1st grow....expert supervision welcomed!

[flyinhi]

Like many, we have decided to grow our own, and hope you guys can keep us on track. Both my partner and I have medical problems and find it hard affording to buy from others, as well as knowing what we're buying is safe....too many horror stories about how people increase the weights!

Anyways, we bought some seeds and have slowly but surely got most of the required equipment together to see us through the first grow. We're doing White Widow (can't wait!) as it suits us both and possibly greedily, we germinated 21 seeds (was aware several might not take, but only 2 didn't do anything, which was a huge shock!)....oh, and they're fem seeds, thoguh we will still double check at the right time!

Weve done the germinating process and planted the little darlings and are now on day 11, using 24/0 fluorescent lights and misting for feeding with plain water. But I think we worried a bit too much about potential burning to the leaves and had the light slightly too high, as our babies are quite tall and skinny, but otherwise looking very healthy. We've now lowered the light height (after reading up on other's growing procedures and seeing pics of how close their lights are), so hoping the babies don't stretch as much now for the light, but start to bulk up a bit. Also using the eco-pot things placed inside little pots, but wondering if we should re-pot to the next size pots or wait?

I'm hoping the photos upload! And have to say they aren't the best quality as I took them with my phone camera earlier today, but you'll get an idea of size and health I think. Any advice on other steps to take at this point is highly welcomed!!




Gee I hope the photos upload, or the link at least! lol

flyinhi Reviewed by flyinhi on 05-08-2010. 1st grow....expert supervision welcomed! Like many, we have decided to grow our own, and hope you guys can keep us on track. Both my partner and I have medical problems and find it hard affording to buy from others, as well as knowing what we're buying is safe....too many horror stories about how people increase the weights! Anyways, we bought some seeds and have slowly but surely got most of the required equipment together to see us through the first grow. We're doing White Widow (can't wait!) as it suits us both :) and possibly Rating: 5

[LetsSeeYa]

Like many, we have decided to grow our own, and hope you guys can keep us on track. Both my partner and I have medical problems and find it hard affording to buy from others, as well as knowing what we're buying is safe....too many horror stories about how people increase the weights!

Anyways, we bought some seeds and have slowly but surely got most of the required equipment together to see us through the first grow. We're doing White Widow (can't wait!) as it suits us both and possibly greedily, we germinated 21 seeds (was aware several might not take, but only 2 didn't do anything, which was a huge shock!)....oh, and they're fem seeds, thoguh we will still double check at the right time!

Weve done the germinating process and planted the little darlings and are now on day 11, using 24/0 fluorescent lights and misting for feeding with plain water. But I think we worried a bit too much about potential burning to the leaves and had the light slightly too high, as our babies are quite tall and skinny, but otherwise looking very healthy. We've now lowered the light height (after reading up on other's growing procedures and seeing pics of how close their lights are), so hoping the babies don't stretch as much now for the light, but start to bulk up a bit. Also using the eco-pot things placed inside little pots, but wondering if we should re-pot to the next size pots or wait?

I'm hoping the photos upload! And have to say they aren't the best quality as I took them with my phone camera earlier today, but you'll get an idea of size and health I think. Any advice on other steps to take at this point is highly welcomed!!




Gee I hope the photos upload, or the link at least! lol

Well they look great. They haven't stretched really to bad at all, mine were worse. When ya put your pics on, use the attachment below this message, they will fit the page. In less its my computer:wtf:

I have a few questions. Where are ya going to grow them, outside? If not what kinda lights are you going to use, because 19 plants will take a bit of light to finish. Plus if i were you i might keep those peat cups wet. When ya see roots popping out, put them in small pots. You want to work them up in size, as they will fill the pot, then start growing above the soil. So, putting them in too big of pots will just slow the above plant growth, if its gotta fill a big pot with roots that is. Plus your right about them getting burned when you mist the leaves under the lights.

They look perfect really IMO:hippy: Just going to take a lotta light and id get those peat pots wet. Any help, just ask, il do what i can, till its out of my experience.

Great start:rasta:

[flyinhi]

Hi and thanks for the reply

We're using a T5 2 strip blue spectrum light at the moment, but gonna have to get another one! We didn't expect so many to take tbh. It's an indoor grow, currently in an office type cabinet, but have a grow tent setup to pop the girls in very soon. Have to admit it's very exciting watching them grow each day! And they're now giving off a very light smell......gets the mouth watering

yeah, I just looked at the girls before I logged in and they're deffo needing a bit more watering now, so thinking of not misting them so much but pouring the water in slowly. Thinking of re-potting around Wednesday to slightly larger pots, when we will put them in the tent to allow more room and ventilation etc.

