First Grow

Budweaver · Oct 25, 2008

I'm starting this journal to document my first "real" grow. I say "real" because I've brought up a plant once before. But it was just one plant, grown under a crappy grow light in a desk lamp without a timer and no experience or knowledge. I produced a very small amount of smokable material with this scrawny little girl and didn't dry or cure it well, so just chalk that one up as a learning experience. This time, I'm building a box, using many more lights, understand much more about good soil and proper fertilization, and generally know much more than I did last plant. I forsee good things this time.

I know I'm not getting off to the best start with the most optimal equipment, but I plan to upgrade and improve my box and my methods with each generation.

Oct. 18, 2008
THE PLAN:
Germinate some bag seeds. Build 2' x 2' x 4' cupboard. Wait for first leaves, then plant in soil. Veg under CFLs 24/0 for ~1week (no more than 12" tall, 6" - 8" preferable) then onto 12/12 schedual. Grow small and fast, harvest often, Sea of Green style. Clones from cuttings to continue growing. Reading and research are the order of the day for entire grow, learn all I can for subsequent generations. I'm interested in experimenting with Low Stress Training (spiral of green), Supercropping (making plant "bushy"), creative pruning and any other methods to maximize yield in minimal space.

Shopping List:
Soil
Flowering ferts
4" Square pots
Jiffy starter kit
CFLs (2 6500k, 4 2500k) and "Y" splitters
Flat white paint
Soil pH tester
Aquarium sticker thermometer
3" - 6" desk fan
Spray bottle
Timer

Future improvements:
More lights
Better soil or homemade blend
Specialized ferts
Root hormone
Clone/Veg box

Oct. 20, 2008
Germinated ~30 seeds with the "paper towel" method. As they began to crack open, I placed them into rehydrated Jiffy peat disks. Excitement mounting big time. Seriously looking forward to this experience.

Oct. 25, 2008
I've gotten 12 sprouts under a humidity dome and the first bit of green is poking out of one planter. I feel like a proud papa-to-be watching my wife's belly expand. Bought a bag of Miracle Grow for first planting just to get something in the ground until I can get better soil...local stores don't carry Fox Farm. Start basic, upgrade as I go. Switching to Fox Farm Ocean Forest as soon as this bag of MG is gone because I found a supplier within a 1 hour drive.

anotherchance · Oct 25, 2008

im jealous. it been a while since i had a grow but i might be growing for a friend who broke his back and got a gov tag to posses to im hoping that goes down and if it does i will doing a show with bells on, on line anyway

Budweaver · Oct 25, 2008

Yeah, I'm terribly excited about this grow and I desperately want to talk about it. But, as any grower knows, that's really the one thing you can't do. So, total invitation to anyone who feels like posting...questions, comments, advice, encouragement, grow stories, anything.

Budweaver · Oct 25, 2008

Just peeked under the hood to check on my girls. My first sprout has a little sister.

anotherchance · Oct 25, 2008

i have kind of a story for ya, you ever heard of the I Ching?

Budweaver · Oct 25, 2008

Heard of it. Kinda a chinese tarot/fortune telling system, yeah?

Budweaver · Oct 26, 2008

Morning update:

Eve (first sprout) is looking really good. I'm building the cabinet in a couple hours, and I can't wait to fire up the lights for the first time. Send some green mojo my way and hope for fems! :bigjoint:

anotherchance · Oct 26, 2008

you got it. so in the I Ching, one of the 64 archetypes is about hiding ones light, and how to do it successfully. it doesnt take too much to see how smiler it sounds to growing MJ in the basement. check it out - http://www.akirarabelais.com/i/i.html#36

bigd921 · Oct 26, 2008

congrats on starting the grow, if you want an easy light solution go to walmart or home depot and buy a vanity light fixture, and an extension cord, all you do is splice the wires...............or you can get a powerstrip, and they make light sockets that plug right into outlets, another cheap and easy option

Budweaver · Oct 26, 2008

Cab's built. I found a couple lamps I could break open for sockets, so just need to wander the house and liberate a couple of bulbs so I can get these little beauts under some kinda light to start vegging. Got about a half dozen sprouts popping their little heads outta the jiffy plugs now.

