First Ever Grow

[Lester Freeman]

Haha nice, that setup is too cute. Hilarious, and the tree looks pretty good too. Gonna make for an awesome cola bud.

Enjoy, my friend. Good job with your first grow, but you keep your lights on for about 12 hours a day? I wonder how that effects the electricity bill. Also, how often do you water? That big thing must get heavy with 5 gallons of water in it!

 

[Ambition]

CoryDavid, I haven't tried using cardboard I though what I have there is perfect, I rotate them every watering. And Relaxed Leester I hope I do get an awesome cola bud, right now its mostly hairs, leaves, and crystals, not much bud.Yes, I have them on for 12 hours a day and I feed her every 3-4 days, whenever the dirt is really dry, but she only takes about a gallon of water each time.

 

[theclosetfarm]

Hey ambition. Nice plant man. I faced some of the same lighting problems as you. If you want a good light from home depot you should check out the t8 fixtures. You can get a four tube fixture, with four foot tubes and overdrive it for around $80. That should work just fine for a few medium small plants.

 

[Muttt]

You can order a nice 250w HPS with a ballast built into the hood on Amazon for like 85 bucks.

 

[BubblyHash]

Hey Ambition, thats a pretty nice plant ya got there for a first time grow. I would ditch the CFL after this grow though, they're next to worthless. Look up the lumens per watt rating of CFL's compared to High Intensity Discharge lighting. (Hight pressure sodium or metal halide[HPS and MH for short]) You will be amazed at how much more efficient they are. I picked up a 250w MH and 400w HPS for 50 bucks each. Just keep your eyes peeled for the right deal. Anyway Ill be following,
-BH

 

[Ambition]

I have a 150 watt HPS but I can't seem to find a good fixture for it that isn't 150$ and meant for a huge wall mounted outside light.. I'm gonna look at this hydroponic shop in town when if I can work for this dude on Monday for some $, hopefully they'll have what I'm lookin for. A 400 watt hps with a 250 watt mh for veg will be enough for 4-5 plants? thats what I wanna get to, and if I can do that with 2 lights thatd be sweet, very limited budget though, unless I can get a lot bud off of this plant then ill have some dough, but I kinda wanted to keep some otherwise ill be spending more $ on bud which is obviously what I'm trying to avoid. Thanks for comments

 

[Ambition]

Need a microscope too but no radioshack near here, I heard thats where they got a good 12$ one

 

[Ambition]

Checked out the local hydro store, got some pretty decent stuff. New shopping list: Bloom booster 20$, Metal Halide (Comes with reflector, ballast, and everything) 500 watt, it was either 260$ or 320$ for that whole set, somewhere around there, and a 500 watt HPS for around 70$.

 

[kimmy]

Have you tried fleabay ? There are tons of good lighting deal there, new and used. You might even find a cheap used fixture for your bulb.

 

[Ambition]

no I haven't I'll check them out thanks

 

[Ambition]

Got a microscope from Radioshack and I am just amazed by what I see when I look at her leaves under it. It just looks amazing, it's just so kool that a plant can form these microscopic crystals and trichomes. From what I can see it's covered in crystals and the trichomes are a mix of a decent amount of clear ones and a few milky. ' She's around 50 days into flowering. Anybody have any guesses as to how much longer it will be until she's about ready? I'm hoping a couple weeks as long as she does, in fact, bulk up in the last two weeks, like everyone thinks she will.

 

[Ambition]

From what I can see almost all of my trichomes are milky and it's hard to find them but I think there are a few amber ones scattered around. Today was my last feeding of nutrients, water, and honey. Next watering I will flush the soil with 15gal of tap water (I heard it doesn't have to be ph'd but I have to add that the water around here is really shitty) then after that I'll give it a gal of ph'd water and use only water from there after. In about two weeks the leaves should be yellowing and trichomes should be mostly amber I'm hoping. Then I'll leave it in the dark for 48hr and harvest. It's been a great first grow, hopefully the buds do fatten up these last two weeks.

 

[Buckshot]

... two weeks? that girl has a ways to go, relax

 

[Ambition]

I'm already seeing plenty of amber trichomes, which is when I wanted to harvest for a nice body high. I flushed yesterday, hopefully the leaves will start yellowing within a couple weeks. I'm gonna make hash out of all the leaves since there's very little bud.

 

[BubblyHash]

I have a 150 watt HPS but I can't seem to find a good fixture for it that isn't 150$ and meant for a huge wall mounted outside light.. I'm gonna look at this hydroponic shop in town when if I can work for this dude on Monday for some $, hopefully they'll have what I'm lookin for. A 400 watt hps with a 250 watt mh for veg will be enough for 4-5 plants? thats what I wanna get to, and if I can do that with 2 lights thatd be sweet, very limited budget though, unless I can get a lot bud off of this plant then ill have some dough, but I kinda wanted to keep some otherwise ill be spending more $ on bud which is obviously what I'm trying to avoid. Thanks for comments

Ambition, Yes the 250 and 400 combo will be plenty of light for 4-5 plants. I know an experienced grower who once harvested 15oz dry off just a 430HPS. That was with 6 plants. Im currently using the 250MH to veg out my mothers, and they love it. Search craigs list, ebay, amazon, etc. Im sure you'll be able to find a great deal somewhere. Your local hydro store most likely has a good 150wHPS for at the most $100. Youll be more than happy with the results from that compared to CFL's. BUT PLEAASE, WHATEVER YOU DO, DONT HARVEST YET!!! I cant stress that enough, as I have personal disappointing experiences with CFL harvests. You have to wait extra long for the buds to fill out, and believe me they will, you just have to give it time. I'd much rather smoke a nice semi dense nugget than some hairs and leaves anytime. Sure you feel the same way. Feel free to pm me with questions.
-BH

 

[Ambition]

Okay I won't harvest yet since you seem very adamante on that, but I am stopping there feeding except water, should I be doing that? Did you read my post about me seeing amber trichs? I hope the buds do fill out I wanted atleast two ounces but it looks far from that atm. lol, I was like I'm gonna have more hash than bud. The hairs have turned orangish-brown and receded but there are a few new greenish-white hairs coming out. It's the fixture that's killing me it costs about 270$ and I don't have that ' lol. Let me know what my next step should be please, and thank you

 

[BubblyHash]

You can continue to feed only water for as long as you need to. There should be enough nutrients left in the soil for it to use up while your flushing, as you used fertlized soil. You may even want to flush an extra week due to the same fact. I did read your post about amber trichomes, and that's exactly what fooled me the first time I grew under CFL's. I figured I saw about the right ratio of cloudy to amber trichomes, and was completely dissatisfied with the overall quality of my buds. Give it a couple weeks, post some pics here and there, and we'll all be here to help you along the way.
-BH

 

[BubblyHash]

Oh and about the fixture. Look for the Sun System 150HPS complete setup I'm pretty sure they run about $87 and change online. The bulb you already have could just serve as a replacement.
-BH

 

[Ambition]

Thanks again, and I just trimmed off two branches near the bottom that had very very tiny buds if they're even buds at all.. Sugary leaves. But I did that so I can rub them between my hands and make some finger hash, I didn't wanna ruin to whole plant by using all of it plus the colas. Any tips on this?

 

[Ambition]

So I just moved my girl a little, pulled down the top of the window so the suns rays could touch the main cola, but you can only see it if you're really high up looking downward into the window.. I"m hoping that will increase the quality of the bud and the yield, because the sun is obviously better than CFLs.. It's been a rather hot couple days in the mitten, so why not.. Think this'll do much? It's only touching the top cola so I placed the lights around everywhere else.