Growing Weed On My Balcony For The First Time

I'm new to growing marijuana. This coming spring will be my first time. I am planning to grow about 5-10 early misty plants on my balcony. My balcony has tons of sunlight. I am so confused about the right and correct way to grow. I plan on germinating the seeds in some moist Jiffy peat pellets, and then placing them on my window sill where they will get some sunlight for about 3 weeks, then placing them outside in some pots. I plan on using organice Roots soil that already contains perilite. Then fertilizing once a week, maybe once every two weeks. Am I on the right track? Do I need to do something else? All the mixing of soils are confusing me. Can somebody please be a guru to me and point me in the right direction. Thanks.

If it's the right time of year in British Columbia, then crack on with your plan. You got the right idea
I wouldn't feed until your plant has a few leafs...but that's later on.
Buy the soil you mention, plant your seed. Enjoy! It's a great laugh growing herb!

Get big pots to put your plants in -as big as possible- and don't skimp on how much soil you give them, either. Seriously, I put a single plant in an unused recycling bin and you wouldn't believe how big the root ball got. I'd say grow less plants if it means you can give each plant more soil.

Don't water them too much, and don't fertilize them too much. It's better to starve them than it is to overfeed.

Good luck and stay safe.

Bumping Spheda said:

Get big pots to put your plants in -as big as possible- and don't skimp on how much soil you give them, either. Seriously, I put a single plant in an unused recycling bin and you wouldn't believe how big the root ball got. I'd say grow less plants if it means you can give each plant more soil.

Don't water them too much, and don't fertilize them too much. It's better to starve them than it is to overfeed.

Good luck and stay safe.

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I was thinking about the recycle bin thing, mind me asking what lights you used, and what you yielded??

It was an outdoor grow, and Bella turned out to be a dude. Donna was planted late in a ?3gal? pot and yielded maybe a half-oz with a pretty extensive spider mite infestation. The rest of my plants got jacked by people who I thought were my friends (the ones in my backyard got jacked, the ones on my balcony were safe). Still a successful first grow, imo; fee herb and a lot of positive experiences.

I only recommended the recycling bin(s) because he mentioned it was outdoor. I'd be afraid of outgrowing my tent, tbh, but if that's not an issue for you go for it. I recommend transplanting a few times before planting in the recycling bin, the roots will stretch out on the bottom and not fully utilize the space, ime, unless you specifically train for lateral growth.

I startet mine in cup`s in the window shelf, like a month before I planed to set em outside (when spring hit us and night frost was history)

so your right on track there, also with the soil, tho make sure it hold a lot of perlite and maybe some lega nuts/stones, but most important, make sure your pots have nice drain holes in the bottom, so they don't drawn if you get heavy rain and is`t there to safe em inside

most importent when choosing soil beside getting it airy and light for the roots is PH value, some cheap "supermarkets" soils keep to much peetmoss and is to acid with a PH under 6, look at the Bag, weed need a PH between 6 and 7 a good thing to add/mix in to a acid soil or old/used or any soil for that matter is Lime, Dolomite Lime, both help you to keep the PH neutral and add calcium, Dolomite Lime can be found at most garden centers and is relative cheap, a Cup mix in to a Bag of soil can do a lot for your plant`s

and about fertilizer, a good soil keep a good amount of food, and will in most cases have enough for the fist 3-4 weeks wile your plants is small and don't need as much to grow, once they get a few set`s of "real" leaf`s and have used up most of whats in the soil you can start adding it, maybe every other watering, but start out low, maybe 1/4 strength of what the bottle say and work your way up wile the plants grow and demand more, fist when you have big plants you might be able to add max, but remember, less is more, so to speak, better to be a little on the low then to burn em, early on in the vegetive stages they will need food with high Nitrogen (fist number on the bottle NPK) when it begin to flower it will begin to need less N and more P and some K, do some research

If this is an apartment balcony you do realize that they will smell right? Be very careful about that! I hear BC is pretty cool re: growing weed unlike here in Ontario, Id be in jail for 6 months with 6 plants. That BTW is the new minumum mandatory sentence in Canada for 6 or more plants so maybe grow 5 to start . Also not to get you all paronoid but if its your house and you are caught it will be forever more classed as a grow op on the property deed so again be very carefull. I do not grow in my house for that very reason. Canada now has some of the harshest penalties of the developed world for pot and no one did shit to try and stop it. Sorry to be Mr. Buz Kill but alot of people are not aware of these new laws that were passed late last year while no one was looking or caring!!!

sworth said:

If it's the right time of year in British Columbia, then crack on with your plan. You got the right idea
I wouldn't feed until your plant has a few leafs...but that's later on.
Buy the soil you mention, plant your seed. Enjoy! It's a great laugh growing herb!

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Thanks I knew I had the right idea of starti ng them out. I just wasn't sure. Too much info out there to absorb. The more simple the better.

I was also thinking of going without fertilizing them as well

waterdawg said:

If this is an apartment balcony you do realize that they will smell right? Be very careful about that! I hear BC is pretty cool re: growing weed unlike here in Ontario, Id be in jail for 6 months with 6 plants. That BTW is the new minumum mandatory sentence in Canada for 6 or more plants so maybe grow 5 to start . Also not to get you all paronoid but if its your house and you are caught it will be forever more classed as a grow op on the property deed so again be very carefull. I do not grow in my house for that very reason. Canada now has some of the harshest penalties of the developed world for pot and no one did shit to try and stop it. Sorry to be Mr. Buz Kill but alot of people are not aware of these new laws that were passed late last year while no one was looking or caring!!!

