excited to be among friends <3

hello! i'm new to growing, just started my first seeds last week. first time smoking was in my teens, and i quit in my mid-20's (around 2003) due to drug testing for jobs. and honestly, i think i was just smoking shit weed at that time. my hs boyfriend sold weed to a handful of friends/family in the mid-90's, and i remember always breaking up the dried crusty buds into jars for him to weigh, and they were full of seeds and stems. haha! i also was starting to have episodes of paranoia and just stopped enjoying it so that was another reason to stop.

a friend got me back into it just this year, after 20 years away. i'm finding that life in my mid-40's has a lot more stability and clarity and consequently i'm enjoying a much different relationship with the buds. i'm a medical user and i'm just on the floor at the prices at the dispo sometimes. i love to garden and have lights, mats, heaters, humidifiers, etc from my years of starting veggie seeds. so i figured...why not try this too? hoping for success, but i've had enough seedling and gardening heartbreak from growing in the unpredictable summers of the midwest that i'm up for the challenge and inevitable tough lessons. i'm starting my first grow indoors, and i'm hoping to get enough experience under my belt to grow outdoors next summer.

Welcome! This is a great place for advice and chat. Make sure you start with good seeds! What are you thinking for your first grow.

Welcome to RIU! Eons of experience on the site.

Stay away from land race sativas. Your summers are not long enough for them to finish before they freeze and the massive colas will mold with all the humid wind coming off the lakes.
Speed will be your best friend.
You midwesterners have awesome soil all we have in the mid Atlantic is gravel and clay. You should be able to grow in the ground without to much need for additives. Your highly varied climate is you biggest challenge big temp and rh swings induce mold/mildew/rot powdery mildew is your number 1 non human threat.

most growers have a strain that makes them wet.... do you have any favorites? what will you plant next year?

DeadHeadX said:

Welcome! This is a great place for advice and chat. Make sure you start with good seeds! What are you thinking for your first grow.

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i picked up a few autos from royal queen seeds - fat banana, royal dwarf, fast eddy (wanted to try a CBD too). i had no clue where to buy seeds and not even sure how i found this supplier.

sometimes i feel like i fell through a wormhole when it comes to growing weed in 1993 vs growing weed in 2023. everyone i knew who grew 30 years ago was doing it in closets with heat lamps and box fans, or out in a cornfield around all the nasty chemicals. getting caught could literally mean a prison sentence - i know two guys who served time for a handful of plants. wild times.

it feels a bit intimidating now with the plethora of information and variations of set up for indoor growing.

Welcome to RIU. Hope you enjoy the site.

VaSmile said:

Stay away from land race sativas. Your summers are not long enough for them to finish before they freeze and the massive colas will mold with all the humid wind coming off the lakes.
Speed will be your best friend.
You midwesterners have awesome soil all we have in the mid Atlantic is gravel and clay. You should be able to grow in the ground without to much need for additives. Your highly varied climate is you biggest challenge big temp and rh swings induce mold/mildew/rot powdery mildew is your number 1 non human threat.

Click to expand...

i have an 80' x 70' garden area and i'm in zone 6b. powdery mildew is ev.ery.where by mid july most years. i start seeds around end of february so that i can transplant early may. this is the only way i can get any zucchini or cukes before the mildew hits. most everything else tolerates it well. now i'm off to google outdoor pests and plant disease for cannabis!

amneziaHaze said:

most growers have a strain that makes them wet.... do you have any favorites? what will you plant next year?

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buying at the dispo i favor indicas that are fruity or sweet. i prefer a mellow buzz that i can keep focused on. a few giggles are always fun too. my favorite was purple confectionary/purple skittlez. currenting enjoying wedding cake, strawberry shortcake.

not sure what to plant next year...hoping to figure that out in the coming months as i start my first run.

wakeNbaker46 said:

i have an 80' x 70' garden area and i'm in zone 6b. powdery mildew is ev.ery.where by mid july most years. i start seeds around end of february so that i can transplant early may. this is the only way i can get any zucchini or cukes before the mildew hits. most everything else tolerates it well. now i'm off to google outdoor pests and plant disease for cannabis!

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Your gonna do well. Can't wait to see

wakeNbaker46 said:

i have an 80' x 70' garden area and i'm in zone 6b. powdery mildew is ev.ery.where by mid july most years. i start seeds around end of february so that i can transplant early may. this is the only way i can get any zucchini or cukes before the mildew hits. most everything else tolerates it well. now i'm off to google outdoor pests and plant disease for cannabis!

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I guerilla grew outside for years in Zone 5b/6a and bud rot/PM were always a problem.

wakeNbaker46 said:

i picked up a few autos from royal queen seeds - fat banana, royal dwarf, fast eddy (wanted to try a CBD too). i had no clue where to buy seeds and not even sure how i found this supplier.

sometimes i feel like i fell through a wormhole when it comes to growing weed in 1993 vs growing weed in 2023. everyone i knew who grew 30 years ago was doing it in closets with heat lamps and box fans, or out in a cornfield around all the nasty chemicals. getting caught could literally mean a prison sentence - i know two guys who served time for a handful of plants. wild times.

it feels a bit intimidating now with the plethora of information and variations of set up for indoor growing.

Click to expand...

I'd spend a little money before I moved on with 4 or 5 months of growing and replace those seeds. Autos are awesome and I run 2 or 3 autos always. However, my autos are extra plants placed in my veg room to take advance of the light schedule in there. They sometimes just aren't what you hoped for. Additionally RQS doesn't have the best reputation round here.

U don't have to get fancy and dig through breeders. Just check out some of these seed banks that are about 2 get recommended.

SeedsmanUSA

Fleur du mal seeds is a good option as well for inexpensive beans. They have big breeder packs I believe that come out to about a buck a bean. Solid genetics.

Welcome to RIU

Welcome to RIU!

I always advise against autos, as there are very few quality auto breeders out there. Mephisto has a good reputation if you're heart is set on it.

As far as seeds, FDM as mentioned above is a phenomenal budget choice, AGseedco has some great deals on old-school gear, I would just stay away from the pure haze for reasons mentioned above and the skunk because some have had herm issues. Bohdi is another great choice, his gear is very high quality, at a shockingly low price compared to his contemporaries.

Warning, cannabis is a gateway drug to gardening!

Oh, and stay tf away from the whole politics sub forum. Bad vibes abound.

Welcome, read all you can read and then read more. Lots of great info on this site. If ya get stuck this crew will help ya out. Best of luck to ya. Growing becomes a addiction..lol