Better Than Nothing, Or Is It: First Time Grow On The Cheap

[vtwin906]

Amazon has 2600 lumen led bulbs, 2 for $18, both 5000 & 3000K they throw adequate lux when inches away ... I also tried a 25W full spectrum on the left below, $28 did a good job getting that plant to flower... then I moved it to under a bigger light.

 

[Growingasmile]

Cannabis is a plant that is simple to grow, but it's not simple to grow plants to their full potential anyone can keep a plant alive it's about making it thrive, good luck just remember reading/videos and patience are key. you can learn from someone else's mistakes and save your self time. Best of luck.

 

[Chris Scorpio]

I guess why suffer through the process when you can heed advice and avoid the pain and suffering

But, to each there own I guess

 

[jahliver209]

For me, it isn't suffering. There is no pain. I am fascinated by the process; watching the various stages of development is my new form of entertainment. I will take everything I have learned and apply it to future efforts.

Take the process of seed germination for example. I read various information on how to germinate cannabis seeds from using a wet paper towel to soaking them in water to just putting them in some wet soil and hoping something happens. I tried the moist paper towel approached several times and was never successful in my attempts. Soaking in water finally did the trick for me, and I was able to sprout five seeds the first time around and five seeds the second time around. Learning what not to do the first two times around, I now have another seed that has germinated and is in the process of sprouting. I plan on applying everything I have learned thus far, from how to avoid light burn to proper watering techniques and limiting the number of plants in the soil space ☺. Suffice it to say if this little seed was destined for life I'm going to do everything I can to make sure that it gets every opportunity to grow.

you can learn from someone else's mistakes and save your self time. Best of luck.

Thank you. I find that learning from my own mistakes galvanizes the knowledge and makes it easier to recall. That said, everything I read is not lost on me. Seeing the problems coming to life and being forced to deal with them is something I find rewarding; the buds, if any, will be a bonus. When my county's ordinances finally get in line with reality and outdoor grows are permitted, I'll be taking what I've learned indoors and attempt to adapt to nature.

But that probably won't happen anytime soon. So I figured I'd better start learning now and be ready for when it does.

 

[jahliver209]

Just realized I hadn't posted any pictures of my 2nd pot. This one that had almost died, and was later transplanted to try and let it recover. It's come a long way, showing signs of life and growth it hadn't before.

And this was taken just before this post was made (forgot to set the timestamp):

 

[jahliver209]

Learning what not to do the first two times around, I now have another seed that has germinated and is in the process of sprouting.

Saw this when I went to check on the plants this morning:

 

[jahliver209]

Updates:

The 2 in the pot:

The survivor (in the pot by itself):

And the new seedling:

 

[jahliver209]

Just added two more 17 watt LED bulbs, this time 2700K to add some red spectrum. My local 99 cent store has 2-packs for $2.99, and 2 socket adapters ran me $2.72 at Wal-Mart, bringing the total to a little over $6.00 to add another 34 watts of LED light.

So as per the advice of forum members, the big plant is now by itself in the pot. I didn't have a sudden epiphany; an unfortunate rubber band accident killed the dwarfed plant. And the big plant has had issues of its own that it has moved passed. I've since switched it over to a 12/12 light cycle to induce flowering. It began sprouting a bunch of leaves between the stems:

The survivor plant that I originally tried to save is doing nicely. That one is still in veg. Right now it has the lights all to itself:

And the little seedling is growing nicely as well:

 

[jahliver209]

This is amazing to watch..

The survivor is definitely alive.

Even the little rubber band accident victim bounced back.

The newest seedling at 10 days now.

A germinated AK-47 seed ready to sprout any day now.

The garden as a whole.

Up top, 3 2700K and 1 5000K 17 watt LED bulbs. In the lamp on the side is another 17 watt 5000K bulb. So, 85 watts pretty much. I have a 2 pack of 11 watt 2700K BR30's that I'm looking to add when I get another surge protector. They're cheap enough that I might get 2 more to add 44 more watts, bringing the total to 129. The plants really are starting to get bigger.

 

[jahliver209]

Another update. I had noticed signs of light stress so I had to pull one of the bulbs. Much better now. Saw signs of white hairs popping out of the top of the plant in the pot on the left.

 

[jahliver209]

Man, oh man.. Left for dead, dehydrated, rehydrated, knocked over, and moved to a new house:

This one is the rubber band victim, the last survivor out of two different batches of sprouts.

And, over the course of time, I've discovered this may actually be a ruderalis variant - the finger growth on the leaves is strikingly similar to what I've been researching.


Since we've moved to the new house I now have access to a sun-facing window and can give it the sunlight it needs. Its growth has accelerated since, and I've seen more than one white hair popping out of what appear to be calyxes. I was kind of disappointed, because if this is a ruderalis, I could collect the pollen and cross-breed some autoflowering seeds. Too much to fast, I suppose.

 

[jahliver209]

So the other day I made the mistake of trying to bend one of the tops so it could grow a knuckle, and ended up snapping it instead. I tried to tie it back in place and let it heal, but no go - it fell off. I soaked it in some aloe vera water for a day, then dipped it into a fresh cut spear of aloe vera a few times and planted it. I don't expect anything to happen, but who knows. So now it's back to one main top but there should be some new tops growing soon, if it stays in veg long enough.

So this is how it looks now.
Yesterday in the evening sun:

Applied a little bit of low stress training after that, and when it woke up it looked like this:

So I removed the restraints:

 

[jahliver209]

I still use LED lighting to supplement, but it's much simpler now. It's just two sockets with reflectors on clamps, one with a 17 watt 5000K LED, and another with a 12 watt 5000K LED.

They can get close enough to the plant without burning it, and the plant seems to respond nicely. I'm not relying on the LEDs as much because of access to the sun (yes!), and the plant seems to love it. I didn't think it would grow this much.

 

[jahliver209]

Some shots just before the night time light:

 

[jahliver209]

Another picture:

 

[jahliver209]

More photos:

 

[jahliver209]

Those finger formations on the leaves indicate to me that this a ruderalis variant. Thinking back, all of my plants that died or were destroyed all had the same growth pattern: the top 3 fingers looking like someone's hands were in the air during a stick-up. The bottom 2 fingers were smaller and spread straight out.

If that's the case, I'd better hold on to these seeds.

 

[jahliver209]

Over the weekend I put her in a bin with a "grow light" that I built. I won't get into details but there are 4 17-watt 5000K LED bulbs and 3 23-watt 2700K CFLs. Each bulb is putting out ~1600 lumens each, totaling around 11,000. (I know lumens are how the human eye see light, and thus is not an accurate measurement for what the plant "sees" (PAR) but it's how I'm keeping track of how much light is in there.) Sometimes I'll throw on a clamp reflector or 2 with a 12-watt 5000K BR30 LED, each giving off an additional 1080 lumens (total lumens 13,360).

 

[jahliver209]

Finally got around to taking some pictures of the light setup I built.

(4) 17-watt 5000K LEDs and (3) 23-watt 2700K CFLs:

(2) 12-watt 5000K LEDs in clamp reflectors on either side:

And another one in a gooseneck lamp that I'm not using at the moment, so why not:

Taking a step back:

173 watts and 14,400 lumens total. Not sure what that means in terms of PAR, but the LEDs have a CRI higher than 90 and the 2700K bulbs are throwing in some reds to hopefully round out the spectrum. I don't have the cash to spend on these grow lights, so I'm hoping this can make do. Combined with some sun time, I think it should do okay.

 

[jahliver209]

Another day in the box: