New Grower, First Grow

Hey all, I'm so happy to finally be a part of this. I'm currently in the process of developing my first set of plants, so please be patient with me. Here are some pics to let you know what's going on. My setup is a section my bedroom closet divided by plastic (interior taped with mylar) and a 400w switchable. I started this (with bagseed I had put back) during time I was waiting for some Skunk#1 to arrive. Yet to get here, by the way. I currently have these in rockwool, usually under a dome, keeping temps between 75 to 80F. RH at 45 to 55%. If anyone has comments, please feel free to leave them. I take all comments as a learning experience. Thanks for stopping by here to have a look. I hope this goes well and hope anyone here who decides to check in will have some positive input for me. I've seen a lot of terrific grows here. Hopefully, in time, my own will be among them. Peace.

I'm having problems uploading at the moment. Pics will be here soon. Sorry!

I will keep posted for those pics! You sound like you know what you're doing...have you done a lot of research so far? I'm just surprised about how literate and intelligent you sound for a beginner. lol, no offense. It's a good thing. Anyways, I will keep checking back.

ps: if you are having trouble uploading pics, it's usually cause they are too big.

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Just a few for now. These are five days old. I know they are still very young and it's it's hard to tell anything about them, but it's what I have. If you're reading this, please hang with me in the months to follow. I want as much input and support as I can get. Thanks for checking in. Much love!

BTW dutch.lover, I have done some research. A few months worth, actually. My first introduction to the Cannabaceae family was with hops. My eyes were opened for me with the discovery of this Genus, during my time in college. I really learned a great deal. I feel very strongly about the positive effects this exceptional plant has. It's too bad our government doesn't feel the same. Maybe someday we can change their minds. Thanks for looking!

hi lifted, looking good so far :thumbsup:

keep on with the updates...

kp:p

looks good to me, looks just like the way I do it, you might want to drop the light alot closer to the babies, T-5's work good until there bigger.

Thanks for stopping in KP, I've seen your comments in quite a few posts and they are alway helpful. Your input is much appreciated. Closetgrower, thanks for your input as well. I was considering moving my lamps closer as well. These new flouro units seem like the way to go. However, for my purposes, I only have access to the 400w MH. This is a switchable ballast, and I do have a few HPS bulbs in the wing. How close would you recommend that I move it. Maybe to around 18 inches or so? I'm about 24" right now. Again, thanks for stopping by.

Sweet man. Just keep an eye on them in those small cubes, they can dry out really quickly when they're that young. I'm just now finishing my first grow, tomorrow (friday) is harvest :D


Edit: didn't see you say you had a dome. Lol, we didn't have the dome, and we managed to kill all but 5 out of 27 :) The five that survived kicked some ass tho, you should check out my log man, I'll have harvest pics up saturday

Well, I know it's been a while, but I finally have an update here. My little friends seem to have been taking their precious time. I may have stunted them a little bit with temps too low. Anyway, I've lost two plants due to the fact that I left during last weekend and they dried out on me. I thought I could save one but that doesn't seem to be the case. Here are some pics of the four that I have left, that seem to be doing well. Any opinions? It's been about ten days since sprout and I'm not sure if I'm on schedule for these lads. They, at least, seem to be growing well and are showing me progress. I would really appreciate any recommendations that anyone could give me. For ten days, do they seem stunted to anyone else?

P.S.Splifted, I did listen to your advice. I thought if I watered them well before I left then they would be ok. Unfortunately, I was mistaken and they did dry out in their small cubes. I think next time I will try another medium that will be a little more forgiving. Thanks for your help.

Nice grow man.. you have it all set up nice and you have all the materials you need.. Me.. I have my first grow going on right now and its at 6 days.. check mine out.. Mine is ghetto and I dont have all the stuff I need. =\

http://boards.cannabis.com/showthread.php?t=98731

They look healthy! As with most closet grows, you are going to battle temps, so just be aware that a problem might arise, start thinking of possible solutions before it even begins. What is above the closet? Can you vent air into the room or attic that is above?

Thanks for checking me out. No new pics for now because not much has changed. They are still going and showing me new growth everyday it seems. I will be transplanting them soon into a soiless mix composed of 1/3 each, peat moss, vermiculite and perlite. My first consideration was to use all organic fertilizer but now I'm starting to wonder if I know enough to be successful with it. I have Earth Juice grow and bloom, a gallon of each. Will these alone be enough to get me through the entire grow? Little help, please.
Also, I've been using distilled water only and have not checked ph on anything. When I transplant these, will I need to check the ph of my medium or should I be ok? Oh, and someone mentioned venilation. I do have an Activeair blower that I will be mounting and venting into my attic. I don't suspect odors to be a problem but I have one of those wall socket ionizers just to be safe. Any experience with these? How well do they work, etc? I think that's it. Peace

To answer your fertilizer question, i don't know how concentrated earth juice is, but I use Advanced Nutrients and only go through about 45mL of nutes every 4 days or so (this is for 6 plants). So im guessing that 2 gallons will be more than enough. Distilled water has a pH of 7, which is just fine when the plants are seedlings, but you are going to want a pH quite a bit lower when you transplant and really get them on their way. Nutes generally bring the pH down lower, as will your grow mix that you mentioned. I'm not familiar with soilless mixes, but i do know that peat moss is very very acidic, so I would invest in a pH meter if I were you, to make sure your levels are in the right range. I only paid $30 for mine on EBay, it's digital and is accurate to one decimal place (ie. 6.7).

