First Time Grower - Lighting & Reality Check

[darpin]

Hey there folks. So I've smoked for a while, but am now going to give growing a shot. I got some seeds from someone who used to be a grower, he said they're Northern Lights, and $150 from WalMart later, here I am. I've been gardening my whole life, so I'm not totally unfamiliar with raising plants, although the clandestine nature of marijuana makes it a little more interesting.

a) I have the seeds germinating in some wet paper towels right now, sitting in a ziplock bag, on a plate, on top of my computer monitor (for heat).

b) I have six five quart pots lined up, the kind with the "self watering" basins on them. I've found these are good as they let the upper soil drain, but create a pool at the bottom that it's easier to keep wet all the time, and the plants can't dry out.

c) My theory is to take the strongest germinators, and put them in three to a pot, and then weed them out based on growth rate, and sex, leaving me (hopefully) with one strong female per pot.

d) My big question. I'll probably go and buy one of those HPS lights, but I have a skylight and I was wondering how much of a difference that will make. The room by itself is quite large, maybe 5'x10', and is basically an entire bathroom. There's a window to vent to the outside, and no one around for 50' to smell anything coming out of it. But the skylight always brings in a lot of light; plenty enough to see around, read a book, and it even keeps my little aloe vera plant alive and healthy. With that, and being in the Arizona climate where it is always sunny all day, do I need an HPS system? I have 6x20 floro "grow lights", hung in two batches of three lights, with a rigging system to move them up and down as close as possible to the plants.

e) Probably a sketch question, and I understand if no one wants to answer it, but since this is my first time growing, I'm curious how I'm supposed to move all this stuff. I know I'm not supposed to tell anyone what I'm doing, and I've been good about that, but it seems like I'm going to need to approach people that I've bought from in the past and now tell them I have some supply. If anyone can be less vague, and maybe just wanna pm me, I'd appreciate it.

[arthurjob]

just say a friend online has hooked you up, im a noob grower myself so i cant realy answer with confidence to any of ya questions but if u just use sunlight i think that will take 12 months to grow. hps realy is the only way to go, but make sure u get a air cooled vented hps, otherwise heat cud be a problem, altho your room is big so maybe not :). sorry i cudnt be more help. btw, i think ya meant to keep to 1 pot per plant.
peace

not sure about ya floros, dere gd for seedlings etc, not so gd for flowering dude. must be lovely living in that hot climate, try england for size. u probaly will need a vented reflector.

[darpin]

Yeah yeah.. one plant per pot.

Normally, for any plant, when germinating from seed I do it like this:

- Germinate 30 - 50 seeds.

- Take the best 18 sprouts.

- Plant 3 good sprouts in one pot.

- Weed them out, meaning remove the weaker two of the three, and I'm left with the most robust six of 50 seeds. Of course it's really hard to tell at that age if they're going to be strong. But quick germination and quick seedling status are usually pretty good indicators.

[HARDDON]

1. One sprout for each pot. Letting them grow in the same pot is never a good thing for weed. One seedling, one sprout, one plant per pot. ALWAYS. Do you "BEST" selection during the selection of the seed picking process. DOn't have more than one in a single pot.

2. Your self watering basins could be the ruin of your crop. You WANT weed to dry out all the way in between watering. Keeping the soil moist all the time is a ticket to death for the cannabis plant. These are WEEDS, not petunias. Let the soil dry completely between each watering.

3. Your skylight will not suffice. As the sun moves, the main beam of light from the skylight will sweep across the room as well. While the room may be illuminated nicely, ganja needs at least 5 hours of ACTUAL sunlight direct, per day. AT LEAST.

So the skylight is great for ferns, indoor plants and house plants, but not for weed.

Hope this helps.

Happy growing.

[darpin]

Okay, the watering tip with weed is important, and I'm sure I would have learned that the hard way. Didn't realize that this girl should be dry between waterings. I'll play it by ear, but I'll start off by not drowning or dehydrating them.

I'm going to break down and get a HPS light today. I took my flouros and mounted them on the walls (which have space blankets on them), and I'll just hang the HPS over the top of everything. The skylight will just help things out I imagine, but if I need crazy light, then it's time to plugin a monster light.

I've always had good luck when it comes to weeding the way I've been doing it, on a variety of plants. I guess I should have made it clear that I weed within a few days. Merely to make sure that the germinated sprouts are really taking hold. From sprouted seed to pot, to weeding is probably three days, tops. They may develop a tap root at that time, but not much else.

I'm starting with seeds I don't know that well, so I'm not sure of the quality, and if I end up cloning, I think I'd like to make sure I've got a good specimen right off the bat.

[Da1KrayzieThug]

Ok what id suggest is also getting the fan for yor plants because it is something that is actually very needed on them. Also the skylight could infact be enough considering I've seen the Arizona sunlight but I'd have to suggest a picture of the room and the skylight. It seems like your gonna do really well on your first grow though. Goodluck.

[taphead]

You might want to consider if your light is on at night and you have a skylight it will look very bright from the outside. Also since you need 12 12 light for flowering you would need to block it out when you go to12 12 light.

[Da1KrayzieThug]

I'd have to agree with taphead cuz I believe a more controlled environment while still providing everything the plant needs would be a lot better than just sticking it somewhere and saying "do ur thing". So if I were in your situation I'd go with the HPS but only after I knew I'd be able to provide everything else the plant needs.

[darpin]

Right o.

Okay, attached are my images, and here's what I've got.

- Totally mylar sheets up everywhere.
- 45W floros (2x), one with tin foil as a reflector on the ground, the other hanging with a reflector dish.
- 100W HPS (1x), hanging in the middle.
- 20W 24" floros (6x), mounted on one of the walls. I figure they'll be in good position as the plants grow a bit.
- 1000W HPS (1x), on order, should be here with more than enough time for the plants to really need it.
- Skylight (1x). Provides a pretty hefty glow of light into the room. Not sure exactly how good that is, but it's free, comes from the sun, makes the room brighter, and doesn't add heat (well, not much anyway since all light has a bit of heat).

In regards to sealing it up during the 12/12 cycle, that would be hard to do at all. It's easy to reach with a ladder, and I'll just tape a trash bag or other opaque object over it when need be.

I'm getting the 1000W HPS system because I don't want to screw around here. I figure if I'm going to go through all the trouble of setting this stuff up, I might as well do it right and have a bunch of plants with a high yield. As good as I can do, anyway.

As far as ventilation, I'm really pretty set I think. There's a nearly constant flow of air through this room, naturally exiting the little window (pictured), which is now greatly sped up by that fan blowing exhaust out. I have another fan which is blowing the pots, and lights. Right now, granted the 1000W HPS isn't in there, the room is quite cool.

[darpin]

Oh, I should add:

One of the little plants pictured is an aloe vera, and the other is a tomato. I put them in there, as the marijuana seeds are still germinating and haven't sprouted, so I can make sure that the lights are enough to at least sustain life right now, pending the 1000W HPS light.

I read that tomotoes and cannabis, not only look like eachother, but also have similar light requirements, so I figured it would be a good test pilot so I wouldn't waste an entire crop experimenting.

[HARDDON]

I like the approach. If you are gonna do it, do it and dont mess around. Still not sure how your sklylite fits into the equation.

Forget about it when factoring in your light equations. I am curious...

How can the skylight affect your lighting? You gonna put a 1000W HPS in there...are you letting any light escape the environment? The grow area should be pretty much light tight.