Hello and greetings, folks!

aoyanagi

Member
So, I've been poring over this forum for the past two weeks updating my grow knowledge. A whole lot has changed in the past 10 years and you all are an extremely informative helpful group! I think I'm close to knowing exactly what I want to do in terms of my first grow, just waiting on tax returns now. Oh, and I'm a medical patient with a personal production license for my state, NM. I use my medicine to treat chronic anxiety and insomnia related to PTSD. My past grow experience was in aeroponics but at this point for my personal setup I'm planning on going as much organic as possible. I don't have access to all the ingredients for true super soil and shipping to BFE NM is generally prohibitive for my budget so I'll prob be doing a FoxFarms soil blend with as many supersoil additives as I can swing and the judicious use of liquid nutes at the right stages for what I can't. My understanding is that full spectrum t5 fluro tubes are the best bang for the buck for a new grower on a tight budget? I was planning on a 2.5 ft 4-tube on a chain to easily raise and lower it. Waaay back when we called this newfangled hotly debated idea we were trying out stress-budding. Apparently there are a lot of newfangled techniques and names for it but the end result is always the same: bigger yields and juicy delicious side-colas. So yeah, I'll be doing some version of that since I have some experience with it and have seen the results firsthand already. I'm nervous about drying/curing for the first time here in New Mexico. The relative humidity today was I think 7%, I shit you not. So any tips for dealing with that would be great, as well as any critiques for my grow plan. Right now I have access to Lemon Skunk and LSD clones established in the medium of my choice so I'll probably take one of each to start with. Again, I'm on a tight budget and my house's wiring would need work to add any MH or HPS and their attendant ventilation. Just a small first time on my own but not entirely noobish setup.

On a personal note I'm currently a full time mom. I love sci fi and fantasy books, play World of Warcraft, listen to just about any music with some rhythm to it, spend entirely too much of my days either playing kinectimals with my boys or hiding from them in my garage on my computer. I love to cook and find it funny when my husband can't pronounce dinner's name (tabouli, anyone?) I'm a hippie and pagan who outgrew her punk phase but still loves punk kids. Oh, and I'm a triple gemini (sun, moon, and rising signs are all in it) so all 6 of us are doing fine today. I'm also a survivor of 6 years of molestation, nearly everyday from ages 6-11. 10 years ago I'd have been diagnosed as Borderline Personality Disorder and my friends and family told to ignore my "antics" and be harsh on me to just get over it. Thankfully today PSTD (and hopefully soon complex PTSD) is a legitimate diagnosis and a good cognitive behavioral therapist can do wonders in concert with a competent psychiatrist. My doctor(s) agree wholeheartedly that my chronic symptoms are better medicated with cannabis than pharmacuticals, in the long term. Hooray for that, as it's alieviated much of my guilt regarding being a toking mom.

Thanks to again to the folks who keep this great resource up and running and I hope to get to know you all better in the coming weeks and months. I have a feeling I may still be posting here when my hair's gone all gray.

PS-I also put up a much shorter intro in the NM Med patients forum, please feel free to delete it if this it's considered a double post.
 

bkbbudz

New Member
Welcome aboard Hippie, punk chick! T5's are a good alternative to HID if necessary, However I would suggest more than 1. Secondly FF soil has everything in it that you will need. I suggest the Happy Frog with a 3:1 with inert perlite. The Ocean forest is too hot IMHO for clones and/or seedlings. For nutes, I use the Technaflora recipe for success. The starter kit has everything needed and is completely newbie proof. I start with the soil mix I mentioned in 4" pots and when the root tips show in the drain holes I transplant into their finishing pot (I use 3 gal bags due to height resrictions) a good rule of thumb is too have 1 gallon of soil for each foot of height you want them too be at harvest. The soil will provide all the nutes required for a good 3-4 weeks. And the way I do it I do not need to add anything for 6-7 weeks. RIU is indeed a great place to meet new friends and learn to grow. A quick warning though there are a few 'trolls' out there so learn how to use the ignore button. If you find someone who is unfriendly visit their profile and click ignore.

I am sorry to hear of your trials in your youth. You seem to have found a very good way of dealing with it though, so best of luck!

Please check the link on my signature. A lot of great videos done by master growers designed to help 1st timers. Happy Farming and +rep for taking your medicational needs into your own hands!
 

bkbbudz

New Member
By the way with PTSD and anxiety I would suggest the LSD or other indica dominant strains. I have similar conditions and I find sativas to be a bit too 'wiry' for me. I have grown LSD for quite some time and I adore it.
 

GreatwhiteNorth

Global Moderator
Staff member
I have a feeling I may still be posting here when my hair's gone all gray.
Ouch !
Could you hit any closer to home? ;-)

Welcome aoyanagi, we are really glad you showed up.
I do organic, but am running M/H - HPS so will not be able to help you with the CFL's.
But again, glad you could make it.
 

aoyanagi

Member
Thank you for the warm welcome folks. Last night I spent almost 8 hours reading nearly the entirety of pr0f's thread on using aquarium lights in t5s. Very interesting read and something I'm going to have to look into more. Once the wavelength graphs stop swimming in my head. :confused: I'm a fairly scientifically minded lady but you folks make me remember why I stopped at Calc 3 and Intro to Calc based Physics. The whole effecient spectrum blending and longer bulb life is very appealing, so are some of those pics in that thread nom nom. Trying to justify stepping up from a 4 to 6 bulb configuration for what will be my 2 very very pampered girls. Also fascinated by scrogging, you mad scientists have come so dang far!! Oh and my available space is currently up in the air, may be half of a small walk-in closet or may be a dedicated larger closet remodeled in if tax return is good. Is this sufficient for 2 plants given that I will training them to be short and I'm going with a pure Indica and a strong Indica dominant? Oh and my dispensary will grow out my clones to up to 12 inches tall for me preestablished in the medium of my choice. They're actually pretty awesome, taking the risk of transport-shocking a very young plant out of the equation.
 
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