I was reading through Raiz's log of his beauties, and wanted to know.....using the screen method - will this be the best idea to make sure the girls keep growing and not sagging when they start to go into flowering stage? I know everyone does their grow differently depending on what works for them, so it can get a bit confusing sometimes about what really is best. Don't want to screw up along the line....can't afford to screw up both money wise or health wise (we both have CNS problems) Also wondering when is the best time to introduce some nutes.....after we repot or just before?

Thanks for the tip too about photos, after uploading them I realised I can add them to album on here.....shoulda chcked that out first, but now I know, I'll add them there instead every few days

Cheers, Fly :smokin:

[flyinhi]

Well, we watered the girls straight after being on here this morning and had a look at them 5 minutes ago.....does everyone check up on their babies as much as this? :S2: I tell ya, they are smelling soooo sweet already when we open those doors!

Just need to ask another dumb n00b question.....when we move the girls to the tent, we will have a growing area of 2m x 1m, and wondered if one 600w HPS light will be enough, or should we go for two? Just thinking about costs etc, but don't want to skimp out either for the sake of being too careful with the running costs.

Just took some pics of 2 of the girls, but until I'm a registered+ user I can't get them on my grow log thread but if ya'll wanna have a look in my album, help yourselves!!

I never thought growing could be as interesting and exciting (and nerve-wracking) as this! Nerve-wracking in the sense that being newbies we could do something stupid and screw up, exciting in watching the babies growing and waiting for the final result, and interesting in finding out and learning so much more from all you 'veterans' out there! So glad to have joined this club

[canniwhatsis]

Well, we watered the girls straight after being on here this morning and had a look at them 5 minutes ago.....does everyone check up on their babies as much as this? :S2: I tell ya, they are smelling soooo sweet already when we open those doors!

Just need to ask another dumb n00b question.....when we move the girls to the tent, we will have a growing area of 2m x 1m, and wondered if one 600w HPS light will be enough, or should we go for two? Just thinking about costs etc, but don't want to skimp out either for the sake of being too careful with the running costs.

Just took some pics of 2 of the girls, but until I'm a registered+ user I can't get them on my grow log thread but if ya'll wanna have a look in my album, help yourselves!!

I never thought growing could be as interesting and exciting (and nerve-wracking) as this! Nerve-wracking in the sense that being newbies we could do something stupid and screw up, exciting in watching the babies growing and waiting for the final result, and interesting in finding out and learning so much more from all you 'veterans' out there! So glad to have joined this club

I check up on my girl constantly too! :hippy: I'm screwing evreything up with my first grow in some peoples opinion, but the plant doesn't seem to mind

So far your looking good:thumbsup:

[flyinhi]

Hey Cann, Just had a look at your little girl, awww bless her she looks so lonely! Lol. But she certainly liked the change in light! You got any new pics of her yet?

We're gonna transfer our girls to bigger pots on Wednesday, so will get some new photos done then. Just wondering about the peat pots we got them in just now....would it be best to put them directly into the bigger pots as they are or remove the peat pots? The idea was to try not to disturb them too much when re-potting hence using biodegradable pots, but now not so sure if that was the best way to go! I'm sure I saw some other guys using peat pots too, so any tips on best methods?

[CovertCarpenter]

...looking verry good so far, mon!

I think you should be able to keep 'em in the little potlets they're in when you transplant 'em. If you wanted to, f'r instance, put 'em into some kinda hydro/aero setup, what they're in is nearly perfect right now... Or, if going 'dirt', they should just grow through the potlets (if you felt like it, you could gently poke a few holes in 'em for the roots to find).

If you wanna keep 'em all, or most of 'em, and in the tightest of spaces, I would suggest going cheapie DWC. Think large Rubberm4id tub, with a 7x3 matrix of mesh pots, either 2" or 3", and about four separate large airstones in there being driven by two cheapie El!te 802 pumps (two heads ea). Change nutes either every 3 or 7 days (or never!), depending on whom ya talk to. If one pump fails, the other provides cheap backup. Keep Ph at 5.5 to 5.7 to max 6.0, ambient 'day' temp at/'round 78f (29c), and you should be good to go.

Then start with whatever flourescents / CFLs your budget allows, mostly in the 6400/6500 and/or 4100k spectrae, running on 18/6 light timings ASAP (to help avoid hermaphrodism). Add /one/ good 600w HPS [being driven by a Lum4t3k ballast as soon as you get to flowering] off a decent reflector to your fl/cfl mix, whilst changing all bulbs out to 2700k 'warm white' colour temperature... should have killa buds for first garden Change bulb to Metal Halide when vegging next 'garden'...

