Advice sought:
Well here goes, this is my first grow I've had go to budding and did I make mistakes.
First I just grabbed 10 seeds from a recent purchase and dropped 'em in a small tray with some
potting soil and left em alone (except for daily watering) outside for 2 weeks. Boom they all
sprouted, so I transplanted 'em to 3 gal pot and moved 'em to I sunny hillside out in the boonies
(aprox 6/14) and tried to get back and water 'em once a week. Well time passes
(2 months, 8/1) 2 start doing real good getting to about 24", 4 die, other 4 are marginal. I
decide to move to indoor, take a room with a SW window facing and move the babies there, the 4
marginal 1's recover somewhat for a while but I had not added any light and 2 passed away and 1
of the 2 good plants sexed out to be a male and got the instant axe but the other showes female,
so I'm down from 10 to 3 plants.
By this time I'm getting discouraged, start reading different fourms on "HOW TO GROW" and
brainstorm on a growbox. Now having a good knowlege of construction and a mess of tools,
I get 10 sheets of plywood (4x8x 1/2 @$6.00 ea ) and 20 - 2' x 4's ( 8' @ $1.87 ea ) and start
building. It turns out to be 4' x 8' x 8' tall, divided into an upper ( 5') and lower sections ( 3' ).
Now I start on lighting it, I read up on lights, the 400, 600, 1k, HPS, MH, HID, Flouro's, compact
flouro's, Incandesents till my eyes bleed. I'm floored by the price of the HID's, so I start looking
around and thinking of alternates. What I find was still costly but I think will give me more
mileage for the $$$. At Lowes I found a 150w HPS for $88 ( case, reflector, balast ), got 4 of
them and mounted 2 in each section in the topmost corners centered on the 4' walls at about a
45* angle, then added 7- 4' 2 tube Flouro's w/ 40w plant blubs ( 1 on the ceiling, 3 on each wall
about 2' apart ). The lower section got 2 - 4' 2tube w/ 40w plant bulbs on the ceiling (that I
attached an old set of mini-blinds to (w/o the blinds) as an ez-height adjuster) mounted dead
center. This gives me a total of 26.8 w per Sq ft in the upper and 13.1 w/Sq ft. Each 4' 2 tube
fixture was $9 , 40w plant bulb $5 ea, and needed 4- 8' power cords for the HPS's $6 ea.
Finished off by painting the entire thing inside and out with a Flat white latex and added a
4x8 linnoleum remnant ($23 ea) for a water resistant floor and a Temp/Humid gauge to
each section, a timer and 2 power strips and TA-DA the new house for my babies is done.
I move my 3 into the upper section and set 'em for 12/12 and start on a feeding of Fox Farms
Grow Big, Tiger Bloom, and Big Bloom, and a supplement of a 12-55-6. I also try starting
36 seeds in a floating hydro tray. A week passes the 3 are responding to their new place
nicely, the tray only sprouts 5 of 36 I find i need a heating mat and had several that the
medium had washed out of the cups ( 50-50 vermic/perlite). Need to re-think germination
process. I transplant them to 16oz cups of soil.
Went away for a week. HORRORS....came back to find 1 of the 3 to be a male w/ OPEN pollen
sacs, DOH!!! while cutting it down my arm bumps and I see a cascade of dust go pooofffffff.
In an effort to make a bad thing good, I take him to the kitchen , get a ziplock bag, shake, and
store his boys in the freezer. The good news is the 2 have both sexed out Fems and are
doing fine. The 5 are doing good, make it to 10", I move 'em to the flower chamber (12/12).
I start another hydro tray of 36.
Two weeks pass, DUDE I got buds!!!!! Named the 2, Alpha grows to 48" and is bumping the
roof, Bravo is only 30" but both are showing buds everywhere, somehow I think pruning
means to remove most of the sun leaves so I do ....DOH!!!! Of the 5, 1 is drooping badly,
1 is 12" and is a lady, trans to a 3 gal pot and move both back to 24/7, ack 3 males (they bite
the dust). Again of 36 only 5 sprout. Abandon hydro germenation. Trans the 5 to 16oz
cups w/ soil.
Two weeks pass:
Got a seedling kit (tray, dome, heater), soaked a batch of seeds for 24 hrs, dropped 72 into
dirt, lightly watered covered and placed in the lower chamber (24/7), Trans the 6 in cups to 3
gal pots. Took 2 cuttings from Charlie (the 12" lady), used rooting powder, and poped em into
16oz cups w/ soil. Switched off feeding neuts to Alpha and Bravo now on H20 only, going
to harvest in 1 week,
And that brings us to date.
Monday I'll be harvesting Alpha, I expect 60-90g. I'll take about 2/3 and try to regen in 24/7 for
2 week and then take 10-20 clones from it. Bravo looks like a sativa has lots of tiny buds and
all of the hairs are still white. Both have a few seeds but not as bad as I thought they would.
Have been charting Temp/Humid, and will be adding a bath vent fan (65 cfm) and a vaporizer
to each chamber since it holding at 90*F and 40% humidity.
Well thats my story, enjoy, and any thoughts/advice will be welcome.
