My first grow (Indoors)

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.

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:

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

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

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

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:

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

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.

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. ;)

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.