1st Grow Needs Help

Ok, So I've been looking through these pages for awhile and I got tired of researching so I finally started my first grow. I am a complete newb to maintaining any plant life. I will be using seeds that I have been saving from different bags I had. I need all the help that I can get so any info would be much appreciated. Please feel free to comment or provide any helpful hints. I would like to hear from people. I will try to post daily to every other day. I will also provide plenty of pics. And if anyone needs to see something not provided just say and I will put a pic on here. So, with all that said........ To The Grow.........

Closet Specs – 2foot deep x 3foot wide

Light – 6 42 watt CFL

Plants – Up to 9

Grow Condition - Soil

I will be using a similar setup to something I seen in a book I bought. I have hung a light fixture from the rack in my closet. I built the fixture from wood and hardware from the store. If anyone wants to know how to build it just say so and I will tell you. It was pretty simple but if you knew the specifications it could save you over buying stuff. The fixture is hanging by a chain so it is very easy to move throughout the grow.

I will be using up to 6 soft white 42 watt 150 watt equiv CFL's. I picked CFL's because of the cost and the fact I couldn't find a light fixture for HPS and MH lights and to keep temps down in the closet. I also bought a really cool fan that can move in any direction and is wall mountable. I don’t have it in the grow yet and I may not put it in there because it may take up much needed space. What do you think? I also have a air purifier but I really don’t want to use that because it is huge and it takes up a lot of much needed space. If I should build the carbon one that I seen on this site please say so. I have a temp/humidity reader also. The temps have stayed around 82 degrees and the humid has sat around 44%. I only have 2 CFL’s going though. I will use more when the seeds survive. Should I build a box or something protective to put my power strip in so that it remains safe? Since this is my first grow I am very worried about fire. Is my grow room so far a fire hazard? If my power strip doesn’t need it then great, one less thing to buy. My first major question related to the grow room……..

I have a serious light leak around the door. I need a quick fix now but if there is better stuff out there please tell me. I need something to put in front of the door so light doesn’t shine through. If I can’t get the better stuff from a store and I have to go online for it I will still need something now. I need something that will not be a fire hazard unless it is necessary. I want to keep everything safe. Please respond about this. On we go……..

I have 9 seeds that cracked using the paper towel method. I have 8 in jiffy pots and the one is still in the paper towel. I filled the jiffy pots with seed starter soil mix by miracle grow. I will then transfer the jiffy pots to 3 liter pots that will have miracle grow perlite in the bottom and Miracle Grow moisture control soil in the pot. Do I need bigger pots? The reason I chose 3 liter was because I had so many seeds crack and I got a little over eager with my first grow. Can I grow all those plants in my small closet? I am thinking about maybe soon building a box that will house clones. I want to clone some of my plants but I need to know if my plants will harvest before I need to transfer my clones to the closet. Also, how long will it take to harvest? I recently moved to an area where I know no one and I have no hookup so I am literally dying here. Literally……. If I could build a box, please offer suggestions and help on going about that. The seeds I used were from some bags I had in the past. Not so good though. Next question……….

I want to buy some good quality seeds over the net but because of the move I don’t have any friends or family to send them too. I thought about getting a P.O. box but I am not sure about that process or if it is any safer. Everyone on here is saying not to send them to your grow spot. I need some help with this one for sure because I want to grow good quality if I am going to risk growing in the first place. Please tell me good reliable and safe seed banks too. Also, if that gets solved I would like to know some good seeds to start with. I have favs that I have smoked throughout the years but I need something good and easy to start with. Nothing overly complicated. Back to the grow………

I am going to buy a pH tester in the next few days from a local hydro store. In the book I have read, it says all you need is correct pH and you will have a healthy plant. If that is correct then why is everyone always talking about nutrients? I know nothing about nutes or how to use them or anything. If I can get by with pH then that would be great. If not, please tell me how to use nutes and what nutes to use and how to even use them. And maybe some brands that are good and where to buy them at. I am also thinking about lining the closet with Mylar. I will be getting a tarp soon also to line the ground for easy clean up. Do I need broader spectrum lights? I looked at the store but they had none. Maybe online…..