Last thing, someone mentioned T5s. I personally use a 400w MH, a 400w HPS and a 4 bulb T5. The T5 works really great, so if you were interested in how well they work, you can check out that person's T5 grow log, or you can check the last page (or maybe last 2 pages) of my log where I have posted some pics of some of my plants growing under it.

Cheers!

I finally transplanted yesterday. The growth seems slow to me, what are some opinions about it so far? You can kind of see my setup in the pics. I stated my mix in previous posts, to which, I balanced with some pulverized lime. Do the first set of "true" leaves normally get yellow so early? I'd also like a little input for using fert. I've started using some Earth Juice in their waterings. I can give more info if anyone is interested. Peace

Hmm your growth does seem kinda slow, and no it's not normal for the first set of true leaves to turn yellow so fast. My guess is transplant shock- the little gal has been through a lot in the past little while, what with starting nutes and transplanting. How strong are you mixing your Earth Juice? It should be at around 1/4-1/2 strength right now... The yellowing to me either looks like a shock from what i mentioned above, or not enuff nutes- judging by how light green the whole plant looks. Hope that helped.

Quick update. As you can see, they are in the sink here. I took them out to clean the room and tray. They seem to be doing much better. I think my two biggest problems were air circulation and keeping them in their rockwool cubes too long. I wanted to transplant about a week & 1/2 sooner but couldn't get the mix I wanted. Anyway, still on regular feedings using EJ every watering, which is about every two to three days. BTW Dutch, EJ is all organic and according to them you cannot burn with it. I'm thinking they like it. I plan on picking up some blood and bone meal as well. Any suggestions for a good organic micronute? EJ has a small amount but I was thinking maybe Kelp extract or something. What do you guys think? Also, I got the Skunk #1 seeds from Hemcy a couple weeks ago. I will wait to see how these do before starting them. That's it for now. Peace

I think they are but this is my first time seeing the plant grow. I'm going by what I've seen in pictures. I've also added a few more pictures. I think in another couple weeks they'll be ready to flower. Any opinions? Thanks

I transplanted all my plants into 3 gallon pots. I added pulverized bone meal to the mix, concentrating an extra amount into the lower third of the pots. Two of them are at 10" and the other two are around 7". I switched to the HPS bulb and will be changing my light schedule in the next week or so. I'd like some input. Any questions or suggestions? Peace

nice grow, cant wait to see the finished product.

Well, I switched to 12/12 a couple days ago and have already determined that I have 1 male (removed this morning) and 1 female. The other two were not as mature and are not showing yet. I will post some pictures when I get home from work this evening. I made several mistakes this go and already have plans for next time. The first thing I plan to do is seperate my room. Maybe use the bottom 3' for a mother and rooting clones using 3 2' 2xbulb flouro ballasts. I am also considering trying Hydro. I should end up with two girls this time. I doubt they are going to supply me with enough bud to keep me happy until next harvest. Live and learn, right? Peace

good luck with everything, keep us posted.

Here are a couple new pictures. I eliminated 2 males and am left with two large females (16 and 14 inches, respectively). The first pic is of the one large male I had to chop. Even though I knew he was useless, it was still hard to cut my first plant. The girls are looking good though. You may notice in the pics another small plant. This is one that I didn't toss early on and allowed to struggle. She is still very small (10"), but I thought I would still watch her and maybe she could still produce some bud. You will also notice in the other picture that I have raised my light to a about 1 1/2 feet above the tops. The girls were pretty bushy and I thought this would allow them to stretch to get some more light into the soon-to-be bud sites. Keep checking in with me in the weeks to come. I can't believe how excited I am, even though I know I have a way to go. Peace.

The girls now measure 13, 20 and 21". I'm digging the top growth on the petite one. Say hey and what you think. Peace

wow not bad for a begginer i will be joining u growers soon when i move out in a couple of months...you blog inspires me. thank you!

Nice job!

Thanks for the compliments. I will post some pictures tonight. I was disappointed to discover that my two plants are hermies. I noticed a single sac while watering a couple days ago. I examine my plants every day and have been spraying and carefully removing the damn bananas as I catch them. I expect it will get worse before it gets better. I am still looking forward to enjoying my own smoke. Keep your eyes on me. Peace

I struggled to get these on here. I could touch the sky, the internet is bringing me down. I felt that this was important, so please read and let me know what you think. Pictures are; smallest plant close up, biggest plant top, and well... Peace