1st Grow - Soil, Closet

Hi all - I've been posting questions and updates in the Newbie section, but thought I would distill that those down to a grow journal.

Going forward, I will post new pics and updates here.

Thanks for all of the great advice and information from the users of this site!

I will be including pictures of products and the prices I paid for them (CDN $) so that other newbies can get a sense of the money involved, and avoid the mistakes I made.

Decided to try and grow some pot on a whim - just to see if I could do it.

I stopped at the Vancouver Seed Bank in Vancouver to shop for seeds. Staff was helpful, given my obvious ignorance.



I ended up buying some of their Columbian Gold seeds.

Vancouver Seed Bank

It grows short and bushy with cluster buds all over the branches and very large resin glands. Very pleasant to smoke. Hashy taste, relaxed high.
Height 3.5 - 4 feet Flowering time 7 to 8 weeks indoor. 9 to 10 weeks outdoor. Harvest outdoor end of Oct.

Click to expand...

Paid $50 CDN for 10 seeds.

Off to the races!

I germinated 4/4 seeds and put them in peat pellets to sprout.

At this point I just left seeds on the window sill until they got to be about 6" high (I now realize that was a mistake).

I then transferred them to 4" peat pots and again let them veg on the windowsill (which is why they got so stretched out ).

After a few weeks, they were doing very well using ambient sunlight, but quite stretched.

May 24/07

One of the four started to show pollen sacs, so sadly, it got shredded.

I followed kieahtoka's advice (from the original thread) and bought two CFLs (150w equiv x2) and transferred everything from the window sill to the closet - thus ended the experiment to do this for the cost of the seeds alone (naive child!).

Plants were also transplanted to 2 Gallon pots.

Plants got quite a growth spurt (height and bushiness) when they went to 24/0 with the CFLs.

Less than one week under CFLS and 24/0 (May 31 picture)

I topped one of the three remaining plants to track the difference.

I saw immediate, symmetrical growth from the (now) double node at the topping site.

June 1st/07

Thanks to more advice from BIGMIKE13 and lumberjack_ian, I started to shell out the $$$ and bought a 130w CFL envirolite - I bought just the red spectrum one for the first grow so I could improve my bud production.



I also bought some regular plant food, which I promptly burned my plants with, although the enhanced growth was amazing!

Topped plant 6 days later (June 6/07)



Nutrient burn

I flushed the plants and did not feed them for a week - once they got more stable, I opted to start flowering.

On the recommendation of one of hydro stores in town, I bough Botanicare Pure Blend Original, which is 0.5-0.5-1.0 for organic, bloom fertilizer. Cost was $15.95.



I also bought a swimming pool-style ph tester which advised me that with the fertilizer, the water was waaaay too acidic.

As a result, I went to a different shop and bought a bottle of pH up for $8 - crazy powerful stuff (active ingredient is hydrogen peroxide). One drop into a gallon jug bumped ph 1 full point.

One week into flowering and baby pistils were starting to show.

June 14/07




I also put a small fan in the closet to circulate the air and toghen up the stalks (visible in top picture).

I bought some mylar sheeting and made a tent in the closet to reflect some light and keep ambient light leaks out during the "sleep cycle". Cost was $10 for 12' (about 6 ' wide).

The fella at the hydro store took pity on me and threw in a small test packet of carbo load for free.



Assuming I read the instructions correctly, I use this stuff super-sparingly. 1/4 tsp in 1 gallon of water.

One week later (two weeks into flower) and buds are really coming along.

June 21/07

Cropped plant




Non-cropped plant



Secondary growth coming through now as well

June 21/07

Last purchase (so far)!

There were a lot of gnats buzzing around the plants, so I bought some of these ($10) to act like flypaper.



About a dozen of the little buggers are already glued down after just a few days - seems to be doing the job very well.

June 30 update (23 days flowering)

Plants are really looking scraggly with my trial and error growing, but I'm learning a lot and the buds are getting bigger and bigger.

I hope I can keep these girls alive long enough to get a harvest.

I think I've got a nitrogen deficiency - I'd appreciate it if someone could help with diagnosis. Symptoms are leaves turned upward and some leaves have turned entirely yellow. If it is Magnesium deficiency, what shoudl I do to fix it?

First, pics of the largest plant

Note the upturned leaves


Bud's coming along nicely __________ Crystals!




Secondary Buds coming along too

keep up the good work man!! im currently growing skunk#1 and bagseed on my second grow!

June 30 pics cont'd

Here are pics of the plant I cropped

Full plant_______________



Top Bud "A"_______________________Top Bud "B" (note yellow leaves)

Your takeing the right steps to learn,your going to get this right in no time.Heck you might even win back to back grey cups.I know the yellow leaves happen alot,i cant offer you any advice why except your nutrient levels,for im just a seedling.

July 7 update

I had some problems with nitrogen/magnesium deficiency last week. I think it was caused primarily by the pots being so small I used up all nutes in the soil and failed to replace them all with the bloom fertilizer I was using.

To fix the problem I repotted into larger pots, added some nitrogen-rich fertilizer to the fert-mix and sprayed the leaves with Epsom salts dissolved in water. So far I'm seeing real progress.

Most importantly, the buds are really getting big now.

Growcloset setup


Plants are healthier


Buds progressing (check out the 'Gold' threads)


Secondary Budsites coming along too

looking sweet!! ive been looking into getting a 200w cfl red spectrum for my new grow box. right now im flower with a 105w cfl blue spectrum, and im getting aleight results... for a first harvest anyways!!

Those are looking like great nugs dude! great job. keep it up. +rep

Grow Journal July 15/07 Update

Flowering Day 31

Note on pics - I didn't use the flash for these pics because of the light from the CFL lamps - the pics look a lot prettier, but there is more shadow and some less detail. Back to flash next week.

The Plants


Main Buds looking good, big and tight


Secondary bud production coming along


I figure I'm about 2 weeks from harvest so tomorrow's feeding will be the last. It's been unseasonally warm here so I've been watering more than usual.

As always, your thoughts and comments are appreciated.