New Grower

[Tanner]

Hey everyone hows it going. Im brand new to this whole growing experience but its something ive been wanting to do forever now. I've researched, watched vids, read some key info out of books, and this is the best site that iv'e found. But to let you guys know whats up and to maybe improve what ive done, I'm going to let you guys know what steps ive taken thus far. Im on a low budget and I'm just experimenting at the moment to find out what methods work best in my growing environment. So the seeds that i'm using are from some decent mid grade weed that i picked up from a friend. I'm using 16 oz. plastic cups till i transport them into something bigger. I only plan on transporting once. I have two 4' 32 watt daylight florous, with one 18" 20 watt aquarium flouro. I have the light about 6" from the top of the cup. The soil i'm using is a cheap Schultz Flowering Plant Potting Soil. Has, composted forest products, canadian sphangnum peat moss, horticultural perlite, a wetting agent, and lime. I heard that the plants love sand. So in just one of the four plants i planted I added some sand from outside my apartment. I germinated the seeds and found the four best ones, put them in the soil two days ago and now three of the four plants have sprouted. The fastest to sprout was the seed buried in the sand. My growing area is a 5' long X 3' wide X 6' high closet. I have the closet door opened up and the door to the room opened up for air circulation. I don't really have to hide it. I live alone. I have the apartment temp set at about 75 degrees Farenheit but most of the time the air is off and it sits at a steady 80 degrees Farenheit. I live in a very humid climate near the beach but far enough away to not have to worry about salts. I don't think I left anything out. Once again my experience is in the experimental state and will be more willing to put some money into it when I know I can make it work. So may the fun begin. I'm keeping a jounal to document the differences in the two types of soil I have and to keep a daily progress report. If there are any tips that you guys want to give than I would really appreciate it. I love what you guys do and can't wait to get a toke off my own home grown bud.

 

[ermjoy]

Hey Tanner,, Good luck with your experiments.. I always enjoy reading journals when the grower experiments a little. Enjoy

 

[Tanner]

Alright it's day three and the plants seem to be coming out fine. Ive ripped my apartment apart trying to find my camera. No luck. I could sit here all day and read these forums. TONS of great info. I'll take some pics and keep anyone interested up to date. If any one could make some suggestions, criticism would be greatly apreciated. Thx. I know some pics would help out a ton.

 

[Firepower]

did you sterilize the sand before you used it? ive heard sand from outside is better when sterilized, if you need the process just do a search here, but i believe it has to be heated in oven for a bit in order to sterilize it..

 

[Tanner]

I didn't steralized the sand before i put it in the pot. So contaminants could be an issue. If the plant dies and the other one lives, i'll assume the sand played an important role. But thanks for the info on the whole steralization thing.

I am down to just two plants now. The other two didn't die. I gave them to a close friend of mine so he could get a little experience as well. I've been giving him all of the info i've been getting from this site.

Well it's day number seven now for these two, fifth day out of the soil. It seems like i've made some sort of progress. No funky colors and they haven't stopped growing.

A couple quick questions...
1. Are the leaves supposed to be droopy like in the first pic?
2. How much longer before I should start fertalizing... should I fertalize?
3. Is there a brand of fertalizer that I can pick up at Wal-Mart, Lowe's, Home Depot, or other common garden supplies store?

 

[shuggy4105]

hey man,those ladies looks fine.With those "cfl`s" you should keep them just 2" from the top of the plant, that way they`ll grow short and bushy, instead of tall and skinny.
You shouldn`t give any nutes untill 3-4 weeks, as they have all they need in the soil and seed to establish themselves a good root system.
Just keep an eye on them for "heat stress" but that`s the good thing about cfl`s, the lights can be kept within 2" of the plant tops creating a shorter,bushier plant.
When you first begin using nutes, only give half the reccomended dose on the instructions.MJ can take as much fert as you want to give it, as long as you administer them "gradually".
Good luck with your grow dude, any problems just ask in the relevant section of the forum:aok:.
Shuggy.:smoke1: :48: :smoke1:
get ferts with an NPK ratio 20-20-20,which is the same as 10-10-10 or round about that.
Did you add perlite or vermiculite to your soil mix?
for veg you need high "N"(nitrogen) for good growth.for flowering you want the exact opposite, low "N" and high "K". like a 5-5-10 ratio.

 

[Tanner]

Alright, I finally moved my plant to a pot now, where it will spend the rest of it's life. I think she looks pretty sexy for my first one. And I look foward to coming home from work to see how much she has grown. I call her a she because I have strong faith that my first plant will be a girl. If anyone knows or recognizes the strain let me know. The one I planted in the sand is growing slowly. So I guess for futur reference, adding mysterious unsteralized sand to the mix was a mistake. But let me know what you guys think.

 

[shuggy4105]

deffinately indica dominant strain, what, i don`t know.
nodes look nice and tight.
what size pots have you used as your "last transplant"?