Hi All,

I'm completely new to this whole growing thing. Actually, I am pretty knew to the whole cannabis thing altogether.

I have a chronic illness which results in pain and fatigue, and that is what got me to here. A couple of years ago, my wife convinced me to try using some pot to try and help with the problem. Now, it had taken her about 4 years to even convince me to TRY it as I had never taken any "illegal" drug before - I had only used prescription and OTC meds, and drank only occasionally. Anyway, she managed to acquire some stuff for me to try out, and I found that it really did not help, at all. She found someone else that had a different strain, and I tried that, and gave up because it just plain didn't do what I needed it to do and I REALLY didn't like the effect. I never bothered with it again. That was oh, about 2004.

Fast forward to about 5 weeks ago... my wife's aunt was visiting, and she has RSD and a medical MJ card. She gave my wife some stuff for me to try, saying it was more of a "body stone" and not a head-high which is what DIDN'T like. Well, I was not interested in trying it, and refused for several days until she finally convinced me. I had no expectations, but this particular stuff was totally different from what I had tried before and it was almost like a miracle cure (only notsomuch on the full "cure") - it helped me feel substantially better, dulled the pain, and improved the quality of my sleep about a hundredfold. Over the following few weeks I used small amounts and found my life was suddenly substantially improved. I could do stuff I had not done in years. I was getting good, comfortable rest... and I felt REALLY happy about it.

To make a long story short (I know, TOO LATE)... we have been in the process of getting the full medical stamp of approval, but realistically on my limited disability income I can't really afford a lot. That means that the only real solution to supplying my needs is to grow it myself.

After trying to read many different pieces of information, we decided to take the plunge and purchased some seeds. One of our neighbours said she had grown stuff for years on her back windowsill (we live in a rural area) and it was not that difficult. My wife and I figured, what's the worst that could happen?

Well, we got the seeds about 2 weeks ago. We finally planted some (6 of the 10) in peat pots on Saturday. Yesterday, we had 6 little plants 3" tall which surprised the crap out of me after hearing stories of people's seeds taking 10+ days to start. Today, they had grown another inch just sitting near a window and the roots had started out the bottom, and I began to worry that they were going to end up with problems, so we transplanted them into a mix of 1/3 potting soil, 1/3 perlite and 1/3 peat moss in the bottom halves of 2L Coke bottles (with some drainage holes put in the bottom). I have a small plastic mini-greenhouse, so we moved them into it (in our spare BR). I rigged up a little fluorescent shop light on a chain so the light can be kept right above the plants, took my small clip-on fan and secured it inside the greenhouse to "agitate" the little seedlings a bit as well as provide some air flow, and then decided as some added insurance to make 4 ghetto-style CO2 generators by putting some yeast in sugar water in some empty Powerade bottles with small holes poked in the lids and stuck them in the greenhouse with the plants. A little water with a light solution of fertilizer with trace nutrients in it, and there you have it - the world's cheapest grow space (best I could do since we're broke right now).

Now, I've always been a gardener and before I was ill I also maintained a fairly significant indoor-garden of vegetables and herbs in the apartments I lived in in the past. I've grown lots of different plants over the years, mostly successfully, but I have never grown anything that cost me so much per seed. To say the least, I'm REALLY nervous about screwing something up. I have read page after page of info but some of it is contradictory and some of it just feels like it is TOO much for me to take in for a first attempt at this. When I finished setting up I thought I'd done an adequate job of MacGyvering the best I could come up with but more reading has given me a LOT of doubts about it, and has shaken my confidence in my idea that it is "just another plant until I need to make it flower" perspective.

I can't go out and buy any expensive lights and run a substantial ventilation system. I have read posts by a lot of people here who have complex setups and huge yields and obviously have a lot of expertise - but what about doing this as simply and basically and CHEAPLY as possible? I need to keep the power bill from going through the roof, and my goal has just been to turn these seeds, which are supposed to be a similar strain to what my wife's aunt had, into something I can use as quickly as I can. Outdoor growing is out of the question at this time (we had someone steal TOMATOES out of our garden last year, so I'm not giving them buds to pick), so I need to do this the best I can while spending as little as possible.

Am I doomed to failure? What kind of time frame will we be looking at before anything productive might come out the other end (the strain said "8-9 weeks", I assume that is from when you start to force flowering) if I manage to not kill the plants? Do people really just throw the stuff on a windowsill in a pot and get results? Is there anything else I can do (inexpensive/free) to improve my chances?

Anyway - I really hope something comes of it. I still have 4 seeds in reserve if something goes wrong, but I'd like my chances to be as good as they can be under the circumstances. Any advice?

(BTW, just a PS - the plants are now pretty much 5" high, they are almost growing at a rate that you can visibly see. I now understand why they call this stuff "weed" - I have dandelions in the garden that would be jealous of these things.)
PottyBear Reviewed by PottyBear on . Wow - A Little Overwhelmed Hi All, I'm completely new to this whole growing thing. Actually, I am pretty knew to the whole cannabis thing altogether. I have a chronic illness which results in pain and fatigue, and that is what got me to here. A couple of years ago, my wife convinced me to try using some pot to try and help with the problem. Now, it had taken her about 4 years to even convince me to TRY it as I had never taken any "illegal" drug before - I had only used prescription and OTC meds, and drank only Rating: 5