trying to save money, need help

[mrkingford]

After becoming disabled my income went down quite a bit, now of course i'm not about to cut down on my "medicine" if you will.
So i germinated about 25 seeds from my last bag of commercial weed in wet paper towels in a sandwich bag and got 11 nice ones after 3 days.
I planted them in 9" pots, some with miracle grow organic potting soil and some with miracle grow "double the growth" potting soil.
I covered them with saran wrap and placed them in a room with a thermostat heater set at 79 degrees and a fan on at all times. i have a 4 foot fluorescent light 5 inches above them on 18/6. So far 6 came up and one in actually 3 inches tall !!
I only water them with bottled water.
Questions;
1) how much do i water? and how often?
2) am i missing anything? doing anything bad or wrong?
3) do i NEED to buy better lights or can i grow with the 4 foot flurescent?

Any assistance would be appreatiated, thank you in advance.

 

[Friend-of-a-friend]

you can start with that light, but you'll definitely need to upgrade. And MG anything isnt really good for MJ, so for future reference would go the the "references" section in this forum and read the guides. Will answer pretty much every question if your patient enuff to read thru them.

 

[mrkingford]

And MG anything isnt really good for MJ


Why do you say that? What exactly is wrong with MG? It cost 13.57 for the one bag ang 9.98 for the small organic bag.
Dam, what is better and why?
P.S. you may have guessed that this is my 1st ever grow in over 23 years of smoking.
I learned what i know now by watching videos on you tube.

And what kind of lights will i need and when and how much are they?
Again, thanks in advance

 

[Friend-of-a-friend]

It's in the whole "time release nutes" thing. The Nutes in it are for general houseplants. And MJ requires different nutes at different stages of growth. I grew my first time in MG, and did ok, but now I make my own soil mix. You'll eventually need to get a High Pressure Sodium light for flowering, and most would recomend a Metal Halide for veg.

 

[pcduck]

Most people here do not like MG. Check out The Brothers Grunts threads he is a MG grower

MG is usable just not the best for seedlings.

Get you light closer. you need 5000 lumens/sqft

When watering: No nutes for a long time, wait to dry, then drench.

Also check my candy grow is MG soil

 

[mrkingford]

Lowes has HPS light for 19.98 per 400 watt bulb.
What kind of "housing" unit does it require?
Do i need a ballist? I read about these but don't understand them.
WHen do i switch from veggie to flowering?
help,lol

 

[pcduck]

Yes it needs a ballasts(housing)
Switch whenever you want to 12/12

 

[mrkingford]

Switch whenever you want to 12/12

?? at 12" or 30 days or ?

does the ballist come with the housing unit, and what is the average cost?

 

[Lemmongrass]

the ballast will cost you about $100. hood, another 30-150. you can find cheap kits with a whole 400w setup for about 120.

you need a bulb, ballast, hood, socket, and cord. it ends up being cheaper to buy a set most times. look on goodly HTG + 400w. im pretty sure they have a nice setup for about $120. thats honestly as best as it will get.

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

You really need to do some reading--you are going to need more/better light and some fans for ventilation and air circulation. You are going to need a light tight space when you put your plants into flowering. When you put them into flowering is generally determined by how much space you have. The longer you let it veg (within reason), the larger the plant and the more bud you will harvest. However, keep in mind that many sativas will double or triple in size once put into 12/12. The size HPS you need is also determined by the size of your space. You are going to want 5000 lumens per sq ft when flowering. A 400W is good for about 8-10 sq ft.

 

[mrkingford]

well, it's the am again and 10 of my 11 germinated seeds sprouted.
One is 4" already after 2 days breaking dirt and most others are 2-3".
There is one that barely broke ground and does'nt seem to be growing, should i pull it?
Other than that they look good. I'll try and post some pics later when my wife gets home from work, as i am computer illiterate (somewhat).
Maybe i can get more advice then.
Thanks so far for all your replies.

