1st Grow In 40 Years

[1970s Grower]

This is not my first grow. I have had 3 prior indoor grows in 1979, 1980, and 1982. THis was berfore the

internet and most everything you learned was by word of mouth or trial an error. There were some books out

and I bought all 4 of them but the data was contradicting. There were no pictures or videos. Just some

drawings. THere was no scientific data at all avaialble. I still grew some great buds for the day. I never

sold any, but I never had to buy any either during that time. I sprinkled a few seeds in mid 80s outdoors but

never got anything but leaf. I was in a cold climate where frost comes as soon as August sometimes and I

never could get anything to flower outdoors up there. Here I am 40 years later giving another go. My

arthritis is debilitating and I need this medicine.

Heres my Journal...

8/1 Grabbed old seed from garage. I had some seeds laying in a used Jack Daniels glass on my bench in the garage. They have been there over a year. I confiscated some weed from my son a while back and smoked it
up. Yeah I'm a hypocrit. I couldn't condone it now could I?

I set up a cool whip container by cutting up a paper towel into two circles to fit the bottom of the cool whip container. I placed the first piece in the bottome of the container and lightly sprinkled water until damp but now pooling. I placed 11 seeds on top of the 1st paper towel. I then placed the 2nd piece of

towel on top and lightly sprinkled water on top until both towels were saturated. I covered the container with the original lid and placed the container in the loft inside a cabinet where it would be dark 24 hours per day.

8/2 Checked seeds for Germination. One of the seeds is starting to split, I see white. Maybe there is a couple good seeds here after all.

8/3 Checked seeds for Germination. I have 3 seeds with short white tails (roots) poking out! Time to start figuring out a growing strategy and quick! Purchased Miricle Grow seed starter potting soil mix and some small peat pots. Its the best I could do quickly at Home Depot. It has the consistancy of peat but has some perlite and vermiculite in it. I also picked up 2 26Watt 5000K 1750 Lumen CFLs and 2 clip on reflectors, a power strip, and a timer at home depot. They are cheap and will have to do for now. I have no clue what I am going to do. I am thinking of buying a PC grow box.

 

[1970s Grower]

8/4... Decided on using a wall cabinet in the loft. Its 46" wide x 42" tall x 12.5" deep 24150 sq in= 14 sq foot grow. THe cablinet has adjustable shelves that can be place every 2 inches.

Found a place to get good soil though 5 seeds are already potted in peat pots and Mirical Grow. Purchased a big bag of Fox Farm Ocean Forest, a few 4" square plastic pots. I have no idea how I am going to make this work but I have to get these planted. THere are 5 seeds with roots, one as long as 10mm. Definitely time to plant. I planted the 5 seeds and used a spray bottle with distilled water to water the peat pots. I placed
the peat pots in a casserole dish and set them on the window sill to get some liht. Now I need to start planning this grow box.

8/5 Checked seeds for Germination. Found another split seed. This one might sprout. Checked peat pots for signs of life. I have 2 stems poking out! Shit this might work! I have to get these children under proper light. For now I just mounted a couple screw in J hooks to the bottom of one of the shelves in the loft cabinent and clamped the Reflectors to the j-clamps.. Oh how ghetto. I stuck a few magazine underneeat the
caserole to get them up about and inch closer to the lights. Still need to figure all this out. I have to reflect the inside of the grow box and come up with a lighting strategy. I have had any herb in over a year.

I am starting to get wood just thinking about the possibilites of having girls to admire and play with.

I put a temperature and humidity guage in the cabinet. The loft stays about 80 degrees as its hard to get cold air from the ductwork above the garage. With the cabinet doors closed I'm pushing 85F and 30% Humidity. I have to work on that. I also purchased a 10' x 10 ' sqare of 5.5 mil of Black and White as a reflectant. I have to drive 60 miles to another state to get the Fox Farm and all this specialty stuff I can' get at Home Depot or Lowes. Its a Hydroponic shop the size of a hardware store and they do a great business. No website, and hell I couldnt even find em with Google! I got the address off of Fox Farm Soil Manufacturers website.


8/6 I purchased a seedling cover to hold the humidity in but it also holds the heat. I tried it but I decided not to use it. I put a cereal bowl full of Reverse OSmosis water in the bottom. THis raised the humidy to 42%. I now have 4 stems poking out of 5. I also planted the last germinated seed for a total of 6 peat pots. For the last peat pot I used the Fox Farm Soil. Its darker and easily distinguishable from the Miricle Grow. I wish I have FOx Farm soil in all of them.

