Originally Posted by drabstab

I'm abandoning the new soil grow. It's just not working out. I hate dirt.

Originally Posted by drabstab

I'm gonna start by telling the story of my first grow.

I started growing six months ago, in my bedroom at my parents' house. I had a bookshelf that had sliding doors at the bottom which revealed a compact growing space where I could start my babies. I started saving seeds from random bags, mostly mid grade and other seedy bags. Originally I was super-sketched out and I devised a foolproof plan. I constructed a grow box out of cardboard, taped foil to the inside and put small tap lights at the top of the box. I figured as long as there was light, my plants would be fine. Needless to say, I had not done much research. The tap lights were on at all times and I kept having to replace the batteries. Eventually I got tired of these tap lights and I instead took the plants out of the box and grew right in the compartment in the bookshelf. I used a 15-watt fluorescent tube, soft white, and left it on at all times. During this time I was over-watering my plants, was not regulating temp or humidity, and had no air circulation whatsoever. The only time my plants came out was at night, while my parents were sleeping.

They grew under these conditions for several months. The veg stage took much longer than I had anticipated. Keep in mind my plants are only getting water, and are growing in plain potting soil (no nutrients). I also never topped, fimmed or trimmed my plants whatsoever. That was the sort of thing I was afraid to try. So about three months in, my plants were growing too tall to fit in the bookshelf, I had to move them outside. I had five plants at the time, and this was going to be difficult. My parents were sleeping one night and a friend of mine and I took the plants out of the house and into my car, by stuffing them in my soft guitar case after covering them with black plastic bags. A few were in my friend's large, loose purse. They were growing in cut-off two liter bottles at the time. I moved them to a place in the woods near my house, and put them right on the edge of the trees because it was night time and I figured they'd be fine overnight. I left the garbage bags on to hide them, though in retrospect I should have left them uncovered.

I went back the next day and carried them out to a deeper spot, where I put them in trees. I brought five plants out in to the woods, but only three survived the move. I never knew whether these were girls or boys.

The plants stayed out there for two or three months. It's hard to remember exactly. I would take trips back there every week or two to pour a load of water on them, and every once in a while a capful of Miracle Gro Pour-n-feed plant food, and was otherwise relying on the rain. I should probably mention also that I transplanted them into larger pots. Two of them, that is. The other one dried out pretty quickly and didn't make it. So I was left with two plants up in trees, doing the best they can. I was lucky enough to have one of these turn out to be a girl. I found this out when I took a trip out there and found that there was a tiny flower starting on top. The other was too far up in the tree for me to tell, but I assumed it was a girl.

After they had been out there for a while and had started to flower, I moved out of my parents house and finally had a place I could grow conveniently. When I went back to take the plants down, the girl was looking pretty good, and I found out the other one was a big tall boy with plenty of pollen sacs. This one had been flowering for a good while. The girl was not too far away, and I got pretty worried that she would start making seeds. I moved her into my new place and that's where she is now.

When I moved her inside, I had no lights suitable for growing a large plant. I still had not been doing much research, and I went out and bought what I assumed was a good light. I ended up with a warm white 18-watt bulb, which I thought was just fine. My plant had been growing in my closet with this light for a month or so before she made her first and only seed. I had no idea what it was until it was already a whole seed.

I removed the seed and eventually put five 26-watt soft white CFLs on it, after joining this forum (thanks to the bubbleheads). My plant has been flowering for a long time, and seemed to be taking way too long. I figured this was from a lack of proper nutrients, and so I made a new custom soil mix using bat guano, potting soil, peat moss and bone meal, then kept feeding it with pour-n-feed. After a bit of root shock, the flowering took off pretty well. I don't know exactly how long she's been flowering, but it has been well over three or four months. I know she's not done, though. Not enough orange hairs.

Anyway, now that I told you this horrible story of abuse, I figure I should show you some pictures.

Originally Posted by MostlyCrazy

Look like a little micro will fix that right up. As you said, you've taken tham as far as you can w/o nutes and the new growth seems to be robbing from the older growth the micro has lots of N in it along with the other goodies. They are really not doing that bad considering. You should be commended for geting this far!

Originally Posted by MostlyCrazy

They are looking excellent! Especialy with no micro nutes! Those wil give you a kick start due to the extra N and some building blocks contained in the micro mix. Really like your light set-up and reflective survace addition. If you have more light they will have more power to process more nutes and grow bigger. Keep your humidity in the 60-70% range if you can. Wet towesl close to the res will do the trick.