First Grow Part 1 - Setup

[SilverCattona]

I'm using Premier Potting Soil 15L | Walmart.ca
Glad the light will be good for veg, was a bit unsure because it says flowering light on amazon. I can't really afford new nutes right now, My credit card is almost maxed and I need to save whats left for food. I'll be able to pay it back in 2-3 months, but for now I'm stuck with a small box of Miracle Grow. I have it at 1/2 what the box says to use. How often should I water my plants with nutes? the box says every other week, but I thought I'd ask to be safe. Also, Is it safe to take a leaf from my plant? I want to take a full leaf(cut at the steam) and um..laminate it for lack of a better word.

 

[Green Closet]

Yeah the lights are good for flower because they have more red spectrum light. But I used my light from day one, sprouting from seed and they did just fine. I think the veg time may be a little longer under LED than it would be with an hps light but you will be in good hands with that light, don't worry.

That soil but it looks pretty decent, it looks like it has sphagnum peat moss and perlite so it probably has decent drainage, I can't tell does it have any added fertilizer or nutrients?

I don't know for sure whats all in the miracle grow nutes but I would go really really really light on them at first.. like 1/4 the recommended dosage or lower at first to see how it reacts. It's hard to say for sure how often to nute, each plant is different. And I also don't know much about miracle grow with cannabis, but in general most people recommend feeding the plants every other watering or every third watering. However, t's also not a bad idea to hold off on nutrients until your plant shows signs that it needs nutes. It may not need nutes for awhile until you can actually afford good nutrients.

I do know however that you will need to supplement Calcium and Magnesium. Especially if your using Reverse Osmosis water. Your gonna want to buy some calcium magnesium supplement, or make your own. To make your own calmag you can grind up CLEAN eggshells really fine in a coffee grinder mix it with your water and then mix in some regular epsom salt that you can get at CVS or walmart. It's easier to just buy a bottle of calcium magnesium supplement though, and it really isn't that expensive. Your also testing the ph of your water correct? In soil you want your water ph to be around 6.5 with EVERY watering and feeding. Obviously you also want to let your soil dry out a little every time before you water.

How large is your plant now? You still haven't posted up any pictures... If it's getting rather large I don't see any harm in taking a fan leaf off. Many people actually cut off fan leaves to allow for better light penetration to reach the branches. You don't want to cut off the newer leaves that are forming at the tips of branches though. Unless your trying to control growth.

 

[SilverCattona]

That soil but it looks pretty decent, it looks like it has sphagnum peat moss and perlite so it probably has decent drainage, I can't tell does it have any added fertilizer or nutrients?

It just says a mixture of soil, perlite, and peat moss on the bag, so I don't think it has any fertilizer or nutrients.

I don't know for sure whats all in the miracle grow nutes but I would go really really really light on them at first.. like 1/4 the recommended dosage or lower at first to see how it reacts. It's hard to say for sure how often to nute, each plant is different. And I also don't know much about miracle grow with cannabis, but in general most people recommend feeding the plants every other watering or every third watering. However, t's also not a bad idea to hold off on nutrients until your plant shows signs that it needs nutes. It may not need nutes for awhile until you can actually afford good nutrients.

Okay, I'll try to find some of the fox..something nutes(I forget what they're called, It's on an earlier post, I'll look it up)

I do know however that you will need to supplement Calcium and Magnesium. Especially if your using Reverse Osmosis water. Your gonna want to buy some calcium magnesium supplement, or make your own. To make your own calmag you can grind up CLEAN eggshells really fine in a coffee grinder mix it with your water and then mix in some regular epsom salt that you can get at CVS or walmart. It's easier to just buy a bottle of calcium magnesium supplement though, and it really isn't that expensive. Your also testing the ph of your water correct? In soil you want your water ph to be around 6.5 with EVERY watering and feeding. Obviously you also want to let your soil dry out a little every time before you water.

I don't know the ph, I just let the water distill for a few days, I'll try to get the supplements later if I can find them.

How large is your plant now? You still haven't posted up any pictures... If it's getting rather large I don't see any harm in taking a fan leaf off. Many people actually cut off fan leaves to allow for better light penetration to reach the branches. You don't want to cut off the newer leaves that are forming at the tips of branches though. Unless your trying to control growth.

It's getting big. I haven't posted pics because there has been a bunch of police lurking around the neighborhood and I really don't think it's safe right now. I have pics, and as soon as it quiets down I'll add them. Going to try to limit my posts as well. As the saying goes: Better safe than sorry.

 

[Green Closet]

From what I know, the 420 mag servers are located in Canada, so thats where your IP address is stored.. So I don't think they can trace anything back to you. But i guess better safe than sorry.

