Newbie in training....

What's up guys?!? Just wanted to say that this site is great...but to my questions.

I have never grown before, so this is my first, right now i have two seedlings, one is about 4 inches tall, the other is about 3. I have them in a decent sized pot, been watering them whenever the soils drys up a bit, have not started fertilizing them yet...just wondering if anyone has any tips, or comments on my progress, i plan on moving them to a grow box i recently built soon....

First pic is 1 week, second pic is 2 weeks

looking good... I would recommend an attempt at seperating the 2 now before their roots get too entangled and root bound which will cause death later. Make sure the containers have drainage holes and stay off the nutes for at least a few more weeks (for starters).

Hi,

This is a bit of a copy and paste of some other posts I've written. Hope you don't mind, but I have a few suggestions on what to buy and how to get started. Some of this may apply to you, some of it wont. Just for the record, I don't know shit about growing. I'm only half way through my very first grow. But I've bumped my head a couple of times and think that I've learned a little to help someone who is just starting. Any of the links in this post are not recommendations of online sellers or anything. They are just examples. You can probably find cheaper stuff or better stuff.

Lessons learned.

Invest in enough equipment so you know what is going on with your plants and keep records of what you do and when. It's incredibly hard (for me anyways) to remember everything I've done and when. And it becomes near impossible for people to offer you the proper help online when you don't know what your PH is, temps are, humidity is, nutrient ppm is. Also, when did you water? How much did you water? Keep track of this stuff. Write it down in your grow journal. Put a link to it in your signature. Then people can find out about the history of your grow and give you better advice.

1. Be patient! - This is at least a 4-6 month journey you are embarking on. You may get some great bud out of it. You may get nothing. Its the only way to learn though. All of your mistakes and failures are leading you to knowledge. Don't get discouraged and keep growing.

2. Mylar - $13 online Don't use tinfoil because it can create hot spots and burn your plants. Mylar was one of the first things I purchased when it was probably the least important to the plants thriving. It's not nearly as important as everything else in this list. So get this last, or just stick with white walls. They work just fine.

3. Temps/Humidity - $10 at Target This thing will record the min/max temp and the min/max humidity of your grow area. Too high/low temps will kill your plants. If the outside air changes with the seasons, then chances are your inside air will too. Too humid and you run the risk of moulds. You should know what your grow environment is doing.

4. PH - $15-25 online I started off with nothing to test my pH. I got this but it was a joke for testing PH, good for moisture, but can't really do PH properly. Actually, it can't do pH at all. Then I got something else to test my dirt. The dirt test would have been helpful before I started to grow or transplant. Once you have your plants settled into their pots for the long haul, it doesn't do you much good. I've read that your soil will adjust to the pH of your water/nutes over time. A digital meter is really the best and only way to go to see what pH you're feeding your plants. You should test and adjust the pH of your water, EVERY TIME YOU WATER, or after you put your nutrients in. That means that you should get some pH up and pH down. Some people don't like the organics for this (slime problems.) When the nutrients are in, depending what nutrients you use, the color of the water changes, so you can't use most pH tests that use color matching. Get a digital meter, get some calibration liquid. If your PH is wrong/off, then your plant may not be able to use the nutrients you are giving it. This is THE MOST IMPORTANT thing that I've learned so it should be the very first step/purchase.

5. Moisture meter - $5 at hardware Does what it says. You can see how moist/dry your soil is at the bottom of your container. Tells you when you need to water. Not good for testing PH, like I said.

6. Nutrients - $30-40 at ? I found mine at Longs Drugs for $30. Get these, follow the chart. It makes it easy for you and takes out a lot of the guess work. Chances are you won't over fertilize them either. I started off using "regular" off the shelf stuff (fish emmulsion.) The instructions on most off the shelf stuff is ambiguous, and I probably cooked my plants. Bad bad bad. This is probably the scond most important thing that I've learned. (The first is to test your pH, because if that is off, they plant may not be able to use those nutes.) At first it sounded like a lot of money to spend when I didn't even know if I was going to enjoy growing or have any female plants. But now, regardless of what happens, I sure wish I had started out with this stuff.

7. TDS/PPM - TDS/PPM meter $15 Maybe not absolutely necessary, but it helps you get a better picture of what is going on with your water and your nutrients. Let's you know how much stuff is in your water. Puts you more in the drivers seat. If you are seeing signs of burning, you can make more informed adjustments with one of these. Again, get some calibration solution.

8. Misc. - Get a oscillating fan or two to make the stems strong, cycle the air and help keep away moulds. Also, get big enough pots (3 to 5 gal), keep a close eye on them for pests (like spider mites) and be ready to react to pests immediately. Have your answer in hand or at least already know what you would use/where to get it. You may not be able to wait three days for something to come in the mail.

9. Read and Search First - Read the crap out of this website. There is a lot of good info in the GrowFAQ. Make sure to look there before you post. Do a search before you post. I can't tell you how many people post the same questions over and over and over when they could have done a 20 second search for the answer. People are going to be less inclined to spend the effort to help you if you demonstate that kind of laziness. And use your head. Don't trust or rely solely on everything everyone tells you (especially me.) People mean well (like me), but they often are just telling you something that they've read and not experienced themselves (sometimes like me.) It's just hard to know when you can't see, touch, live with the plants yourself.

I'm sure not everyone will agree, but that is what I've learned so far and believe to be true. I'm sure I'm wrong about some of it. However, I sure wish I had started with all of this info. It would have saved me a lot of headaches at this point.

Good luck man.

cool post, very compact... Def. need to seperate them now

yeah i am gonna seperate them in the morning, i got alittle humidity moniter, cause as of right now, my buddy( who has grown few crops before), told me to wait til there about 8 inches to put them in my grow box, and right now, the plant just sits on my balcony railing on my second story apartment....