My first "attempt" at a grow

Well this is it. Basicly this is my first grow. I used a few different techniques to see what was working and what wasn't. If i do something wrong or you have some imput please feel free to share.. i have alot to learn..
ok for starters
72 Jiffy pellets
Altoids Tin of bag seed.. (mostly some crappy ditch stuff that was going around in the begining of the year) im not hoping for much.. just the idea.. then ill invest some money in better seed if i think things go halfway decently...

I took maybe an ounce or so of seed and let it all soak overnight in a small cup


the next morning i let the jiffy pots soak in water for an hour or two..
then took a little more than half of them (see the pencil in the pic) to the right of the pencil the seeds are placed two in a pot so (betting on 50 percent germination hoping for one plant per pot



ok.. that was about two weeks ago...
lol tonight i finally got around to getting some pics and transplanting the plants to some new homes...
right now.. i need a snack

i like ho your not messing around with just one or 2. lol. make sure when they do germ you separate them before potting them. if pots were the plan. happy growing.

Going Big! What kind of feeding system are you going to use? What lights? This should be interesting...I hope you learn fast!

Ok... back.. (tin roof sunday.. yummy)
anywho after about a week or so of letting the little plants suffer..
ive sorted out duds and ones that were not growing and was left with this...


Earlier I bought some 4" plastic pots at a local gardening shop..
and a product that caught my eye in their "organic" section of feeds and controlls...

Its called Plant Growth Activator
its an organic suppliment that i add to water and then water the plants..

if anyone cares to read up on what it does... http://www.organica.net/index.asp
i picked it for a first fertalizer to help me get the plants through the shock of being transplanted...

anyway.. i only have a tray right now that can hold 13 pots.. so i had to thin down and chose from the 25 little stringy plants i have left...

for potting soil i am using this stuff (bought at K-mart) nothing special but it seemed like something i could live with for now...



the bag says "Natural & Organic. Certified Organic Planting Medium"
its listed as a potting blend (0.20-0.20-0.20) 1% calcium im not sure if its a great mix but it was that or a micacle grow product with fertalizer.. (im trying to stay in the organic realm of things.. as i learn about it)

I placed some soil in the pots (leaving about 1/2 inch of soil at the top...



after letting that soil soak for about half and hour...
i pulled the pots out of the water and started placing the peat pots in to their new homes



I had some stringy little plants so i had to stake them up with bamoo skewers... this picture is a plant in process of being "tied" up



I took the twist tie and attached it to the skewer and then made a gengle loop around the plant to help "train" it to grow up straightish again...



not sure if this is a bad idea or not.. but i figured this is about learning not becoming a master of growing overnight (got input please share it)


Finally I put them all in their new home tied up...



they start a more regular 18/6 scedual now.. and go to a better home (hopefuly my green house!!) in the next month or so.

thats all for now.. ill post some more as things progress..
hopefully by the end of this grow ill have half a clue of what im doing

Medical 4 DE

daddychrisg said:

Going Big! What kind of feeding system are you going to use? What lights? This should be interesting...I hope you learn fast!

Click to expand...

Feeding system -- not sure yet.. right now i used a product called "plant growth activator" by Organica organica.info

Lights -- right now im using a 150 w flood light that is labled as "growth spectrum" in a home depot clamp style shield



I am hoping to have my "green house" finished in a few weeks and will move them there when that is ready... there is a 400w grow light for sale on the local craigs list.. but its a bit out of my budget right now.. (the green house will be mainly used for some other projects im working on and right now takes a higher place on my budget than lighting

I have some experience working in commercial green houses ( "cloning" perrenials) and grew up with my grandad running a commercial green house till i was about 15 or so... i didnt learn everything he tried to teach me but tend to have a green thumb instinct and we still talk from time to time about plants and such..
so this particular plant is new to me.. but ive grown things before...



if you or anyone else has any suggestions (especially those in the cheap or organic nature) im all ears this is as much a trial by error grow as it is a learning experience for me... that seems to be the way i learn best..

thanx for the questions and input

Medical 4 DE

Dude get that light closer or somethin! Those plants are as long and skinny as angel hair! And I see you are going to use Dirt as your medium, I think that is a good decision. Gl, and move that light closer!

What kind of lights during the grow? CFL's? If so from what I understand you want to look at the exact height you are putting the lights away from the plant. Now I'm not expert with cfl's, but those plants look like they are stretching, so I'm assuming it's too far away. I would look around and find out.

