Welcome to my first grow!

Comments, Advice, encouraged.

Why am I doing this?
My Ultimate Goal: Grow enough bud for personal use. I'm a pretty light smoker, so a few ounces will last me a long time.

How am I doing this?

I just read SeeMoreBuds' excellent book, "marijuana BUDS For Less." It's an excellent intro to growing that holds the hand of a first timer. I had always thought that growing bud required a really elaborate setup, but SeeMoreBuds' book revealed that one can grow a decent amount of weed without breaking the bank.

What am I doing?

A friend gave me a small pile of seeds he's collected, so I have no idea what I'm growing or whether it's male or female. I'm going to sprout one, grow it up until I can tell if it's a lady or a dude, and if it's a dude, I'll get rid of it and start over.

The story so far:
WHO AM I:
I'm a young married man, studying to become a healthcare professional. Because weed is illegal, and could be damaging to my career, I've always hated buying from people, transporting it, etc. I'm hoping that this is a safer alternative. I'm also hoping my wife will agree. She's pretty open minded, and occasionally smokes. We'll see what happens!

WHAT DO I HAVE:
I have about 30 seeds in a tin.

I just bought:
Miracle Grow Potting Mix
Perlite
peat seed starter thingies
a disc, you add water and it expands into a short column of peat for germinating
pH testing paper

6x2x4 pine wood
3 x 40W CFLs
3 x keyless bulb socket bases
3 x ceiling mounts
4 x cheap extension cords
Assorted wood screws
4 x eye hooks
2 x nail plates
A light timer

Altogether spent about 70 bucks. If I can germinate, successfully grow, and harvest just half of the seeds, assuming I get an ounce or two from each plant, I should recoup my 70 bucks (+electricity) pretty damn fast.

I'm not planning to sell what I grow, however, I just mean that I won't end up buying weed for a long time.

SeeMoreBuds - if you'd rather not be referenced, I'll gladly edit my post.

TAKE HOME MESSAGE:
I'm a first time grower, looking forward to a little adventure. Any and all comments and advice are welcomed. Please no flaming, though. There's enough negativity in this world!

Wow.

interesting.

Yea, that sounds good, look up the lighting, flowering, and if you want bonsai, good luck! +rep for all tha info!

Would love to see pics of your setup when you get it built.

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Grow Journals: [1][2]
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yo, you been a member of this site since 07 of april, wow thats 2 years ago and you only have 270 post, haha.

do you get on often?

Thanks for the reps and encouragement! I got the setup, pics shortly.

Quick question, I'm not using full spec cfls, will this be a problem?

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Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new -- Einstein

My 1st Grow Log

Here's what I done did:
1. Rig
Spent a couple of hours puttin' together the rig, then hanging it. Made me feel a little like a sailor, or a messed-up boy scout. If people are interested I could put together a little step by step.

2. Pot
I took a 3 gallon plastic pot and put a couple of sheets of newspaper at the bottom to cover the drain holes. I added about 1/2 inch of perlite at the bottom.

3. Soil
To get an 80/20 mix of miracle grow to perlite, I put in 4 handfuls of MG followed by 1 handful of perlite until the pot was full (8/2 = 4/1 yay maths).

4. Pete Seed Starter
I soaked my little disc of pete in water until it expanded. Imagine the tip of a nylon stocking full of dirt. Seems kinda kinky, no?

5. Pete goes down the hole
I made a little hole in my miracle grow/perlite mix and shoved the dirty stocking in.

6. Seed goes in the Pete

I pushed a seed about 1/4inch down into the stocking and yelled at it to be a girl.

7. Everyone gets wet
In case it thought I was kidding, I poured 1/2 gallon of water on top of it while singing "I Feel Pretty" from West Side Story.

A coupla shots of the rig:



Sorry it's sideways...maybe I'll fix that later...

Questions/Comments:
* When I watered the seed, everything turned into mud and I don't know where it went, so hopefully it's still in the pete!

* My one CFL is about 3 inches away from the surface. Is good?

I'm glad to see a little traffic already, the comments are really nice to see.

Attached Images

	0409091224.jpg (50.1 KB, 713 views)
	0409091224a.jpg (52.8 KB, 698 views)

__________________
Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new -- Einstein

My 1st Grow Log

looks good man if you got any questions feel free to ask away brotha,

wow i though obelisk was dead bro, i used to read those books in german classes lol

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Growmans Outdoor Grow 09

Pretty nice. When your CFL's are on do they have a red or blue glow? You are wanting a blue glow for vegging and red for flowering. If you see no glow it will still work just not as good.

Also, looks a bit messing hanging the strings, will you be able to easily move the lights higher as the plant grow?

Make sure your lights are close but not to close to the plants. If you can touch the lights while they are on without it being to warm then its okay to have them right next to the plant almost. I would say give yourself 1-2" above the plants for air and grow space.

Also make sure they are 23w pr 26w bulbs. They are the ones equiv to 100w. Should output something around 1,600 lumens each. And your 2 lights on the side won't be of much help right now because they aren't very close.

Actually, my parents busted my first grow back in 2007 so I kinda faded away. I do, however, still get on and read stuff. I am currently working on a grow journal. Feel free to check it out. Link is in my signature it will be the [2].

I am working with a soil and hydroponic system now.

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Grow Journals: [1][2]
Check out the GrowFAQ for answers to all of your questions.

The rigging does look pretty messy, I admit, but it's not hard to adjust as the plant grows higher, and I'll be able to position the lights easily and not worry about them falling over. There's two sets of strings, the taut ones hold the rig in place, the loose ones are backups in case it falls, to keep it from hittin the floor.

Yeah, I'd heard about the red vs green dealy, but I thought it applied more to HID lights. Dunno. A friend of mine told me that any decent light will sprout the seed, and get it started, but I should get full spectrum when I want to start flowering.

Game plan:
1. Let the plant get to about day 16 post-germination (praying for a lady...)
2. tie down the top so it's nearly horizontal
3. switch to 12/12 lighting

__________________
Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new -- Einstein

My 1st Grow Log

Why wait 16 days? You can flower from seed on some strains and ive hears just about any actually.

The lights, any light will sprout it. But if you get the right light it will grow much faster. Are your lights on a timer? If yo9u'r growing indoor its best to do that. I also like to interrupt 1hr of my night cycle with an hour of light. I heard it helps produce females. (not sure tho).

Anyways I gotta go tho. Later.

__________________
Grow Journals: [1][2]
Check out the GrowFAQ for answers to all of your questions.