Good day to you all

[EARTHWALKER]

Hi all. Firstly whenever I need to find something out and type it into google, I am always directed here, so it made sense to make an account

I'm a 44 year old male from Mauritius but been living in the UK for 37 years. I still haven't got used to the cold haha.

I have osteoarthritis, which really causes me some grief when it gets cold, which to me is about 10 months of the year. June and July are pain-free months and I very much look forward to them each year.

I also have a twisted spine and two knackered knees and one very weak wrist due to being high-sided by a giant people carrier while on my motorcycle 3 years ago. Suffice to say, I cannot ride anything more than a pathetic twist 'n' go anymore.

I decided to try and grow something for myself rather than constantly buy it from rip-off merchants; as I really don't have much money to live on as can only work part-time before my back yells at me and tells me to 'GO HOME AND REST'

Apart from all that, I am quite a happy bunny and glad to be here.

My first grow is 4 weeks in, but technically 2 weeks as the plant was in the upstairs window for 2 weeks as I couldn't afford a light. It now has a 400w dual spectrum light and reflector on my bedroom floor. Rather thin and spindly, kept falling over, but I've now re-packed it and most of it is now under some fresh cocoa soil. Windows open and it's moving slightly from the breeze. I removed it's splint about an hour ago and it is still standing. That's longer than it's lasted before falling over before. I give it a good 12 hours of light about 15 inches from the canopy. I can keep my hand there for 2 minutes, so I think that's a good distance.

If I get any problems, I'm sure I can rely on the many experts here to put me straight or at least point me in the right direction.

Thanks again for the marvelous forum of knowledge and skill.

Here are some pics:-

 

[Beateo]

EARTHWALKER!! Great to have you on board. This really is a great place to get information on any aspect of our favorite plant! I wouldn't worry too much about your plants stretch.. mine were much more spindly and are doing fine now.... just needed to get a bit more light to them. If I were to give any new member a bit of advice it would be to start a journal!! Once I started a journal I started getting tons of great advice to help my grow along. Also, almost anything you need can be found by using the search feature of this site. It's truly a wonderful community to be a part of and welcome once again.

 

[devils letuce]

hey man to

if u take a pair of polarized sun glasses and put it in front of the camera lens it will help with the lines in the pic from the light .
lower your light to a 12 inches and check it then .

if u don't have a fan blowing on them u might wanna leave it were u have it .

i see u said u r giving it 12 hrs of light .

are u putting her in flower already?

 

[SmokerJoe]

Hey there. Welcome to 420 magazine forums. Im sure you will love it here you came to the right place. I too started growing on a window seal but instead of a 400 watt like you I went with 600 instead. 15 inches is a good distance. I actually would put closer if you can hold your hand there for 2 minutes like you say then you can move it 3-6 inches closer. Welcome to the site and feel free to stop by my grow journals and off topic threads. Hope to see you around.

 

[OnlyOrganic]

Greetings!

Good luck, you'll absolutely enjoy it here!

 

[EARTHWALKER]

Thank you all for the warm welcome.

I don't have any fans blowing on her as the extra electricity would kill me. It's been very difficult financially to get this far, but I made it and hopefully it will mean a little bit more of financial freedom.

"are u putting her in flower already? " I'm really not sure what you mean. I'm just letting her do her thing and see what happens

I'll copy some of this to a journal as suggested as I have more to add.

Thanks again.

 

[Beateo]

EARTHWALKER, I think what Devils Letuce was meaning is that 12 hours lights on / 12 hours lights off is a schedule used to put the plants into flowering cycle as opposed to something like a 24/0 or 18/6 schedule which are generally used to achieve vegetative growth prior to trying to get the plant to flower. (I'm really not sure how any of the schedules would affect auto-flowering seeds??) My guess is that if you have your plants on a 12/12 schedule right from seeds, you'll have them go immediately into flowering and end up with really small plants when they finish. Mine have been on 18/6 lighting for almost 2 months now and I'm really close to flipping over to 12/12 cycle.
To create a journal, you need to go to the "grow room" link at the top of the page and click on it, then click on "journals in progress" and then post new thread. The first thread on that page is "how to make a grow journal" Good luck.

 

[SmokerJoe]

Hey earthwalker. A flowering cycle is where the buds grow. The 12 on 12 off(12 hours of light 12 of darkness) is what triggers this to happen. In 6-12 weeks(strain variable dependent) from the time you switch to 12/12 until the time to harvest and dry your crop you will see white hairs grow these indicate your plant as being a female. If you keep your light cycle as it is (commonly said as 12/12 for short because usually growers operate in 24 cycles) then your plant will end up being maybe 14-18 tall at the most with little to no branching(you want them branches especially as a beginner)unless you are going for a sea of green(rows and rows of single stemmed with buds forming the length of the stem) Unless you increase your light to at least 16 hours or so then your plants wont be doing to well and will be primarily leaf come harvest time. So if you want that bud weight the very first thing you should do is be generous with the duration of light. This is all the time I have for now but I thought id come back to help you out since I envision deer in headlights look and want to work with you to get you set in the right direction. Take care for now.

 

[EARTHWALKER]

My Journal is here peeps. If you can post any help there, it would be appreciated as I think my plant my be a little poorly

My First Ever Grow - UK Based in My Bedroom

 

[RickityCrickt]

to I see you're in good hands already Good luck with your grow!

 

[EARTHWALKER]

Thanks Ricky. Hopefully people will look at my journal now as I'm putting all info there.