2nd attempt at growing: badly need advice or a guide

[damname]

Hey all

I know this is prolly in the wrong forum but it seems i dont have permissions to post in the growing forum....so ill post it here.

The last time i tried to grow following a guide, all my crop failed costing me $100 in seeds. It was gut wrenching to say the least. I was trying to grow feminized sativa when the stems stretched thinner than hair leaving only 1 plant alive....and then several days later even that plant fell over dead. So this time im going to ASK for help before i start....maybe see if i can find an easy to understand guide suited to what i have on hand. I have searched for a guide but all of them seem very general or vague not unlike the last guide i followed that leaded to killing my plants.

So my new seeds are in..... i have LAMBS BREATH AUTOFLOWER seeds

-an unused bathroom/shower stall (very small room)
-i have a 1500 watt equiv LED full spectrum light
-black gold organic soil

I am brand new at this and really have NO IDEA what im doing. If someone can help me to get started with pointing me to the proper guide that would be greatly appreciated. I already know how to germinate the plants but after that there seems to be a grey area. Some guides say to leave the seedlings in the dark for a while, while other guides say to get them under the light immediately. I think its confusion like this that caused me to murder the babies in the first place.

Thanks

 

[Emilya Green]

Hi @ damname and welcome to the forum! There are guides out there, but they are very general in their advice because they have to be... there are as many ways to grow this weed as there are gardeners, and there really is no "correct" way.

The best thing you could do is to start up a grow journal, so that we can all follow along with you, answer questions as we go along, and sort of hold your hand as you get through your first grow. Its not that hard, but yes, you need some good guidance, and you don't need 10 different people telling you 10 different things about how you should do this or that and why they would have done it differently. You just want to get through a grow and figure out how it works.

That being said, you have a good start. You have enough light and you have good soil. Please start off by reading my guide as to how to water correctly and why pH and successive uppotting are important things. The link is down below in my signature lines. Please read each line I have carefully placed down there, filled with some of the most important key tidbits of information I have to give new gardeners of weeds.

Welcome to the cannabis world. Lets do this.

Seedlings need light, they just need less of it than older plants. put your light up fairly high at this stage... like 3 feet away... but not for long... as they get bigger they will be able to use a lot more light. I am doing experiments with this in my current grow journal... check it out!

 

[damname]

Thanks Emilya!

im thumbing through your links now. one thing on note though. i did put my lights 3 feet above the plants to start with and they stretched and died. some people on the last thread i posted here said that was the cause of their death, some others said overwatering and others said the soil was to rich. also of note is that i kept the plants in the dark for several days after i transplanted them into dirt from the paper towel. i put them under light 3 feet above and the next day all the plants but 1 died. so naturally im confused about the lighting height and what others have said about this.

 

[Emilya Green]

yes, I can see how all that advice came together badly so as to kill off your last expensive seeds.

New plants come into the world seeking the light. If they cant find the light or there is not enough of it, they stretch in a desperate attempt to find it. And then suddenly, there was light. A lot of it. Your plants were trying hard to survive on the little light they could find and they had everything full open when you switched on the spotlight. Without any sudden warning and no way to quickly adapt to the change, its a wonder any of them survived, and the one that did was a real fighter... it would have made a great plant.
You got to have light for a seedling that is about to emerge. We know that between 5000-7000 lux is about appropriate for the first few days above ground and then they become able to take even more light. Check out the light study I did on my new LEDs for a chart of just how much light plants need at the various stages of life.

 

[damname]

ok i will thanks again.

ok so ill sprout these seeds tonight (or start to). should i use soil that doesnt have alot of fertilizer to start with or is that black gold organic ok to start the plants in? some said the soil i was using was too rich and lended to killing the plants along with over watering. im headed to wally world tonight and can pick up other soil if needed.

 

[Backlipslide]

Your in great hands. I’ll keep an eye out for your journal once you start it.

 

[Emilya Green]

ok i will thanks again.

ok so ill sprout these seeds tonight (or start to). should i use soil that doesnt have alot of fertilizer to start with or is that black gold organic ok to start the plants in? some said the soil i was using was too rich and lended to killing the plants along with over watering. im headed to wally world tonight and can pick up other soil if needed.

