First grow, cheap lights will be a learning curve

[420itadmin]

O, pics are annoying me, they are uploaded and attached but not to this thread? working on it....

Ok, well I needed a break and figured this would be a good time to start the journal.

Basics first:

Seeds: 2 existing bagseed. 3 popped homegrown, 2 still germinating. I dont know what strain of the homegrown however they were mixed in color. 3 of the seeds (the ones that popped first) were brown with black stripes. The others were just green. Yup, thats it.. green. Anyway, when I bought the homegrown there was bud about 2" in diameter and spaced about 3 inches apart (telling me inadequate lighting?)

Soil: right now Plain jane "potting soil" mixed with some dirt from the compost outside. I have miracle grow soil for when transplanting and will decide on nutes at that time.

nutes: none yet, will edit later.

Lighting: Okay, here is where I will get some rash, I know however this is my first run and is more of an experiment. Two 30w t-8's, 1 40w t12 (big difference with the t8's) and 1 growlux. Tomorrow I will have 4 CFL's added, 23w each (1650 lumens) and an actinic t8

(honest opinion, I do plan on getting 1k HPS with my next grow but will I have ANY hope at all with this setup?)

have a separate vegg area that I took these out of, since I have none flowering as of yet its on 24/7 until those plants reach that time

Cooling: pc fan intake from floor level, another expelling heat above the floor joists with 4'' duct (when they get stanky I will run this outside) I know the duct is large but I am future proofing for when I can get HPS


CO2: Im going to try that whole yeat/sugar/water deal in a 5 gallon pail to see if it does work. Eh, may just be the placebo effect.....


Grow area: 5' wide, 4.5' deep, 6' high


The pics below are as follows,

the two plants are crappy bagseed I started a week ago. the taller one was when I had the mistake of it being too cold, and the lights on (2 t12's at the time) on 18hrs/day only. The shorter but bushier one (left) is 1 week old under 2 t12's, 1 growlux, and 24hrs

The other plants in the background are my cooking herbs (what kind of triggered this en devour)

The seedling there is only 3 days old now.. Im excited, it is growing very fast and is one of the first from the homegrown.

Yes, needs improvement, however like I stated this is my first experiment, and with Christmas right around the corner, I cant really afford a fancy light for myself.....

 

[420itadmin]

Well, here we are about 5 weeks later. As you can see I am still learning... the one plant that looks boarder line yellow almost died to my idiot self over-watering at first (or could have been the shock from transplanting), then a few weeks later I didn't water enough, causing some leafs to dry out. It's still a learning curve for me and decided that maybe I should do my gardening first before I smoke. Since then no accidents.

The one thing I am having a problem with is knowing when to flower. I want to say they are about ready but I keep hearing conflicting things. I will be adding extra lights when it is time for the 12/12 (4 more t5's, 2 on each side of the closet, and 8 CFL's drooping over top above the plants)


What do you think, these (hopefully) little ladies ready?

 

[420itadmin]

Well after just a few days I am already starting to see results. I see I have a lot of males. 1 or 2 plants just had absolutely nothing to look at for sex so I am hoping they pop up female. Check out the pics.

1. -looks early, however if you really look at it, it seems to look like one bump per node, and more oval shaped then round. Female????

2. Female, who hoo!

3. Male

4. Male, however there are only 2 bumps on that node.. other notes have very little/no growth/bump

5. Gotta be male

6. Male

There you have it... ouch.

It it too late to start bending the ladies to get those bud sites to flourish?

 

[420itadmin]

Two and a half weeks since on 12/12. Flowering pretty well except one of them started to turn blood red, then faded, just on the top flower. You can see it in the pics, its more of a cream red now. About 4 more weeks hopefully and I'll have some profit!

I'm thinking if I can get at least one O out of all this it was a success to move on with growing and probably buy seeds.

 

[Hick]

:aok:.....

 

[the chef]

Really looking good brother! Was wondering about your 8 cfl's, there's the bigger 68 watters that will cut your use on the smaller 30's. The last pic ya posted on the 17th is deffinatly a buck! Blood red? Oooh They almost look like they are gonna be pink in the end! Very nice buddage!

 

[420itadmin]

Thank you!

Im renovating a house at the moment, so hopefully timing will be about right to where my next garden will be ready to flower when I do the incognito move. Ill be switching to the larger CFL's, however for placement and setup I am not sure yet because its kind of hard to tell the contractors you want a closet, for your um.. christmas decorations... in the uh, attic.

 

[the chef]

Have build a partial walk in that you can close off with a door and maybe a bookcase on wheels in front of it? Vent out into the attic through the roof.....just a bongin idea.

 

[420itadmin]

Well, sorry I haven't been updating, I kinda forgot about my grow journal until I already hacked up one of the plants.

The one that had pink in it was all leaf, no flower. Kind of disappointing. It was killer bud tho, but not as glistening as the other two which I have not tried yet, but wreaks like a rancid road kill skunk when I gave it the ol' snip.

Pictures below of plant #2. Not too bad for my first time and a $40 budget.
The separate buds were cut a few days earlier because the whole plant wasn't ready.

I know it seems wimpy, so that is why I am saving the best for last. The third plant which was scrawny and tall surprised the hell out of me!! The top is currently the size of a ******* pine cone and oozing with resin. Should be just a few days until it is ready and I'll share it.

 

[Rusty Gribble]

enjoy the home grown smoke!