I may build a grow box eventually when I can grow a successful crop. At the local store they have a really cool thing called the sun hut, I think I posted a picture. I may get that. I also think I should have a veg/clone box and a flower box. But all that would be later. Please respond with any helpful hints on that subject. I know I have a lot of questions that can be answered through other pages but I seriously looked through everything on here and I got tired of looking. Some of the stuff stuck and some did not. I just wanted to start my grow. And it would be more helpful to have it all in one place and more tailored to my situation.

I will keep you updated and if successful and I get some really good seeds later then I will do it again and tweak some stuff to get really good crops. I may even go hydro. If I do hydro I will build my system and I will need help from day one, (planning, building, growing). That would be a cool thing to follow. And to know that you guys helped me build and grow a first hydro. I will start a new journal with that idea and I will let you guys know towards the end of this grow. I want to make some good weed recipes if I get enough weed out of all this to smoke and eat. So tell me your favorite recipes to try. I will post pictures of the cooking and the first bowl smoked. I may even go buy a new piece to celebrate the successful grow and I will definitely take pictures of that process. I will post as many pics as you want and as I can. I am sure there is stuff I need to ask but I can ask later when I remember. And if you think of anything important that wasn’t said please tell me. I will post some pics on my next post which will be in a few minutes. If you see anything in the pics worth mentioning please say so. I will post soon……………. Off To The Grow Cave……………………………………………………………………………………… (super hero music in the background)…………………………

Here are my pics. Also, I just remembered I need to do something about that extension cord showing in the hall. The closet is in my hall to by the way. And also the pic of the sun hut I mentioned earlier. I also included the light leaks and the seeds that are in the soil. The root or sprout or the white thing is sticking in the ground. I also have kept the jiffy pot moist but I was wondering should I water from the top because every time I do the soil buries the seed and I have to dig it back so it isn't buried. Should it be buried?

I'm trying to figure this thing out.......

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Im still trying to figure out how to post pics properly.... I have a lot better and more...... Give me a little time to get them up

Ok, so the seeds have been trying to lose their shells. I have some new pics of that and I know how to post pics now. Also, I got some much needed help on a few issues in the newbie section...... So check out the new pics.........

awesome you gone lst em or scrog or just try to keep them alive? And +rep on the light setup man i like how you did that simple and funcional, By the way put your thermometer down by your plants and try to lower your tems to more like 72 lights on and 60 lights off

Hey seemeat420, you got some questions and I got a few answers. First off cfl's are great for starting gardners! do keep in mind though that you might want to add more once your plants start flower because buds get larger with more light. I might try to go for 5 gallon buckets once you know which ones are female. As for getting better seeds, I would just stick with what you got goin, the more love and energy you put in the more you get back! I'd just take it one step at a time not to overstimulate yourself trying to change your grow room constantly(trust me on this one). Now about the Ph tester. you are correct about ph being needed to maintain a healthy and happy vigourous plant, but the ph is merly the acidity of your soil, nutrients are chemicals that are in or added to soil for the plant to eat. In vegitative cannabis likes high levels of nitrogen(this also increases your chances of having a female), and in flower, Cannabis likes phosphorus. As for your hydro grow, it's good to get it plnned but make your main focus on the babies you got now. Good luck to ya and keep on growin!

hey man on the harvest time its gonna depend on the a lot of things but the strain you are growin will affect the flowering time but a general rule of thumb is 8 weeks to flower. the veg can take however long you make it depending on how much space you have and how big you want the plants to get. remember the plant will probably double in size during the flowering period. you also may not want to just dry the weed your gonna want to cure it to get really good bud so that can take another couple weeks.

Something to think about is small dwarf auto flowering plants like the lowryder or lowryder 2 strains the take 9 weeks from seed to harvest and you can expect anywhere from a 1/2 ounce to an ounce or more they are short and therefore allow for more space i did a double deck of DWC systems in my closet.

A seed bank i use is marijuan-seeds.nl i shipped them to two different grow spots and never had any issues they ship in descrete packages and they show up as a technology store on ur credit card bill. another idea is just to see if a seed bank will ship to a ups store location and you just pick it up there

cfls are great for starting out but for the flowering stage you might want to try hps an average yield i got off of my cfl plants was only 20 grams so its worth it to get hps
good luck man

ps lioght the lighting set up very functional for vegging

hey man i think thoes lights are the wrong spectrum. they look like soft white thats about 30000k but u need daylight spectrum that is 650000k. what spec r they bro? wht soil r u using?