You will hear people advise both ways on this and all I can go by is my practical experience. I have started many many a seed in very rich soil. Your soil is not even close to being as rich as some of them, like FoxFarms Ocean Forest who many advise against starting in, but I have done it over and over and over again. Miracle Grow... same story. This is a weed, and it is no cream puff of a plant. It is highly adaptable and can withstand some pretty far ranging conditions if given a chance. Your soil is going to be a piece of cake for this weed... don't let anyone tell you any differently. Regarding fertilizer, you wont need any for at least 3 weeks if you follow normal horticultural practices and uppot into fresh soil periodically. When you do need nutrients, 10 different people will give you advice, especially the guy in the hydro store down the street who secretly wants you to fail in soil so you will buy some of his equipment. Trust no one. Research out what you can. Find a method that works for you.

 

[damname]

ok so ill start them in this soil. i started the journal. ill pick up some more of those jiffy pots tonight. thanks again for the help you are giving me. you shall redeem me from my past as a plant murderer lol.

 

[Bush Doctor 77]

Welcome. Remember, you're growing a weed. More plants have been killed by kindness than neglect.

 

[Nunyabiz]

If you have decided to grow in soil then I would do a Living Organic Soil.
That way all in all it's easier with less to worry about.
No worries about pH, or if you're feeding them exactly what they need neither too much nor too little.
You just water with a compost tea or sprouted seed tea and you're done.
You also end up with the tastiest bud this way.

Since it's an autoflower I would plant the germinated seed directly into the final pot, no transplanting.
Just water the plant and not the pot if you do the super soil, if you do the No-till then you just water the whole pot because it's full of cover crop and worms and damn near impossible to overwater.
Depending on what method you chose be it a super soil LOS grow which I would use no less than 7 gallon Fabric pot and put the super soil in bottom 1/3rd and you use the Black Gold on top 2/3rds but add about 30% of rice hulls, pumice and precharged biochar for aeration and you shouldn't have any overwatering issues unless you lose your mind. And inoculate with mycorrhazae.
Or you could do a true Living Organic Soil No-till grow which would require at least a 15 gallon Fabric pot and fill to the brim with a real quality organic soil like a Clackamas Coots soil recipe, something like a Buildasoil Oly Mountain modern mix 2 and start a cover crop and add a couple hundred worms, inoculate with mycorrhazae and top dress with Gro-kashi for the fungus and probiotics.

All you do is grow and feed soil, the soil does all the rest.

 

[DreamingTrees7]

Hey all

I know this is prolly in the wrong forum but it seems i dont have permissions to post in the growing forum....so ill post it here.

The last time i tried to grow following a guide, all my crop failed costing me $100 in seeds. It was gut wrenching to say the least. I was trying to grow feminized sativa when the stems stretched thinner than hair leaving only 1 plant alive....and then several days later even that plant fell over dead. So this time im going to ASK for help before i start....maybe see if i can find an easy to understand guide suited to what i have on hand. I have searched for a guide but all of them seem very general or vague not unlike the last guide i followed that leaded to killing my plants.

So my new seeds are in..... i have LAMBS BREATH AUTOFLOWER seeds

-an unused bathroom/shower stall (very small room)
-i have a 1500 watt equiv LED full spectrum light
-black gold organic soil

I am brand new at this and really have NO IDEA what im doing. If someone can help me to get started with pointing me to the proper guide that would be greatly appreciated. I already know how to germinate the plants but after that there seems to be a grey area. Some guides say to leave the seedlings in the dark for a while, while other guides say to get them under the light immediately. I think its confusion like this that caused me to murder the babies in the first place.

Thanks

Welcome! I am on my third grow now and have already had two successful harvests. I suggest throwing out that black gold and getting some good soil from one of 420 magazines sponsors and a couple of 5 gallon cloth pots and you would be set for a whole grow. That’s what I see wrong. I personally use happy frog soil and it could provide enough nutrition for the entire life cycle of an Autoflower in a 5 gallon pot.
Also you should start a journal so we can watch and help if needed.
Good luck