I'd say thats an ok soil mixture to use. You will most likely need to supplement nutes at some point though. With good soil, it will act as a buffer and correct the waters ph to an extent. But you really should be adjusting your ph to 6.5 or else your plant will end up developing some kind of nutrient lockout. They only absorb nutrients at certain ph levels. Here a chart at what ph nutrients are absorbed by the roots.

If you do decide to get Fox Farm nutes, be very cautious when using them because they are SUPER strong.. My plants got over-nuted using them and I was even using less than 1/4 of the recommended dosage.. Some of it may have been that the strain I was growing (which ended up herming on me..) wasn't very hardy. It seemed very susceptible to everything like temp ph nutes everything.. But still you gotta be careful with them. I know there are many other more user friendly nutes.

 

[SilverCattona]

I'm in Canada. Do I have to worry?

 

[Green Closet]

I'm not an expert on internet cryptology so I don't know. Is it illegal in Canada to grow a plant?

 

[SilverCattona]

Very. At lest where I am. Also, I noticed plants sprouting out of the pot with the other plant. I was removing them, but then I got curious and planted one in a 2L pop bottle. I started watering and growing it, curious to find out what it was, because I'd only planted one seed in the pot and I didn't understand what it was. I checked it today, and it appears to be another Marijuana plant. Has anyone had this happen to them? Also, I'm going to Start flowering next Monday, What do I need to know? I heard to pick after 50%-70% of the white hairs darkened, I'm going to hang them in my closet for drying and I have mason jars for curing, I'm going to remove the leaves right before I hang it to dry.
P.S. The plant still seems pretty small, so I'm going to keep it in the Veg stage until it reaches 1 foot at least. I'm going to post a pic after I finish this message.

 

[SilverCattona]

I said would so here it is, my plants progress up till now.

The new plant:

 

[SilverCattona]

Umm...Small problem. The roots have grown DEEP out the bottom of the pot. I mean like 5 inches of root give or take an inch. I'm going to put the plant into flowering tonight when the plant goes dark, I just need to know, after the light goes off can I cange when the light turns on? Ex. If it has been turning on at 2:45 A.M. and off at 8:45 P.M. can I change it to On at 9:30 A.M and off at 9:30 P.M? or will this hurt the plant, and Instead I should set it to turn on at 2:45 A.M. and off at 2:45 P.M.? It's mostly to let me have it off while I sleep.
P.S. I just talked with my roommates mother and she gave me some advice about roots and confirmed another bucket I have is good for a full sized plant, Since it is currently too small according to her. I"m going to transplant it as soon as I clean the bucket out and keep it in veg for a bit longer. I'm also going to add a big wood roasting stick (for marshmallows and hotdogs) to help it grow straight. I'd still like to know about the light, and any info on Transplanting would be helpful as well.

 

[SilverCattona]

I've transplanted it into a bigger bucket. I gave it a tiny bit of nutes and sprayed it, Tomorrow I Leave for Anime North for 3 days 2 nights so I'm going to give it a big watering 1/2 hour - 1 hour before I leave, No nutes unless someone recommends otherwise. It now has gravel just covering the bottom of the new "pot" to help with drainage. I'm going to continue growing it until it reaches 1/2 the height I want it to be, another week - 3 weeks, and then I'll put it in flowering, So any flowering advice would be good.

 

[rillos]

no nutes since you just transplanted. and yes you can change your lighting time but i would only do it once.

 

[Green Closet]

Def keep vegging for a while, she's still kinda small. She will most likely almost double her size during flower so keep that in mind how big you want her in the end. She's looking pretty healthy, it's nice to finally see a picture of her!

I'd stop spraying her with water. Theres really no reason to do that unless your foliar feeding her with nutrients, which you aren't doing. Speaking of nutrients how much have you been feeding her, and how often? Make sure your not giving her too much. And water her on and off with nutes. One watering give her nutes, then let her dry out, then water her with PLAIN PH'd water really well, enough to get a good amount of runoff out of the bottom of the pot. Let her dry out again... ect. You may want to water with plain water twice in between feedings. ALWAYS let the soil dry out before watering her again. Like you want it to be completely dry on top. A good thing to do once is to let her dry out til she starts drooping a little bit. Then you know that you want to water her a little bit before she starts drooping next time. It gives you a good idea how long it takes til its watering time again. It's a good habit to get into of lifting the pots up when you water her and then keep lifting it up everyday, when it starts to feel light you know you need to water. You eventually get a feel for when she needs watering. I just lift my plant up and can tell when to water her.

That plant in the last photo is definitely not a pot plant, thats some kind of weed or something I don't even know what that is. Your root situation is probably caused by you leaving the pot sitting in a puddle of water.. Don't let her sit in water after watering her. When you transplant try to keep the roots intact as much as possible in the new pot. Give her at least a week after transplanting to recoup before flipping to 12/12. When you flip to 12/12 you can change the lighting schedule, just make sure it is consistent 12 on 12 off at the same time everyday after you change. And make sure there is NO light that hits her when the lights are off during flower.