Well here goes, this is my first grow I've had go to budding and did I make mistakes.
First I just grabbed 10 seeds from a recent purchase and dropped 'em in a small tray with some
potting soil and left em alone (except for daily watering) outside for 2 weeks. Boom they all
sprouted, so I transplanted 'em to 3 gal pot and moved 'em to I sunny hillside out in the boonies
(aprox 6/14) and tried to get back and water 'em once a week. Well time passes
(2 months, 8/1) 2 start doing real good getting to about 24", 4 die, other 4 are marginal. I
decide to move to indoor, take a room with a SW window facing and move the babies there, the 4
marginal 1's recover somewhat for a while but I had not added any light and 2 passed away and 1
of the 2 good plants sexed out to be a male and got the instant axe but the other showes female,
so I'm down from 10 to 3 plants.
By this time I'm getting discouraged, start reading different fourms on "HOW TO GROW" and
brainstorm on a growbox. Now having a good knowlege of construction and a mess of tools,
I get 10 sheets of plywood (4x8x 1/2 @$6.00 ea ) and 20 - 2' x 4's ( 8' @ $1.87 ea ) and start
building. It turns out to be 4' x 8' x 8' tall, divided into an upper ( 5') and lower sections ( 3' ).
Now I start on lighting it, I read up on lights, the 400, 600, 1k, HPS, MH, HID, Flouro's, compact
flouro's, Incandesents till my eyes bleed. I'm floored by the price of the HID's, so I start looking
around and thinking of alternates. What I find was still costly but I think will give me more
mileage for the $$$. At Lowes I found a 150w HPS for $88 ( case, reflector, balast ), got 4 of
them and mounted 2 in each section in the topmost corners centered on the 4' walls at about a
45* angle, then added 7- 4' 2 tube Flouro's w/ 40w plant blubs ( 1 on the ceiling, 3 on each wall
about 2' apart ). The lower section got 2 - 4' 2tube w/ 40w plant bulbs on the ceiling (that I
attached an old set of mini-blinds to (w/o the blinds) as an ez-height adjuster) mounted dead
center. This gives me a total of 26.8 w per Sq ft in the upper and 13.1 w/Sq ft. Each 4' 2 tube
fixture was $9 , 40w plant bulb $5 ea, and needed 4- 8' power cords for the HPS's $6 ea.
Finished off by painting the entire thing inside and out with a Flat white latex and added a
4x8 linnoleum remnant ($23 ea) for a water resistant floor and a Temp/Humid gauge to
each section, a timer and 2 power strips and TA-DA the new house for my babies is done.
I move my 3 into the upper section and set 'em for 12/12 and start on a feeding of Fox Farms
Grow Big, Tiger Bloom, and Big Bloom, and a supplement of a 12-55-6. I also try starting
36 seeds in a floating hydro tray. A week passes the 3 are responding to their new place
nicely, the tray only sprouts 5 of 36 I find i need a heating mat and had several that the
medium had washed out of the cups ( 50-50 vermic/perlite). Need to re-think germination
process. I transplant them to 16oz cups of soil.
Went away for a week. HORRORS....came back to find 1 of the 3 to be a male w/ OPEN pollen
sacs, DOH!!! while cutting it down my arm bumps and I see a cascade of dust go pooofffffff.
In an effort to make a bad thing good, I take him to the kitchen , get a ziplock bag, shake, and
store his boys in the freezer. The good news is the 2 have both sexed out Fems and are
doing fine. The 5 are doing good, make it to 10", I move 'em to the flower chamber (12/12).
I start another hydro tray of 36.
Two weeks pass, DUDE I got buds!!!!! Named the 2, Alpha grows to 48" and is bumping the
roof, Bravo is only 30" but both are showing buds everywhere, somehow I think pruning
means to remove most of the sun leaves so I do ....DOH!!!! Of the 5, 1 is drooping badly,
1 is 12" and is a lady, trans to a 3 gal pot and move both back to 24/7, ack 3 males (they bite
the dust). Again of 36 only 5 sprout. Abandon hydro germenation. Trans the 5 to 16oz
cups w/ soil.
Two weeks pass:
Got a seedling kit (tray, dome, heater), soaked a batch of seeds for 24 hrs, dropped 72 into
dirt, lightly watered covered and placed in the lower chamber (24/7), Trans the 6 in cups to 3
gal pots. Took 2 cuttings from Charlie (the 12" lady), used rooting powder, and poped em into
16oz cups w/ soil. Switched off feeding neuts to Alpha and Bravo now on H20 only, going
to harvest in 1 week,
And that brings us to date.
Monday I'll be harvesting Alpha, I expect 60-90g. I'll take about 2/3 and try to regen in 24/7 for
2 week and then take 10-20 clones from it. Bravo looks like a sativa has lots of tiny buds and
all of the hairs are still white. Both have a few seeds but not as bad as I thought they would.
Have been charting Temp/Humid, and will be adding a bath vent fan (65 cfm) and a vaporizer
to each chamber since it holding at 90*F and 40% humidity.
Well thats my story, enjoy, and any thoughts/advice will be welcome.