 

[Hick]

You really need to do some reading--you are going to need more/better light and some fans for ventilation and air circulation. You are going to need a light tight space when you put your plants into flowering. When you put them into flowering is generally determined by how much space you have. The longer you let it veg (within reason), the larger the plant and the more bud you will harvest. However, keep in mind that many sativas will double or triple in size once put into 12/12. The size HPS you need is also determined by the size of your space. You are going to want 5000 lumens per sq ft when flowering. A 400W is good for about 8-10 sq ft.

:yeahthat:.... --> http://www.marijuanapassion.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9396

 

[Friend-of-a-friend]

I wouldnt pull it or mess with any of them. Just keep the light pretty close on em (but watch the heat, you can fry a seedling in minutes) and read up on here. Good luck man!

 

[mrkingford]

actually, it looks like it is slowly growing now, i thought it might be dead, but it was most likely a seed that was'nt as germinated as well as some others.
i'm taking pics now, lets see if i can fiqure out how to post them, lol.

 

[LassChance]

And MG anything isnt really good for MJ


Why do you say that? What exactly is wrong with MG? It cost 13.57 for the one bag ang 9.98 for the small organic bag.
Dam, what is better and why?
P.S. you may have guessed that this is my 1st ever grow in over 23 years of smoking.
I learned what i know now by watching videos on you tube.

And what kind of lights will i need and when and how much are they?
Again, thanks in advance

Bless your heart!
Im doing my first "serious" grow, too and like you, I sprang for the big bag od MG, not knowing any better! OK, NEXT time we'll get something better. Meantime, if you cant afford to swith soils, the plants will still make it--remember it IS a WEED, and a tough little muther.
Now last year I grew 10 plants in Miracle Grow under a four foot flo JUST LIKE YOU and YES I got over an oz of damn potent bud. It was light and fluffy, no heavy dense buds...but it worked FINE. How good was the weed you took the seeds from? You will get that same quality, but light, fluffy buds. "Why only ONE oz from TEN plants", you ask? LOL...because my OTHER mistake was, I grew em in little bitty 16 oz plastic cups...sigh. So, each plant was only about 14-16" tall at completion.
In other words, I made every mistake you've made PLUS a few more! and STILL got some mighty fine smoke. (My one saving grace was I had good seeds--Im hoping yours are, too.

Now here's something you could consider, as I have. OK--we both bought MG soil. Im on disability too, and I know how tight the money is. BUT....

soon as my present 10 are big enough to clone Im planning on putting the clones in Hempy Buckets--no more MG soil! Perlite and vermiculite are relatively cheap, if you get the BIG bags. If you havent heard of the Hempy method, google that, too, LOL. It's a...mind blower.

Have no fear! You WILL get perfectly smokable buds of the same quality as the mother stash...just light and airy buds. In the meantime, you can start saving for a HPS. Look on ebay, Craig's list...

You'll do fine.

Lass

 

[mrkingford]

its says my file exceeds the limit. It wont upload and i surely don't know how to resize, dam. It's a jpg file and has 2.11 mb per pic and i'm only allow 4.88 kb, per the instructions.

 

[mrkingford]

Lasschance;

Thanks for making me feel like i'm not the only one who ******* up.
As far as the seeds go, well honestly the weed is commercial and only so so.
I didn't want to buy exspensive seeds till i knew i could grow without ****** them up and wasting money.
And my seeds are in in 9" pots.

 

[LassChance]

its says my file exceeds the limit. It wont upload and i surely don't know how to resize, dam. It's a jpg file and has 2.11 mb per pic and i'm only allow 4.88 kb, per the instructions.

Here ya go! This will tell you how to re-size your pics.


http://www.marijuanapassion.com/how_to_upload_pictures.html

 

[mrkingford]

I downloaded thePicasa 3 for resizing the pics, and i can't find the picasa3 file anywhere on my computer, i frigin HATE computers!

 

[Lemmongrass]

hey man paint resizes. open your pic in it, hold control and press W. make the top 2 boxes 50%-20%. when i take pics i do 30 and it makes them roughly 1000x1000. then save as a jpg.