First grow- starting in few days need help!

[ByTropic]

First grow, im new to this stuff and im just asking to see if anyone could help me out. im starting in less than a week. Using "Cotton Candy Kush" seeds, and growing just outside my backyard.

I need help on what soil, fertilizer, and plant food to use!!!, and also how often i should water; people say that you should water every 2-3 days or when the top inches of the soil are dry. I dont need to worry about people finding out where it is, its very hidden and i live out in the country so there wont be any problems there. i have fencing that ill be wrapping around the area so animals dont get into it. so what soil and fert should i buy? or would it be smarter to make my own mix? worm castings? any help is great thanks guys

also please nobody hate im just trying to learn like everyone else

 

[QueenTokelove]

Re: First grow- starting in few days need help!!

Just wanted to say welcome and good luck on your outdoor grow. I am an indoor girl myself so I really don't have much to offer. But there are plenty of outdoor journals here, have you checked any out? There is no hating here, no need to worry about that, I am sure someone will chime in once they see your post. Good luck.

 

[ByTropic]

Re: First grow- starting in few days need help!!

thanks for the welcome and no i havnt checked them out yet...... i dont really know where there are lol :$ but thanks!

 

[JASPL]

Re: First grow- starting in few days need help!!

Welcome friend!

New grower to cannabis here. You've come to the right place.

Start here: How to Grow Marijuana

This forum is specific to us outdoor growers: Outdoor Growing

And this will show you individual grow journals in progress: Journals in Progress

In regards to your questions it would be great to know what you are starting with. Perhaps you are already blessed with some decent soil in your yard? Depending on how many plants you plan to have perhaps some nice grow bags or raised beds?

My suggestion is to pull up a chair and start reading - there is a wealth of information here. Get familar with some of the journals and then come back and ask some questions.

I'll be standing by.

JASPL

 

[ByTropic]

Re: First grow- starting in few days need help!!

thanks! and yes i have been reading up alot of the past week, im just looking for a more general straight-foward guide on how im suposed to do things. ex; dry or liquid ferts etc.. i have no problem with germination, planting, drying, curing, and storage, but im very confused about fertilizing and feeding. :/

 

[Dangerzone]

Re: First grow- starting in few days need help!!

Hey Tropic, and welcome! I've got a couple of girls outside at the moment so maybe I can drop you a few tips I personally find that you only need what you've got. If you have water, soil and sun you can get some damn fine smoke! All the nutrients etc are just a bonus
Anyway, to answer your questions you can do well with multi-purpose compost from your local garden centre, a 60L bag (about £5) can just about fill three 5-gallon pots, or 2-3 bags can make a decent bed for a few plants, it depends what you want to do. My girls are in 5-gallon pots so I can conveniently move them between the greenhouse and garden. Very handy if a sudden storm hits or a 'talkative' friend is stopping by!
You're pretty much spot-on with the watering, but they may want a drink every day if it's seriously hot!
As for nutes/ferts I tend to grow organically, but this year I'm cheating with some Ionic for Soil. That was about a tenner on Amazon for a litre which will last me aaages, but there's loads of brands to choose from. If you feel overwhelmed just remember to look for your key words: Soil, Grow, and Bloom. This particular bottle says to use 7ml per litre of water, but you only need about 3ml, and even less on the first few feeds!
One last thing - your girls shouldn't need feeding for their first month, your soil will have plenty of nutes for them.

I can't help you with any home-made mix recipes I'm afraid, but plenty of people here will know how.. These guys have some seriously ingenious ideas so keep an ear to the ground and you'll pick up on things you'd never even thought about!

Best of luck and happy growing!

 

[ByTropic]

Re: First grow- starting in few days need help!!

omg thank you! iv been waiting for someone like you to have such a good response! im thinking of growing 6 girls, im not sure how tall there going to end up, but im hoping to get a couple of o's by late august/ early september. can you recommend a good fertilizer or organic material that will make it worth it?! and i think any decent kind of topsoil will work, as im going to add 15% perilite into it..... good idea or bad? thanks dudde

 

[Dangerzone]

Re: First grow- starting in few days need help!!

