Well I'm about two weeks deep into an Amsterdam seed grow. First off let me say that I have a newfound respect for Nirvana Seeds. They first sent me a package that wasn't nearly as discreet as advertised. Along with the 10 seeds, they sent a hemp wallet with a marijuana leaf on it (which I didn't need nor want) and the bag that the seeds were in had a cannibis leaf on the outside. No big deal, right? However my package got searched by the cronies working for the Dept. of Homeland Security. Damned Bush presidency. What do my seeds have ANYTHING to do with Homeland Security in the first place?
So they actually only removed the 10 seeds and threw all items back in the envelope (empty plastic cannibis-leaf-bag and all). The only reason I knew it was searched was because on the outside of the envelope, they'd placed a Dept. of Homeland Security sticker to re-seal the envelope. ..And of course there were no beans anywhere to be found.

So I e-mailed NirvanaSeeds and explained the situation, I hadn't read anywhere on their site that they don't ship to the US or that I might get my order confiscated. They promised discretion. So I shot them an e-mail asking if there was anything they could do. I didn't hear back immediately and chalked it up to my bad luck, pretty much gave up on the whole ordeal. However about 3 weeks later another package arrived. The only thing in it was a flyer for a "Nirvana color pencils sampler", and a pack of 5 color pencils. I'd nearly forgotten about the seeds, so I had no idea what this was at first. Anyway they actually packed the seeds down in the side of the pencil container, perfectly hiding them to the point that I didn't think this had anything to do with that order until I looked inside the pencil box. Awesome job guys, perfectly descreet and all 5 of the seeds I've planted are doing well. (out of the 10 they sent)

On to the grow:
I built a 5' x 2' x 3' box out of 1/2" particle board. In hindsight, I should not have used cheap wood. If I could do it again, I'd get the thicker 3/4" particle board or something comparable. This wood was hard to nail, generally flexes way too much, and just looks a lot crappier than it would otherwise. Two palettes of some decent wood would only have been about $10 more. (I spent around $30 on the wood)

For a grow light, I'm going to buy a 400w HPS this Friday (on payday of course!) .. Hopefully it will get here around the beginning of next week, the babies are starting to grow too skinny for my liking. They're currently under two small CFLs. I believe the problem is that they're trying to grow up into the lights as opposed to just getting fat and soaking it all in. =) It's still really early I know, but these stalks are so weak I'm worried about them not being able to support the plants. (Another week at most and I'll have them basking in high-pressure sodium goodness..) I've placed my window fan in the growbox to keep air circulating, and to make sure the plants are able to sway in the breeze. I hear it helps develop strong stalks when they are forced to move around at all times.

I bought some dryer-tubing to run out of the top hole into the attic. I was planning on trying to find a quiet in-line fan that I could attach. My friend is convinced that a carbon filter will take care of all of the smell, does anyone have any experience with 4" in-line carbon filters? Or even just carbon filters in general? I'm hoping I'll get 3 (or 4?) ladies, and if that's the case I might have some pretty big plants on my hands. This grow is in my closet too, it will be a disaster if my clothes smell like ganja every morning when I go into work. So I haven't decided yet, either a decent fan that will pull more than enough air out of the box and into the attic. ..Or a carbon-filter to get rid of the stiggy-iggy. Or maybe both?

The only thing I'm nervous about is re-potting them. I know it's going to come in ~2? weeks, I have bad experiences in the past with repotting plants, can't seem to NOT kill them.. =) Much like the smell, I suppose I'll worry about that when the time comes.

Anyway enough with what I'm GOING to do, here are some pics of how they looked tonight. Can't wait for that HPS to come so I can put them on 12-12 and grow them a little more. Then when they're around 3 feet high I'll switch to the flower cycle..

Any advice/questions/rants are welcome, again this is my first grow so I'm still trying to learn as much as I can.. I'll update once every few days, depending! Thanks for looking..

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might want to lower your lights looks good tho keep it up

yea lower the lights. those plants already look like they are getting stretched out because the lights are too far away

Allright I did, hope it's not too late.. I have no problem propping them up if it comes to that.. I'll post more pics when I get the hps, thanks for the advice!

Good story about Nirvana. Great post and advice. I just ordered some seeds from them so hopefully I wont have any problems.

Good Luck on the grow!

__________________
Stand Up For What is Right or Live on Your Knees

I am about one month in. 5 plants 24 hours of light under 2 cfls. Will switch to HPS as soon as lights arrive.

Most of the plants are looking good and doing what they should; however, one plant is looking a little sick. It is drooping a bit and the outside of the leaves are turning a little yellow and where it is yellow the texture are almost like little bumps.

Over watering should not be the problem- every other day until a little bit of water comes out the bottom of the pots. Then I let the water sit out for 2 days to water the next time around.

Pics are below. I hope they are good enough. Thinking it might be spider mites but there are no black specs on the bottoms of the leaves. There are a few brownish specs on the leaves but I thought it was just dirt. Maybe it could be something with the PH of the soil?
Maybe need to re-pot them?

Thanks for any advice.

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bump........

this thread should get you going in the right direction.
They need nutes n-p-k and need to be moved into a bigger pot
I dunno if you want to flush it first, then repot and then use the nutes? Or use the nutes first to get them stronger?
1 month today (w/pics)

Have you done anything to the plants yet? Surprised no one has left any comments... and my advice is just from what I read in other posts...

I had the same problem ordering seeds with it being searched by the USDHS and I didn't get my seeds and I wish I would have emailed them or something cuz I just thought it was no use. damn