 

[1970s Grower]

8/7 All 6 peat pots have stems poking out. 2 still have the seeds attached and the little round leaves can't seen to get out. I am woried about these two. Today is the the day pull all the shelves from the cabinet and put up the black and shite reflectant on the walls, floor, and doors. I used bandaging tape from CVS as it was white to match. It's not real sticky. It didn't go far. I needed some more so I went to Walmart and found white duct tape.

I bought 2 rolls of 20 yards. I taped up the black and white but did not do the top yet. I still am not sure how I am going to set up my lights. For now I am staying with my temporary set up. I need to get some exhaust fans and instake fans on he cabinet. I. I picked up 2 120mm 70 cfm computer fans with Green LEDs as I couldn't find fans without LEDs. I will cut the LED wire on them. I also purchased a personal 7" fan from
Walmart for $6 to keep air circulating inside. Its quiet and not to breezy so it wont hurt the seedlings.

I had one casualy today. When I set the caserole in the window sill I must have shaken on of seedlings out. When I went to put the caserole back in the cabinet, I was missing a plant from one of the peat pots. I found it on the floor dried up. I quickly replanted and watered it thoroughly. Maybe it will come back. It can't support its own weight and is leaning on the Pot. Its all but dead.

Later in the after noon I checked on the plants the casualty is no longer leaning and is still green. There is definitely some dry damage to its only 2 leaves but it might make it. I have no more seed and have no place to get any more. I don't know anyone who uses the stuff to ask.

8/7 Matt brought 5 more seeds from "quality" flowers. 3 are nice and dark. 1 is almost white and the last one is a maybe. Rinsed Cool Whip container and duplicated routine of 8/1 keeping the original 5 seeds that never sprouted in the container. Maybe they will sprout but doubtful.

I have the cabinet open right now to cool it. I will probably leave it open, I hope my 21 year old son doesn't come up the loft to see it. 83F and 38% with the door open for a while at 6:45. I will leave it open

I welcome comments and criticisms! Pictures to come tomorrow

 

[gittergreen]

Hey 70s g welcome and good luck . i too have a getto setup i like your style just wing it.
you definitly have come to the right place for info and ideas. check out my grow if you want
good luck!

 

[1970s Grower]

Hey 70s g welcome and good luck . i too have a getto setup i like your style just wing it.
you definitly have come to the right place for info and ideas. check out my grow if you want
good luck!

Thanks! I will definitely be watching your grow. Very nice!

Heres my log for today

8/8 Came home from work for lunch and checked out my babies. Uh-Oh. I have 3 problem children out of 6. The plant that 'fell out of the pot' yesterday has withered up and is laying on its side. The germination I planted Saturday looks dead. I was so hopeful for it as it poked up through the soil the same day I planted it (though it did not shed its seed) A third plant that had been quite healthy laying is laying on its side. Evidently I let the soil get too dry. I have been using a spray bottle of distilled water. My penetration must not have been deep enough. Shit! I am soaking them good this time.

Finished work at 5:00 and checked on 'em again. I think 2 plants are dead for sure. The third perked right up and looks great. I now have 2 dead, 3 very healthy, and one that can't shed all it's seed shell to open up. It's green, and I can see the first leaves but it like the 2 leaf tips are glued together. I got out the tweasers and put it between the two leaves and slowly worked the tips loose from the seed. The 3 good plants are barely showing thier second set of true leaves. I just have to quit screwing up.

 

[1970s Grower]

Not that anyone's reading but this is as good a place as any for me to journal my grow...

8/9 Checked on the babies at lunch again today. THese things drink the water. I still have 3 healthy seedlings and a 4th that has not sprouted real leaves yet... wtf? Its the one I pealed the seed from earlier. I am a little worried about him/her. I am watering twice a day. I also moved the plants 1" closer to the lights today. It seems like they might be stretching a bit. I am also having a hard time controlling temps. The cabinet is 83F with 33% humidity at 5:30 pm which is the hotest part of the day in the loft. I have a hard time cooling the loft itself let alone the grow cab. The cereal bowl with an inch of water in it 3 days ago is now down to 1/8 of inch from evaporation. With that kind of evaporation its no wonder the plants are thirsty. I added 1" of water to the bowl to add humidity. I moved the personal fan to a more direct flow at the plants. With raising the plants 1" toward the light I don't want to burn them. They are now 3-4" from the 2 27 watt CFLs. I could add more CFLs but for 4 seedlings I don't think they need it yet.