Make sure you get a PH adjusting kit and PH test kit sometime soon, you need to have your water PH'd correctly or your plant will start to develop problems. PH up and PH down as well as a PH test kit isn't very expensive at all. Test the water you've been giving her. If its far away from 6.5 in either direction your gonna want to adjust it. Just make sure if its really far away from 6.5 that you don't adjust it all the way right away. Changing the PH too drastically can stress out the plant. You want to change the PH gradually with each watering so it doesn't stress her out.

Your look like your doing well so far, keep up the good work!

 

[Green Closet]

I just added a bunch of stuff to that previous post.

 

[SilverCattona]

I've put a line on the wall where the plant is 1/2 way to 1 inch below the light, which should give me the biggest plant I can grow in the box, right? I don't know what the other plant is, I'll probably get rid of it tomorrow when I wake up before I leave. For Nutes I've been watering it with nutes, leaving it a day or two and watering with tap water I leave out to distil. I'll look for something to test the ph of the water with, though the plant seems to be doing okay without it. The leaves are green and it grows like crazy everyday. I can't wait for flowering though, not because I'll have Marijuana but because I'll finally be able to sleep without it turning on at 2:45 AM and waking me up.

 

[Green Closet]

1 inch under the light isn't ideal, but you'd probably be able to swing it.. You'd be better leaving yourself a little more room than that though. Instead of only waiting a day or two to water, really make sure the soil is drying out before you water it again. After two days it may be dry... but just get into the habit of checking for it to be dry. Her water uptake will change as she grows too.

Your working with a relatively narrow area, what types of training were you planning on doing, if any.

 

[SilverCattona]

When I started I knew very little of training the plant and because this is my first grow I wasn't going to try it just to make sure I didn't do it wrong and ruin the whole thing. The only training I know about is tying the plant down, so if it's too close o the top I'll tie the top down to something.
P.S. I just remembered the light can be raised another foot at most so If it gets too close first I'll try raising the light and if it grows into it again I'll attempt tying it down, I'd just prefer not to for my first grow. My next grow I plan to try light stress training, But that's not for a while, I have to move so I won't be growing a new plant until the move is done.

 

[Pittbull72]

For your CFL`s here is an inexpensive way to set em up. Lowes, home depot (even walmart) you can get a bathroom fixture. They come in 4, 6 , or even 8 socket fixtures) so find whatever size fits your cab best. The 4 socket is under 20 bucks. Y splitters are about 2 bucks each, so you can make a 4 socket hold 8 bulbs. A replacement lamp cord is 3 bucks, wire it to the junction box. Make your reflector out of whatever, I found mine in the heating supplies at lowes (7 bucks -it was a heating vent already bent in the shape I needed). Screw the fixture to your reflector and presto! An effective CFL setup for around 40 bucks. You can check mine out to kinda see what im talking about and there's tons of how 2 vids on utube. A fixture like this along with your little LED would kick azz in that cab of yours! Hope this helps

 

[SilverCattona]

Thank you for the advice, I'll use it next grow. For now though, I have a problem. I was away at a convention this weekend so I didn't hear when water pipe(s) for the outside hose broke and the hose was left on, So our bathroom and my room were flooded. Unfortunately, the plant was in my room, and now they have to rip the wall open and fix the pipe(s). Right now the plant is outside in a semi-safe place, but it will be found where it is, there's no question about that. My question is: If I think I can get away with it, Should I start Flowering now? I know it's not as big as it should be, but at this point I'm willing to cut how much I gain so I can Gain something instead of nothing or jail time. Also, if I don't think I can get away with it how do I dispose of it? Please understand that this option is a last resort and will only be done if I have no other option. I'd hate to have to destroy all the progress it made but I'd rather destroy it than have me and my roommate thrown in jail.

 

[SilverCattona]

I've moved the plant into a cardboard box in our back storage room. It has 1 cfl bulb to keep it alive but slow the growth. If someone comes over I have to go to the back and put a pre-cut piece of tape over it. It should buy me a little time, Hopefully until I know when they're ripping the wall open and when they'll be done so I can figure out what to do with it until then. Because this is still high risk, I'd still like to know how to safely destroy the plant if need be. Also, We'll probably put the plant into flowering as soon as we can, We don't want to have another problem like this as we're going to flower and after I move I'll see if I can grow at my new house.

 

[SilverCattona]

We found a risky solution. It's going to continue growing. Not going to give any information. Please don't ask for any. If everything works out then worst case it gets found without fingerprints.