First Grow, 500$ and a dream

[JoeSchmoe]

First Grow, 500$ and a dream

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So I have always been toying with the idea of growing my own marajuana. For personal use my friends use and maybe a little extra cash on the side. So one fine saturday I decided to do it. I have non experience with growing marajuana, but a green thumb runs in my family. So I started searching the internet for the first thing i would need, SEEDS!. I almost bought seeds from a site called "Mellow Gold". I had all my information typed in , but left my credit card number empty. I pushed enter to see what would happen, and sure enough it was a scam site. The owner even emailed me back trying to get my credit card number. So I browsed on and started looking on forums. Thats when I stumbled across this fine site. I Spent hours and hours reading everything i could find about growing, light types ventilation CPM, CFL, CSD, HID, and many more abbreviations untill I thought I knew it all. So I orderd my seeds from Gypsy nirvana's seed boutique. I order a pack of "Flying Dutchman Royal Orange". I also recieved with this bag a free bag called "Sam The skunk mans Poison X #1 South african. Royal Orange is a 60% indica, 40% sativa strain. With my seeds in hand, my desire to grow increased even more. So I Started my search at Home Depot. It took me 8 trips and 311 Dollars to finally get everything i needed for a stealthy grow. I had decided that I was going to try a cabinet grow. This would seem to be the easiest way to hide any unwanted smells which may expose my hobby. I also hit up Rona for some lighting and this is what I took home with me.

http://img39.picoodle.com/img/img39/...1m_0e56efc.jpg


The large tube florsent lights I returned as useless, as well as the ballasts for the CFL
[url]http://img39.picoodle.com/img/img39/...1m_0e56efc.jpg[/url light bulbs. I kept the 150watt sodium security light however and the cfl light bulbs. I Later bought a 300 watt T5 CFL grow light which i have yet to install. So later that week I began the construction of my cabinet. This cabinet is actually a wardrobe that i bought at the hardware store. It was cheap and poorly made, consisting of particle board and a cardboard back. I Sighed and purchase some Nice solid pine planks to make up the back and give this thing some strength. I also purchased a 40 dollar bathroom fan and cut a hole in the back with a jigsaw and mounted the fan to blow air in with a strong poxy. I then proceeded to cut a 6" in hole in the top of the cabinet to mount and inline fan, and using my information from this forums , I painted the insides completly white. Now to deal with the smell of growing marajuana in a small appartment. I quickly found designs for a active carbon air scrubber that would fit very nicely over my inline fan. Here are pictures of what my cabinet looked like while it was being build and when it was finished.

http://www.thefreeimagehosting.com/U...0340117896.jpg
http://www.thefreeimagehosting.com/U...1340118024.jpg
http://www.thefreeimagehosting.com/U...2340118152.jpg
http://www.thefreeimagehosting.com/U...3340118280.jpg
http://www.thefreeimagehosting.com/U...4340118408.jpg
http://www.thefreeimagehosting.com/U...5340118536.jpg

Ah finally finished, and in my appartment.

[img=http://img34.picoodle.com/img/img34/9/8/22/f_IMG00922m_a5914b5.jpg]

[img=http://img27.picoodle.com/img/img27/9/8/22/f_IMG0093m_80f2eda.jpg]

Now To start germinating my seeds and begin the grow!. Im very cautious person so I started growing the sativa bag of skunk. I Placed all the seeds into a dish wrapped them in paper towel and watterd the paper towl. I coverd the dish with another dish and placed it upon my fridge. Then i waited, and waited, and waited. Finally 3 seeds split open slightly, and then I waited some more. 4 days laters no tap roots had appeared at all on the seeds that split. So I planted the seeds anyway being the impatient person that I am. I waterd them and gave them light for another full week and still nothing budged

[img=http://img27.picoodle.com/img/img27/9/8/22/f_IMG0095m_2c26b6d.jpg]

[img=http://img27.picoodle.com/img/img27/9/8/22/f_IMG00942m_f0c40c1.jpg]

[img=http://img27.picoodle.com/img/img27/9/8/22/f_IMG00962m_199e9fb.jpg]


I got impatient and dug up the seeds and not one of them had developed further, so I figured they were old and tossed them away. Then I broke out the good seeds, the "Flying dutchman Royal orange. I started the germination processes like i had with the skunk X and they immediatly developed tap roots withing 40hours. I quickly went to the store and bought 2 bags of 16 10 10 miracle grow wet soil, and two bags of 14 14 14 soil and one bag of organic soild. I mixed them all together and put a layer of water retaining soil on the top. I used MUCH larger pots this time and lined the button with granite gravel. Using a Bathroom light fixture i created a 6 CFL bulb seed board. I loaded up my Wardrobe placed the tap roots down into the soil and burried the seeds about quarter an inch deep. Now i wait. BTW all that duct tape is to tryin and make the cabinet light proof. The dam thing lit up my room when i first turned it on.

