First Timer Getting Started

[ShadowGrow]

Hello 4:20! I'm new to the forum but have been reading a lot. What a great place for information! As you will beable to tell this is pretty much my first attempt at growing. I had a couple horrible attempts in the past but after some reading, seen many errors on my behalf. I look forward to sharing my experience with you all.

What strain is it? Bagseed
Is it in Veg or Flower stage? Just sprouting!
Indoor or outdoor? This will be a indoor attempt.
Soil or Hydro? Soil
If soil... what is in your mix? Organic
Size of light? Currently I'm using 6 26w CFL's 6500k
Temp of Room/cab? roughly 75-80
How often are you watering? Only once so far.


1/20/12

* Slapped a shitty grow room together. Needs door yet!


1/22/12

* Built Grow box roughly 2'x2'x3'
* Purchased 6 26w CFL's for grow box
* Wired, sealed closet from light. Installed grow box in closet.
* Lined everything with Aluminum foil, dull side out.
* Germinated 12 bag seeds.

Purchased Organic soil from Miracle Grow. Will spread very small amount of Scotts Rose and Bloom fert (12-4-8) over soil when planting. Feeding only water during veg. Will switch to other ferts during bloom.


1/23/12

* more light proofing, perforated aluminum house wrap, much strounger then foil. *called ruff rapp*
* Finished door, installed lock.
* Seeds began to crack. putting them in dirt very soon.

Been considering how to utilize both grow spaces for max production. Only have lights for the small box now. Will veg plants for several weeks before deciding. Hoping to be able to afford another set of lights to flower with.


1/24/12

* purchased 6" fan for grow box.
* planted 12 seedlings, most were cracked and sprouting.
* added slightly less then 1/8 tsp of scotts slow release ferts.
* attempting a new style of lighting for veg growth called, Gas Lantern Method. 12 hours of light, 5 1/2 hours darkness, 1 hour of light, then 5.5 hours of darkness. Lots of evidence showing better plant growth then 20/4 or even 24/0.

1/26/12
first seed sprouting!

 

[Dipez]

Hey looks good but you should take down the foil. Flat white paint reflects better than foil by a far and if you want to spend some money you can get mylar. Btw do you have an intake or exhaust fan?

Also if you can I would look into buying another brand soil. MG isn't all to good. You can get Fox farm brand soil for the same price as MG organic too. Roots Organic is another really good choice.

 

[ShadowGrow]

Thanks for the advice but the foil is actually only in the box right now(dull side out). I removed it and I used aluminum house wrap instead. It's designed to reflect UV's and it was free!

Believe it or not, MG was the only organic mix I could find here @ lowes. Lots of other brands that had slow nutients already in them so I grabbed the MG.

The box has several vents cut in the back. There is some air flow but prob not enough! The only fan I have is in the box. I have to figure out a better exhaust.

 

[Dipez]

Yeah Lowes wouldn't be an ideal place to go for grow supplies.. If you can find a local hydro store. They will most likely have everything you need.

 

[209 Cali C.G]

homedepot was for me^

 

[Dipez]

Home depot in doesn't carry any of the products I use in my soil. I think your pretty lucky to find good organic grow supplies at big name stores.

 

[MattyTrips]

to vShadow, you've come to the right place! The people here are extremely helpful and compassionate. I can't begin to thank everyone for all their help and advice. Hope your first grow works out really well for you. You'll find that educating yourself will be the most valuable tool over antything you can buy. If you have any questions don't be afraid to ask.

Happy Growing

 

[209 Cali C.G]

to vShadow, you've come to the right place! The people here are extremely helpful and compassionate. I can't begin to thank everyone for all their help and advice. Hope your first grow works out really well for you. You'll find that educating yourself will be the most valuable tool over antything you can buy. If you have any questions don't be afraid to ask.