Given that you are lighting a rectangular space, you might get more 'mileage' off two 400w HPS when the time comes, but you could also invest in a cheapie small light mover, or rig one of your own. You /should/ be able to 'get away' with flourescents for the first stage of the grow, though, depending on your finances, you may be able to buy a ballast and large bulb(s) right away.

I chose to do so, and at the end of the day, my 'lighting bill' ran to 585 with tax in. This for a 600w L'tek ballast, a 600w MH (50,000 lumens!) bulb, a 600w HPS (90,000 lumens!!), reflector, cable 'kit', and a few basic extras, including base nutrients. The 600w fills my roughly 3'x3' space quite nicely, but I did have to invest in a total of six fans to properly move the air in and out of the space.

You can put off the Large Bulb, tho, if you have to, until you get 'round to flowering... or just mass the flourescents in there if you have heat constraints...

(can't /wait/ to see how your ladies turn out!)

[LetsSeeYa]

Well, we watered the girls straight after being on here this morning and had a look at them 5 minutes ago.....does everyone check up on their babies as much as this? :S2: I tell ya, they are smelling soooo sweet already when we open those doors!

Oh yeah, most people luv to sit an watch their plants grow. They are beautiful plants and watching them develop helps you to understand and see the growth of the plant. Any grower will say their just like your kids:hippy:

Just need to ask another dumb n00b question.....when we move the girls to the tent, we will have a growing area of 2m x 1m, and wondered if one 600w HPS light will be enough, or should we go for two? Just thinking about costs etc, but don't want to skimp out either for the sake of being too careful with the running costs.

I use cfl's and have never grown under HID lighting and iv never grown in a tent. I would read in the lighting section to understand the best for your buck, also i might post in the lighting section your number of plants, size of tent and the strain your growing. They can help ya better there. But, make sure they have experience with the lights they suggest, because some people in here, not many, but some just like to post stuff they dont know about, or have never used. You want a person thats used the light and gets good resolutes with it.

I never thought growing could be as interesting and exciting (and nerve-wracking) as this! Nerve-wracking in the sense that being newbies we could do something stupid and screw up, exciting in watching the babies growing and waiting for the final result, and interesting in finding out and learning so much more from all you 'veterans' out there! So glad to have joined this club

You wont mess anything up to the point of them not producing for you as long as you read as much as you can and ask questions like you have been. Also do not let anyone talk you into growing in anything but dirt:thumbsup:. Other methods are great, but as your just starting, you make a mistake with hydro and they could be dead fast, but soil will forgive you and the problem is usually a quick fix. Im not knocking people that grow in different mediums, but its way more complicated IMO. Some day id like to try a hydro, but not till i have growing dialed in for what i expect. This is done by growing and its a fun hobby.

As far as the peat cups, you might put them in small pots now. The roots will shoot through the cups and you want them to grow into soil, cuz the light will stop their growth. Roots dont like light. Also, plants grow out their roots, then above ground growth really begins. So when the roots hit the inside of their pots you will see lots of growth, but they will out grow pots fast. I re pot 3 times at least to build a good root ball before they go outside. And if ya just let them dry out for 3 days before re potting, they slide right out and really like fresh soil to grow into. Just pot the peat cups, they will help the root structure get started. I would put them in 6'' pots or so.

The only problem i see is you have 19 WW plants. I think your going to need more space, cuz i really dont think they will fit. maybe you could flower half the plants at a time while just keeping the others in veg, but then they would be huge when ya do. Next time ya start seeds, i might not start them all at once. But its done, so now just need to figure out how to make sure they all get flowered. I know of a great grow log in here that was grown by a guy that knows what he's doing and its WW. I will find it and post it here, so you can see what these baby's can do. Also, he uses a tent, i think with 2 400hps lights.

Oh and i really like the cool tube lights, these get hot and the cool tubes will help keep your temps lower, which everyone deals with growing indoors. Might be a bit pricie, but you will end up putting the cost into venting anyway, so i guess it makes sense to me to nip it in the beginning. Oh yeah, it would be good to get a fan blowing air around in there too, an oscillating one would be perfect.

Peace il See Ya:rasta:

[LetsSeeYa]

http://boards.cannabis.com/grow-log/...project-2.html

Click this link, its the WW grow. Its not long and has a bunch of pics that will show how the WW look grown:jointsmile:

:rasta:

[Coachgee]

Looking good flyinhi.:thumbsup:
letseeya is the man too listen too he helped me out alot and he knows his shit. I started with a some seeds and I can say it was a joy seeing them sprout and grow day by day. This is my first grow as well and I'm currently using 10cfl's and a t5 flodescent. You definatly have too get more lite to get the best results.
Canniwhatsis your doing as best as you can with your grow by the way your girl do look lonely. Keep up the good work.:thumbsup:

good luck with your grow and I promise to check in on you....:hippy: