# Totally new in growing



## Automaria (Apr 12, 2015)

Hi guys,

So, I am totally new with growing weed and this is one time thing for me, because I am in Spain doing my Internship only for 6 months. (well, so to say, I study in Netherlands, so maybe when I get back I will try to grow there as well). I have a few questions and I would like to receive any additional advices if you have.

1. As I do it for one time, do you have any suggestions with low budget how to increase the quality of my garden? 
2. It is the almost 6th week for these plants, do they look healthy? (the total growing cycle is 60 days, as it is written in a catalog)
3. Do I have to take some leaves off? (I sow in some youtube videos people doing that, but I still dont get a lot of marijuana language)
4. What do you suggest me to do with light time and watter?  (I have been gone for 12 days, so they did not receive any water in that time, but I read, that in this way the THC level increases, is that true? Is that good for my plants? 
5.As well they had 24/7 light on, does it hurt them or it does not matter?
6. When do I actually get to see the buds? Are the leaves also smokable?

Ok, I guess for someone who is a professional these questions will look silly, but anyways any answers and tips will be appreciated! 
Thank you,
Karolina  

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## Hushpuppy (Apr 12, 2015)

Welcome to the Marijuana Passion. First I have to ask, are those Autoflowering plants? If so then they need to be kept as healthy as possible and given the best of conditions as possible so that they will remain healthy before they go into flowering. This really applies to both Autoflower and photoperiod plants, but with autoflowers, you only have a certain amount of time to "veg" them before they reach sexual maturity and begin flowering. 

Both kinds of plants will go through a "veg" period where their focus is plant growth. The autoflowers will only "veg" for a period of time that is determined by the genetics, then they will "automatically" switch to flowering. This is why keeping them as happy and healthy during veg period is so important. Most of the autoflowers will only veg for 3-4 weeks then begin flowering. The photo period plants will veg for as long as you keep them in proper lighting. 

Most of us use 20hrs of light and 4hrs of darkness for the autoflowers, and then many will keep photo period plants in 24hrs of light until they are sexually mature and/or until they reach the size we want, then we switch the light schedule to 12hrs on and 12hrs off. This will cause them to begin flowering. We maintain the 12/12 lighting all the way to harvest.

It is very important to have the proper color frequency of light and have enough lumens of light. I'm afraid I don't have the metric values for these but the American standard values is lumens per square foot of lighted space. We use 3000-5000 lumens per square foot for the veg period, and 5000-8000 lumens per square foot for the flowering period. The type of light frequency we typically use "vegging" is 6500Kelvin (a blue-white frequency), and about 3000Kelvin for the flowering.

If your plants are almost 6 weeks old, then they are both underfed and lacking enough light to do as well as they need. It appears that you have aluminum foil as the light reflector, that is a very poor reflector for visible light. It is only good for reflecting Infrared light. you should have reflective Mylar of even flat white painted walls surrounding the plants.

The plants should not be starved of nutrients or water. This will not make them more potent. You should also make certain that there is very good ventilation as the plants need fresh air just like we do. they also need to maintain about 22-24c degrees within the air space.

Others will add more information for you soon.


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## Automaria (Apr 12, 2015)

Thank you for your answer! 

As far as it is written in a catalog - it is autoflowering plant and in catalog it says that it grows for around 60 days. As well it says that the plant should grow around 70-100cm.

If I understand good I should keep them now 24/7 lightening, is that right?
As well I should go to shop and ask for better reflectors and maybe get some better lighting?

Few more questions - there is small bugs flying around, what should I do? It looks like small flies, should I spray something or use some special things to catch them?
As well I am using only clear water from shop, should I buy some other stuff or is that not necessary?  

Thanks one more time.


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## Canna-Bliss (Apr 12, 2015)

I would say yes to the better lighting. At least get a couple cfl bulbs.


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## zem (Apr 12, 2015)

well can you purchase a light and take it with you to holland? that would raise your odds of getting some bud out of it. remove the tinfoil paint it white...


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## Rosebud (Apr 12, 2015)

Yes, what Zem said. If it was my plants I would probably start over. That plant has been too stressed to produce anything much. Learn how to set up a grow before you pot your next seed. I am sorry if this is harsh, but that is the way I see it. If you want help on your next grow we are all here to help.  Good luck to you.


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## Automaria (Apr 13, 2015)

Thanks for all answers,

I guess I will still try to grow it as much as I can. It is more like experiment for me, so next time I would be more aware about the things you suggest me. So thank you.

Anyways, I will try to stick white papers all around them and will put one lamp under one plant, maybe if I find affordable and strong lamp I will buy it, otherwise, I guess it is too late to invest anyways to get a lot from them, or no? 
Do  you think that still good investment could change the plant structure totally?
I wish I could buy a good lamp and take it to Holland, that would be great, but I am flying back, so, all my languages are full already.
I guess it is also not the same as growing simple plant.  
Ah, I have a few roommates in Netherlands who smoke, so I guess I will ask them to put money together and do a good set up and grow there a good amount of weed, because it is too expensive to buy it (it is 8 euros for 1 gram). 
It is still nice to see any new leave coming out from my baby plants.


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## WeedHopper (Apr 13, 2015)

SMALL Investment,,means small return. ya gets what ya put in it.


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## The Hemp Goddess (Apr 13, 2015)

Automaria said:


> Thanks for all answers,
> 
> I guess I will still try to grow it as much as I can. It is more like experiment for me, so next time I would be more aware about the things you suggest me. So thank you.
> 
> ...


 
If these are auto flowering and 6 weeks old, unfortunately, you are in big trouble with this grow.  I doubt that there is anything that you can do at this stage to help.  Unlike photoperiod plants, autos only live a certain number of days.  The plants have stretched very badly due to lack of light and as a result are way way behind with very very few budding sites.  Couple this with them already being 6 weeks old (not meaning to sound harsh), but you are not going to get anything from this grow.  Do not put light under the plant.

No, it is not like growing a simple plant, not like flowers or tomatoes,  Growing cannabis is an endeavor that requires a lot of knowledge, time, effort, money, and certain requirements must be met.  The most critical of these is light.  I would scrap these and start reading and studying on what it takes to get a plant to harvest.


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## Rosebud (Apr 13, 2015)

"It is still nice to see any new leave coming out from my baby plants. "

it really is nice to see, I agree. You are going to be a good grower someday. Let us help you get started over... Good luck to you. Sorry we had to give you such bad news.


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## Hushpuppy (Apr 13, 2015)

If you want to keep those going just for the grow knowledge, that is ok to do, and you might even get a little bit of bud before it is over but you will need to get a lot more light on them. If you have friends that grow, ask them what kind of lights they use and where to get it there. I say this because there are several different kinds of lights. There are the CFL lights which are florescent like we use in our homes. These are fairly weak and not good for larger grows. 

You can buy special grow fixtures which are larger straight tube florescent lights that have multiple tubes in them. You can buy a fixture with 2, 4, 6, or 8 bulbs in a single fixture.These are ideal for "vegging" plants and the tubes can be exchanged or mixed with the "flower bloom" color lights for finishing a small grow under them. This would be hard to carry back home. However, since this is a very good light fixture for vegging plants, you could save the boxes that it comes in and ship it to your home address so that you can use it for more grows. 

There are also LED lights that are made specifically for growing Marijuana but these get to be quite expensive for the good ones and the cheap ones are often poor quality. Here in the US, many people use HID lights for growing. These are High Intensity Discharge lights that come in 2 kinds. Metal Halide that has light color around 400-450 nanometers that are good for vegging. Then we use an HPS which is High Pressure Sodium and has the color range of 700 nanometers. this is for flowering the plants. At this point, you could use a 400w electronic HID light that has both MH and HPS or a 6-8 bulb florescent fixture, or even an LED light fixture. Either of these lights is going to be a bit expensive to purchase but you can ship them home when you move and continue using them.

You definitely need to do some reading on how to grow marijuana and then make a plan for the next grow so that you can have a good setup before you start the next set of plants.


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