Hi guys, this is both my first post here and my first ever grow.
This whole thing started after I got a few seeds from a bag of fairly decent bud a couple of months ago. On a whim I decided to try to germinate them. Out of the three seeds I got, one is my current plan, one didn't germinate at all, and another started but stopped growing shortly after. The seed was planted on 13 June. Now I am by no definition rich so I'm making do with what I can. For probably the first two weeks the seedling was grown in a window sill until it got too big for people to not notice. We kept the light on 24 hours during the veg stage.
Being that i'm not rich I made a trip to wal-mart. I picked up a 2 foot flourescent shop light, and two GE F20 Plant & Aquarium F20 lights. These are rated at 20 watts and 750 lumens each according to the packaging. On monday we decided to start the flowering process after two months of vegetating. The plant is over two feet tall now, though seems a bit stemmy, though i'd assume its because we're using a flourescent light setup. The grow itself is taking place in a closet to keep away from prying eyes.
Now the questions, and boy do I have questions. Oh by the way its already been identified as a female so we're pretty happy about that.
1. Cloning. Should we take clones now before flowering sets in, or are flowering clones the way to go? I keep reading that you take clones from the nodes, but i'm a little confused as to what the nodes actually are. I assume they're branching spots on the stem but i'd like confirmation before I go butchering our girl.
2. Flushing. How much is enough? The plant has had a bit of nute burn, though nothing to serious I think, just a bit of burning on the leaf tips. Today we flushed with a half a gallon of distilled water and transplanted to a 32qt pot directly after.
3. Aluminum Foil. The closet we are growing in is all white except for the door which is brown. We have covered a portion of it with foil. I assume this is OK but figured i'd ask the experts anyway.
4. Watering and feeding. As part of the transplanting we bought a new bag of soil and worm castings as a friend made that reccomendation. Is this good for growing or a bad idea. Also, I know over watering leads to drooping, but how do I know when to water and feed? I've been watering every 3 days or so. Is this enough? Given that it is now in fresh soil with worm castings do I need to continue with plant food or are the castings enough?
5. Budding and Flowering. What kind of a time frame are we looking at from reducing the light cycle to having buds to smoke?
6. Curing. Putting the buds in a paper bag and hanging upside down is what I was considering. Is there a better way to go about this?
7. Enviroment Control. I was thinking about buying a dehumidifier, air ionizer and thermometer/humidity monitor. Good idea bad idea?
8. Can anyone give me an idea of what i'm growing based on my crummy pictures?
9. We decided to take the light from 24 and gradually scale it back to 12/12 over the course of this week. Does this have any advantages over just going straight to 12/12?
I think thats about all for now. My roommate also has an account here so he may post with some stuff as well.
CapPic2 - 420 Magazine Photo Gallery
Sorry about the bad picture quality, they were taken with my phone and I don't have a digital camera, but I figured something was better than nothing.