You're welcome, happy to be of service! If you want plants that don't get too tall you'll want to stick with Indica-dominant strains (I think your Kush seeds are Indica), as Sativas can get huge! There are all sorts of ways to prune and bend your plants to stop them getting too tall as well. If you look at your grow minimally you can expect a half oz from each plant so you should be on target, but with good treatment and fair size you could get much more than that. If you want to harvest during September you'll need to get them into flowering quite early, when they're about a month old (end of June assuming you start this week). Now this can be a lot of hassle, trust me I know! When you're ready to flower you need to achieve the 12/12 light cycle to initiate and continue flowering.

I recommend you plant in 5-gal pots (taller rather than wider ones if possible) so you can move them into a dark shed or garage every day. Mind your back! Set up a tent of some sort inside (be inventive! I throw a large dark sheet over a standalone coat hanger and pin the sides between stacked boxes) to help block out the light, and cover any windows. To get your girls to flower you'll want to move them inside during the evening and take them out again in the day. I usually put mine to bed after sunset (10pm-ish for me) once its completely dark and bring them out around midday, but you can use whatever evening/morning hours suit you so long as you can keep it a strict routine. The odd jilt every now and again won't do any harm, but 12/12 is the magic number for your girls!

Unfortunately I've never used any fertilisers or anything before (aside from the Ionic nutrients I mentioned) so I can't really say what works, but if you follow the links that JASPL provided, I'm sure you'll find a thread or two pretty quickly. Bat poop seems popular! As for nutrients however, you can browse through the 420 Sponsors shops to get a good idea of the brands you want to watch out for - names like Iguana Juice, Earth Juice, Canna, BioBizz are often spoken of in high regard.

Topsoil should work well as long as it has good drainage and doesn't contain too much clay. Clay-based soil turns muddy when wet and can suffocate your roots. I've not actually used perlite before, but from what I know it's very hard to go wrong with it! It's great for drainage so might combat the problems of clay-based soils. Some people use up to a 40% mix.. Hydro growers can use it unmixed.. But I guess it depends on your soil and how well it drains, if it's quite sandy you may not need any at all!

Aww, looks like I got carried away again.. Sorry for the long read bro! Hopefully there's some useful info here anyways Lol

 

[QueenTokelove]

See told you someone would come along who could help! And not a hater in sight! Happy growing!

 

[ByTropic]

Re: First grow- starting in few days need help!!

okay thanks again!! and a last question for the time being. ... im germinating seeds now.. hopefully they'll be done in the next couple days. i have 6 solo cups filled with soil, should i plant the seeds with the white sprout directly into the cups and let it grow for 2-3 weeks in vegetation? or should i plant the seed into the 5gal bucket? i have 1inch of rocks/gravel at the bottom for drainage, an inch of peetmoss about it, and soil for the rest. which would be better to plant in at first or at all? cause im concerned that if i put the seed into the 5gal bucket it wont grow properly because of the nutes:vegetation stage. please help :3

 

[JASPL]

Hello Again.

Its probably 50/50 what some others do. Some believe it best to minimize the potential for transplant shock and plant directly into their final pot. Others will tell you they prefer the smaller cup with artificial light for a couple of weeks prior to moving out side. I took several intermediate steps: germinated in rock wool, transferred to 12oz cup, transferred to one gallon pots, then transferred outside. I think you get a bit better control using the steps like I did so they seedlings are not exposed to outdoor hazards too early.

As for ferts, I'm partial to the Fox Farm line - Grow Big and Big Bloom to start, followed by the addition of Tiger Bloom during flowering. FoxFarm Soil & Fertilizer Company Remember the first few doses should be half-strength. Fox Farm also makes a highly regarded potting soil mix called Ocean Forest.

It also might be worth a trip to your local grow shop to pick the brain of the guy behind the counter.

Many of the recommendations you require are going to be budget dependent.

Hope this helps.

JASPL

 

[QueenTokelove]

Speaking on the nutes, I use our sponsor BPN (Blue Planet Nutrients), he's also a forum member. If you check out some of the journals you will see a lot of people uses his nutes. Plus to me they are priced better than a lot of other nutes out there. When I started my first grow I used Foxfarm and had issues with nute burn. When using BPN, I never had that problem but to each his/her own. You have to choose what works best for you. But here is the link to his site so you can see what he has to offer....

Blue Planet Nutrients