neither did he despite claims otherwise. He gave me 3 cuttings and none of them survived.

I still have 2 Trainwrecks, 1 White Widow, and 1 OG Bubblegum. I would have thought the White Widow would have been the frostiest, but the Trainwreck is the winner in that category, as well as yield so far, overall growth and vigor, and smell as well. I would like to either take clones of re-veg my best Trainwreck, but I still have some research to do. I've heard differing opinions on whether or not you can re-veg a plant and even more opinions on how to do it. Do you know if you can take cuttings from a plant at harvest? I realize I would be giving up some yield, but I really want to hold onto these genetics.

[canniwhatsis]

Rooting cuttings off of flowering plants is tricky at best,... STRONG genetics "MIGHT" make it easier, (the later into flower, the less likely it will take,.... taking a clone at harvest is almost certainly gonna fail!)

I rooted some cuttings that were, by my estimate,.... beginning week 2 of flowering..... Surprisingly, all three took and rooted, but none were viable mother plants, and all took about 2 months to stabilize in their growth back to a "normal" vegetative state.



So realistically Re-veging is your best option if you want to hang on to a strain that you don't have cuttings from.


http://boards.cannabis.com/grow-log/146765-rustys-bonsai-downsizing.html