Need help starting off!

ATL HYDRO said:

Quality seeds will run you $50-$100 right off the bat... And your lights may run $100 or more if they are any good. Whether you choose soil or hydro you will probably have to spend $50-$100 on your setup bare minimum, and nutrients... yeah there is another $100 minimum. You get out of it what you put into it, just remember that.

If you want to go cheap you will get cheap crappy weed. But hey, use some bagseed, plant it in potting soil from walmart, use miracle grow and cfl lights, and yeah you could probably grow something for under $100.....

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ATL HYDRO said:

Go for it dude! Go to Home depot, ask an employee which light to get for your "tomato" plants, buy a bag of seed starting potting mix, a bag of miracle grow 20-20-20 and stick everything in a closet and let her rip. You will get smokable marijuana.

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jkahndb0 said:

• http://www.sanniesshop.com/
  Look for ekobar, or bred by eskobar in the descriptions...
  For $30- for 5 fems- and some of the best gear out there...
  The other gear is great too....
  ​

  
  
  ​

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Mr Hollywood said:

Welcome to the forum Zippy! I'm going to type a quick grow guide for you that should be all you'll need. Of course there is a plethora of additional information on the web as well as right here at RIU. I highly suggest reading many of the grow faq on this site for more in depth answers and info. Anyways to answer your questions!

I agree completely with Victory Gardens Hydro about The Attitude seed bank. I have personally purchased from there and had no issues. Plus they will resend if your order never arrives, and they offer additional options such as the ability to purchase a wallet or bag or something to be sent along in the same box and an option to purchase a crush proof tin that your seeds will be put it. I have only ever purchased from Attitude and also purchased an additional item and the tin. So far I have never had a problem. When the packages arrive I always check out the customs labels on the box which simply state gift and toy. Like I said, never had an issue. If you use a credit card though, make sure to call your credit company ahead of time and tell them you'll be purchasing items overseas. If you don't your card may not go through as the activity looks suspicious. Just let them know and you'll be fine. Another option that is more discreet is to purchase a visa gift card and use it, again calling the 1-800 on the back to inform them of overseas transactions. I have always used my personal card with Attitude and have no complaints.

Your other option is bag seed. In your case it will work just fine, but will require more work on your part as well as a 50% chance of the seed being a male, which not only means you don't get any smokeable bud but meant you wasted all your time, nutes, and money as well. To get around this you'd have to grow out multiple seeds and hope one is a female, along with also needing to learn how to sex them and tell the difference. In an effort to keep it to one plant and to keep it simple, were going to assume you buy seed from The Attitude Seedbank.

As to which strain to get, in this case just get a package of 3 of whatever the cheapest feminized autoflower they have. What this will do is guarantee your plant will be a female (most likely) or a hermaphrodite (not as likely). The female will give you nice bud to smoke, the hermie will give you a plant that is female but also developed male flowers. If left alone it will pollinate itself leaving you with some smokeable bud filled with seeds. It's is very much smokable and will give you a buzz just not as strong as it would have been had there not been any seeds. The benefit is you now have a nice crop of your very own feminized autoflowering seeds so you can keep growing if you choose or sell the seeds. The other big benefit to getting this type of seed is that it's an autoflower. This means it is not dependent on you switching the light cycle to tell it to begin flowering. It will start flowering simply due to it's age. Lastly the biggest benefit is that it will only take 2-2 1/2 months from seed to the point in which you can harvest, saving you a nice amount of time over the 3-4 plus months it would normally take.

So you have your feminized autoflower seeds, now what? Take a cup and put a couple inches or so of water in it. Take one of your seeds and drop it in. Stick the glass in a cupboard somewhere it's doesn't get cold and is out of direct (if any) light. For many people on top of the water heater works great as it is typically dark and warm.

Now pick out the area in which you are going to grow your plant. If you're going to use a cabinet, old t.v., speaker box etc you'll want something about 1ftx1ft and about 3ft tall. If you're just growing in a room don't worry, we'll get to that later. Next go through the following list and see what you already have at home. The rest of the items can be purchased in a single trip to Menards or Home Depot. Gather everything up and go purchase the rest.

Schultz Liquid Plant Food with Micronutrients 10-15-10 - It comes in a little green box, is only a few bucks and will last you for many many grows.
12" Flower pot - If it has a built in tray on the bottom great, if not also grab a tray or bowl it can sit in to catch water run off
1 bag of Miracle Grow Moisture Control Potting Mix - Do not get any other type of Miracle Grow Soil or Potting Mix, as far as you're concerned right now, this is your only option
1 10" brooder light fixture - This will be in the work/construction light section of the lighting department. It's literally a black cable with a ceramic socket and metal reflector on one end.
1 Light socket splitter - This will be near all the light switches, outlets, etc. It screws into your brooder fixture and gives you two sockets allowing 2 bulbs to be used.
A small fan, preferably oscillating - You'll only have one small plant so something big isn't need, just something to circulate the air around the plant.
1 26w 2700k CFL - Look into lighting if you are unsure what this is
1 13w 6500k CFL - Look into lighting if you are unsure what this is
A small roll of Reflectix - It will be near the home insulation department. It's literally a sheet of bubble wrap with reflective Mylar on both sides.

