Need help !!!!!! First time grower

I currently germinated 5 seeds, there in the vege cycle now, there about 8 inches tall, my question is i didnt buy the seeds online, i just grabbed them outta some pot.....before i invest more time and money into these plants, i wanna know is it worth it....do i still have a 50% chance of getting some females outta the bunch???? i hate to start all over....and currently i have all 5 plants outside in direct sunlight during the day , but there gonna get big and I had planned on bringing them inside ....ive got a pretty good size closet....what i need to know is whats the cheapest but still efficent lighting i can do ????? ive heard good things about LED's as far as them being affordable and not putting off too much heat, i guess i just need to know like what size tubes to get , and what watt to get??? like i said im only looking to put 2 or 3 plants in the closet....so just enough light for that ???? please help me out

Get one of the 250 watt HPS lights or two of the 150 watt HPS lights from home depot. When it comes to Heat vs Lumens and efficiency nothing beats HPS. Except maybe spending 10 times as much on led. Grew 1/4 lb in a small closet with two 150 watt HPS lights.

word thanks bro , what do you think about the whole issue with the seeds

Certain conditions can give you a greater chance of getting females such as high N soil, more blue light, high RH and much more. If the seed came from a sensi bag you could have seed that may be prone to hermi. Even if it is a hermi seed doesn't mean it will definitely hermi and even with "good" seeds you still have a chance to hermi from stress in any form. The change in light source could stress the plants out. The cheapest way to go would probably be a few cfls or even one big one. You cant let the plants get too big when using these and its a far cry for the sun so could be stressful. LEDs are good but to get the ones that will actually work it costs an arm and a leg. Even if you DIY you still are going to have to fork over some dough. Not to mention do a bit of research to find easily mountable led that will work. Plus there are different views on what spectrums are necessary. Defo need blue around 440 and red around 660 but you also need some white (green). As for perfect ratios I'm not sure and many people are still fiddling with them on this site. t5s HO is a good way to go and you can even get "LED' type t5s that have narrow spectrum phosphors to emit PAR in certain wavelengths. These bulbs are typically used for coral growth and lighting in reeftanks. A HID setup with probably be most like the sun and ause the least stress on the plant but they get hot and you'll need to spend a good amount of money on air exhaust to cool the room. Any way you go for 3 plants you want to run at least 150 watts. 300 would be better. 50 to 100 watts per plant is what I've heard. The type of lighting you choose will dictate how you need to grow the plants because floros have low light penetration and the PAR doesn't really travel. Therefore you'll need to keep you plants flat and close to the light when budding to get big produce. Look up lst or scrog if you dont know. With all that said I'd go CFLS for cheapest (2700k warm for bud 6500k daylight for veg) or a like 6-8 bulb 2 foot t5 ho with good v-ho bulbs from a reef shop if you got a few hundred to spend. The PAR t5 would be the most efficient with the least cost and minimum heat problems. These will need very little cooling. maybe as little as an oscillating fan or 2. LEDs are good but you pay a lot and they still don't have close to the PAR reach of HIDs. The only way to grow huge tall plants is HID. Everything else you have to flatten and keep small unless you sround the whole plant which kind of defeats the purpose of using the cooler less expensive lights.

Sup Countryboy? Let me throw in my two cents about growing bag seed..... My very first grow was bag seed.No matter what seed you have, you always have a 50/50 chance at females. I had 3 and only one came out female. I planted her in a 3gal pot and put it in my apartment closet with a $79 security light(HPS) from home depot. I think it was 150 watts. Temps were always 78-89 deg due to no ventilation,and warm So Cal heat. What I got was a 1/2 ounce of snow bud.(which means "theres no bud"). Not much resin on it even though it came out of a bag of killer cronic! Genetics are a big issue when it comes to quality and quantity. Don't get me wrong, I was happy with my fluffy snow bud but it wasn't the cronic that I'm used to smoking.

