A Challenging Grow - Newbie Growing With LEDs

[flexy123]

Oh!

TIENDA ONLINE
(I dont know whether they ship to Fr, this is our go-to-store)

Grow Shop Cogolandia | Las mejores ofertas online grow shop (crazily cheap although I am still waiting for their order)

Pretty much EVERYONE right now is on vacation, it's August so many stores are closed.

Otherwise just do a Google search "Google" but I personally avoid the big names, they're all overprized. Some small stores sell seeds as low as $1 a pop. Also, on MIL ANUNCIOS.COM: segunda mano, anuncios gratis, empleo, clasificados... you can search for "semillas marihuana" etc. and it comes up with TONS of ads with webadresses to check out. Otherwise servovendi (for stuff like irrigation, hangers etc.).

 

[madsdad4ever]

i sub sounds interesting wish u the best of luck

 

[Asiana]

thx bro! i dont need seeds right now as we got it already. i check tienda and cogolandia and seems them both ship to france. Prices are almost same as lamota +/- 1-2 euro.. Except for some single items like soil. Canna terra pro 50l for 10 euros! perlite for less than 2!! here in france they sell canna terra pro for 30 euros for 50l bag! And perlite in shops is around 5 euro for small bag!!

 

[madsdad4ever]

i swear i have never heard anything good about ctp just sayin

 

[flexy123]

Yeah, Punto Verde (Tienda) must be the cheapest CTP for €10/bag....haven't seen it cheaper ANYWHERE, ever.

As for Perlite...€5 for a small bag is crazy. I bought three bags last week and they went pretty fast. (Mixed some to CTP to make it drain better)

madsdad: If you read my journal you will see I had massive problems the first 5 weeks. Once I repotted the plants in CTP and used calmag, now they're exploding and growing awesome.

But of course who knows, there might be better soils out there.

I think (think) that with CTP you just have to be careful and not over-water, it's like a sponge sorta. But that doesn't necessarily mean this is something bad.

 

[flexy123]

Asiana, well...but then don't ask me what they charge for shipping a 50L bag of soil internationally.
I don't even want to know....

 

[flexy123]

Just a thought...

The more I read and learn about growing, the more it looks to me that doing "too much" and worrying too much is actually not even good.

Just one small example, with our water's ph. This is 7.9 so I started reading and freaking and must have spent an hour or more JUST researching different "ph down" products. So I ended up buying some GHE ph down from Servovendi yesterday.... just to learn the next day it's really best NOT to mess with your water's ph if you grow in soil since the soil buffers the ph anyway.

The plants for now look VERY healthy to me...so it might really be "if it ain't broke don't fix it" so I will likely not even use the ph down stuff.

The same with nutes.

I could spend a month just learning about the best nutes, it's crazy what is out there, every company offers several ranges of nutes, bio, organic, mineral etc..etc..

And then someone might tell you it's best not to give any nutes, maybe only at the end of flowering.

 

[Asiana]

Just a thought...

The more I read and learn about growing, the more it looks to me that doing "too much" and worrying too much is actually not even good.

I agree! Especially if you are growing in the soil. Only water it and give some love and it will develop to a beautiful plant! Plus it recover super fast! I read that level of ph is not really matter for plants in the soil, its important only if you see your plant isnt growing well. Yours growing well for sure, so keep on growing and take it easy!

 

[flexy123]

I agree! Especially if you are growing in the soil. Only water it and give some love and it will develop to a beautiful plant! Plus it recover super fast! I read that level of ph is not really matter for plants in the soil, its important only if you see your plant isnt growing well. Yours growing well for sure, so keep on growing and take it easy!

Yeah, one even said you kill the organic micro organisms when the soil is too acidy. I mean I am just leaving this alone and keep watering my plants as usual. The only thing I use right now Is CalMag, but even there I might probably want to cut back with it.

 

[OldMedUser]

One thing to consider Flexy is that when you use hard water from the tap the minerals in the water build up in the soil and will throw everything off so flushing is needed to wash them out once in a while. Higher pH water is almost always hard water. Soft water feels silky on your skin after you shower. You should be able to get a free water report from the city that supplies your water. May even be on the city's website.

Good to see you got them turned around and growing well!

L8r

 

[flexy123]

Yes I know we have VERY hard water. I just checked the report.
Stupid question: When I lower the ph of the water, does it also get "softer"? Logic says no since the ph down shouldn't affect the amount of calcium and Mg in the water?
I will probably look into water filtering systems or something...for now at least everything looks alright.

Alternatively I could look into bottled waters with low Calcium/Mg....bottled water is STUPIDLY cheap here. I am talking about 15 cents for a 1.5L or so...

 

[OldMedUser]

All the minerals are still in the water and just the pH goes down but maybe not for good. The acid, usually phosphoric, is a weak organic acid and doesn't keep hard water at the pH you first get it to.

