First Grow

Today I found a spider mite or a small black spider hangin on my main stem running around. So I mixed up in some water a drop of soap and drop of pine sol and spray them down. Solved that problem. Tonight they are sleeping for 14 hours. They have been on a 10/14 photoperiod. Also I topped the plants today so I if they are female, I will get two buds on top instead of one. Concerned about lack of nutrients, I haven't given them anything much more than home made nutes. The tips of the leaves curl down and some are brown. There are some holes in mid leaf from a fly. Check out my photo gallery. I need a better camera- sorry.

next time you need to educate yourself about pest. It could have been a normal spider that u might find around the house and wouldn't need anymore then a pinch to rid of it. Its like giving yourself a peptopismal and you have a migraine. Spider mites are much smaller and orange. And can i ask why do you have them in the dark for 14 hrs? your robbing them of 2 hrs of photosynthesis.

I thought it would speed up flowering so they sex quicker.

nah man 10/14 wont speed sexing at all. all your doing is losing 2 hours of photosynthesis. so in actuallity it could take longer for them to sex if you think about it. plus man next time read up on what it takes to make a good grow. I say, You go cheap, you grow cheap. i'm not dissing cfl's. ive never used them for a full gorw but from what ive heard u get airy whispy buds. i am using around 80 or 90 watts of fluro for my clones as u can see but thats just to get em goin.i would try to get some money up beforehand and get all the correct supplies before you even try to germinate. plus make sure you get good seeds with good genetics. even the best growers in the world cant improve a plant past its genetic abilities. and the milk and urine nutes? thats just wrong lol. i know its good intentions but at least go get some fish-seaweed type nutes. glad to see your growing but in my opinion, which isnt very good in the first place, do a little more research and save some money for the real deal. check where your plants were at at day 21 and heres where mine are at day 21. 250w mh, drip irrigation hydroponics, and botanicare's pure blend pro grow. good luck!

That's all good and i'm proud of you for having all that equipment. But some people are worried about police and especially don't have the money, space, or can pay the electric bill with all that HPS system junk. All I know is I have plants healthy from just water and they are doing fine. If I end up smoking I will be happy for what I have put into it, I don't expect much anyway. I know there are more effecient ways to grow but like I said it's my first one I'm expecting buds, but not dank just regular smoking trees. Sometime down the road I might or might now get into all that stuff. But thanks though and i'll keep it on 12/12 from now on.

yeah man i hear ya. im not tryin to rag you or anything like that. just some helpful tips to make your grow better for ya. if you get some extra money get a few more cfls and some nutrients. it will make the world of difference. also do some shopping for cfls. ive seen 46 or somethin watters and even higher at home improvement stores. i found my MH lamp used at my local hydro store for 150 bucks with a brand new bulb. all ive gotta say is amp up your lighting as much as you can and purchase some type of nutes. think of it this way. if your a child and growing, how can you get bigger without eating anyting? milk and urine might work for now. but spend 10 bucks on some nutes and you will thank god you did. good luck and keep on growin

okay good advice, i'll do it someday... but for now:

Just moved my grow to the attic and had to run wire for it. check out my job

Now that my shits tucked away in the hot attic. It's hot up there in the daytime and cold in the night. So I have a big fan to move air around 24/7 and during lighting schedule of 12/12 A portable heater is available to kick on it temperature reaches below my set temperature of 70ºF. My lights are on a timer as well as the heater. Notice I changed my photoperiod so it lights during cool hours of the night and just has a fan on it during the daytime with no lighting during the hot hours of fall attic temperatures. Although my climate outside is mild, attic temperatures fluctuate and temperature is game when considering growing in the tuck corner of your home. check out my new grow box up there on the attached photos:

it was hot today and i was out of the house. granted i had a big fan on them they look like dehydrated so i gave them some water. they had a rough day today after being in the attic sweltering temperatures. it was 95ºF outside, i dont even know the attic temp but i need an intake fan somehow from the closet up to the attic! or better yet i need a compact AC up there. don't have that money at the moment though. i hope they don't die! it looks like one might be a male it's hard to tell, and the other is not showing yet. 1 week of flowering but with varying conditions so it shouldn't start sexing yet. i'll give it another week to see if they live. hope they make it up there, it doesn't look good though.