Regarding bringing in an outdoor plant to indoors...Outdoor plants will almost always have bugs on the plant and in the soil if preventative measures are not taken. Even then you still run the risk of attracting new bugs indoors when temps are uncontrollable and you bring soil inside! If you start a plant outside, leave it outside! Bugs are easier to prevent than to eradicate. If you are going to grow in your closet, I would recommend a large(400cfm or more) exhaust fan. You want to expel all the hot air while creating a slight vacuum to suck in cool air. An exhaust fan does both.

As regards to lighting. Like I said you can grow buds with not much light but you won't get very much bud. I have heard a lot about L.E.D's both good and bad, so it will be up to you to make a decision. Also check out CFL lighting. People get decent results with these. If you want to run CFL's I would recommend T-5's or above.I even see people using the screw base type. I use a setup of 6-4' CFL's for my seedlings and mother in a 5x3x8 closet. This works decent to keep my mother small, that is the only reason I use CFL's. I believe there is a thread here somewhere on growing with LED's and CFL's. I'm sure you will find some good info there. I just don't have any experience running a whole cycle under these lights. You might also want to look into HID lighting(HPS,Metal Halide) at a lower wattage like 200-250 watts. These will run cool enough for your closet, and will your plants will do a lot better. Although technology is getting better, nothing beats HID lighting for buds. Hope this helps..Grow in peace!

wow thanks for the responses yall, that helps ....although to someone new at this like me, it seems like u guys r talking in a foreign language with all the diff lights, it jus seems like theres sooo many things that can go wrong....i never knew growing pot was so in depth, its actually kinda overwhelming....i guess its a trial and error type deal huh???? i just thought get some good soil, and throw some light on them bitches and water them, theres alot more to it than that haha well damn

What I did for my first inside grow was buy a t5 light mix up some organic soil, some composted manure, and perlite and I watered them everytime they needed it. As long as you start out with some dank seeds and you end up with a couple females... Your gonna have some good bud if dryed and cured properly....but that's a whole different topic to talk about.

The people that understand all these different lighting are the people that have been there done that...everyone started where you are right now..you just gotta go out there and do it. Don't be afraid to make mistakes..that's what makes growers better and better!!

Good luck!

Once I put all my seedlings under a 150 watt hps. They ALL came out male and there were 12 of them. What are the odds of that. Now only blue light for the seedlings.

The reply by Private Stash above is most excellent advice fella. I too found out after some experimenting that nothing replaces good genetics. I started out with bagseeds to try to learn the whole process and even though the only time I kept seeds was from good killer green, for me, everything changed when I decided to order from a Seedbank. Shit, it was like night and day. Dont let it overwelm ya, its really a lot of fun to learn how to grow bud. I'm in it a little over a year now and when I started, I didnt know what a tricome was ! And now, a short time later, while I still have a lot to learn, and I've failed a few times, theres nothing like it when you make progress. I didnt expect that I would enjoy it so much.
Now, theres nothing on the streets where I live that can begin to touch my shit Here are just a few examples to illustrate what I'm saying, and YOU can do it too !

How much longer do you feel its safe to keep the plants outdoors? plants love sunlight theyn grow best in it. I have grown bag seed outdoors then moved them in to flower and had pretty good results. the reason you get bagseed is the question. did the grower not know what he was doing when it came to seperating male and female or did he sell you genetically comprimsed hermie weed. either way they were free seeds and believe me free is better to learn on than $50. so enjoy your grow

haha thats what i was thinkin cuz id hate to spend all that money on seeds and then fuck em up.......i mean i figure i can keep them outside for at least another month or two, whats confusing me is wont they start budding alot sooner then u want them to by keeping them outside???? ive done some reading ....and everyone is saying that in the veg cycle they need like 18 hours of light and 6 dark...there referring to indoors i take it......but if i keep mine outside there not getting ne where near that much light??? this is all very confusing.....i know its gonna take a few times for me to get it right........i guess i just gotta go through the motions like everyone else, i do appreciate everyones feedback tho...i really do .....

i will be one excited mo fo when i can one day actually smoke my own product and be like i grew this haha....thats gotta be rewarding!!!!!!!!!!

im prolly gonna drive yall nuts cuz i keep thinking of more questions.....ok so say i did the whole closet thing ....got my lights all set up......how important is it to get a timer???? and how much r they??? im unemployed right now so my budget is small.....