Just a quick update before i go to bed...

I pulled two of the plants out of the group... they had a bruise on the main stem... and both were wilted when i got home this evening (not a big deal as with this grow i am hoping to just learn what i am doing wrong in the begining)

tomorow i have a busy day out in the country helping a survey party find some old pins on my moms land... and a few other projects going on today.. so agin the pre little things are prolly getting neglected


As for lighting...
IIRC it is an incondecent flood style light bulb... like you would put in an outside spot light to light up the yard when the deer come thru at 3 in the morning lol... BUT it is a "growth spectrum" or something like that... (i bought it back at homo depot back in febuary to start some seedlings for my "experamental container garden" on my stoop and steps at my place... i think its about 150 w. and its ray of light is prolly better suited for lighting a wall to paint than to help seedings to grow.. but it works...

The plants are long and stringy.. due mostly to the fact that while they were growing away for 2 weeks in the jiffy pots largley neglected due to alot of projects that much outweighed my little "garden of bliss" and sat under light for sometimes 3 to 4 days getting the tray drenched about once a day... then i would unplug the light and leave it off for two days... lol...
i am really supprised that the little ones are still alive after being abused for that long...

I am thinking about tomorow repoting a few of them with the stem burried a little deeper in the pot... (thanks for the suggestion on that btw ) thus bringing the first leaves down closer to the soil level...
( on a side note -- someone a long time ago told me that marijuana was a relative of the tomato plant??? something im not sure i believe... but i know that can be a fix for a gangly transplant in the garden with tomatos.. and wondered if i could do the same thing.. thanx again for that conformation.. maybe i should follow my own instincts a little more in stead of being afraid of this "new to me" plant... ive never actually tried to grow a plant before in my life.. ive helped some people make some really cheap "macgeiver" grow rooms... but never my own grow )

ok.. back to the subect at hand...

if i get any time tomorow i am hoping to find a flat type flurescent tube type fixture.. CHEAP... i think thats the biggest aspect of this grow.. im on a tight budget so cost is a huge factor of the shoddieness of my setup...

Back to the light... Its about 10 inches above the soil... thats where i moved it to this evening.. (it was about 15) the light kind of clips to the side of the shelf.. either on top of (15") or below (10") the shelf above... (its an IKEA shelf)

How far above the plants should my light be? this is incandescent.. which as far as i understand is not commonly used in growing...

and if im going to find a small CFL fixture to place above it.. is there a particular spectrum that i should be after? ( i hear about reds blues so on and so such)


Thanx again for all the pointers and help... i almost wonder if i should label this how not to grow marijuana.. hopefully this helps some others as well as it helps me

sorry if this was rambling a friend came across some "grapefruit"? or "AK-ish" strain.. im kind of new to the "fancy" pot.. i have heard of it.. but untill recently havent seen much of it.. and it kind of makes me ramble on...

also sorry about the lack of pictures.. i was reading a realy cool post in the newbies forum about close up shots.. and the camera batteries died while i was taking some close ups.. lol.. my pictures should get much better soon...

anyhow.. i see its late so im off to go sleep.. ill try to fix a few of my mistakes.. and show you some more mistakes and boggled attempts to grow some sweet ganja tomorow


happy trails...

Medical 4 DE

Incandescants....yikes! My suggestions is cfl's. If your on a tight budget look around, maybe at the dollar store or something, or mother nature. You know she's cranking outside right now, those plants stand the best chance being put outdoors if you can't change that lighting.

Ok here is my update.. i thought about doing it last night.. but i had some grapefruit i really wanted to enjoy and didnt want to confuse anyone anymore than i already do

Ok as of today the plants have been repotted (placed lower in the pots to take up the bulk of the stringyness...


I placed 12 new seeds in the peat plugs (at the bottom of the pic)
since im still not sure of
1. these plants making it
2. how many might end up female (it is bagseed from commercialy grown texas middies and the were pretty crappy to begin with) no offence to anyone in texas.. im sure they didnt come from anyone on here.. prolly came from NIDA or the DEA lol

anyway

I only got 6 of the plants to make it so far... the others got damaged or were hurting by this point
I think my largest mistake so far will be illustrated by the next picture



I think i may have been overwatering things.. from what i can see there is virtually no root growth outside of the taproot... IIRC with most plants (carrots being and obvious exception) this would be a sign of overwattering..
please feel free to correct me if im wrong.. (ive got so much to learn)
so... with that in mind.. im going to try to cut back on my watering...

