hi folks ive just joined and i thought i would do a week by week photo and written diary of my adventure in growing for the first time. im a keen outdoor gardener so hopefully my knowledge of horticulture will help a bit lol so here goes.....

WEEK 1
THE BEGINING

Going to buy my hydroponics kit tommorow
spending about £200 ive been reading about growing my own for a while now and done a lot of research (yep i know there are lots more i need to know)

my room is ready for the lights with the floor and walls done fan at the ready ventaltion system ready and waiting

need some advice on the best seeds to get for growing indoors
thanks

I'm doing well with Top 44 seed. It does not get too tall.

That's a pretty open-ended question and it's a bit like asking 'I want to start drinking alchohol, which type and brand should I buy?' Unfortunately, there's no easy solution other than doing your own research, looking at what seedbanks offer and seeing which ones you like the sound of. I can give you some general guidelines to help you on your way -

Seed varieties generally fall into three areas 1) Pure Indicas, 2) Pure Sativas, 3) Mix of Sativa and Indica. The third category is generally the largest and contains the most variety, as breeders fine tune their breeding to get the best of both the Indica and Sativa varieties. Most crosses are a compromise, designed specifically for good yield, good resin production and easy to grow under indoor lights. Indicas tend to grow short and squat, which is ideal for indoors growing, but tend to produce a very heavy 'body stone' that not everyone likes. Sativas on the other hand tend to grow thinner and taller and are probably more suited to growing outside than indoors due to their height, plus the fact that they take longer than Indica's to flower fully, but produce a much more 'cerebral, heady, alert stone'. This is the reason breeders cross Indicas with Sativas to try and get the best characteristics of each.

So, when looking around for a seed variety you might want to bear this in mind and look at which variety is dominant ie 60% Indica, 40% Sativa, what kind of stone it gives, THC content, yield and how easy to grow. Don't make the mistake of buying an outdoors variety for growing indoors either!

Personally, I'd avoid 'feminised seeds' as they can be more trouble than they're worth, particularly for inexperienced growers. This seems a bit of a paradox when you consider that 'feminised seeds' -should- give you all female plants, which for a novice would be ideal, but this isn't always the case - and this is where the problems start. New growers 'assume' feminised seeds will automatically give them all female plants, and then one of those females turns out to be a hermie and because the new grower is expecting them all to be female doesn't check carefully enough for those male pollen sacks on the hermie which then fertilises all the other females! Stick with standard seeds and watch them all like a hawk for any signs of male flowers and remove them as soon as any are seen.

Any plant, whether grown from standard seeds or feminised ones can turn hermie at any time in its lifecycle right up to days before harvest, there's simply no substitute for watching them all very carefully at each stage in their lifecycle.

cheers babygro youve been a great help
like i siad im a total newbie when it comes to growing but im a good listener
and learner and hopefully i can only get better
the seeds i have my eye on is the PUKKA SKUNK
Pukka Seed Company - Pukka seeds - cannabis seeds buy online. Includes Pure Skunk
let me know what you think?
also any help for a staring set up would be appreciated
ie lights ,hydroponics, whether to grow in soil that kind of thing
also and this seems to be the most important thing
what the hell do i look for to be able to tell whether there male or female when there growing and what do i do with the male plant?

happy smoking guys and girls

ps sick of over priced crap there selling nowadays
so im willing to put a bit of cash in for a start up but dont want to waste my money

yo, u might wanna start off trying with some bagseed like 2 times before you hit the 50 dollar seeds up. hydroponics is not all that simple at first. unwise to waste the best seeds u have on a mahcine u dont know how to use yet...


as for how to determine sex, look around on this website. its got everything u need to know

Firstly, I'm not at all familiar with that seed shop or Pukka seeds so cannnot really comment on them, but the Pukka Skunk for me, looks a bit too Sativa dominant for me, which means it's likely to grow too tall, so I'd be looking more at the 'Pure Skunk' variety underneath which is more Indica dominant. The problem with Sativa dominant strains is that they grow too tall for growing in small growspaces - but it does depend on the size of your growspace. Considering an Indica dominant strain will likely grow to 3ft + in flowering, Sativa dominant strains can easily go to 4 and 5ft or more.

Take a look at Gypsy Nirvana's Seed Boutique and specifcally the Nirvana seeds which are 'knock offs' of true breeders strains, but I've read people getting good results with them. Many people start with something like Skunk #1, and seem to get decent results with it.

Regarding lighting, again it depends on the size of your growspace, how many plants you intend growing etc. Take a look at Envirolites (Envirolites indoor growing envirolite grow lights reflectors) and 400w High Pressure Sodium systems. Also consider proper ventilation and odour control via an inline fan and charcoal filter system.

I strongly recommend you read this website and familiarise yourself with the basics of growing and then if you have any more questions come back here and feel free to ask them. I'd confine yourself to soil growing as a beginner, and get the basics sorted out and a thorough understanding of how plants grow before you move on to more sophisticated systems like hydroponics.

Marijuana Growing Guide Free Library

you know you could totally have this whole thread in the "grow journals" section, but thats just me.

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you will see it is a blessing and its not a curse.
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