Im watching. good luck bro, but yeah idk if your gonna have enought lights for those babies in a couple weeks. Goodluck. Check out my first grow. maybe we can learn a few things from each other.

damn. am I the only one who is going to send their whole harvest to the DEA?
Pretty cool man. I am doing my first grow by myself also. I've ran into a couple problems. Remember to only give 1/4 of the nutes to your plants to begin with, or it will burn them. Mine just recently recovered from that little problem (now it has gratuated to spider mites, yay me)

650000kelvin? What, you want him to nuke his plants and neighborhood?

think you meant 6500k

I offer this up as a still noob at growing. Take it for what it is worth and maybe some salts will come along and add more.

a) Nutes, start 'em off sloooooooow, only 1/4 to 1/3 strength to start. Only use nutes every third watering, no exceptions and NOT before they are in their permanent home for at least 10 days.
b) PH. Test, test, test that water every time. Also, when using nutes, test your water AFTER you mix your nutes.
I have read differing encounters about PH, what worked for me was a PH of 6.4. Some will tell you 6.0, others will tell you go neutral (7.0). If you don't keep your PH regulated, you will get lock out
(most likely zinc deficiency if your PH is too high). You can adjust a diffiency, a LITTLE epsom salt will help correct if its zinc.
c) Lights! I tried CFL's and had wrong spectrum, not enough lumens. Finally bit the bullet and went 600watt HPS from HTG Supply.
d) soil. Stay away from Miracle grow. It makes it entirely too hard to use nutes because miracle grow time releases its own nutes.
e) Fans. Keep 'em going. Don't blow you plants over, but make them move a bit. This will help with stronger stalks later. Stronger stalks means more water and nutes to your flowers.
f) Humidity. I ran with 80% humidty in veg, and 55% in flowering. Worked for me.
g) By a loupe, 30x if you can find one on ebay. It will aide later in determining your readiness to harvest (checking your trichs), but will help short term for detecting little critters.
h) If you get out of CFL's, be careful how close your lamp is. Even on a good nute regimen, you can still burn the leaves if your lamp is too close. Burnt leaves ='s staved palnt.
i) air flow/rotation - your plants will get BUSHY when flowering. Be careful your "back plants" are not restricted from air flow or you will get mold. Rotate your plants (which you will probably do when inspecting for critters, right?)
j) Be careful not to over water. You'll get the hang of it with time. I FINALLY found that the best watering for my last crop was to water every 2-3 days and water until I had a good "run off" from the potter. As well, I would use that run off to test my soil's PH. See b) and adjust if my plants were looking other than green

Above all, keep your grow area clean! Throw some clay balls on top of your soil so airborne crap in general won't get into your soil. Pad the bottom of your potters with clay balls or clean gravel for good run off. Use a little extra perlite and mix it in your soil so your roots can breathe easier. Keep a good supply of fresh air to the room if at all possible.

The thing I can't stress enough is PH balance. As another poster said last year to a n00b thread "Man, I can't believe you guys fuck up your PH so much". He was right then and still is now.

Finally, DO NOT OVER REACT. Your plant have some yellow? little wilt? Take some time to search this board and post a thread (WITH GOOD PIC'S) if you don't find your answer. The members on RIU will QUICKLY help you out if you can feed as much info as possible, but if you go off half cocked you can do some irreversible damage to your plants as I did last year to one. If you detect a problem, it will still be there in the morning, along with your plant. Be patient. Your first grow, you will be checking the plants like their a new born baby. Don't let that get the best of you. Enjoy your plants, but don't "over care" for them. Let the plant do what the plant wants to do.


Now, that is my grow experience in a nutshell. The second "Finally" I would like to add is KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT! Don't talk about what you are doing; to anyone whether you are legal or not. Cops love low hanging fruit and thugs love un-secured grow ops. Your best friend is secrecy. If you post here, watch what you post and guard your anonymity.

Good luck bro. I'll smoke one for ya tonight

Your set up looks good, but I would get more lights closer to the 6500k spectrum. I have 4100k's, and they seem to work well. Other than that, it seems everyone who posted has put some very valuable info for you to ponder. Any new pics? update? how are the plants doing?