First Grow: Am I finally ready?

[LuckyThief86]

Hey everyone, first time poster long time reader :jointsmile:

So I got an EarthBox to grow my first plants in, I got some good nutes and the EarthBox comes with it's own 7-7-7 fertilizer. I was in the checkout when I saw a fire extinguishing system for grow rooms, and it had a list of things in the grow room that use electricity, so I bought some of the things on the list I was going to get a HID lamp for 200 plus the bulb for 100, but the guy at the dro store suggested a Sun Systems Sun Blaze 24 since I'm brand new to growing. Something about 'Too many chefs in the kitchen'. I also got an new airstone and used an old pump [had them lying around; my wife loves her fish.] for getting oxygen in to the water.

I just put everything together, and I think it'll get me a two or three ounces per finished plant. I'm having my friend run out to pick up a pH meter, and a bottle each of pH up and pH down, as well as a large jar of molasses.

I talked with a grower my caregiver knows, and he said I shouldn't rush in to buying the big plants if I'm totally new. I told him I wanted to grow Strawberry Cough, and he said it'd be a lot of work and I might not be ready, so he suggested starting out with autoflowers.

I went home with my caregiver and we looked up some seeds at Attitude Seed Bank in the UK [we were told they were the best? I don't know]. We bought some Lowlife AK-47 x NYC Diesel, and got three free seeds from Buddha Seeds [Deimos, Red Dwarf, and Quasar; all feminized] for making a purchase [I thought that was pretty sweet]. I plan on growing the Buddha seeds first, because I've thought about breeding the Lowlife we got and using asprin on one or two female plants to make feminized autoflowering Lowlife for future grows.

What am I missing? What might I do wrong? I'm hoping to get 9 ounces out of my first three autoflowers; am I hoping for too much? Not enough?

I read that Autoflowers should be grown under twent-four hour light; is this true?

What if I wanted to take a Lowlife male and cross it with a female from the Purps?

Am I trying to do too much for my first grow?

LuckyThief86 Reviewed by LuckyThief86 on 04-02-2011. First Grow: Am I finally ready? Hey everyone, first time poster long time reader :jointsmile: So I got an EarthBox to grow my first plants in, I got some good nutes and the EarthBox comes with it's own 7-7-7 fertilizer. I was in the checkout when I saw a fire extinguishing system for grow rooms, and it had a list of things in the grow room that use electricity, so I bought some of the things on the list ;) I was going to get a HID lamp for 200 plus the bulb for 100, but the guy at the dro store suggested a Sun Systems Sun Rating: 5

[oldmac]

Hello LuckyThief86, and welcome to the boards.

It sounds like you have done some homework and that is good.

But I need to point out a few things you have wrong.

The auto-flower plants can grow with 24/0 tho most of the auto seed producer's I've seen (like DJ Shorts) suggest 20/4 as optimual.
You really can't do much as far as trying to get seeds from an autoflower, accept to possible have a male plant and female (and they usually only have feminized) together and hope for the best. Trying to hermie a female auto is not easy but keep in mind your not going to get good bud weight if you are succesfull....no free lunch, make seeds or grow it out correctly. You don't get both.

I've grown autos alongside my mom plants, under 600w MH using Short's lowryderXak47 and the plants grew abt 2' tall and produced abt 1 oz each.
I'd say yes, you are trying to do too much.
Remember that your dissapoint is directly proportinal to your expectations.

Good luck and good growing.
OM:jointsmile:

[LuckyThief86]

A zip a flower is just fine by me. Each ounce saves me $300 I'd have had to pay to someone. Nevada doesn't have dispensaries, so I still have to buy from a freelancer.

I don't know what to do, but I'm excited and eager and reading everything I can get my hands on. This is really important to me, because my financial situation... I either buy my medicine, or buy groceries, you know? I'm tired of going hungry, so it's time to grow my own medication.

Am I ready, though? I don't want to mess up my plants, I don't want to do this wrong. I want to do everything right. Anything worth doing, is worth doing well.

I just... I want to have a flower I can hold up and say "I did this for myself."

[ZeroWingX]

A zip a flower is just fine by me. Each ounce saves me $300 I'd have had to pay to someone. Nevada doesn't have dispensaries, so I still have to buy from a freelancer.

I don't know what to do, but I'm excited and eager and reading everything I can get my hands on. This is really important to me, because my financial situation... I either buy my medicine, or buy groceries, you know? I'm tired of going hungry, so it's time to grow my own medication.

Am I ready, though? I don't want to mess up my plants, I don't want to do this wrong. I want to do everything right. Anything worth doing, is worth doing well.

I just... I want to have a flower I can hold up and say "I did this for myself."

Yes Nevada does. Vegas My friend... Vegas. They have a crap load actually but back to your post.
Auto's are amazing and a pain in the ass all together. They can be great In a pinch when you need meds to supply you till the main harvest.
Old Mac is about right. 1oz dried is about the most you will pull. Have I pulled more out of a Auto? Yep. Was it AMAZING?! Yep, how? Dirt...Outdoors? Nope. 20/4? nope 18/6 with 3 Gal pots in 3rd Gen Organic soil. They were done TLO and Came out amazing under 600W @ 1.5oz's each.One did 2 (Red Dwarf actually lol)... Light light Nutrients is the key to big Auto's. And you have to treat it like a flowering plant. This is the mistake I see many new to Auto growers do. 1.Small pots 2. Wrong Nutes.... Treat it like you would a full sized flowering plant. weeks 1-2 it gets Veg nutes in light doses.Once you hit 3rd true set of leaves (Not baby, not 1st set AKA sugar leaves)Weeks 3-finish(I grow both A.Indica and Sativa) see flowering Nutes and by that I use Tea. Hell I did a 1.4Oz Home depo grow with a 3 CFL bulbs in a old TV stand with a 4 Gal pot with "Organic" Nutriets fromFox Farms with a friend...He was in a pinch like you and needed some meds fast and cheap. for under 100 bucks I got em what he needed to last till he got more change. He now averages 7ozs in a Ikea Closet I set up for em with Soil and still crappy "Organic" Nutrients lol. Just training and skill with soil man. I use TLO for All my grows and I have personally seen TLO auto VS synthetic Auto's (Soil). I have never tried Hydro Auto's so I can't say.

[stjr2k]

Hi Lucky! Welcome!

I'm also growing a couple strains of auto's... Flash Cobra and Short Stuff #1

This is my first indoor grow and it has been a bit nerve-wracking. I'm about 2 weeks into it. I had read everything I could read, and did as many of the right things regarding light and stuff that I could in the situation I am in.

The primary mistakes I've made so far:

NUMBER ONE! I didn't check my ph until I had watered a couple times. I'm not particularly fond of the color yellow to begin with... :i feel stupid: Seriously, this is important. I almost destroyed everything before I got started good.

#2 anxiety - I got anal about examining the seedlings from day one. I was seeing an occasional critter on a leaf and go into panic mode internally. Luckily, I didn't take any action since I never saw much in the way of damage. (thanks to the many people on this site who instructed me to be slow to act until it's necessary.)

#3 Impatience - I was looking at my plants the last couple days very disappointed. I've had some challenges but they have been fixable. They just didn't seem like they were nearly as far along as they should be. I went back and checked my grow log to see exactly how old they were and they turned out to be a week younger than I was thinking. They're still a little behind but, only a little.

All the best to you and I'm very interested to see how things go with your grow.