First Ever Grow, Need Advice Plez!!!

For my first grow I plan to use the idiot proof Lowryder seeds.

Basic Setup:
strain: 12 Lowryder seeds
Light: 6 23 Watt CFLs clean daylight (w/e that means) not softlight
2 42 Watt CFLs warm light
Medium: 1/2 of seeds will go into Fox Farm's Ocean Forest Potting Soil
1/2 of seeds will go into my own recipe

The Proccess:
For the first for weeks i plan to run the plants under 18/6 light cycle. From 1 am to 7am they will be in my grow closet under the CFLs. From 7am to 7pm they will be under the good ole sol. After the four weeks (or after i can determine the sex and yank out the males) they will be outside 24/7.

Please guys i really need help with my first grow i really don't want to screw it up. The main questions I have are whether are not the lights that i have will work. And whether or not you think that the process that i have chosen is the best way to go. Should i keep it 18/6 from start to finish? or do you think that CFLs will do a better job than the sun. Please guys any feed back will be great. Thanks again! :D

Well Reverse,

I think your plan will need some modifactions. First of all no light every made will out do the sun. If you want to start them off under CFLs fine but I don't think you are working with the right type of bulb. I have never used CFLs but I think that there are ones more suitable for plants at the hardware store.

So your thinking, I dont use CFLs then what do I know? Well, I start them under a 400hps then move to 1400hps for flowering which works for me. Should you go with 18/6 for start to finish. No.

There you have it something to start you off with but you'll have to keep reading to master the game. But what do I know.

Loco

Of course there are good ones for plants at the hardware store ... just ... not the warm ones ... at least not for veg.

well the Daylight ones you would use for Veg. cycle they are 6500k. the warm light ones for flower cycle. Now although its been proven that HPS is great light source for flowering or just growing period, CFLs are effective enough to get the job done. The sun is the best light you can have,but this late in the game?not to sure how it will turn out, but hey give it a go,and Good Luck!

Thanks for the advice guys, I would get an hps system but it sort of out of my price range right now. And thanks for telling me what the "daylight" flouresents mean. I think i'll be ok with them since lowryders have no veg stage.
But anyway I am need of some dire help.
HELP HELP HELP!
I need to know if its ok if the shell falls off the germinated seed.
Here is a pic to show what i mean!

I have to disagree with loco. CFLs are excellent for seedlings. HPS is too much in the red-orange spectrum and the plant doesn't need that until it's ready to flower.

but you should invest in a hps if you are going to do this seriously. It's really worth it.

I've never seen the shell just drop off until after it's already poopped its cotyledons out. Stick those seeds in dirt right away as soon as the taproot pokes out.

A bit of advice, pick indoors or outdoors and stick with it. Use timers. You're going to forget and put your plnats out late a few times, or early, and BAM hermies.

Thanks stinkyattic, I think I am going to just use the fluorescents till I see them popping out of the soil. And after that, they'll stay outside permanently.

So as of last night, I planted 7/12 seeds.
Those seed germinated fast, after 1 day, not one seed had a root longer than 1/4 inch. 24 hours later there was one root (the one that was actually in the picture) that was whopping 3 inches long and actually pushed itself through one of the sheets of the 5 fold paper towel!!!!! Under 5 hrs fluorescents, already two of them were poking through the top of the soil. Three more came poking out of the soil during the day today. Putting 3 more in the soil cups tonight. 2/12 might not make. 1 of them has a stub for a stem and one of them is not showing any stem at all. Hopefully by the end of today Iâ??ll have some pics up :D

Here are a few pics. I am concerned about 2 of the new growths. They both thave the same problems. One of them (the one that sprouted out of the dirt after only being under flouresents for 5 hrs) is starting to yellow a bit (the right one on the second pic). Also, unlike the other ones, its not getting any new leaves on it. I am hoping that it is just that there was too much water in the soil to start with but i don't know, any input would be great:) !

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Reverse G.B.

Thanks stinkyattic, I think I am going to just use the fluorescents till I see them popping out of the soil. And after that, they'll stay outside permanently.

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They don't need light UNTIL they pop out of the soil. Then they need CFLs.

cfl's are great and evrything, but I'm tired of everyone saying you need them. I have been successfully growing lowryders under 2 standard 125w household flo. tubes and they've been growing great. :thumbsup: .

Thanks for the reply stinkyattic and maryjanehaze.
As far as an update on my grow. As you know 10/12 of my seeds germinated. 1 week after planting in cups, i transferred two of them permenantly into the ground. Very big mistake. Three days later, one of them was completley eatin (assuming snails) and on the other one, all the leaves were gone so i yanked it. One of the germinated seeds popped through the soil but stopped growing and turned brown. (I'm thinking it might have been a 'J' shaped root but who knows). One of them never popped through the soil. So thats four down so far. :( One of them had some major snail problems (or i assumed so cuz i saw a snail crawling on the edge). There were holes (small) all over the leaves to the point where although all the leaves were intact and the shape was still existant (hope that makes sense), 75% of the surface area was gone. I have five left, but they look B E A utiful. Hopefully to get some pictures up later today

Sorry I never got those pictures up, my camera isn't working right
I have some bad news anyway.
So I thought I had an insect problem, I really had a cat problem....
So I go out tonight to get my 5 plants in their little beer cups to transplant them into 1 galleon containers. (Three of them look like shit, two of them didn't have leaves and one of those two was brown) :( .
So I get them out and transplant 3 of them. I'm walking back out to the place where I keep them, out in a field, and I hear a jingle. Then I hear it again. At this point I am thinking shit, shit police (luckily, I went without my plants to scope the place out first to make sure no one was hiding in the bushes.) Anyway, I come within 10 feet of my grow spot, and I see a cat sitting dead center of my growing area. I just stand there. I walk 2 more feet towards it. It doesn't move a muscle. Its eyes are huge. The damn thing looked like it was on ecstasy. (You know when cartoonists make "puppy eyes" all big and watery? The cats eyes looked like that but evil). The cat was white with patches of brown, except its mouth. I know this sounds freaking crazy but I couldnâ??t' tell if it was silently hissing at me or had its mouth close. All I know is I high tailed it out of there. I donâ??t' know what I am going to do, what do you all think?

I don't know why, but cats like to claw and chew up plants, including cannabis plants. If you have outside plants and there are cats nearby, your plants are going to take some damage, if they survive at all. I have five cats myself, and the only thing that keeps my plants alive are doors between them and the plants. Heh.

just one of the disadvantages of growing out doors,that is one reason i chose to grow indoors.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by maryjanehaze

cfl's are great and evrything, but I'm tired of everyone saying you need them. I have been successfully growing lowryders under 2 standard 125w household flo. tubes and they've been growing great. :thumbsup: .

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A flourecent tube is the exact same type of light as cfls. A cfl is just a twisted up flo tube. It is much easier to concentrate a cfl then a tube so ppl use them.

oh yea and your soil is way way to wet in your last pics

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jamstigator

I don't know why, but cats like to claw and chew up plants, including cannabis plants. If you have outside plants and there are cats nearby, your plants are going to take some damage, if they survive at all. I have five cats myself, and the only thing that keeps my plants alive are doors between them and the plants. Heh.

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what do u mean u dont know why cats like to claw and chew plants if u were a cat would y rather chew on kitty grass or cannabis. No contest. Mine love the stuff they follow me about when Im with my plants n try sneak in with em when Im not looking.

Very intelligent animals:dance:

Ya a little to intelligent if you ask me...

:(

I gave up the grow tonight. After finding a place where cats didn't go, I had an inspect problem. I tried spraying insecticide but after the flowering started to begin I stopped. Just tonight i went out to water, and there were two grasshoppers sitting on my female MJ. If it wasn't for so many animal and insect complications, i would of had a nice grow! After they were transplanted, one shot up to 13 inches and the other to 14 inches. But girth wise, the plants are pathatetic. Interesting enough tho, it doens't seem like the insects like to go after the male, which to me seems really wierd. Anyway, unless a miracle happens tomorrow, I'm going to rip them up. I'm going to dry them out and make 10 firecrackers out them just for fun (i know i know it won't work, but eh, it will be an interesting experiment tho). Thanks for all your help everyone.






And cats do love MJ leaves lol:
http://www.waytoomany.com/vids/weed/catnip.php