 

[ConqueringLOJ]

Hey there 70's-G! Welcome to 420!!
First grow in 40 years...that is cool! I'm glad you found these forums and decided share it with us. Don't worry that you haven't gotten too many visitors yet..you will. As your grow progresses and you post photos, your journal will get more viewers.

Also, don't hesitate to ask for help if you have questions. There are a lot of very knowledgeable growers here that are more than happy to help answer questions.

I wish you lots of success on your grow! I'll be following along.

 

[HerbFarma]

Hey im definitely going to follow this one old timer. Haha funny how you came by your seeds for this grow.
This is definitely going to work out buddy. Just keep the soil from drying out too bad and they will soon be bursting with growth

 

[1970s Grower]

8/10 I planted 4 seeds that I started germination on 8/7. 1 had a root an inch long. I used 4 peat pots with Fox Farm Ocean soil.

The other 4 plants are doing well. Temps are 84F and humidity is 32%.

I fugured out today that it takes 45-50 squeezes on a spray bottle to saturate a peat pot. I also figured out that the moisture meter I purchased for $20 is shit. Doesn't even register when I put it straight into water. Stays at 0.0

 

[mastershuffle]

first off put a plastic baggie on your seedlings to increase rh unless you have a propagator or dome. you want temps to be 70-74 after 2 sets of real leaves show atleast...also you don't need to purchase a moisture meter, just water it, get a good feel of how heavy it is and use that regiment

 

[1970s Grower]

first off put a plastic baggie on your seedlings to increase rh unless you have a propagator or dome. you want temps to be 70-74 after 2 sets of real leaves show atleast...also you don't need to purchase a moisture meter, just water it, get a good feel of how heavy it is and use that regiment

Great thought on the baggies. Thanks!

Here are some pics of my setup and plants.

At 6 days from dry seed.

4 plants at 12 days ( I lost 2) and 4 plants at 6 days from dry seed.

Criticism is encouraged! I am open to any help I can get.

 

[1970s Grower]

first off put a plastic baggie on your seedlings to increase rh unless you have a propagator or dome. you want temps to be 70-74 after 2 sets of real leaves show atleast...also you don't need to purchase a moisture meter, just water it, get a good feel of how heavy it is and use that regiment

How long should the baggies be left on? Until the leaves touch the baggie?

 

[mastershuffle]

How long should the baggies be left on? Until the leaves touch the baggie?

until you see more rapid foliage growth. My RH sometimes can fluctuate from 85 to 40. and the second set I guess you could go by

 

[ConqueringLOJ]

Hey 70's G! Nice little setup you have there! Very clean and low-key. Cool cabinet! Those seedling are looking good so far. I can't wait to watch how they grow up for you.

Also, I notice you have an acoustic and some electric guitars laying around. What type are they? Strat, LP, SG etc...

 

[TorturedSoul]

WooHoo an old-fart grow! +Subscribed.

Just passing through AtM so I skimmed but I'll read every word when I pass through next time.

There were some books out and I bought all 4 of them

Lol. Some things have changed for the better, and sites such as this one (especially this one) sure do play a useful part in the fight to bring knowledge to the masses. And there are one or two more books out now too, lol. (But you won't need them now.)

I still grew some great buds for the day. I never sold any, but I never had to buy any either during that time.

I sprinkled a few seeds in mid 80s outdoors but never got anything but leaf. I was in a cold climate where frost comes as soon as August sometimes and I never could get anything to flower outdoors up there.

These days, an industrious outdoor grower in such a climate might find a way to cover the plants for 12 hours a day in order to induce and maintain flowering regardless of the number of daylight hours. Or just plant a crop of autoflowering plants.

My arthritis is debilitating and I need this medicine.

Best of luck.

I confiscated some weed from my son a while back and smoked it up. Yeah I'm a hypocrit. I couldn't condone it now could I?

Here's hoping that he doesn't discover your grow and return the... favor.

