Totally New To This - First Grow - Soil - CFL - Indoor - Big Bud & Mystery Seeds

[micro]

I bet you all don't see a lot of people on here who've never smoked weed before . I've never smoked anything (cigarettes included) but hopefully in a few months here I'll be able to give it a shot! I enjoy gardening, the regular outdoor kind, so the process will be fun anyway. But the main reason I want to do it is to see what the medical benefits will be like. I have a muscular lower back problem that I mostly keep under control with exercises and stretching, but when it flares up it is a major problem. I've gotten percocet's prescribed, but those wreak havoc on me. I swear I have withdrawal symptoms after taking them for just a couple of days.

Anyway, enough about my problems Here's what I've got going so far.

Species - Big Bud from amsterdammarijuanaseeds.com - I believe they are a sponsor of 420magazine so I hope they deliver! Still waiting on the mailman.

Soil/Pots - I read "Promix" was a halfway decent option that you can mix with perlite and a little bit of vermiculite. Menards had a few different kinds of Promix, so I got two different ones. I'll post more info/pics about this stuff later. I think I'm going to use some left over pots from some bushes I put in last year, They look to me to be 4 gallon maybe.

Lights/Grow Space - See pics. Lights currently consist of 4x 26 watt cfl in garage reflectors, split with Y adapters for 2 per reflector. Color temp 6500k, 6500 lumen each. will swap in 2700k bulbs later. Do I need more? I think I might add another reflector/splitter/pair of bulbs before too long. I also have mylar sheets on order for the 3 walls and I'll make a door of sorts for the 4th side out of some cardboard.

 

[micro]

re: "Totally new to this" First grow - Soil/CFL/Indoor/BigBud & mystery seeds

My first concern now is how to weight the number of plants I have room for vs the odds of getting a female vs the size of pots to use vs having to re-pot more than once.

If I get some smaller pots, I can fit more, and therefore decrease odds of getting only males. But do I then need to re-pot the females into larger pots?

 

[Alaskan1]

re: "Totally new to this" First grow - Soil/CFL/Indoor/BigBud & mystery seeds

Welcome to forums and journals.

Although I am not a soil grower (hydro here) there are many fine soil/soiless growers who will be happy to help you out. Have you gone to the "How to" sections? Best thing you can do before you start is READ READ READ and research. Wish I had done THAT before I started lol

Again, welcome to the boards!

 

[Vampire]

re: "Totally new to this" First grow - Soil/CFL/Indoor/BigBud & mystery seeds

Subbed. Interesting Journal here. I can't help with lights cause I use LED vegging and HPS flowering but I grow in soil and just started to learn coco for my clones. I also read a review that said to avoid pro-mix soil but depending on the n-p-k value of it, some growers like it and if it lacks any amendments, the vermiculite and perlite will pump it up. I'll keep my seat here for updates.

 

[micro]

re: "Totally new to this" First grow - Soil/CFL/Indoor/BigBud & mystery seeds

When I was ordering seeds I was planning on ordering fem seeds (still in the mail ) but I must have been looking at a few too many sites at the same time and missed that the ones I got weren't feminized. On well. I'll give cloning a shot once I get that far.

Here's my soil choices. Turns out I didn't get two kinds of promix, confused myself again looking at too many different kinds. I could use some Miracle Gro but I hear that's a big no-no.

Some other random photos. The mylar wanted to do if not just to have a "door" to cover the 4th side of the "box" and I may make a "ceiling" of sorts too, if it looks like much light escapes up the top.

 

[Vampire]

re: "Totally new to this" First grow - Soil/CFL/Indoor/BigBud & mystery seeds

The pro-mix I referred to is pro-mixBX7, yours is OMRI certified which seems epic for mj grow and is the same as the Miracle Grow Organic Choice, (also OMRI approved), that I've grown with for 4 straight years yielding excellent results. Rastafari.

 

[micro]

re: "Totally new to this" First grow - Soil/CFL/Indoor/BigBud & mystery seeds

Here's what I've got after 5 days in the dirt. Should I be concerned that only 2 have germinated?
I used this germination procedure:
How do I germinate seeds in soil?

 

[Vampire]

re: "Totally new to this" First grow - Soil/CFL/Indoor/BigBud & mystery seeds

Could be the seeds were buried down deep in the soil if they didn't pop yet. I had that happen to me once and it never did sprout but keep the soil moist and dark and maybe you'll get a sprout.

 

[micro]

re: "Totally new to this" First grow - Soil/CFL/Indoor/BigBud & mystery seeds

A couple of days later another small sprout showed up, so I'm at 3 of 8. Not great, but I feel a lot better about 17% odds at all male plants vs 25%. I'll put up more pictures tonight, maybe more late bloomers will show themselves.

 

[micro]

re: "Totally new to this" First grow - Soil/CFL/Indoor/BigBud & mystery seeds

3rd sprout is really small in the bottom left, not sure it's going to make it actually.