[img=http://img27.picoodle.com/img/img27/9/8/22/f_IMG0102m_82ca606.jpg]
[img=http://img27.picoodle.com/img/img27/9/8/22/f_IMG0103m_255b8f7.jpg]
[img=http://img34.picoodle.com/img/img34/9/8/22/f_IMG0101m_7b55d8e.jpg]

JoeSchmoe Reviewed by JoeSchmoe on 08-22-2007. First Grow, 500$ and a dream First Grow, 500$ and a dream -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- So I have always been toying with the idea of growing my own marajuana. For personal use my friends use and maybe a little extra cash on the side. So one fine saturday I decided to do it. I have non experience with growing marajuana, but a green thumb runs in my family. So I started searching the internet for the first thing i would need, SEEDS!. I almost bought seeds from a site Rating: 5

[ismokealldaylong420]

hey im back and im sticking with you all the way. those little round leves at the bottom always died on me no matter what i did so i wouldnt worry about those little round leaves whatever they are called and you couldnt of over fertilized em yet have you i hope you didnt add any ferts to it yet i dont think you will have to unless they get like 5 feet but i dont know how tall your going to grow em also are you going to do sog scrog or just grow em regular they look aliite stretched could you tell me the strain and try and post pics as much as possibile

[Zcomp]

That should be plenty of light. Also I noticed your using a combo of 2 cool and 6 warm .
I did the opposite during veg(6Cool & 2Warm) so I'll be interested to see how this turns out.
If your like me then when you get to your grow you feel all the wires and transformers or ballasts to see how hot there actually getting.
I think that I read on this forum to start nutes at the 4th or 5th set of leaves, But some people start earlier. Always start weak and move up slowly.

[JoeSchmoe]

I have noticed a wierd yellowing on the tips of afew of my seedlings, im not exactly sure what it is. I have been picking the seed shells off my seedling when the emerged from the soil. Would this cause it to turn yellow at the tips?

[img=http://img03.picoodle.com/img/img03/9/8/26/f_IMG0112m_473c8e4.jpg]

[img=http://img01.picoodle.com/img/img01/9/8/26/f_IMG0117m_79ed900.jpg]


[img=http://img01.picoodle.com/img/img01/9/8/26/f_IMG0115m_f1a69a4.jpg]

So so far i have two great looking seedlings, 2 ok looking seedlings, and one scrawny seedling

[JoeSchmoe]

well its been one week since I planted my seedlings, and so far 4 out of 5 seem to have made it. Between dreading coming home to a flaming house, I have gone to the hardware store. I have now over doubled my lumens of Lighting, since i was not satisfied with the level of growth. After the first 12 hours of the new lighting they really started to move.

This is what my new grow area looks like.

[img=http://img33.picoodle.com/img/img33/9/8/29/f_IMG0130m_647f4cd.jpg]

These are my two best seedlings, man I hope they are female.

[img=http://img35.picoodle.com/img/img35/9/8/29/f_IMG0132m_2334eee.jpg]

[img=http://img33.picoodle.com/img/img33/9/8/29/f_IMG0131m_f665640.jpg]

I have orderd a PH/ Moisture meter so i can keep track of the soil PH. Im still having issues with the heat so I have had to put a large ossilating fan infront of the door. since im still paranoid of a fire, even though the closet is wired very well, I set it to 18/6 day night timer. So The thing is only running for 4-6 hours while im not there. As I get more confident , I will move the timer back to 24hours eventually i guess. Im not sure when i should start feeding my plants nutes, or when i will be able to tell the sexes.

[JoeSchmoe]

YAh zcomp i think your right about the cfl's. I have the hose hooked up to the bathroom fan. it has a nice 4inch exhaust port that fits perfectly on the hose. I then lay the hose length wise infront of my seedlings as shown. Im going to switch my seedlings over to the HPS here in afew days. If i hook the hose right up to the HPS hood i can cool the bulb directly which I hope will lower the temps in my wardrobe.I will loose the direct cooling on the plants though, which can strengthen the stocks of the plants, but the temps are probably more important.

[the joint meister]

good luck bro! but i would not have used that soil if i were you, miricle grow is known for being very shitty for marijuana, and you do not want to give the plants any nutes just yet,

if i were you i would get a nice little 250watt hps, its way better then cfl's and only about 120 shipped of ebay (for a new one of course)

again goodluck and i hope ya get some good buds


peace out TjM

[JoeSchmoe]

Do you think the soils that i used are much to hot to grow seeds in? Im starting to get worried the more i think of it. I wasnt going to add nutes till they were atleast 3 weeks old and much larger, but if they survive my soil i might just not add any at all.

[Zcomp]

good luck bro! but i would not have used that soil if i were you, miricle grow is known for being very shitty for marijuana, and you do not want to give the plants any nutes just yet,

if i were you i would get a nice little 250watt hps, its way better then cfl's and only about 120 shipped of ebay (for a new one of course)

again goodluck and i hope ya get some good buds


peace out TjM

I believe his picture did show a HPS.
How many watts was that??

[jamstigator]

Yeah, I'd make one more trip out, to the nearest hydro store, and snag a bag of Fox Farm Ocean Forest soil, and when you transplant to bigger pots, use that. I got desperate once and used Miracle Gro soil, and man, that stuff sucks. I will never *ever* use that stuff again. Even the crappy dirt from my front yard looks way better than that stuff. Ocean Forest, on the other hand, is just wonderful, nice and rich and loamy, with loads of organics that plants love.

Otherwise, looks good. I hope your eventual harvest is bountiful!