Take a litre of your water and pH it down to about 6 then let it sit overnight and test the pH again. If it is still at 6 or very close then the water isn't too hard. If it has gone back close to the original pH then it needs watching that you have put enough pH down in to keep it down for good. The carbonates in the water take a lot of time to react with the weak acid so immediate testing doesn't tell the true story.

L8r

 

[OldMedUser]

We get reverse osmosis water for $3.49/20L and that's all I ever use on the plants.

 

[flexy123]

Ok I did a little research for water in stores today, I found a good brand water ("Water Nevada") which is cheap, €1.20 for a big 8L bottle and low Calcium and Mg. content. (I also did a ph test and this bottled water seems to be 6.5-7ish while the tap water is 8)
(I looked at some other brands in the store and some of them have almost as much Calcium/Mg as our tap water. Since we're already drinking this water we'll just stock up on it like crazy
I should have done that much earlier. I could show you a picture of a chilly plant, it looks ugly because it has calcium spots all over from the tap water and the reflective panels and the sides of the green house are also stained with calcium spots from watering/spraying.

 

[flexy123]

Weekend Update...that stuff is just EXPLODING....
Also germinated one more, "Somango" Feminized. So it's at 6 pots again.

 

[flexy123]

As for water again...to be honest, the latest research about water confused me again more than anything.
I started watering with this brand bottled water..just to learn that some say there is really no benefit or at best pointless. I am personally really thinking it doesn't matter so I can just keep watering with tap water that I have sitting out for a day or two. Same with ph. From what I know now it's sorta pointless to adjust ph when growing in soil.

Also..got some free sample of a product called "Cannaboom Raimil" which seems to be an organic root stimulator "recommended for seedlings" or just overall beneficial, contains seaweed extract and other stuff, using this now on the younger plants.

Edit: I also wanted to germinate a "Northern Lights" but then wife was sorta concerned if we grow too many it might look like we grow commercially or something so we leave it at 6 pots

The vendor in Spain I bought the last seeds from, Cogolandia, REALLY cheap bulk seeds, if you buy 10 it's only €1,50 per seed. Not bad!

 

[OldMedUser]

They are looking great Flexy!

Here in Canada, 6 - 199 plants gets you 6 months in jail minimum so many people grow 5 thinking that it's legal to do so. Not at all. The cops can still take your plants and growing equipment. Charge you with possession, cultivation, intent to traffic a controlled substance, manufacturing a controlled substance, trafficking and anything else they can tack on. In many areas of the country the cops might just leave you alone but in repressed areas like where I live they will do what they can to mess you up and make sure there's a big write-up in the local newspaper about it. So if I grow more than 5 I might as well grow lots more.

Rather than buy seeds, if you get a male plant or two you could pollinate a few buds on the bottom branches of a couple of the ladies and have lots of free seeds. They won't produce much pot anyway and once the seeds are removed you can smoke what's left.

L8r

 

[Bucudinkydow]

Great turnaround, flexy. Congrats and good luck on the remainder of the journey.

 

[flexy123]

Not at all. The cops can still take your plants and growing equipment. Charge you with possession, cultivation, intent to traffic a controlled substance, manufacturing a controlled substance, trafficking and anything else they can tack on. In many areas of the country the cops might just leave you alone but in repressed areas like where I live they will do what they can to mess you up and make sure there's a big write-up in the local newspaper about it.

That's pretty much how it is here too. The law is really entirely vague and can be read the one or the other way. It's my understanding it's "decriminalized" (smoking and growing) for private use "as long as it's not [visible] to the public" but definitely not "legal". Is a greenhouse on the balcony considered "visible to the public"? I don't know. It really looks to me like it depends on the mood of the cops, so like in your case when the cops wouldn't like your face they fine you and they sure would find a reason if they really wanted. Besides they seem to change the law here every few months.

 

[flexy123]

One of the "Fruit Spirits" reached 42cm and it's pretty much totally ready for flowering.
Pruned it today at the top. Still having debates with wife since I want to flower on the roof and she isn't very excited by the idea. I am saying that flowering them on the sun-roof is best, now it's not that hot anymore, they get plenty of sun and at night it's very dark.

Flowering IN the green house would be really problematic, we could only flower in the greenhouse (instead of the roof) if all plants would be ready to flower at the same time and I would also need to make the greenhouse light-proof.

Also: Plant Magic Oldtimer Grow and Oldtimer Bloom arrived which really seems to be the overall best organic fertilizer and it's easy to use. There is only one store I could get it here in Spain since this is a product not widely known outside the UK, but totally raving reviews like it's the best thing since sliced bread

With the exception of CalMax and that root stimulant, we haven't really given any nutes. All plants, especially the MJ, with the exception of a couple or so chilies (which I repotted) look healthy. Those chillies look a little yellowish to me, but I really don't know why. Gave them CalMax, even foliar feeds etc....maybe over-watering? (Ironically, the yellow one is in a pot where I use a mix with about 25% perlite and this pot stays noteably longer moist than the other pots...)