Irish man's first grow.

Cloudiology

Well-Known Member
hey guy's started my first grow a week ago. got two plants. both Top Dawg strain. One very healthy looking and one the needs to seriously catch up. Under 250w cfl grow light. 125 red light, 125 blue light. no nutes used yet. not sure on when to start. just moved the big one to a new pot along with the pete pot it was in. looking good! and fingers crossed! gonna load up a pic of my babies.. they're doing good.. and I stare at them lovingy every day! :p
 

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Dandilion Patch

Active Member
hey guy's started my first grow a week ago. got two plants. both Top Dawg strain. One very healthy looking and one the needs to seriously catch up. Under 250w cfl grow light. 125 red light, 125 blue light. no nutes used yet. not sure on when to start. just moved the big one to a new pot along with the pete pot it was in. looking good! and fingers crossed! gonna load up a pic of my babies.. they're doing good.. and I stare at them lovingy every day! :p
Congrats, looks like you've got yourself some pot plants. Start the nutes in 3 weeks or so, watch her closely and she will tell ya when shes hungry.
 

Cloudiology

Well-Known Member
cheers man! I was wondering about the nutes alright. after moving one into a 5 litre pot of fresh soil I was wondering how that would affect feed. I check on them every few hours, mostly because I get the feeling of total elation from growing.
 

Bilbo Baggins

Well-Known Member
O Yes, top of the morning to you Cloudy, Bilbo from just across the water. I like to follow a grow in these forums so that's me checked in for the duration. All looks fine. Don't put me down as an expert by any manner of means, Ive got a dozen or so grows under my belt some good some average but none bad and I just kind of fly by the seat of my pants and seem to get there in the end. Agree with you that growing is great fun, sure beats the hell out of pruning roses out in the garden. Good luck, and hope you don't mind me nosying in now and then. https://www.rollitup.org/grow-journals/493463-bilbos-hobbit-hole-fellowship-weed.html#post6736788
 

Bilbo Baggins

Well-Known Member
First thing I suppose is the mother must be the shape you want for future clones, usually short with lots of branches with short distances between branches ( internodes I think they call that )also shorter internodes on the branches themselves. the plant shape most look for is compact and bushy with a good amount of lucrative bud sites. You also obviously need to waity for a smoke test of the orginal and ensure it is of the quality you want to perpetuate by clones, this has the inconvenient fact that in order to do so you have to clone her anyway, so that if she does turn out to be a blow your head off merchant----you have the clone. No use waiting till the original is finished and harvested before saying '' Damn, wish I'd cloned that while still in veg.
 

kushhound187

Active Member
If energy is a concern, stick with the cfls, but if you can afford it, and if you can deal with the added heat, purchase a small mh or hps system. i have stitchable ballasts, so i can run both, and i do. i find if using hid lights right from the start, you get the healthiest plants. even a 250 watt, you can do about 5-6 short indicas, like the cheese. scrap the autos tho, they are never what they tell you they are. they bloom whenever they choose, sometimes growing 3 times the advertised size. they need special deep containers, as they usually have 1 big tap root. they are tempermental, hate transplanting, and if feminized face many other problems. if you want to keep plants small, start them 12/12 from seed. i did it with a mandala chill om. they have 2 different phenos, one tall one short, so i decided to keep em short. forget autos tho, i met a guy who said he was the autoflower expert. and that he was. he knew the counter to all their many problems in veg and early groth. but as theres no way to control their flower, unless you switch the lights early, which has the same effect on all plants. They are actually worse because you can flower early, like anything, but you cant let them grow huge, because they will most likely flower way befor you want. unpredictable. not reccomended for new growers. the "autoflower guy" tlod me he wasted 2 years trying to perfect something wotrhless. and he said being a autoflower expert was like being a expert on manure. you live so close, you should jump the ferry and head to london, bring yourself back a original cheese clone. greenhouse has the exodus cheese, i like most of there stuff, but i havent tried it. they do have grow vids online. oe last piece of advice, try feeding organic, like worm castings for veg, bat shit in flower. fruit bats shit is best. and watch your ph. if you have a proper ph, 6-6.5 in soil, organic is more forgiving, produces nicer flavours and smells. and its more rewarding, having the tasty and cleanest smoke around. i buy imported bats shit from phillipenes and indonesia.ive never used chemical feeding, it goes against everything i beleive in when it comes to growing. Another organic product ive never used, but am planning on obtaining is foxfarms grow big and big bloom. There is a 3rd thing that comes in a package with them called tiger bloom. ive heard alot of good things. if you spend maybe 150-250 euro you will be able to upgrade your current garden into a super organic garden, just on a mini scale. with the right lights, soil, water and food, you will fing your final product to have a much finer taste. good luck on your first one.
 

kushhound187

Active Member
Ps, im not a manure expert, i just perfer them in my organic growing. i hate the smell off compost, its to much work, might as well buy manure. it took a couple tries to find the right shit to use tho. the worm castings was a given, but the bat shit took a couple tries. Both those were mentioned in dj shorts book( which i highly recommend), but when i started, bonemeal and fish emulsion were all the rage. bat shit is the way to go. doulde the size of bud .use worm castings all thru for ammino acids, and nitrogen. teas are the best way to make the nutrients available, but top dressing soil its ok too. Bonus about using manure is, its hard to over feed. you can double the recomended amount with no neagative effects like burning. all those chemicals out there wrech shit if you arent careful. most experienced breeders recommend using half doses or less when using chemical shit. every g.rower has their own methods, find what best suits you. ive just had bad results with pre germ methods, like paper towel and rockwool. after i tried dropping my seeds right in wet soil and growing all natural, it solved all my problems. i bought some mandala seeds(would highly recommend) and read their grow and germ guide. that plus dj shorts book and some hands on, and i now produce some fine herb. patience is key.slowly upgrade your garden as your skilland knowledge develop.
 

Cloudiology

Well-Known Member
Thanks guys for all the advice! Unfortunately i'm in a sitation where my weekly food budget is around €7.. so upgrading what little equipment I have is kinda waay outta reach. I have however copy and pasted ye're advice into my grow diary documents. when i'm a bit more in the money in summer i'll defo invest in better shit. get the right, quality equipment and knowledge to begin with and the plants will reward you greatly. and hey this is my first grow. I really don't expect anything too good. tis more of a learning experience. cheers again though!
 

Cloudiology

Well-Known Member
just planted my 3 Royal Cheese Auto seeds. all three germinated beautifully in under 24 hours. super excited! gonna post pics of everything! This is indeed one of the most exciting hobbies I've ever taken up! :D
 
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