Hello or 'eyup' as we say in the north of england!

[UKsecret]

just thought i'd say a quick hello and let you know my level of growing expertise lol!!

i first tried growing a cannabis plant about 10 years ago, after finding some seeds in a bag on a park in the town center. i gave the lot to a friend who i knew grew and he gave me back one of the beauties just as it was nearing maturity. long story short, someone ratted me out to the cops so it got took, theres nothing quite so bad as being interviewed by the police whilst sat next your own plant

soo, 10 years on and i bought a 400w hps out of sheer impulse! which sat in a cupboard unused for ages while i tried to beg borrow and steal a cutting/seeds of someone, until recently, when a friend asked if id like a cutting off his housmate. time went on and no cutting arrived so i just thought his mate was just some guy saying meaningless words, until one day i got a text saying " got you that thing, you need to pick it up asap" so there i was, no preparation, no nutes, no timer, nothing! basically all i had was a plant pot, a light, some soil, and some organic miracle grow.

which leads me where i am now. the plant is now in week two of flowering, fed every other watering with AN organic iguana juce bloom, which i may start adding some of the organic miracle grow dissolved in water to as it has a slightly higher p-k. i did give it a large dose of the miracle grow as i switched to 12/12 but it got burned pretty bad. im now at the stage where im giving it half strength iguana juice a week after flushing it with plain water, and slowly ramping back up the feed. so far so good and the plant looks healthy. my next learning curve will be to take some clones off this flowering plant (or go snivelling back to my friend with my tail between my legs, asking for some more cuttings!) so i can make better use of my space with a 2l hempy SOG grow.

Any friendly advice/mocking concerning my half-assed, impromptu grow would be much appreciated, I look forward to learning as much as possible about this wonderful plant from all on this forum.

cheers and bye for now.

 

[Dangerzone]

Ey up dudey, and welcome! It sounds like you're having fun with your grow and learning fast, which is great! I believe that starting out with absolutely nothing prepared can be the best way to learn - even if you're not successful, you pick up on the things you're going to need very quickly. I've got a few tips below that should help you along the way, and I wish you many successes on down the line!

NEVER let anyone know you're growing!!! Your buddy who got you the cutting is fair enough, but loose lips sink ships. Rule number 1: you do not talk about Grow Club. Rule number 2: you DO NOT talk about Grow Club.

Weed is a very simple plant - given light, earth and water, it WILL grow!! There's not much you need to do to achieve some results. On the other hand, this makes it VERY flexible, there are all sorts of things you can do to make your plants small, tall, bud bigger, grow in all sorts of crazy shapes, and make the best of its potency potential!
Look through peoples' Grow Journals on these forums to see some of the stuff that can be done. Take note of where they messed up. Check out where they have used techniques like pruning, LST (Low Stress Training) and supercropping. Learn from other peoples' mistakes and successes! - most techniques are best used in veg. stage, but still well worth learning
As you saw, Miracle-Gro is pretty hot on your plants... There are a small minority who claim success using it, but M-G is generally considered a no-no. That iguana juice? Not used it myself but it's top grade stuff A heavy feed can still cause burns and nutrient lock-out though, the key is not to over-do it.
About 2-3 weeks before you plan to harvest, you should stop all feeding and give your plant only water to flush out that nasty chemical taste from the nutes. Tons of people harvest way too early - as long as your buds look healthy and have no signs of decay or mould or anything, keep them on the plant until most of the leaves have turned yellow. Bud mass can really accelerate when the plant is starting to die off and is desperate for pollenisation.
For growing indoors, airflow is absolutely necessary especially in confined spaces. Those HID lights get really toasty so you want to exhaust that heat too! Having even a small fan somewhere at the top of your grow room, routing the hot air to a safe exit can be a life-saver! -- Take caution. If you're exhausting to the loft or to a vent on the side of your house, is there any light shining through from your room, especially at night? Will the dank smell of heavy buds get noticed by neighbors or passers-by?
Taking cuttings is pretty easy, but you're best off doing it in veg. otherwise you can end up with a 4 inch plant pushing out less than a spliff's worth of bud! (I did that last year when I accidentally snapped a branch hehehe) You might get away with taking one in week 2 of flowering. There should be some great tutorials in the forums here.

Okay, I've covered a lot more than I thought here, sorry for the long read.. Hopefully you'll get something out of it though!
Best of luck and happy growing!!

 

[vannelle]

NEVER let anyone know you're growing!!! Your buddy who got you the cutting is fair enough, but loose lips sink ships. Rule number 1: you do not talk about Grow Club. Rule number 2: you DO NOT talk about Grow Club.

3: you DO NOT talk about Grow Club!!!!