Don Logan
420 Member
Long time reader, first time poster. And as it is, first time grower as well.
A few months back I took a gamble with Bonza Seeds and purchased a 10 pack of Big Bomb, firstly because it was the cheapest (as I said, taking a gamble with international shipping, etc) and because it promoted the biggest yield with a pleasant body high.
After moving interstate into my new home I decided to commit every rookie error known to man with the first 8 seeds I germinated... and eventually destroyed over the following weeks. Let me repeat that, 8 (perfectly healthy and vibrant seedlings) destroyed.
Firstly I used the wrong light, and when I did switch to the right one it wasn't close enough and caused my babies to stretch. Then after adjusting that I continued to overwater them into near drowning. Once I realised the error of my ways I decided to purchase a grow tent with all sorts of lights, exhausts and fans. Problem was, the tent was 3 times the size I needed and is now sitting in the back of my garage in a crumpled heap alongside 2 perfectly useable lamps, and a carbon filter exhaust.
Not to mention that I gave them so many nutrients that the ph level tipped 10+. Even after repotting and flushing them there was no hope. They stagnated for weeks and I had to let them die and try again with what I had left.
This of course left me with 2 hopeful beans. Keeping in mind, there were not feminized or auto, they were regular seeds with a 50/50 chance of giving me a healthy girl. We're coming on 7-8 weeks now (foolishly I didn't mark the date they germinated because I expected to watch them die as well) and they look and smell amazing. Every day they're growing an 1/2 to an inch. Thick steams, dark leaves, rich and well drained soil.
As I mentioned earlier, I tore down the fancy grow tent with all the gucci attachments and decided to build a grow cabinet with two CFL lights. A real ametuer setup that matched my ameteur knowledge. The idea is to crawl before you run.
While I'll spare you the pictures and details of the frustrating build that was the cupboard I will get you up to date on my grow so far. As I said, I didn't mark the date of germination but I have a rough idea of where I'm at.
This here are my two survivors into their 2nd week. The soil I mixed myself with perlite, premium potting mix, fertiliser and seedling mix. Very high in nitrogen at first, so I cut it with more neutral potting mix. I let the top inch go dry before using a spray to manually water them. If you look carefully you can see the peat pots I germinated them in.
Now we're moving into the 3rd week and overnight they got some balls about them and threw branches out from practically nowhere. I took a gamble (like I hadn't taken enough at this point) and put them into their final resting place. During the transplant I made a rookie error and removed them from their pot while the soil was dry. Thankfully they did not go into shock considering how much root was torn and lost.
Pretty sure this is around week 4. After running into a little Nitrogen problem (which I only today realised is from the tap water I use, nothing to worry about just temporarily spikes after every big feed) they were soon growing again with great vigor. Here in Australia we have a product called Seasol which promotes root growth and since I'd been using it for years in my garden and seen the results I figured I'd give it a go with my 2 cupboard darlings.
As you can see, for one of them in particular it worked too well. (Don't mind the seedlings on the left, we have a range of sunflower, coriander and watermelon growing).
Meanwhile the other went horizontal, getting bushier by the day. The only nutrients I've been feeding them is a liquid fertilizer by the same company that makes Seasol and it has been working a trick. In conjunction with monitoring their PH levels, humidity, temperature and soil moisture I have been feeding them nutes once a week.
As I mentioned earlier I am restricted by space, so after a serious amount of research and considering my skill set as an ametuer grower (and everyday horticulturalist) I pruned the bottom fan leaves that no longer served a purpose and a couple of mid-tier leaves that were blocking light. I also set about applying some LST around healthy stems that needed more light on the tall plant and pulling in the stretching stems from the fat one. (Don't mind the watermelon seedlings at the bottom, and the little greenhouse under that. Spring is coming and I'm getting all my seedlings ready to plant into the garden).
These photos were taken this morning after its final prune. The tall one has been topped and the fat one has been reigned in. I may semi-lollipop it after a couple of weeks into flowering. They have received their final round of a Nitrogen heavy feed. Once the soil drys out they will receive filtered water (as mentioned, tap water is 8+ ph, filtered water from my fridge door is 5-6 ph), then a liquid bloom booster into its final weeks.
So far that's where I'm at. Pretty certain we're moving into week 7 or 8 on the grow and I'm readying the plants for the next stage of its life - flowering. The problem is that even though they're starting to pre-flower and I really can't tell exactly what they are. Maybe you can help. These photos were taken this morning and I'm fairly confident I have 2 female plants. If so, I struck the lottery considering the fate of their 8 previous siblings.
Cheers for stopping by. Feel free to leave any advice or suggestions. If either or both turn out to be girls I will update until they're fully cured. If not, we start again with some Texas Guinan I have germinating as back up.
