Oh great, apparently we're growing now!

[Buggy]

New update.

Just keeping records so I can see how it goes from the older pics.
1 - FEMALE

2 - FEMALE

3 - still unknown

5 - DEAD now.

6 - poss female - saw tiny hairs I thought before but can't find tonight. no indications of being male, so very hopeful

7 - still unknown

13 - STILL FEMALE

14 - male, topped to see if girly flowers appear out of PURE curiosity. Will be dead soon I think.

15 - STILL GIRL

17 - male, topped. Seeing how flowers happen with fruit...

18 - STILL FEMALE

19 - unknown still...


So, of 19
6 Gals
10 Guys (8 are dead, 2 experiments to see if ethylene gas can cause female flowers if just from fruit - I'm a science nut, so just for fun)
3 still confused about their future.


So 28 seeds planted to start, over 20% end up being producers (likely - no idea if some will herm!). Not too bad all things considered! Possibly even 1/3 are producers! Heck, only 2/3 even lived to show gender because we're new at this (husband dropped the tray apparently THREE TIMES between planting and repotting the first time! some seeds likely lost, some plants broke stems...). Quite happy that we didn't get, say, 20 females! EEK! How can THAT fit in my closet unless they stay in solo cups?!? Maybe will do in the future if it's feasible, just to see what happens.


OH!!! Just thought of a good use for male plants - at least the leaves. Seasoning! I'll see how it may add flavor to various dishes, as I like to try new things with spices on occasion. As they are low in TCH but high in other chemicals and phytonutrients, it should be safe for the whole family although I'll be looking into that before I let the kids try any!

Buggy Reviewed by Buggy on 09-19-2013. Oh great, apparently we're growing now! Hi all! I'm a total newbie at this whole thing. And, I'm not even going to be using! We're looking into the details of getting my husband a medical use licence in our state, and while on vacation out of state he tried pot to see if it worked for his pain. It was GREAT. His pain is usually 8/9/10 but the pot brought it to nearly NOTHING! WOOT! Nothing we've tried from the pharmacy worked even a third as well! :D BTW, he's had pain from scoliosis and then a spinal fusion surgery 20 years ago, but Rating: 5

[Shovelhandle]

I was reading something recently about juicing raw cannabis and how good it is for you, leaves and all. The thc acid is not active on the brain until decarboxylation process (heating) which changes this to the active cannabinoid thc. I plan on using my leaf as described next harvest.

[catbuds]

I also read somewhere cannabis is a whole food, if you include the seeds (which you would eat whole, not juiced). Just keep in mind that ANY leafy substance dulls the cutting edges of the extractor basket & you get a brand that gives you the option of ordering new ones. A lot cheaper than replacing the whole juicer. (Helpful household hints from the cheap old biddie). LOL.

PEACE.

[Buggy]

Oh, also wanted to put how I just calculated how much electricity I'm using.

Looking at my electricity rates and what I'm doing with lights this time, for a total grow I'm paying less than $20 for lights I think. As I'm not needing any extra fans, cooling, etc over what I already have (fan going in the same room most of the time, so closet doors open often for air circulation), it's really cheap. That's with 4 40watt fluros during veg (yeah, not enough IMO for what we had going, but it was a start grow with limited funds! next time, it'll be less plants with the same amount of light so should be even better results). Flower is 10 23w CFLS.

So far, I THINK I've only used about $9.51 for lighting since we started nearly 2 months ago. For a while, though, the plants were outside so that did help SOME with the lights. But from here out, I should use another $9.56 if it's 6 more weeks, or $12.75 for 8 more weeks. We're 2 weeks into flower so far... So at most I'm GUESSING it's $23 in electricity for the plants.

CHEAP. If I stay with the same nutes (likely wont, but if) I won't need more for another 4-5 grows at least!

All I'll need is to get more soil each time (depending on the type I get, could be cheap or could be not so cheap... About $24 for what I got this time)... And containers. I think we'll try for 1 gallon ones next time with a better SOG method with small plants put into 12/12 very quickly - about 2 weeks after breaking from seed. Just to see. We have enough 2 gallons in case we veg longer with less plants. All depends on the number of plants, mostly.


As for genders, tonight's thoughts in next post to keep things organized for me.