Purchased Miricle Grow seed starter potting soil mix and some small peat pots. Its the best I could do quickly at Home Depot. It has the consistancy of peat but has some perlite and vermiculite in it. I also picked up 2 26Watt 5000K 1750 Lumen CFLs and 2 clip on reflectors, a power strip, and a timer at home depot. They are cheap and will have to do for now.

Perlite is good - cannabis likes a well-drained soil. Would suggest a mix of 75% 6500K CFLs & 25% ~2700K ones for vegetative and reverse the proportions for flowering, although people also use all 6500K for vegetative and all ~2700K for flowering.

I am not a fan of those "trouble-light" reflectors. While they do reflect light, due to the orientation of the bulb, the majority of the light that your plants will see is just that - reflected. Bulbs produce almost all of their light "out to the sides" and little from the end. Therefore, you can achieve better results with a setup that places the bulbs in a horizontal orientation - and (much) better still with a reflector that utilizes such a placement. You can make a usable reflector for a CFL out of a soda can. And there are several examples of homemade CFL reflectors from quick and simple to more elaborate. I believe that they are in the DiY forum and possibly in the grow lighting one.

I have no clue what I am going to do.

That's easily remedied. Reading here, asking questions, and posting a journal with pictures so that others may help is a wise move. The How to Grow Marijuana - 420 Magazine forum is every bit as useful as a book on growing. The Frequently Asked Questions - 420 Magazine one has, well, frequently asked questions, and the various Growers Forums - 420 Magazine get into somewhat more specific information. You can also look at as many grow journals as you like and ask questions about what you see; most folks are more than happy to discuss their pride & joy and to help others.

I am thinking of buying a PC grow box.

Please don't.

8/4... Decided on using a wall cabinet in the loft. Its 46" wide x 42" tall x 12.5" deep 24150 sq in= 14 sq foot grow.

Actually, that's ~3.993 square feet in area. The volume is almost 14 cubic feet (which can be useful to know when you're figuring out the best size for ventilation fan(s)).

Purchased a big bag of Fox Farm Ocean Forest

A popular choice, and one that has enough to get the plants off to a good start. It might be considered a little hot for newly-germinated seedlings, but it works fine for most. Suggest adding one part perlite to three parts FFOF (some add even more perlite, it's up to you).

4" square plastic pots.

Square pots are handy for getting them all under the lights when you don't have a lot of light. Some feel that reasonably deep pots from the start can have a positive influence on the ratio of females. Something to do with unobstructed taproots, perhaps. It's probably less stressful for them.

THere are 5 seeds with roots, one as long as 10mm. Definitely time to plant.

As is getting them into the "ground" ASAP once the initial rootlet shoes (although cannabis is a remarkably resilient plant).

I planted the 5 seeds and used a spray bottle with distilled water to water the peat pots. I placed
the peat pots in a casserole dish and set them on the window sill to get some liht.

I don't care all that much for peat pots, although I've used them in the past and many others still do. When I purchase plants for the vegetable garden that come in them, I cut away the lower portion of the peat pot if roots have not grown through them, and cut/slice it if they have to make it easier for the plants to push roots into their new homes.

I have to reflect the inside of the grow box

I also purchased a 10' x 10 ' sqare of 5.5 mil of Black and White as a reflectant.

Flat bright white paint makes a decent wall-coating, especially if the walls are prepped (fill holes and smooth them a little) and primed. The poly you purchased will also work (but you might have already had paint?).

I have to drive 60 miles to another state to get the Fox Farm

I know that PitA.

8/6 I purchased a seedling cover to hold the humidity in but it also holds the heat. I tried it but I decided not to use it. I put a cereal bowl full of Reverse OSmosis water in the bottom. THis raised the humidy to 42%. I now have 4 stems poking out of 5. I also planted the last germinated seed for a total of 6 peat pots. For the last peat pot I used the Fox Farm Soil. Its darker and easily distinguishable from the Miricle Grow. I wish I have FOx Farm soil in all of them.

Once the plants have a decent set of roots and leaves, they will work at "self-cooling" by uptaking moisture and transpiring it through the stomata on the underside of their leaves, just like trees do (although small cannabis plants won't transpire the hundreds of gallons a day that a large full-grown tree can, lol). This can also raise the humidity slightly.