Slow down man!! Its very obvious this is your first time. Your way too anxious, take a breath and slow down. You are jumping around way too much, it made me dizzy. Stop!! Sit back and get a game plan, figure out what you need, you are GOING to have to spend a few bucks, suck it up and do it. It can be done for less than 150 bucks. Gather your supplies. After you get what you need, only start the seeds that you can support. If you can only support one, only plant one. Get the new one(s) going, plant each of them in the biggest pot that will fit in your grow area and your budget. Get just above the minimum amount of light(use whatever method you want, just make sure there is enough light and the appropriate kind), set them on a timer(24 on 0 off, or 18 on 6 off). After you accomplish this, just watch them. Water them when they need it. You have the desire to do well but slow down, try and learn how the plant grows on its own with as little envolvement as possible. Thats just my 2 cents anyway.

ha,ha,just 1cfl,not bad dude,there coming along pretty good!!even though,get yourself more,much more,r u gonna flower with these(cfl's)?

rkm said:

Slow down man!! Its very obvious this is your first time. Your way too anxious, take a breath and slow down. You are jumping around way too much, it made me dizzy. Stop!! Sit back and get a game plan, figure out what you need, you are GOING to have to spend a few bucks, suck it up and do it. It can be done for less than 150 bucks. Gather your supplies. After you get what you need, only start the seeds that you can support. If you can only support one, only plant one. Get the new one(s) going, plant each of them in the biggest pot that will fit in your grow area and your budget. Get just above the minimum amount of light(use whatever method you want, just make sure there is enough light and the appropriate kind), set them on a timer(24 on 0 off, or 18 on 6 off). After you accomplish this, just watch them. Water them when they need it. You have the desire to do well but slow down, try and learn how the plant grows on its own with as little envolvement as possible. Thats just my 2 cents anyway.

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and tis is a tip you should listen too!!it's just the truth and the right thing to do.......ras

RASCALONE said:

ha,ha,just 1cfl,not bad dude,there coming along pretty good!!even though,get yourself more,much more,r u gonna flower with these(cfl's)?

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actually 4 bulbs total that I have, right now I'm just using 3 bulbs all warm spectrum CFL's trying to push flowering and I think I might have 1 male. I'll update you when I see more signs. But overall they had a hot ass day yesterday n the attic and a lot of leaves curled up and dried out and my soil got dry at least 5 times quicker than my original location.

good information but its my first grow and I don't know if I'm gonna do it again.

skunkwizard said:

actually 4 bulbs total that I have, right now I'm just using 3 bulbs all warm spectrum CFL's trying to push flowering and I think I might have 1 male. I'll update you when I see more signs. But overall they had a hot ass day yesterday n the attic and a lot of leaves curled up and dried out and my soil got dry at least 5 times quicker than my original location.

good information but its my first grow and I don't know if I'm gonna do it again.

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Dude!! Take this as constructive criticism, I am by no means trying to insult you in any way. You are your own worst enemy in this. Maybe you are inherently paranoid, or maybe you are just a very aggressive person. Who knows...?

Look at all these changes you are making it is just a continuous environment change for the plant. Come on, why are you seriously moving things around as much as you are? That is certainly a sign of being ill-prepared for doing this. The plants can handle some abuse, but sheeesh, your constantly taking and giving the very, very, very basics of the plant every couple weeks. Stability.

I could keep going, but I will stop for now. I can certainly see why you would say you may not grow again; with the route your taking, I would too. I personally could not wait to start my second grow. It is seriously not as hard as the effort you trying to put into it. Slow down, let nature do some of the work also.

I had to put it in the attic for safety and since then it's had some trouble with the heat up there. That's about all I did other than transplanting into bigger pots which had no effect on the plants. You need to chill out brother

skunkwizard said:

I had to put it in the attic for safety and since then it's had some trouble with the heat up there. That's about all I did other than transplanting into bigger pots which had no effect on the plants. You need to chill out brother

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I am as chilled as it gets, brother.

Just checked and saw my taller one was a male so I went ahead and eliminated that one. The other smaller one is female. It's showing two pistils coming out like a V shape from the top. Did a little minor pruning today also. Looking good, good temps.

Last night I went ahead and got a bathroom wall fixture that has 6 sockets. I got it for about 4 dollars and was already pre-wired. I took it apart, cut the metal in half with some snips, and attached them to the bottom of a drawer. cut holes for the wires to come through the bottom and out the back of the dresser. my female plant is now setup to fit under 4 CFL's.

Just found out the two CFL's I have are a major fire risk and so I have removed my two 26W Helvica bulbs. I have a picture of the bulb that is dangerous, if you are not sure if you have this bulb I would check my photo gallery. Look at all these complants about this bulb here.

I would much rather grow with my two bulbs knowing they are safer than having those other Helvica bulbs also turned on. A lot of fire and damaging smoke billows out of these bulbs. Do not use them, especially in my scenario of the attic around insulation. I now have a 32W warm white (red) and 23W Daylight (full spectrum) bulbs. Any questions? Pics coming when I feel like it. probably later today

Here is some helpful information I found:

Kelvin Color Scale for CFL bulbs
Warm White - 2700K
Cool White - 4100K
Bright White - 5000K
Daylight - 5100K