With reguards to the lights Im going to go look at lowes or home depot and look for a flat single or double tube bulb fluro fixture this weekend.. and see if i can but some grow bulbs in it.. is there any suggestions as CFL and such are kind of new to me..
last time i did any serious growing under lights.. it was commercial cloning of perrenials (fun stuff actually) and hopefully something i can use down the road


anywho.. that is all i really have today... i repotted everything last night
gave them all a wash down with my plant growth activator.. (it called for 1 TBSP per gallon which is what i gave them last time)
this time i used 1 tsp and only used about 1/3 of the gallon on the plants just to get the new soil wet...
and im going to try to not overwater things..
these are 4 inch pots.. how often would you guys recomend watering them ??


i really think my next toy is not going to be a new bong.. lol i think its going to be a soil hydrometer and ph testing kit or something like that.. any recomendation???

Thanx for all the help and input.. hopefully now i have them headed in the right direction

Medical 4 DE

OK...
figured out a really big problem... WATER
i was using my tap water to feed these babys...
well where i live there is alot of iron in the water... so a comon solution is to install a water softener and unbeknownst to me... there is one in use in my system.. and since this is a shared house (twin) and the softener is in the other side... i dont think im going to use my tap water anymore...
so i found a good source.. (actually the source that ill be using when i move them to the final location where they can be babied) so ive been bringing it in to water stuff.. and things are picking up...

also i got a better light...
EFI's Online Store for Lights of America | LOA 24" Light Sticks

the one that has the 20 w grow light in it...
anywho.. it has made a difference in the plants (well the ones left) right now im down to 2 of the original what 60 freaking plants lol (i suck)

so if you guys want to hang me for plant murder feel free...

but on the bright side.. im learning...

the lights are off right now.. but ill try to get some pics up asap to show the damage.. and hopefully learn some more...
i really think im going to design a better setup... because going into this with out one was not a smart idea...

well thats what life is for right? learning from our mistakes lol
any who.. im going to go partake in my medicine for depression and think about how i can grow my own some day...

Medical 4 DE

Your going to need some more horsepower when flowering. It's well worth it to spend $130 and get a decent hps from htg. Or spend around $40-$70 in cfl's with light fixtures. I've only found like going the hps route.

kill that light. stomp on it. with what you are doing shop lights are your best bet. try 2, dual bulb, 4 foot fixtures. use bright white bulbs. place the light 2" above the sprouts. they got to tall and stretchy and it looks like the light cooked them. when they get long like that i usually put them into deep pots. burying them up to the first set of leaves.

flowering lights come later.

fdd2blk said:

kill that light. stomp on it. with what you are doing shop lights are your best bet. try 2, dual bulb, 4 foot fixtures. use bright white bulbs. place the light 2" above the sprouts. they got to tall and stretchy and it looks like the light cooked them. when they get long like that i usually put them into deep pots. burying them up to the first set of leaves.

Click to expand...

which light?
the incandecent? or the fleuro?

the new light is a 2 foot fleuro growth spectrum bulb...
i did pick up 2 shop lights and bulbs for my permanent set up.. im just mainly playing around and learning on this one.. i know a terrible waste of bag seed...
but the stuff in the bag was terrible to begin with.. some of the seeds might not even be weed lol

im trying to figure out a veg room space and a flower space in my new potting shed and green house

put all you babies outside... that will give you time to work on your growroom and you plants will stop strecthing and get much bushier...
just leave them in pots so when the weather starts gettin shitty you can bring them in and put them into flower inside

Pizzzh said:

put all you babies outside... that will give you time to work on your growroom and you plants will stop strecthing and get much bushier...
just leave them in pots so when the weather starts gettin shitty you can bring them in and put them into flower inside

Click to expand...

Ummm...if you put them outside they will start flowering now.

well

due to paranoia and a set of not quite so nice circumstances i pulled my plants last night... so im going to have to start over

ill be back up and running in a few weeks...

i really should get my set up in the building above done and thats what im going to do..
when that happens im going to start over.. (i actully have 1 random plant growing nicely in a planter of mint outside.. i might transferr it to a pot)




medical 4 DE

before you get started again look into real lights. Incandscents do not work for growing, not nearly enough light is produced. Spend some time searching about CFLs and HID. If not your next plants will look just like these ones, real stretched with no growth really.