Now, pay for your purchases, scream as loud as you can, "I'ma gowz me some Dope!" And prance out of the store while whistling the melody to "Whale of a Tale" from the movie 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea". I'm just kidding, prancing won't work, it's more of a slow foot dragging strut lol

Seriously though, pay for everything and calmly exit the building. You can dance in the car on your way home

When you get home line your grow cabinet with the reflectix and mount your light and reflector. If you're just using a room, stand the reflectix upright and wrap it around your flower pot till the ends meet forming a vertical cylinder. Tape the edges together and hang your light directly above your reflective tube. Screw your lights and fixtures together and test them. Set up your fan. Fill your flower pot with potting mix. Grab another cup and take a small handful of mix from the middle of your pot placing it in the cup leaving a small indent in the middle of your pot. Set the cup off to the side for now. Grab something to hold your water and nutes. I prefer old gallon milk jugs. Mix the nutes and water as per the directions EXCEPT cut the nutes in half.

Now wait over night and check your seed. If the the casing split and a small white taproot is sticking out you're ready to go. If not let it sit and check on it every 12 hours until it does. Once it does take your cup full of potting mix, and pour some of the water from the cup with the seed over the cup with the potting mix to moisten it a little. Then carefully pick the seed out and bury it under a 1/4" on damp potting mix. Add plain water to the cup until the mix is completely damp. Keep this mix damp until the seed has sprouted and grown it's first set of true serrated leave. Once this happens hold off on the watering until the second set begin. Once begun, add water to your main flower pot until everything is well and it runs out the bottom. Carefully tap the plant and potting mix out of the small cup and into your hand, placing the entire thing in the shallow hole left in your larger pot. Pat everything down firm and water the plant a very small amount. Up to this point you should only be using plain water.

When the top inch of the potting mix has dried out, add water till it runs out the bottom. Do this for the rest of the grow.

1 week after you transplant to the flower pot, begin watering with the 1/2 strength nute solution. Do this for 1 week. After that week is up remix your water and ferts using full strength according to the label. Do this until harvest.

Continue watering as you have been. Now, the entire time starting the day you first buried the seed in the cup, the cup with the seed, and then the flower pot should be under your lights, which should be on 24 hours a day. This will never change in this scenario. Also the temperature around the plant should never reach 85. You could purchase a digital thermometer if you'd like, although in this scenario simply holding your hand directly above your plant will suffice. If it's to hot for your hand, it's to how for your plant!

Around 2-2 1/2 months from the day you put your seed in the water the plant should be ready. I suggest getting a 30x-100x mini handheld microscope from Radio Shack. They should be $10. Use this to check your trichomes. Under the microscope they will look like shiny little wet glass mushrooms on your bud and perhaps leaves. These are NOT the hairs you can easily see without a microscope. Without a microscope the trichomes look like what would typically be described as the white crystals on your bud. The trichomes will start out completely clear. They will become cloudy, almost milky, and then turn amber/orange. You want them all, or a vast majority, to be cloudy. This is peak THC. Once amber the THC has already begun degrading and losing potency. An easy way is to take a look once or twice a day. When they all seem cloudy wait until your see just a few that are starting to get some color and immediately harvest.

To harvest cut your plant down at the base, remove all fan leaves and smaller portions of leaves protruding from the bud. Make an effort to at a very minimum snip at least the tip of each leaf that is growing near the bud. This helps in drying and curing. Once finished hag to dry or place in a brown paper bag to dry. Check on them every few days. Around about a week the stem should easily snap. When it does remove any additional stem leaving you with just the buds. Place these in an airtight glass container such as a mason jar. Open the jar up once a day for a few minutes so they can breathe and do not become moldy. After a week open the jar once every couple days but check every day for mold. If after 2 weeks there is no mold you now no longer have to open the jar.

Your buds are ready to be smoked! A word of advice, after you are no longer required to routinely open the jar, they are in the curing stage. Although smokeable, the longer they stay in the jar curing, the better the taste, potency, and smoothness of the smoke will be. Enjoy!

Hope this helps!

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Mr Hollywood said:

A small roll of Reflectix - It will be near the home insulation department. It's literally a sheet of bubble wrap with reflective Mylar on both sides.

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scroglodyte said:

"I haven't gotten a true detailed explanation as to how to start off, plant, grow, harvest, then process/dry or w/e....."

no one gave me one either.....i researched all of that before i ever cracked a seed. see: subcool, jorge cervantes, et al........

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