New Home Grower--Areoponic--Looking for Friends to Rap about Growing

Hey Y'all!

Don't know how to feel about just signing up for this--I'm a pretty trusting person, and I don't think the gov't is out to pick on people who have made smoking part of their lifestyle and want to grow for their own enjoyment--yet I know there are ever more ways to associate Internet activity with a user in Real Life, so anybody with (reasonable & sound) suggestions for safety and privacy while communing about cheeba on the Web, I'd really appreciate any counseling.

ANYWHO--yeah, I'm new! I'm working on my second crop. Started with 6 plants from seed--3 widows and 3 AK's and only had one boy! Now I've got five mothers: Mother Superior (aka Hildegard bon Bingen) and Gina are widows and Shirley Schmidt, Bea Arthur, and Lisa Simpson are all AK's. Yes, I gave them all names.

I have cloned Mother Superior, Gina and Shirley Schmidt already, since they are my largest girls and had the supple limbs to spare.

My nine clones--three from each mom--went into an Areoponic system called the Rainforest that I purchased and am very pleased with so far. They are 13 days into their new lives and all have sprouted roots, though two have very small roots just forming that are no more than a couple millimeters. The longest root system is now about 10 cm or about 4 inches.

IS ANYBODY ELSE OUT THERE TRYING TO GO FROM CLONE TO FLOWER IN A RAINFOREST?

That is my goal. I want to:

root for two weeks
veg for five weeks
then start my flower

With all units in my Rainforest filled, I think this will resemble a Sea of Green-type method--small plants but 18 of them total, which is how many cuttings-to-adult-plants the system holds. I imagine somebody will tell me the Rainforst system with 18 units is not large enough to do this and that the system is meant to root clones, not to bring mature plants to flower, but I've read enough literature and have thought through the process enough that I want to try it.

Lighting is an issue for me, but mostly b/c of cost. Right now I have several (five, maybe) "plant" or "grow" incandescent lights in utility fixtures on my girls with only one LED 23 Watt grow panel. Amazingly enough, I grew all my moms with nothing but lights purchased at hardware stores. I didn't dare try cloning until I got my LED panel, and I've got to say, the little ladies seem to really be thriving under it.

I've got a fairly large grow space built in a walk-in closet that's totally coated in Mylar sheeting. I leave the door open with a fan on about every other day. It stays pretty warm and humid in there a lot of the time, but my girls have never complained. The only issues I've had with them are light-related: burned leaves and a couple grew up a tad bit tall and spindly-ish because of insufficient light. This was from before the LED addition.





One thing I want help with is setting up TWO grow areas. ONE for moms--I want one mom of each strain at all times to take clones from--and one for bringing the clones through veg into flower. I have no idea where I'm going to put my moms when it's flower time right now. I have more Mylar to create a second space, but I'll need more lights.

I like the LED because of the low cost of running it, but obviously I need to buy another panel or possibly more than one. I have to wait, because I've got a kind-of vow of poverty thing going on.

Anyway, I've rambled long enough! If you read through, thank you so much, and please please please holla back by leaving a comment. Like I said, this is my first-ever forum venture (like, ever, for anything. I know. That's weird. I'm 26 and afraid of the Internet. Well, not afraid, but I seem more at home with the least sophisticated forms of media, like, you know, books, those things my programmer father and brother told me would be extinct by now)--I'm just hoping for a positive and productive experience here!

Kind Regards from a little German lady in thunderstormy Tennessee & remember to make my funk the P-Funk.

Sweet plants. It's not that hard, eh?

I'm in a pretty similar situation in that I have also never gone on a forum; am 26; growing for the first time; and have mostly German lineage. The last one is definitley an advantage if Omy has shown me anything haha. Oh, and I'm also doing an LED.

What kind of LEDs are you using? Like, what's the wattage and the brand?

I've been considering these "flowering" red-spectrum bulbs to add during flower. It's supposed to be a supplement that helps the buds get bigger and juicier, but who knows?

So your "Omy" was a gardener, eh? My Omi used to have a rare talent for keeping orchids in bloom, but I don't know if she ever came across the cheeba. Woulda helped her eyes though!

In addition to enjoying the smoke, I use it a lot for pain management because I respond really badly to prescription drugs. There's no medical marijuana in my state, sadly. And the side-effects of lower-quality stuff are terrible. I've been trying to look into strains that are better for certain things, like chronic back pain and neurological issues similar to fibromyalgia. I'm sure there's gotta be a thread for that.

Thanks for responding EasyTo, and Happy Growing!

Oh, btw, do you use soil or hydro or what's your medium?