newb starter's do's and dont's questions and answers.

First let me say hi guys, great community going on here, very friendly and helpful :)

Ok so I live in Argentina and the bud that available here is..... Well itâ??s not that itâ??s bad... ITâ??S THE WORST STUFF POSSIBLY IN EXSISTANCE!!! Itâ??s almost always brown and with the typical smell of ammonia and/or cat piss which indicates the weed has been badly handled and is rotting.

I simply cannot accept this horrid stuff anymore so Iâ??m going to start my own brand batch. I have already had a first trial run with six little plantlings 4 of which have already died. I know what Iâ??ve done wrong and luckily I used bag seeds because I knew I was guna mess the first batch up anyway so I did it mainly to gain experience. Ill post what Iâ??ve learned so far in the hopes it helps someone else in the future.

THINGS IV LEARNED NOT TO DO.
1. One I killed by accident while trying to make a hole in the soil to deposit some rotting tomato slices as nutrients. Obviously this was a bad idea as the soil parted suddenly and unexpectedly and accidentally severed the root of my little ill fated plant child. It was leaning over and basically dead in hours. So never dig in the dirt to add nutrients. If you must place something within the soil do so only on the rim of the pot and only one or two inches max. The best choice is nutrients that you can mix in water so that you can simply water and feed your babies at the same time.

2. Make holes in the bottom of your pots to allow drainage of water. I had cut the bottoms of standard 2 liter soda bottles so they were about 6 inches high or so and used that as the typical starter pot. Now unfortunately I forgot about drainage holes so basically I ended up over watering 1 of them since the water I added weekly simply built up and didnâ??t drain or evaporate. So always have a nice little drainage system to prevent drowning of your beloved greenlings.

3. Use GOOD soil. Now I know a lot of people are probably going hate me for this but basically what I did was I went with a bag and a spoon to my locate park and stole some dirt. (Can you steal dirt from a public park? lol) now I imagine this is the reason my other jolly green mini didnt live to see the light of my lighter. It slumped at the 2 week mark. SO ALWAYS USE THE BEST QUALITY STORE BOUGHT SOIL.

4. I live in a small one bed room apartment with no balcony or outdoors area so my choice was either indoor lights or by the window. I have tried by the window but my plantlings started growing sideways because they were trying to aim their leaves directly with the sun which was coming through the window. So one collapsed under its own weight since it grew too sideways. so unless you have outdoors access use indoor lighting because the plants will either grow crooked if next to the window and also neighbors might spot your pretties get jealous and feel the need to ruin your day by calling the men in blue to take away your childâ??s in green.

OK so I know Iâ??ve done some pretty stupid things, things I probably could have avoided had I done a little more research beforehand. but Iâ??ve learned and am now ready to start round 2 of attempting to watch my children grow, take care of them, keep the insects away, make sure they get feed well but not too much, read them stories, hold their hand when they are sick, listen to their problems and try to give them the best advice, and basically be the best damn father I can be. Then once there mature grown up and ready for collage to start a new life.......... kill, dismember, dry and smoke....... :jointsmile:

So basically I just have a few questions of things Iâ??m trying to find info on line about but am either getting conflicting answers or vague information.

1: Iâ??m considering forgetting about the normal plan to transfer once they "outgrow" there starter pot. Again I live in a small place so I think it would be better or at least more convenient for me to simply have 2 small "bonsai" planties then 1 big one. I know ill obviously get less quantity but thatâ??s ok as its going to be just for me and my GF does not smoke. so what I want to know is if I leave them in their starter pots (again Iâ??m using the cut out bottoms of 2 liter soda bottles about 6 inches tall more or less or I could buy pots of a slightly bigger size but I would like to keep it around that size.) will they grow properly and be fully capable of flowering? Or does weed need to get to a specific size before it can flower. I donâ??t want to spend 2 or 3 months just to end up with a male bush.... I know it will remain small but again thatâ??s ok. I just want to make sure it will grow properly. Also will the potency be reduced if I keep them small or possibly maybe increased since it would be more compact?

2. As explained above the sit by the window thing simply is not working so Iâ??m going to use indoor lights. Now since my place is small and I donâ??t really have that much money Iâ??m considering using compact florescent lights. Will these work properly? Iâ??ve seen lots of discussions on this, some say no way it wonâ??t work at all and other claim to have grown several batches off of just CFL's is there a specific type I need or maybe a specific configuration I need? as for wattage I was planning on getting the highest watt ones I can find which I donâ??t really know how much watts CFL's come in but Iâ??ll find out at the store. I plan to use 2 or 3 of these as again I plan on having just 2 maybe 3 max small little green jollies. Will this be ok or do I absolutely without exceptions need some higher end lights like high pressure sodium or halide lights?