You are 100% correct.. If you plant in good soil,give it some light and water them when needed, you will grow buds! Make You Tube and R.I.U. your best friend throughout your grow. You'll be amazed at what you will learn. It takes experience,time,and effort(with a little blood,sweat and tears!) to grow top grade cronic. Just remember when you see all the amazing pictures of grows here, we all started out just like you! And BTW bag seed may be a good start because your first experience either good or bad didn't cost you $100 in seed!

A timer is most important during flowering(12/12). Any change in light schedule causes stress, and stress causes hermies(male and female plants..not good if you don't like seeds in your bud!),and also reduces harvest weight. I have a cheap $12 timer I got at home depot that works great. The first one has 2 outlets I use to run my CFL's. They also make outlet strips with timers built in as the one on the right. 4 outlets are timed while the other 4 is not. They are a few dollars more, but are very convenient when running fans that are on 24hrs a day. Veg(grow) your plants with lights 18hrs on and 6hrs off. Remember without a timer you will manually have to turn the lights on and off close to the same time every day! You have to plan your day around your timers. Not fun. Hey, you are not driving anyone nuts with all the questions. Ask more! We would not be here if we did not like to help!

Cobnobuler said:

The reply by Private Stash above is most excellent advice fella. I too found out after some experimenting that nothing replaces good genetics. I started out with bagseeds to try to learn the whole process and even though the only time I kept seeds was from good killer green, for me, everything changed when I decided to order from a Seedbank. Shit, it was like night and day. Dont let it overwelm ya, its really a lot of fun to learn how to grow bud. I'm in it a little over a year now and when I started, I didnt know what a tricome was ! And now, a short time later, while I still have a lot to learn, and I've failed a few times, theres nothing like it when you make progress. I didnt expect that I would enjoy it so much.
Now, theres nothing on the streets where I live that can begin to touch my shit Here are just a few examples to illustrate what I'm saying, and YOU can do it too !

View attachment 2185013View attachment 2185014View attachment 2185015

Click to expand...

Nice Plants!

ok my next question....whats a good website to get seeds from???? how do u know if there safe???? what kinda precautions should you take.....i mean can i get them sent right to my crib???? is the package they come in discrete?????

nirvana has good genetics they are discrete and affordable.
as soon as a plant reaches sexual maturity it can flower.

I only order my seeds from Attitude seed bank. I have used them 5 times in the past year n half. Being in So Cal I always got my seeds within 7-10 days. I never had a package not get delivered. I've been ordering seeds for the past 10 years from various other places, and have always had them mailed to my house. I have NEVER heard of anyone getting busted from ordering seeds on line.(just rumors about friends of friends..go figure) The DEA has a bigger job trying to catch the people growing hundreds or thousands of plants than to waste time and resources about us small time growers. Don't let the hype or rumors discourage you.Here is a picture of my last attitude package....

Well regular old bag seeds usually start you with what I assume is a 50/50 chance....
I ordered my first seeds online because I was tired of killing off reg males...over and over and over....when you only grow a few plants at a time you can't really wait too long before getting something viable going..and I would grow out these seeds for 3-4 weeks then switch and male, again and again...so I gave up and ordered my first fem seed a few years ago...awesome not having to worry if they are male or female...I have since started getting reg seeds again so I can just have my own seeds...I get tired of having to keep a strain alive to keep growing it...So, I want to start back from seed again...that way I can choose which strain to plant, as opposed to having to leave them all alive and take clones as needed...