First time growing in 40 years

[mammonista]

Hey everybody,
Grew a few plants in my apartment a long time ago. Got (justifiably) paranoid and ended the grow after a few weeks. Recently I moved to Oregon where it's legal! So my gf (non-user) said I could grow a few plants and I opted to do a very small indoor grow and bought a little grow tent (24"x24"x48") that I could fit in a corner of the garage. Heated with a small ceramic heater pumping air through a 6" tube, and lit with a combination of four 35-watt CFL bulbs and one LED this is an ideal situation for me.
With this small space I figured I would grow one plant at a time and germinated a White Widow feminized seed, which I almost killed early on with a couple of small LED lights spaced about an inch above the seedling? Too much light! Who knew? But when I saw dark spots on the first leaves I realized I had a problem and figured out it had to be the lights.
Moved the plant into the grow tent a few weeks ago and it's all been good since then.
But now I have another issue/question.
Plant started developing flowers a couple of days ago, and I thought, "that can't be right, this plant is only 9 weeks old!" Then looking back at my order I realized I mistakenly ordered 'auto flowering' seeds! Yipes!
??? So here are my questions ???
- This plant still has a lot of room to fill out and develop 'tops'. I'm running the lights for 18 hours a day. Will the plant continue to fill out even though it has now entered the flowering stage?
- How do I know the plant is ready to harvest?
- I'm growing in Coco with all the right fertilizers. Can the Coco be re-used over and over again? Can it be washed of accumulated salts? Is this a stupid question?
Any help would be greatly appreciated by a newbie grower.
thanks in advance,
M

 

[Ian Bastage]

Welcome mammonista

Yes, you have questions. And we have answers. You can try keyword searches to dig up info but for fast answers, go to:

Forum > THE GROW ROOM > Frequently Asked Questions > Ask Us Anything - Sharing Knowledge 420Style

I suggest that you read some grow journals & dive into our resources.

Ian

 

[Grandpa Tokin]

Welcome! Take a look at some of the journals and think about starting one. There are a ton of fantastic growers here.

I’ll take a stab at some of your questions

- Will the plant continue to fill out even though it has now entered the flowering stage? Yes, somewhat. Depends on genetics.

- How do I know the plant is ready to harvest? Most people go by what the trichomes look like. Many people prefer a little Amber with mostly cloudy heads and very little clear. I don’t grow autos, but I would imagine 8-9 weeks.

- I'm growing in Coco with all the right fertilizers. Can the Coco be re-used over and over again? Can it be washed of accumulated salts? Is this a stupid question? I don’t know much about coco, but if you take Ian’s advice you’re sure to get one.

Good luck!