Pics coming after lunch, I'm frakking hungry.

Budweaver · Oct 26, 2008

First, a word of caution to anyone wiring anything electrical. Getting shocked hurts! Stupid light socket bit me. :dunce:

So I got the cab built, put it in the basement and got the inside painted with a first coat. It's completely dry, so I hung my lamps and put the two biggest sprouts into some dirt. They are in the same pot for now, because I figure one may be male so will get plucked, and even if they are both fems, I'm growing them short so they may not crowd, and if they do crowd each other, I can always transplant.

This is all still somewhat temporary. Still need to get smaller square planters, better light sockets, my full compliment of bulbs, etc., etc.

Now, on to the pics (yes, that first pic is sideways):

Budweaver · Oct 27, 2008

Morning update. Got two more sprouts into a pot. First two are doing great!

Microracer87 · Oct 27, 2008

Ok I'm gonna save you some root bound troubles right now. Get 2 pots and fill them both to the top with soil. I never liked the idea of two plants in one pot. It's so much easier to mess them up that way. Plus for two plants in one pot you're gonna need a pretty damn big pot

Microracer87 · Oct 27, 2008

Ohh and you can get cfls closer then that

Day 26 White Widow Flowering pics

Budweaver · Oct 27, 2008

Microracer87 said:
Ok I'm gonna save you some root bound troubles right now. Get 2 pots and fill them both to the top with soil. I never liked the idea of two plants in one pot. It's so much easier to mess them up that way. Plus for two plants in one pot you're gonna need a pretty damn big pot

This seems a waste of effort if either or both end up male. Until they're sexed, this saves me space.

But my eventual plan, when I get paid in a few days, is to buy more, smaller planters.

I don't expect my first grow to be perfection, especially putting it together piecemeal like this.

Thanks for stopping in to say "Hi", though. And I do appreciate the advice, it will make a difference in the future.

Budweaver · Oct 28, 2008

Today's update. Got a couple "Y" splitters and a couple more 24 watters (6500k instead of the 2500k the other two are). Got another sprout into a small pot by itself and another couple poking their heads out of the jiffy plugs.

Got a question that's been bugging me a bit lately...is it safe (fire hazzard, electrical hazzard, too much power being drawn, whatever) for me to put "Y" splitters into the ends of a "Y" splitter to put 4 bulbs in one socket?

Pics:

Budweaver · Oct 30, 2008

Today's update:

I picked up another couple "Y" splitters and bulbs, as well as a thermometer and a timer. Temps are holding steady under 24/0 at around 75* F. I plan to pick up 2 more "Y"s and 2 more bulbs and that should do it for lights and should bring the temp up just a few more degrees. Next major purchase is nutes. I'll be starting flowering very soon.

Minor rant: the stores in my town suck, horribly. Lowes, Home Depot and Wal-Mart. They all carry basically the same stuff, and the stuff different from one to the next is just generic or store versions of the same stuff. They also do not have any 4" plastic pots. I know it's out of season for gardening supplies, but damn. And to top it off, none of them carry any nutes that are worth a crap for what I'm growing. Bastards.

Anyway...on to the pics.

Budweaver · Oct 30, 2008

Picked up a small fan and a jar of dry yeast for some "poor man's" CO2 production. Temps holding steady in the 72-75 degree range. Also grabbed a little paper-and-chart pH testing kit, but haven't checked the soil, yet. Kicking on the timer for 12/12 tonight, wish me luck. :weed:

Looking at my box, I'm wondering if it isn't "too big" at the moment for the size plants I have. I'm thinking I need to rig up some kind of reflector, because I must be losing a lot of good light up into that useless space.

Budweaver · Nov 1, 2008

Today's update. Temps still holding steady around 75*F. Got a cheapass reflector rigged up...not great but better than nothing. Little ones are getting big.

First 5 pics are from yesterday. Pic 6 is the reflector (cardboard, paper and duct tape). Last pics are today's.

Budweaver · Nov 1, 2008

Blast! Just discovered my timer isn't turning off my lights. So I manually flipped them off tonight for the first real 12/12. Stupid cheapass wallyworld timer.

First Grow

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