first grow, budget grow box - grow log from zero to 420

Here are some bud shots; Right now i'm waiting to see some trichrome development. Not much as of yet, i'm officially at 7 weeks of flowering now.

The skunk is showing the first signs of triches, nothing on the runt yet.

I just want to thank you for doing this journal. I have learned alot for my next grow.

I hope you make your money back plus a little profit. Your journal got me hooked. Mad props on keeping cost down with decent return.

Sorry for lack of updates, i've been out of the area.

I am 8 weeks into flowering now. Not much change; The sativa is going crazy with leaves, these are outdoor plants, the lack of space is making it grow in wierd ways. I'm unsure what is going to happen with that plant. My runt and my skunk are doing ok, both look healthy. My runt is about the same size, it seems to be putting energy into it's existing buds now. I'm noticing a bit more trichromes here and there on the buds and leaves. The skunk is still extremely leafy, a little bit of bud growth from what I can see in between the leaves everywhere.

Clones are doing ok, all have grown noticably over the past week, flowering nicely. They have little buds, no clue how big they are going to get.

I provided some trichrome shots of my runt which is the farthest along. You can see the little white trich hairs on the bud. They still are clearish, so I have a ways to go.

I moved the CFLs connected to the power strip over by my runt. I figure more light = more bud growth, and that plant has the best chance of producing something decent in the near future.

I'm watering a tablespoon of molasses each time I water, along with the nutes about 5-15-5 strength. The main plants take a good four gallons of water every 5-6 days or so. I water the plants in the cups every 2-3 days since they dry out quick, and 3-4 days for the ones in the milk jugs.

I'm getting anxious to see those trichromes, this is taking way longer then I expected. I'm of course going to wait, but man! those fuckin sativas...

I am now 9 weeks into flowering. I'm beginning to get discouraged, i'm still seeing no trichome development. All the main plants have shown virtually no growth. The skunk is unchanged along with the sativa. On my runt most of the hairs are turning a darker color. On both the runt and skunk some of the main leaves are starting to die off bit by bit, mostly closer to the bottom. Now most of the leaves are closer to the top. I watered with just molassas, so that the plants are getting less nutes just in case that was causing a problem.

Anyone have any idea why i'm not seeing any trichomes yet?

Can you seen any roots in the pots? May need a transfer, I with any plant if the foliage is bigger then the root system then the plant will automatically stunt growth so the roots can catch up, or something like that. It sounded better in my head, but I am sure you get the idea, I looked at the picture and couldn't see any roots in the gallon jug. have you thought about lolipoppin, some of the leafs on the bottom look weak you could get rid of those and that might help. ((I'm no pro just tossing some theories at ya))

Hey , well done , thats a better first attempt than i made . I can see buds on those plants but i dont think you will see any major frosting with the growth so random around the cfl's . I was reading a thread on ICmag on the microgrows recently and this grower grew Northern lights from seed without vegging at all , straight 12/12. He was growing in a confined space using about 70 watt of cfl and a scrog screen. At the finish he ended up with a canopy of buds an inch or two below the lights but looked nicely frosty even if only a single plant. The point being , all his light was compressed in a micro area . I think the grower called Teerul .
Anyway , i'm sure you will get a smoke at the very least , so enjoy it , and thanks for this diary.

great grow, def inspiring, and a great read. i see youve far out grown your original box, it might be worth finding a room, or sectioning/walling off an area of the room your growing in. that would be out budget for sure, but well worth worth it. how tall are the plants themselves, like if you took them out and they wernt drooping. i think your gonna end up with a few 5-6 footers.

Probably. Nah, my living space is shared I have to be super stealth, maybe a taller box but thats pushing it.

Coming up on 10 weeks, no change. I've got no choice but to continue operating, hopefully they'll just end up being really long flowering strains or something. I've definitely learned a lot being my first grow. Unless I find another job or something I probably won't be able to afford a second grow anytime soon. Marijuana is an expensive luxury...

Awesome job man. I bet the anticipation is killing ya !!!!!! And Great effort on the Journal to, lots of useful info.
I Remember my first CFL micro grow, i could stop checking them , they never seemed to grow lol .........

So How many plants are actually in there now????? (sorry , i probably missed a previous post )

But good luck and i'll be checking back to see how ya finished off.....

damn man gettin good lookin buds there for sure

Bro that shit looks like some stretchy ass Sativa, sativas can take up to 14 weeks to flower, so you probly got a while til when you should really chop, if i were you id try to bend those tall bitches over they are gonna easily out stretch you lights and space, id bend them over and add like six more lights and you should have a fat harvest!!! just my two cents but its good sense
-slinger36s

Hey Really sorry to hear you been having problems bro, but I hope it all works out for you and that your efforts will be rewarded!!! your journal still rocks and has help me so much along the way!

heres where I'm at... 5th week of 12/12

No change so far. I might post some pics later.

One day away from week 12. Sorry for the lack of updates, theres been nothing to update about. I have the two worlds slowest strains. They're really shedding leaves now, mostly from the bottom. Also, the cola's are getting heavier, i'm having to tie most of them up now to keep them upright. Been watering with molasses only. I also chopped the 3rd sativa plant, right side. It was just growing out of control, behind the fan like bamboo.

Still no sign of triches...

Looking REAL GOOD man, i can almost smell it from here!!!!!!!!!! must bbe nearly time to chop

some fat ass buds...hope the trics come...but they look juicy at least keep it up..

nice man nice all buds lookin real juicy and sweet man

Dude, screw all that tri-chrome crap. If they look done chop one or take a nug sample and see how it goes man. The methods on this site are very helpful but its not like if you dont harvest on the EXACT perfect day is gonna all go to waste. Sure there is an exact day / time to harvest if you're perfecting your method to get max yield / thc % but man that comes later with experience. From the pics I saw they look "done"