 

[1970s Grower]

This is more good information that I though I could possibly get here. Thanks for taking the time to go into such detail. Dayum shweet of you!

Here's hoping that he doesn't discover your grow and return the... favor

Yeah.. what would he think of his Dad if he only knew.

Would suggest a mix of 75% 6500K CFLs & 25% ~2700K ones for vegetative and reverse the proportions for flowering, although people also use all 6500K for vegetative and all ~2700K for flowering.

I am not a fan of those "trouble-light" reflectors. While they do reflect light, due to the orientation of the bulb, the majority of the light that your plants will see is just that - reflected. Bulbs produce almost all of their light "out to the sides" and little from the end. Therefore, you can achieve better results with a setup that places the bulbs in a horizontal orientation - and (much) better still with a reflector that utilizes such a placement. You can make a usable reflector for a CFL out of a soda can. And there are several examples of homemade CFL reflectors from quick and simple to more elaborate. I believe that they are in the DiY forum and possibly in the grow lighting one .

RIght now I am using 2 5000K 27watt bulbs. I suppose I should just get the spare 6500Ks in there.

I have two thoughts on finalizing the cabinet I would like to get your thoughts on.

1. Put mylar or 6 mil white on the underside of the top of cab just like the sides and use that as a refelctor. I would mount power strips to the top and use Y sockets to use 2 bulbs per outlet for 6 bulbs per power strip. I would use a total of 12 bulbs in this cab. My concern is heat on the 6 mil plastic? I am putting 140 CFM exhaust in today, but using the 6 mil plastic has me concerned. I could also purchase some myler insulate material from Home Depot and put that on the roof. The advantage to this method is grow height is maximized.

2. I have seen a larger size of the clamp on dome reflectors at walmart. By sticking a Y socket in the the reflector I am gettting a more horizontal flow of light. I would not have to worry about the heat burning the 6 mil plastic or wood.

I am leaning toward option 1 and getting the mylar insulate and putting it on top.

A popular choice, and one that has enough to get the plants off to a good start. It might be considered a little hot for newly-germinated seedlings, but it works fine for most. Suggest adding one part perlite to three parts FFOF (some add even more perlite, it's up to you).

I will definitely keep this in mind for when I transplant in a week or so.

Square pots are handy for getting them all under the lights when you don't have a lot of light. Some feel that reasonably deep pots from the start can have a positive influence on the ratio of females. Something to do with unobstructed taproots, perhaps. It's probably less stressful for them.

This brings to mind another question I have had. Based on the size of my grow cab, Where do I want to be with pot sizes? The cab is 42" high, 46" wide, and 13" deep. The tradeoff for plant space vs. soil space is the question. Once I get a handle on what I am doing, I will probably move to Hydro which should use less grow medium space.

I don't care all that much for peat pots.

I hate the damn things. I only used them this time as I had lows hopes of success on germinating the garage seeds out the Jack Daniels glass. I was in a hurry and it was all I could find on short notice. On my last indoor grow in the early 80s I used milk crates with garbage bags and just dropped the peat pots in the soil. At harvest I was very surprised that the roots never penetrated the sides of the peat pots. I had a 10 x 10 room full of 6' plants but was wasting the top 3 or 4 inches of soil with the peat pots. The grow was good but sure would have been better had I scored the peat pots more than I did.

Again thank for your insight!

 

[1970s Grower]

Hey 70's G! Nice little setup you have there! Very clean and low-key. Cool cabinet! Those seedling are looking good so far. I can't wait to watch how they grow up for you.

Also, I notice you have an acoustic and some electric guitars laying around. What type are they? Strat, LP, SG etc...

Thanks for comps... appreciate it much!

I have 3 Fender CS strats, 6 Gibson Les Pauls, a Gibson CS 335, and Martin 00-28mEC and a few other assorted accoustics. My grow cab is in my studio.

 

[Meats]

Hey 1970s Grower! love the set-up and wish you the best of luck! Hope you don't mind me following

 

[1970s Grower]

Hey 1970s Grower! love the set-up and wish you the best of luck! Hope you don't mind me following

I need all the help I can get Meats! Glad to have you. If you have any observations please let me know.

 

[Happy Kitty]

Ahhh the 70's...the older I get, the better I remember them. Nice to have you join the community, looking forward to seeing that grow.

Arthritis? I hope you'll check this out - Arthritis

Welcome