1st time grower goin at it

[Castiron]

ok this is my first grow ill try to get pics up soon as i can.
this is what im doing.

atm i have 1 plant going.
its in about a 2 gal pot.
to start it off i simply put the seed in the soil (point down) and watered.

its been about 4 days since then. it sprouted last night.
the plant is looking healthy enough, nice stalk, good little 2 leaves.

atm were having a nice spring warm patch so i had it outside yeasterday (will again today) and while it was out on my porch yesterday it sprouted.

now when its indoors (where i plan to keep it once its recognizable for what it is) i have it under a 27 watt CFL (2700 K) so its yellow light. i keep the reflector hoverign just above the pot the plant is growing in (the bulb is about 4" above the plant).

i have however another light that i plan to use soon as i get a reflector for it.
that light is a 200 watt (880 watt equiv) CFL that is 5000K (full spectrum).
i expect to have that setup in place the middle of next month.

the soil im using is miracle grow seed startign formula. its VERY spongy stuff.
even with watering the pot it was still spongy to the touch.

Once i have the 200 watt cfl in place ill likely keep the 27 watt yellow bulb on it aswell for extra yellow light durring flowering. (ive considered adding a few more of the 27 watt yellow cfl's would that be a good idea durring flowering ?)
I will be adding a small oscillating fan to give the plant a light breeze eventually aswell.

for feeding im planning on using real fish emulsion added to the water and possably a pellet all purpose fertilizer. ( ill be waiting on both of those till the plant is a bit more established).

i dont know what strain this plant is. or really anything about it other than the bud it came out of was a very good smoke. in the buds i had there was a total of 2 seeds so im guessing it came from a female plant.
but i know nothing of the plant for sure other than it seemed the buds from it were good.

any advice at this point in my first grow would be appreciated.

 

[Castiron]

theres no hole in the pot, ill be carefull on watering.
got the bulb moved to 6" away.
ill have it out as much as possable but once its recognisable it will have to be inside all the time,....

thanks for the advise.

 

[IndoorHaze]

theres no hole in the pot, ill be carefull on watering.

You should try to add holes in your planter if possible. You could easily drown your roots if the soil cannot drain.

 

[Castiron]

ok hole i nthe bottom of the pot now...... bit tricky but i was able to drill a hole w/o breaking the pot.

atm the sprout looks VERY happy n healthy.

 

[Castiron]

well ive got 2 plants going, one stretched before i got the good light up but its veggign now.
both seem to be having some trouble though.

The first plant is a pale green/yellow and hasnt grown much lately.
the second plant has curling claw-like leaves on top. other than these "claw leaves" its looking good. nice dark green, & lots of new growth.
tomorrow im going to give the plant a water flush incase of overfert.

though some sources suggest its not possable to overfert a plant as the plant just cant take in excess nutes, the soil on the other hand is another story. they claim excess unused nutes can lead to salt build up and cause the plant to be nute locked and whats commonly refered to as "nuteburn" is actually a nute deficiency caused by the nutes being locked up by the salt in the soil.

seems the plants also do like sleep, mine start drooping every say about 1hr before bedtime. the timer shuts off the light (keeping my plants on a 20/4 hr cycle). each day when i check on them in the morning their no longer drooping, later that night sure enough 11pm and their drooping again. more the second plant than the first.

still no go on pics camera needs a new card and looks to be a pricey one.

anyone got any suggestions on how to handel the first plants discoloration and the second plants claws.

 

[fish cake]

ok bro while the light from the sun is the best you can get if you take it out at random the diff from in and out lite will probably shock the crap out of it. and you can most deffinately cause nute burns and difficencys check out the plant abuse thread yellow ing could be tomuch water or to little N or a host of other things. hard to tell with out pics tho. anyway remember its a weed it will grow as long as you dont kill it lol get some pics and Im sure everyone here will be glad to help you grow the best you can

 

[QueenTokelove]

the soil im using is miracle grow

*shreeeeeeeeeeekkkks*, no not miracle grow...Just kidding but kinda serious, I will share what was told to me. And that is that MG is a big no no when growing mj and especially for seedlings. It can sometimes run hot or have pre-released nutes in it that may be too strong for your baby. So, I am guessing here that may be the problem. I am a novice grower myself, on fourth grow but I have read what I shared but I have also heard of people using MG with no problems. But if that is what you can afford for now...Hopefully someone will come along who can explain it better than I can and who is more experienced.

 

[Castiron]

OK update time.

my first plant (well call it sprout as im sure many ppl do) well sadly sprout has been gotten by the cats, its been effectively topped, sadly i dont expect it to do much now. its a bit over a foot tall and has been for some time.
BUT

thats ok as the second plant i planted a month after sprout, named stretch (guess what it did before i got the good light up) is tall and healthy.
its over 3 feet tall now, i saw pistilate hairs so YAY its a girl. and asside from some minor leaf loss and a tiny bit of "clawing" of the leaves its looking Very good. ive tried adding some nutes (5-1-1 fish crap) and i saw a improvement in the plant so i suspect i have a N deficiency.

now that stretch is 3 feet tall im guessing the strain is a sunk as it smells faintly of one. another 3 feet to go then im going to top her and put her under a 300watt yellow cfl on a 12/12 time.

when i top the plant ill probably use the top as the start for a clone.


as far as getting outside, that was something i did just in the start while the plant wasnt really recognizable for MJ. just to give the seedling a boost of good light. i kept that up for about 5 days. since then its only had the 200 watt cfl. seems to like it though as its growing like a weed,..

still no luck on the affording camera repairs,.... its low on the priority list.

one thing i would like to know, on a soil water meter what should the soil be kept at,.... i know MJ doesnt like wet feet, and i have kept the soil fairly dry. maybe a touch too dry.

if anyone happens to know and would share the optimal water level reading i would appreciate it.
also got the PH of the soil to 6.8-7.0 now. that helped the plants alot when i managed that.