Happy Growing

thats so true

 

[ilikebike]

shadow that cab looks really good and clean. i also like the "seedling" grow box so you have more room good idea. How tall do you plan on letting them get before you switch the light cycle?

you should think about reppoting your plants when you go into flower if your going to use time released nutrients in the veg stage. If you can get a good bag of soil from the hydro store. if not im pretty sure lowes has enough things out in their lawn and garden section to make your own super soil.

im not gonna hate on your mg soil because i used lowes bought soil for the 2 plants i harvest recently and they came out pretty damn good. check out my journal if you can, links in the signature

 

[ShadowGrow]

Thanks for the welcome Matty and 209,

Ilikebike, thank you for the compliment. I'm not really sure on what I'm doing yet! I was hoping on keeping them vegging in there long enough to grab a HPS. I do plan on FIMing them at a young age to keep the height down. I'll tie them down if I have too, whatever it takes. Perhaps a screen.

I'll definately be repotting once I'm ready to flower. Into 3-5 gal buckets, then I'll switch the ferts. I'm only using what I have because it's cheap, and well it's what i have right now...
Been thinking about using the Nirvana's soil tabs. Does anyone have experience with these? I really like the idea of one and done , then just adding water.

 

[420GodsTrichome]

Welcome to

Looks like you are off to a good start, I will hang around much as possible and help where it's needed. I've had good results with MG soil, but I don't use it by choice. Check my ongoing journal, the first round of plants in that particular growspace were in MG soil.
Peace and God bless,
GT

 

[ShadowGrow]

Thanks Gods, I'm sure I'll be needing some help along the way.

It's bright in there! Soil seemed pretty dry tonight I'll let it go tonight and water tomorrow. Bout how often should I be throwing water on these babies?

Since I'm a cheap ass I've been thinking of using OC+ for the flower. It's a toss up for me between that and the Nirvana soil tabs.

Suggestions?

9 have sprouted.

 

[420GodsTrichome]

MJ plants LOVE a short dry period between waterings. It's just fine to let them show just a tad bit of needing water, and actually makes the plant stronger. OC+ has pretty good results, and I know a couple growers here that use nothing but. But, if you are looking into nutrients, Blue Planet Nutrients is the way to go. I use their 3 part, and organic line, and there is a whole army of growers here with great success. The owner is a sponsor and an all around great guy. You can get the whole 3part 1gallon set for about the price of just 1 1gal container of any of the leading competitors, and BPN quality is top notch. Best price of ANY nutes I've seen, and it's made in the USA. Ohh, did I mention that it is tailored to growing MJ, and the owner actively supports legalization?!?!
Never used the Nirvana tabs, but they know there stuff too, just can't speak in their behalf because I have never used their products.
Hope this was a help.
Peace and God bless,
GT

 

[skippidy]

Looking good Shadow!

I think MG is quite fine for a beginner's first grow. I am about ready to harvest from a MG, moisture control, time release soil. The only thing they have been fed is ph checked water. The yield is looking to be more than I expected from the strain I picked. White Dwarf auto.

Not worrying about being a soil chemist has allowed me to get the rest of the equipment and environment dialed in. I may even use the same soil on my next grow. Not too offend... but some of the "soil chemistry" I have read about seems to be a bit overkill and Fox Farms is loving every minute off it. This medicine does tend to expose the over engineering capabilities of the brain.

 

[ilikebike]

yay a sprout! now its a waiting game

 

[ShadowGrow]

Yesterday I noticed 1 of the seed cases still holding one of my sprouts shut. I tried to peel it off and ended up tearing the feeder leaf off. I'm not to worried about it since the other feedleave doubled in size now. The first 2 leaflets also seem to have grown more then the others. I thought about tearin that other feeder leaf off just to see what happens

A good friend of mine was kind enough to give me a sour diesel bean to start too so I threw that in the mix.

 

[ShadowGrow]

Today I noticed one was yellow... I brushed off all the slow ferts I could see and gave them babies a a good flushing. Screw these junk ferts, I'm going to be placing a order with BPN soon...maybe

 

[420GodsTrichome]

You will not be disappointed with BPN!!

 

[ilikebike]

Today I noticed one was yellow... I brushed off all the slow ferts I could see and gave them babies a a good flushing. Screw these junk ferts, I'm going to be placing a order with BPN soon...maybe

BPN army members stand behind their BPN products. the proof is in the complete grow journals. Ever since i started using BPN Elite i have seen at least double the growth than with out it. DO WORK SON!

 

[ShadowGrow]

Little ones are looking better! The 2 I cooked are starting to come around with some new green growth. The Sour D also sprouted

The good

The burnt