Here's a photo of a tent type thing I made out of cardboard panels with mylar. Yes, those are wire clothes hangers, keeps the cardboard from folding.

 

[GigaGrew]

re: "Totally new to this" First grow - Soil/CFL/Indoor/BigBud & mystery seeds

subbed
keep up the good work, have faith, some more may sprout.
i reccomend germinating in a dark place in a cup of warm water and then dropping them in the soil once you see the tap root.

people have different beliefs on which way up the seed should be potted, i seem to be unique so far in planting them on their side. (seeds are egg shaped, try standing one of them on its top or bottom wihout human intervention, lol)

love the diy reflectors, who gives a damn what they look like, i bet the plants love you for it

 

[dragontoker]

re: "Totally new to this" First grow - Soil/CFL/Indoor/BigBud & mystery seeds

Just a FYI about your soil, actually about your perlite. That stuff you used is miracle grow enhanced, meaning it has nutes added to it. It could be hot for seedlings. I would avoid it on the next grow and find just plain perlite. I bought a bag of the same stuff and didnt realize what I bought until I got home,,,,its sitting in the basement unused till I can find a home for it outside in one of the flower beds.

 

[Twelve12]

re: "Totally new to this" First grow - Soil/CFL/Indoor/BigBud & mystery seeds

High micro, congrats on your new grow first time grower. Starting from regular seeds you get can expect 3:1 female:male ratio. Best to start with feminized seeds so there is no time, space, energy, water and nutrients are not wasted on potential males. If you're into breeding (which I don't think you are at this time) then start with feminized seeds.

It is not too late to get some. To continue with this, I suggest veg them out in small containers for a month then take cuttings from each plants and root them out. Then place the clones in flower to see which are male/female. From there you can trash the males and transplant the remaining females to bigger container, and continue to veg them out or flower them.

Don't forget to ad a fan or two and let air circulate. Once they get bigger you will need odor control and exhaust system to pull in fresh air. Right now the plants are young, with minimal setup will get you by, once they mature (after 4 weeks) the setup require much more to keep them healthy and alive.

 

[micro]

re: "Totally new to this" First grow - Soil/CFL/Indoor/BigBud & mystery seeds

I don't plan to have a big operation, I just planted 8 b/c I figured I'd kill some, and half of the rest would be male. I wish I had bought feminized seeds, but I didn't, so I'm going to give it a shot with what I did get (I probably spent more $$$ than I should have). If it doesn't work out with these, I think I'll make my next purchase from the nirvana shop. I have good air circulation, it is in my utility room which has an outdoor air intake for fresh air. I was hoping to avoid smell issues by keeping it small. Is that going to be a problem even if I only keep 1 or 2 mature plants?

 

[Twelve12]

re: "Totally new to this" First grow - Soil/CFL/Indoor/BigBud & mystery seeds

Is that going to be a problem even if I only keep 1 or 2 mature plants?

Yes, definitely. With 1g of nug can stinks up the whole house so with 1-2 plants budding will be obvious. Right now the plants are still young and is not producing much odor however you want to have the carbon up and running before it reaches maturity (4-6 weeks in veg), and definitely have it up before flowering.

 

[GigaGrew]

re: "Totally new to this" First grow - Soil/CFL/Indoor/BigBud & mystery seeds

just a random comment whilst we are on the subject of smell.
recent technological advancements have made (and this is not a joke!) boxer shorts designed for people like myself who have IBS that can filter smells a thousand times stronger than the worst fart you can make. lmao

its funny now, but it may be a cheap and easy way for us to diy our own carbon filters in the near future.

 

[SmokzAlot]

re: "Totally new to this" First grow - Soil/CFL/Indoor/BigBud & mystery seeds

darn right that's FUNNY :rolleyes3

 

[micro]

re: "Totally new to this" First grow - Soil/CFL/Indoor/BigBud & mystery seeds

How airtight does the odor removal system need to be? If I have plastic sheeting hanging from a height adjustable frame and resting on the ground, will that work well enough? I'll do ducting at the top sucking air out and into a carbon filter.

 

[micro]

re: "Totally new to this" First grow - Soil/CFL/Indoor/BigBud & mystery seeds

Here's what I'm thinking:

Black is a pvc pipe frame with plastic sheeting "skin"
blue is plastic sheeting draped/hanging off the pvc pipe frame
green is fan/duct/carbon filter.
Whole thing hangs from joists in the basement. I may try clamping my CFL clamps to this frame if it ends up sturdy enough too. As plats get higher, frame/lights/walls gets higher (or when I need to take a look at things without crawling around on the ground)

 

[GigaGrew]

re: "Totally new to this" First grow - Soil/CFL/Indoor/BigBud & mystery seeds

if the seal is good enough all round and the outlet fan has a greater rating than the accidental or deliberate air intake, you should have a negative pressure enviroment. that should do a very good job of preventing smell leaks.