[catbuds]

Hey Buggy! Your plans sound great. I grow on the cheap indoors too. Dont need much since my indoor is only 'tide me overs' till the much bigger out door grow. Dont know if you've done this already or not, but flat white paint around your grow room/closet will reflect that light back unto the plants for optimal light usage. I sometimes lay a fluorescent fixture on the floor, on its back between the plants. Provides extra light where plant would be shaded, that plus the white paint adds a boost at minimal cost.:smokin:

~~~~~~~~~PEACE!~~~~~~~~

[Buggy]

WOW. Ok. Just went through them with a fine-toothed comb... well, at least, with a magnifying glass!

1 - GIRL
2 - GIRL
3 - GIRL
6 - GIRL
7 - GIRL
13 - GIRL
15 - GIRL
18 - GIRL
19 - GIRL!


WOW. Catbuds, you were right - all those that hadn't made up their minds basically were girls. A couple I was thinking were likely boys but were given the benefit of the doubt, were boys. One I thought was likely a boy, has two TINY SKINNY hairs coming out - one from one spot, one from another.

Also, one looked completely gender free until I saw the end of a tiny skinny hair sticking out of the flower bud. It's less than 1/8" long, but it was a hair sticking out of the right spot and it wasn't dust - I tried brushing it off just in case!

The two boys that are in there don't show any flowers again yet, so no idea how my experiment is going yet.

Will be giving a 1/2 strength of MG bloom fert tomorrow or Saturday too. Also, since I'm dealing with ANOTHER set of stupid fungal gnats, I'm doing an aspirin-water foliar feed first for increased robustness against pest problems (I don't have a local source of willow branches, which I'd use instead if I could for plain salicylic acid bath for the plants). I'll also be getting a lot of diotimacious earth to put on the soil to kill the jerks. Hate bugs. I'll be mixing in a decent amount of DE with the soil from now on when planting or repotting. Heck, I may go to the store to see what other ferts I can find easily Saturday that has less nitrogen than my 15-30-15 mix currently. If I can find a decent priced organic and microbe introducer I'll likely do so as well.

Wow. If we even get 1/2 ounce per plant dried, we'll have enough to last until a next harvest. If we get the higher end of what's possible for a new with my set up, we'll have enough for a YEAR! WOOHOO!

[tlranger]

It's nice to see the girls start, the difference is there after you have seen both. I have to watch elec, sometimes they quesstimate and it comes back later. But it's still cheap for the hobby, and what you get for our time a effort.

[catbuds]

They put new 'smart meters' in my area a while back. Read it right from their computers, no more estimated bills. If you still have the older type meters, you MAY be in for a suprise when you get your 'actual reading'. See when your last 'actual reading' was & count forward 3 months & then you should know when your REAL bill will come in. It may varry by area, but ours used to be quaterly. Forgot about that. Hope you don't get an unpleasant suprise. If you have the newer 'smart meter', then your good to go.

~~~~~~~~~~PEACE~~~~~~~~~~

[Buggy]

Catbuds,

I estimate electricity cost because of the actual charge they have for electricity per kwh - not the bill. Heck, the bill for now goes to my parents and we pay them back from there! And with how much we have to run the air/heat at our place, $10~ more per month doesn't affect it much. (husband's pain is greatly increased with high or low temps...) Also, we do get a larger bill every few months because our gas is from the same company but is only quarterly for some odd reason. But, as we're dealing with just my income, my parents are helping us with a few basic bills when needed right now too - until disability starts, at least, which could be another 5-12 months...


Also, getting mosquito dunks tomorrow I think instead of the DE. I'll do DE for each soil set in the future, but the dunks should kill those larva for me and a vac plus fly strips should get the adults. *sigh* yay for Walmart being right near my work! I'll check to see if they have any decent ferts too (depending on the store, you can find some odd good items too! Found some really good things for the outside garden in the past, so you never know).

[catbuds]

MG is nasty. Sometime you'll taste that shit in your buds, even when you've flushed well. Watch out for walmarts store brand called expert gardener. DON'T get it, just a cheap version of MG. If you're stuck with MG or equalivent, don't use it past mid bud. Find a fish emulsion somewhere, but still flush prior to harvest. If you can't find something healthier than MG, still stop using it mid bud & go to plain water. The buds will end up a little smaller, but they won't be full of metalic chemicals that you can taste & are not healthy for you, & the bud will taste much sweeter. Use 1 Tablespoon epsom salts per gal of water toward the end (omit for last wk). This will add magnesium, if deficient in this, bud will not burn when you try to smoke your dried harvest. While there are better liquid organics than fish emulsion out there, they're more expensive. Fish emulsion is a good food & you can't beat it for the price.
~~~~~~~~~~~~PEACE!~~~~~~~~~~~~