3. I plan on boxing off a corner of my apartment with a large cardboard box which I will "laminate" the interior with aluminum foil so it will reflect the radial light and thus my green (hopefully) meanies will get a bit more juice. Would this be ok or should I maybe use the box but not the foil? Or maybe donâ??t use either? I want to provide the best environment I can for my babies but again I am rather limited with space and what I can provide. I plan on leaving the "top" of the box roofless so itâ??s not like sealed and one of the sides open at all times so it doesnâ??t suffocate. So basicaly I plan on having the plants in the corner surrounded on 3 sides by aluminum covered cardboard. Will this be ok?

Ok so that was a pretty long post. (Sorry!) But hopefully with your guyes help will be able to get my little dudes up and running and ready to be smokified. And if you guys can help me this will be useful information for anyone that is in the same situation and needs the same or similar information. Iâ??ve been on several forums and again iv found limited or conflicting information on these subjects. Thanks in advance! :smokin:

60 views and no replys? come on cant anyone help a newbie out? i still got 2 of my originol 6 growin and i wanna do things right. should i transfer to a bigger pot afterwords? or can i leave em in there little pot to grow a mini bud bush?

I lol'd @ your long post. Try starting here.

:postreadfaq:

Good move buying soil, soil from outside has insect larva and nematodes etc. that will punk your seedlings.
Also, rootmass certainly effects bud yeild. I would go with the largest pot you can utilize. You can really pump up buds with fertilyzers but you run the risk of getting bleck, wont burn product.

Also, cut whatver soil u use with 20-30% perlite.

learn about ferts, 202020 for veg, and the various bloom mixtures.

Foil can cause hotspots, but I don't know if you can use it.


Good luck!

The root sytem of the plant must have sufficient room to grow, I doubt your bottles will be anywhere near big enough.
Potbound plants will die.
I have used envirolites with success and they are available in the correct spectrum.
Foil is bad for your plants and will brown any part of the plant that touches it.
A simple coat of white paint would be better if you can't afford mylar
You can box your plants but don't forget to ventilate (mould is nasty) and also provide crossflow air to strengthen stems.

thanks for the feedback guys. well iv had a bit of a change of plan. iv convinced my GF to let me grow in the closet which would be alot more convenient. however that being said i belive iv run into another problem.

(EDIT: i forgot to mention i will be using a comination of 6000k and 2700k CFL's so would the foil still be able to burn them in this case or should i be ok with the white walls?)

again it has to do with the size of the plant. the closet i have is of rather odd dimensions. its 3 feet high, 1 and a half feet wide, and 4 feet long.This will be more than perfect for vegging and seedling (plus the walls are already panted white so thats a plus) however i fear that the space will be simply to small for when the plants start flowering.

now what i was thinking is i could repot several times and simply repot to a slightly bigger pot everytime. so it continues to grow but dosent get quite as high as it will more or less always be at max root size without actualy being root bound? or is this not such a good idea? (also lots of repots causes alot of stress on the little guys as well dosent it?)

what about if i just let them grow like normall untill they hit the roof? i dont really care if they touch the roof and start to bend as long as this wont hurt the over all harvest. (who cares if you have a plant with a crocked neck as long as he give you buds right?) but again since iv never grown i dont know if this will have an overall negative effect or not. can any one provide feedback on this?

i have been looking at bonsai plants and i belive that could be one solution (if letting them hit the roof and bending is a bad idea) im just not sure how to go about it. i would have to wait for it to be a few inches tall ( say around 6 or so ) and then cut the top most sprout? so it stops growing up and starts to split and grows more side ways rather than straight up and then cut the very tops of the two new shouts once they gain a little bit of height as well so those split into 2 more each for a total of 4 and then yet again after they grow a bit longer as well to eventualy get 8?


also i have seen posts about tying the plant down so it grows side ways as well. how would one accomplish this without snaping the stem? thanks for all the help guys, i cannot explaine just how excited i am to really get my first crop going and finally be none dependant on argentinas HORRID bud supply. :dance: :S2: :dance: :jumphappy: :dance: :giggity: :dance: :jointsmile: :dance:

*Bump*

cuchá, Mastershake, no le pongas papel aluminio que sube la temperatura y absorbe mas luz que la que refleja. si vas con cfl busca uno con temperatura de color de 6400k para la vegetacion y 2600k para la floracion.