This is my first grow journal. I've grown before in and out but never got a decent harvest. I was always killing the plants by accident. Since then, i have found this forum and through other peoples grow journals I've learned a lot. This time I'm getting a harvest.

Lighting for vegging: 3 32 watt "Daylight" CFL's, 1 28 watt "Daylight" CFL, and 2 32 watt "Warm Light" CFL's.

Soil: Potting soil. Heavy on peat and very absorbent.

Water: Strictly rainwater

March 14: I ordered my seeds from Nirvana. I didn't know if the seeds would make it to me so I ordered whatever was on sale as a test run. 10 Jock Horror, and 10 Northern Light X Haze.
March 23: The seeds arrived in a stealthy package.
March 24: Started germinating 4 of each kind to see how things would go. I've used just about every method of germination except just dropping the seeds in rainwater... so that's what I did. I took Styrofoam cups, light sealed them with tin foil, filled them with 2 inches of fresh rainwater, and let them sit in 78 Deg water.
March 25: Rainwater is like magic. Big taproots from 3 JH and 2 NL X H. So I planted those plants. I am starting out with 1 liter clear pots. That way I can see when the roots get too big and I can transplant them into 5 liter pots.
March 26: Planted another NL X H that just got a root.
March 27: Plants broke through soil. 2 NL X H, and 3 Jock Horror.
March 29: The last NL X H broke through the soil. The other plants are about an inch tall.
April 4: 3 Jock Horror, 3 Northern Light X Haze. All very green and already have 3 points on leaves. I can see tons of roots all the way till the bottom of the 1 liter clear pots that they were in.
April 5: Re potted 2 JH and 1 NL X H. Ran out of soil so the others will have to wait till tomorrow.

So far I am about 14 days from germination and things are really looking good. I am a little disappointed that 6 out of 8 seeds germed though. I guess that's just how it goes.

My plan is to keep females and males. I want to collect the pollen for later. I am going to use one female of each kind as a mother for cloning. I want to make seeds from part of a clone. That way if everything needs to "disappear", I will still have something to start over with. (Males will be outdoors.) Basically... I want a perpetual clone harvest and a backup of seeds.

Here are the first pics. I will be taking lots of pics through the process.

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There are a couple of weird things going on...

BUGS... There are flies eating my greens. See Pics.

One of my plants skipped 3 pointed leaves!!! It went straight from 1 to 5 points. See Pics.

Overall I am pretty pleased with the progress so far. I need to re pot the rest... still dont have soil yet.

PLEASE tell me what those flies are!!!!

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__________________

My current CFL / 400 w HPS grow
HARVEST TIME *BUD SHOTS*
Advice is welcome

What brand and kind of soil are you using?

It's the only soil i could find. It's hard to carry soil home with no car so i went with the closest option. Some flower store potting soil. It was around 8 USD for 30 kilo. Any particular reason you ask?

__________________

My current CFL / 400 w HPS grow
HARVEST TIME *BUD SHOTS*
Advice is welcome

yeah i am currently in a hydro setup and am thinking of trying my hand at soil as well. I want to compare the growth between the 2.

The only problem is i keep reading that the soil is very important. So i liked the way your plants were growing so i was curious what soil you were using to help them along.

Have you heard of go gnats... it's pretty good stuff...
I had a bad gnat problem they will stick to you buds...
But they wont hurt your plants in short term just very annoying

But can do alot harm to mother plants..
they live in soil.. and then they lay eggs and feed off your roots...

http://www.bihydro.com/eshop/product.php?productid=884

goGNATS concentrate for use within hydroponic systems, modular plants and indoor plants to control gnats.
Mix 1 ounce goGNATS with 30 gallons of hydroponic solution.
Area Spray - Mix 1/2 ounce per gallon of water. Spray directly on infested areas or apply to perimeters of vegetable gardens, potted plants or at the base of trees, shrubs to create an insect free zone!
Pet/Child Safe!
TRY goGNATS PRILL (dry repellent) to repel crawling insects.
goGNATS also available in a convenient 32 ounce ready to use spray bottle.
-May be used indoors without staining carpet/flooring.
Details SKU GOGNATS Price: $12.99
Options

Thanks for the suggestion. I looked up some pictures of gnats and it's 100% them. I dont know if i'll be able to get gognats here but i ca probably fid something similar. thing is, they are ALL around the house outside because we dot cut our grass... Im afraid that they'll just come right back.

I'll report progress soon.

__________________

My current CFL / 400 w HPS grow
HARVEST TIME *BUD SHOTS*
Advice is welcome

Yeah. these seedlings are growing really fast compared to previous grows ive had. i thought it might be because this is the first time i am going with 24 hours of light instead of 12/12 from the start. I also used clear containers to find that roots develop a lot faster than most people recommend re potting. But i think they are growing pretty fast anyway.

I am actually thinking about going hydro for clones that will come off of these seedlings. Are you not happy with your hydro setup? What are the downsides of hydro? Soil is easy in my opinion. How's hydro?

__________________

My current CFL / 400 w HPS grow
HARVEST TIME *BUD SHOTS*
Advice is welcome

So the gnat problem was solved by chopped garlic spread around on top of the soil. Not a trace of em left.

So i am waiting for them to show sex now... It seems like forever though. I'm afraid of how many females i am gonna get. This is day 20 from when they sprouted. I am hoping they will show sex sooner than a couple of weeks but from what i've read it takes 4 weeks min.

There has been some weird browning that i cant figure out what its from. Nute burn... cant be because i didnt give nutes. mg deficiency maybe. or the flies might have done that.

so here are pics... what do you think?

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__________________

My current CFL / 400 w HPS grow
HARVEST TIME *BUD SHOTS*
Advice is welcome