AMBITIOUS FIRST GROW - 5 Strains - NEED ADVICE

I have decided to grow my own marijuana, something I have been dreaming of doing my entire adult life. I have been smoking marijuana for 25+ years, the last 20 years for "medicinal" reasons. I recently moved from Mexico to Texas. I did not attempt to grow in Texas because of the harsh penalties. I've since moved to Oregon and can now grow and smoke legally. My wife also smokes for a seizure disorder. She also has her medicinal marijuana card. It is imperative at this point that I grow my own smoke and I am now turning to the community I have learned so much from for help.

I have watched "I Grow Chronic" at least five times and have read two Marijuana Bibles, The Cannabis Grow Bible by Greg Green and the Marijuana Medical Grower's Bible by Jorge Cervantes. I have also read numerous general hydroponics books. I have studied other growers journals and read the forums daily. Unfortunately after studying and reading I am more confused now than I was before I ever began researching. I'm sure this is common, nonetheless it is very frustrating. I have no prior growing knowledge whatsoever so it is all a little overwhelming. The devil is in the details right?

I have dumped my entire savings into gathering supplies and buying quality seeds. I'm going to describe what I have done thus far as well as provided as many pictures necessary to allow for advice, criticism, suggestions and hopefully praise. Please fill free to say whatever. All comments are welcome unless you just want to slam me for not having the knowledge.

In addition to growing for mine and my wife's needs, I am planning on providing clones and free quality herb donations to the medicinal community. The knowledge I gain from this grow will not only benefit me and my wife but hopefully many others. One last quick note, even though I grow and smoke for "medicinal" reasons I believe marijuana should be legalized for recreational use as well. Actually I take exception to qualifying marijuana with the word medicinal. Though I understand the obvious political reason for framing the debate in this way, I do not consider marijuana and medicine. It is a plant! Either you smoke it or you don't and you benefit from marijuana or you don't. Everyone needs to be able to enjoy this beautiful plant, not just those of us that have a medical condition. I apologize for not having the courage to grow before now but I have lived in NYC, Chihuahua Mexico and Texas. These are not places I felt were safe. Let's help each other overgrow the government. Thank you in advance for your time and interest.

Now the details. I am growing the following strains for my first grow:

• Ice- feminized (2 plants)
• White widow-feminized (2 plants)
• Crystal-feminized (2 plants)
• Strawberry Cough-non-feminized (3 plants)
• Super Silver haze-non-feminized (4 plants)

Here is what I have done so far, I built a grow room in my basement and split it in half, one section for vegetation and one for flowering. I set up a drip system using adjustable spikes and a drip head. The drip head I am using now is 3.3gph. It is too strong to control so I ordered a new 1gph head that should be here by the first of next week. The spikes are adjustable from 0 - 10gph. This system is going to work but I cannot get the precision of water I want. But maybe I don't need it?

I have five plants I started on General Hydro nutes yesterday. I have germinated another eight plants plus I have two that were just moved into rock wool. You can see them in the pics, they have not sprouted yet. I am using a 10 gallon tub for my reservoir. I am using 6 fluorescents, 3 EcoLite Sunshine and 3 EcoLite Plant.

Germination rate has been 100%. All 13 seeds germinated. I will put the new babies in rock wool started cubes after the pre-soak tomorrow morning. I have included pics of the grow room for suggestions on set up.

My temp is always between 70 - 75 degrees and my humidity never drops below 40 and usually measures around 55 - 60. I am running 24hr light cycle. My harvest room is empty but I use it for venting. I have an inline fan in the harvest room along with two other fans to complete my intake system. I wanted to ensure my babies would get enough air flow. I have a humidifier set up a 3x timer. My water schedule right now is 2x a day for 15 minutes. It seems to be more than enough, maybe too much?

Here is the measurement I just took. I don't know what it means but maybe someone can decipher this information for me and tell me the relevance as well as the target ranges.

• PPM 031
• EC 0.06
• CF 006

I hope the pics help. I will continue to update my actions. If you have read this far, I really appreciate it. If you feel so inclined to give me feedback, that would really fucking rock.

I am sure I left out some critical data. Please tell me what other information I need to give the community. My biggest concern right now is the following:

• I am watering with nutes on a timer 2 times a day. Does the rock wool look too wet?

• What is going on with my Ice and Super Silver haze?

• Is it possible to have too much ventilation?

• In general, how is everything looking?

*NOTE: PICUTRES OF PLANTS WERE TAKEN RIGHT AFTER WATERING. I will grab some pictures at their driest as well to give you an idea of saturation of the rock wool.

Thank each of you for your contribution. One love and Peace for now. Happy New Year!

You need to cover your RES, light promotes algee.

I copied the Mr green set up too. Good luck and happy growing.

Dirtfree said:

You need to cover your RES, light promotes algee.

I copied the Mr green set up too. Good luck and happy growing.

Click to expand...

Dirtfree, I will buy a new res tonight. I saw one that was made out of dark plastic, no light. Thanks for the heads up.

After much debate and worry I rearranged my set up.

I replaced the clear res with two 10 gal opaque ones. Now I have two res to feed from. I and just watering the 10 babies on the left with ph balanced distilled and the 3 babies on the right on their fist week of nutes.

I have two new drip heads arriving this week. They are 1gph heads as opposed to the 3.3gph head I am using. I am hopeful this will give me more control over the flow. The stakes can drip from 0-10gph. I am testing them now for reliability and consistency. I am hopeful I can dial this fucking drip system in. So far I am not too happy with the setup.

This brings to my first serious problem.

Have I planted too many plants and/ or too many strains? How the fuck do I feed all these hungry babies being that they vary so much in their size and nute readiness How many reservoirs am I going to need? I suppose I can hand water all of them if need be. I mean I am committed and shit but am hoping to figure this out.

I moved all the started rock wool into 3” cubes. Now I have 13 3” cubes with the ability for 24 drips off the two 12 cap heads.

Btw, what is the best way to hand water these 3” rock wool cubes? I have been either dipping them for a few seconds, letting excess run off and then put back in tray. I have also used a turkey baster to water the cubes. Suggestion would be useful.

I dont know what is going with the Silver Haze. It is back on a distilled water drip. I am worried it is going to die.

Here are some pics of the changes and the current set up. Thanks beautiful people. One love!

Btw, sorry for the pic quality I am trying different cameras to see which will work best to document my grow.

I am planting 3 more Strawberry Cough in Rock wool starter plugs then putting that into a 4" Rock wool instead of the 3" I have been using. I am curious to see how the larger Rock wool will handle the heavy feeding from the drips.

I am asking again for suggestions on feeding different plants at different stages of growth needing different feeding schedules. I dont mind feeding by hand but I would love some advice on how to effectively water the Rock wool by hand. Dip?

As always thank you!

Peace.