A few months back I took a gamble with Bonza Seeds and purchased a 10 pack of Big Bomb, firstly because it was the cheapest (as I said, taking a gamble with international shipping, etc) and because it promoted the biggest yield with a pleasant body high.
After moving interstate into my new home I decided to commit every rookie error known to man with the first 8 seeds I germinated... and eventually destroyed over the following weeks. Let me repeat that, 8 (perfectly healthy and vibrant seedlings) destroyed.
Firstly I used the wrong light, and when I did switch to the right one it wasn't close enough and caused my babies to stretch. Then after adjusting that I continued to overwater them into near drowning. Once I realised the error of my ways I decided to purchase a grow tent with all sorts of lights, exhausts and fans. Problem was, the tent was 3 times the size I needed and is now sitting in the back of my garage in a crumpled heap alongside 2 perfectly useable lamps, and a carbon filter exhaust.
Not to mention that I gave them so many nutrients that the ph level tipped 10+. Even after repotting and flushing them there was no hope. They stagnated for weeks and I had to let them die and try again with what I had left.
This of course left me with 2 hopeful beans. Keeping in mind, there were not feminized or auto, they were regular seeds with a 50/50 chance of giving me a healthy girl. We're coming on 7-8 weeks now (foolishly I didn't mark the date they germinated because I expected to watch them die as well) and they look and smell amazing. Every day they're growing an 1/2 to an inch. Thick steams, dark leaves, rich and well drained soil.
As I mentioned earlier, I tore down the fancy grow tent with all the gucci attachments and decided to build a grow cabinet with two CFL lights. A real ametuer setup that matched my ameteur knowledge. The idea is to crawl before you run.
While I'll spare you the pictures and details of the frustrating build that was the cupboard I will get you up to date on my grow so far. As I said, I didn't mark the date of germination but I have a rough idea of where I'm at.
This here are my two survivors into their 2nd week. The soil I mixed myself with perlite, premium potting mix, fertiliser and seedling mix. Very high in nitrogen at first, so I cut it with more neutral potting mix. I let the top inch go dry before using a spray to manually water them. If you look carefully you can see the peat pots I germinated them in.
Now we're moving into the 3rd week and overnight they got some balls about them and threw branches out from practically nowhere. I took a gamble (like I hadn't taken enough at this point) and put them into their final resting place. During the transplant I made a rookie error and removed them from their pot while the soil was dry. Thankfully they did not go into shock considering how much root was torn and lost.
Pretty sure this is around week 4. After running into a little Nitrogen problem (which I only today realised is from the tap water I use, nothing to worry about just temporarily spikes after every big feed) they were soon growing again with great vigor. Here in Australia we have a product called Seasol which promotes root growth and since I'd been using it for years in my garden and seen the results I figured I'd give it a go with my 2 cupboard darlings.
As you can see, for one of them in particular it worked too well. (Don't mind the seedlings on the left, we have a range of sunflower, coriander and watermelon growing).
Meanwhile the other went horizontal, getting bushier by the day. The only nutrients I've been feeding them is a liquid fertilizer by the same company that makes Seasol and it has been working a trick. In conjunction with monitoring their PH levels, humidity, temperature and soil moisture I have been feeding them nutes once a week.
As I mentioned earlier I am restricted by space, so after a serious amount of research and considering my skill set as an ametuer grower (and everyday horticulturalist) I pruned the bottom fan leaves that no longer served a purpose and a couple of mid-tier leaves that were blocking light. I also set about applying some LST around healthy stems that needed more light on the tall plant and pulling in the stretching stems from the fat one. (Don't mind the watermelon seedlings at the bottom, and the little greenhouse under that. Spring is coming and I'm getting all my seedlings ready to plant into the garden).
These photos were taken this morning after its final prune. The tall one has been topped and the fat one has been reigned in. I may semi-lollipop it after a couple of weeks into flowering. They have received their final round of a Nitrogen heavy feed. Once the soil drys out they will receive filtered water (as mentioned, tap water is 8+ ph, filtered water from my fridge door is 5-6 ph), then a liquid bloom booster into its final weeks.
So far that's where I'm at. Pretty certain we're moving into week 7 or 8 on the grow and I'm readying the plants for the next stage of its life - flowering. The problem is that even though they're starting to pre-flower and I really can't tell exactly what they are. Maybe you can help. These photos were taken this morning and I'm fairly confident I have 2 female plants. If so, I struck the lottery considering the fate of their 8 previous siblings.
Cheers for stopping by. Feel free to leave any advice or suggestions. If either or both turn out to be girls I will update until they're fully cured. If not, we start again with some Texas Guinan I have germinating as back up.
