First Grow - Basic/Little Knowledge grow. Northern Lights

I have been interested in growing something for myself for a while but never did anything to make it happen.

I finally went out a purchased some seeds from my local head-shop market stall.

Out of 5 seeds, 4 Germinated within 48 hours in a Chinese style plastic box with some damp towels and put in a warm dark room. I planted the first two to germinate and then the last 3 (of which one still had not sprouted out of the seed).

As of this morning (day 4) the first seed to be planted has sprouted out of the soil! Woop, it now feels a little more like something is going to happen.

My current setup is:

Small utility cupboard roughly 1x1x2 meter (width, depth, height).
Small fish tank to help contain humidity, temperature etc with small blue light.

I am in the process of purchasing a CFL - 6500k - 150w (from Envirogrow http://www.hydrohobby.co.uk/product/envirogrow_cfl_s/) for the veg stage and then will buy the red spec for the flower stage.

I am a little concerned with the inevitable smell as I would rather not buy extractors etc for such a small grow however I do live in a rented flat and will not put myself in a dangerous position with regards to the landlords finding out etc.

I am looking forward to what happens.
Feedback, comments and (constructive) criticism welcome.

https://www.rollitup.org/members/exitstrategy-332694-albums-first-grow-picture1507797-sprout.jpg
https://www.rollitup.org/members/exitstrategy-332694-albums-first-grow-picture1507795-sprout.jpg
https://www.rollitup.org/members/exitstrategy-332694-albums-first-grow-picture1507794-tubs.jpg

Of course this is a hypothetical situation being performed in my mind only, I do not grow, smoke or sell marijuana.

Without careful planning, odor will be an issue.

Little Tommy said:

Without careful planning, odor will be an issue.

Click to expand...

Any recommended reading on the subject?

Ok, another lovely sprout can be seen now.

The fist sprout is looking great although it's head is still 90 degrees to the side, it is about an inch and a half tall.

I have got a double door wardrobe coming tomorrow to turn into a grow box (thanks freecycle!) lots of inspiration on these boards. Also Ive been looking at the DIY carbon filters and will be making some of those to erase the smell issue.

I am really excited about this now (feel like a big kid).

My concern at this point is that I have started too soon as my box wont be ready to start vegging for at least 2 weeks since I need to wait for my CFL's of which I will be ordering on payday (end of the month).

You should be able to slow walk them until then, just keep the lights close so they don't stretch too much.

Ok that sounds promising then, thanks Little Tommy.

I lined some of the closet, around the light and plant, with foil to make up for the lack of a decent grow space.
They are both doing well (I think). No movement from the other 3 in the other tub as yet.

Good news and bad news this evening.

Good news first:
Two of the last three have sprouted making four in total. I will hold out for the last one since it never actually germinated in the pot with the others so I guess it will take a few more days if it is going to grow at all.

Bad news:
The wardrobe I am getting for my grow box has been delayed (was due to pick it up tonight). It will now be a whole month before I have my growing area setup with vegging lights etc. I am hope-full that I can keep these guys going slowly (short light cycles? 4 hours of light for 20 of darkness?) however I need to research this asap.

You need to keep 18 hours of light or bad things can happen. The lights are too far away causing the seedlings to stretch. The upside is that seedlings don't need a ton of light to idle along.

First update for a while.

A fair bit has happened since my seedlings last photo session.

All 5 plants are doing well (some more than others), I have transplanted all of them into roughly 20% Perlite 80% Potting Soil mixture and much bigger pots.

I now have my two main plants under a temporary light, I have two 105w CFL (6400k) one for each on the way and should be here in the next few days. The other 3 are on the window ledge until I can find a new home for them. My grow box will only have room for two plants.

My two plants under a makeshift foil reflector hehe, yes I know its poor and laughable but its all i got!



One of the plants close up (little to much perlite on top):



The other plant:

Forgot to mention,

They are currently on 18/4 light rotation. They seemed to halt all progression for a couple of days after transplanting but are going once again.

For some reason im either on a 22 hour schedule or I typed that wrong in my last post. 18/6 light rotation currently.

My lights came today spent a while tonight stripping mains wire and getting the ceramic fixtures attached to plugs (too cheap to by pre-wired).



Now have two 6400k CFL's on the babies, hopefully they will start growing more soon, they have really slowed down since the transplanting however it will still be around 4 weeks before my box is ready.

if they are northern lghts mate, you wont notice the odour..

When I bought the seeds I asked the guy for what he thought would be the best strain for a, small(ish) plants (for space reasons) and b. odour. However as with anything I would rather air on the side of caution mainly due to being in a rented flat.However thanks for the confidence boost!

The seeds are from Nirvana so I feel safe to assume the label was correct and they are indeed northern lights.

looking nice man hope or grow goes well.

Thank you

ExitStrategy said:

When I bought the seeds I asked the guy for what he thought would be the best strain for a, small(ish) plants (for space reasons) and b. odour. However as with anything I would rather air on the side of caution mainly due to being in a rented flat.However thanks for the confidence boost!

The seeds are from Nirvana so I feel safe to assume the label was correct and they are indeed northern lights.

Click to expand...

should be sound then fella..

I have noticed a big difference in the plants with the new lights.

I decided to break out the Nikon and take some decent photos rather than being lazy and using my phone.

Finally have some nice looking leaves coming along. Cant wait for my first "proper" fan leaf.

I ordered a PH Testing kit and Bio-Biz vegging fertilizer but there was an issue so I have to wait until Saturday and go pick them up then I will be starting them on food and maybe LST.

Pics:

Fantastic news, I finally got my grow cab!

I am going to have to spend a few hours tomorrow fitting it up, cleaning it out and lining it with MDF and sheeting but its finally here.


The plants are doing really well too, I was worried about how dense the nodes are however after posting in the problems forum it seems that the density is a good thing, who knew!