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OMG! That's scary. I don't even have a criminal record. Yikes! I live in a high rise building on the 9th floor. Would they still smell bad? Also the plants that I want to grow are drawf. They are midget plants, and grow max at about a foot tall. At what stage would they start to smell. I was thinking about getting them started and moving them somewhere in the woods.

Even if the soil already contains perlite, how much should I add per plant? Would it be once or how often. The other guy scared me about the jail thing I didn't know it was that harsh here in Canada.

You have advantages outdoors and disadvantages. Some pros are that you have an unlimited supply of light when the suns out, and a huge plus, SPACE. You can grow 10' tall plants if you want outdoors. The downfall, is the weather is always changing, the sun isnt always shinning, and People See Your Grow. Too many sticky fingers in the world. Your right on track with your plan. Just wait till it warms up in Canada before starting. As you get closer you will probably change your approach 20 times. Believe me, it becomes an addiction when your growing. As said before. You wont need nutes for at least a couple weeks after seedling. The soil already has everything it will need for a while. Just my two.....Good luck.

where I live, you can have up to 25 plants before its a felony under 25 plants, its max 5 years and 5 grand.

MaryJane20 said:

The other guy scared me about the jail thing I didn't know it was that harsh here in Canada.

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yeah, Harper pushed bill C51 which says 6 or more plants is cultavation....so keep it to 5 max...which is lots. for personal.

I wouldn't worry if you are in the lower mainland, there are way too many big-time grow-ops already clogging up the courts...cops typically destroy small ops, with no charges laid.

Last year I started mine from seed on April 15th....it went into flower by mid July, harvest Oct 15th, so it's about a six month process, give or take.

This year I want to try auto-flowers, start them in March so they get more of the hot july/august months to fatten up the buds

The other guy scared me about the jail thing I didn't know it was that harsh here in Canada.

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Sorry! my intent was not to scare you. I just wanted you to be aware of the whole more than 5 plant thing. Growing on a balcony would be risky in my opinion but the woods is a great ideal lol. I think ontario is a bit different from BC as far as law enforcment is concerned. Buddy just got busted for 8 plants in his house and it's been a nightmare for him and his family as they are going for a 8 month sentence (it wont happen, probably plead out). I did grow in a deep dark swamp till 2 years ago without ever a problem but got to be to much work lol. And really its not that hard if there is lots of rain but here that is a big issue as there has been some real dry spells which means watering them a lot!

Thanks to all you good guys for the support and help. I have started germinating them. I did not use the wet paper towel method. I think that method sucks and it's not 100%. I got the Jiffy peat pellets. I soaked them till they have expanded and placed the seed in them. I am growing whiite rhino, white widow, and green o matic. I have a total of ten plants. Five belongs to my friend, and five are mine. I have placed them in a tray, with a plastic cover on top of them, and put it inside a black garbage bag in my bottom cupboard. I hope they will germinate. I won't be growing them outdoors. My friend will grow them in her attic. We will be using a 24 watt flourescent bulb for their sprouting first stage, then we are going to up the wattage. We plan on cloning to. I'm glad it won't be at my place. Takes the paranoia away. I want to thank all the guys that have offered help and advice. If there is anything that I should change or do please let me know. Thanks.

Im not sure placing the tray in a garbage bag is a good thing, I germinate under diffused light and have great success. And yes jiffy pellets work great! Have you decided what lights your going to use when the girls get bigger?

MaryJane20 said:

Thanks to all you good guys for the support and help. I have started germinating them. I did not use the wet paper towel method. I think that method sucks and it's not 100%. I got the Jiffy peat pellets. I soaked them till they have expanded and placed the seed in them. I am growing whiite rhino, white widow, and green o matic. I have a total of ten plants. Five belongs to my friend, and five are mine. I have placed them in a tray, with a plastic cover on top of them, and put it inside a black garbage bag in my bottom cupboard. I hope they will germinate. I won't be growing them outdoors. My friend will grow them in her attic. We will be using a 24 watt flourescent bulb for their sprouting first stage, then we are going to up the wattage. We plan on cloning to. I'm glad it won't be at my place. Takes the paranoia away. I want to thank all the guys that have offered help and advice. If there is anything that I should change or do please let me know. Thanks.

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Why are you putting them in a garbage bag?

Oh, I'm sorry I didn't explain very well. I have started to germinate them in a tray in jiffy peat pellets. I just planted them in the pellet. I have been keeping the pellet moist. I check on them frequently. I have a dome over them. I meant to say that I took black garbage bags and placed them on top so it looks dark for the seed. I do have a heating mat placed under the tray at 20 degrees. How long will they take to sprout. The hydroponics store told us to put a black bag on top of the dome to block the light. It has been three days. I hope that they will sprout. Please can somebody tell me how long this method takes. I was told 3-7 days. I did not use any paper towel method. I just dropped them in pellet.

Yes flourescent lights maybe 400