Practice run. Wish me luck!

Hey everyone. Let me first say thanks for all the valuable info posted on this forum. It's really helped me and shown me just how clueless about growing I was! In an effort to reduce the hassle and costs, I've decided to attempt to grow a little for our personal use.

This is my 2nd practice run. The first ended abysmally with nothing harvested. That was about a year ago. So about 2 weeks ago, I had some bag seed from some regs and decided to use these as another practice run before investing in some quality seed and equipment.

Basically, I had no clue what I was doing, as this was before discovering this site. Anyway, basically I took about 12 seeds I had and stuck them in some potting soil in some old pots out back (outside). Well, what do you know, now I have about 6 little plants. They are getting good light from mother nature (I live in Florida) and so far appear very healthy.

However, I've already screwed up in reading some of the info on here. I watered my babies about 4 times with plain chlorinated tap water. They also received rain twice. Remember, they were planted about 2 weeks ago.

They appear pretty small (about 4") for their age but I'm just happy they are alive. I've given them no nutes as of yet. My plan was to transplant them this weekend to larger pots, probably 1 or 5 gallon. I will ultimately take them indoors as we have landscapers who visit every other week to do out lawn and such. I already plan on converting a section of our closet to accomodate the plants and lights, etc.

Quite honestly, I don't know what kind plants they are but I plan on taking pics within the next day or so and posting. I'm cautiously excited and I'd be really pleased if we can harvest anything. Like I said, I am using this as a test run before investing in good seed. If we do harvest anything, we'll probably blend with our crippy stuff.

Pics to follow soon....

cool gratz on getting your grow actually.... growing I havnt even started yet I was meant to sometime this month but with moving in the way I well..... cant yet till I move that way I might find a sick little stash...

Thanks, man. I'm not going to stress over this. I view this as a little side hobby with benefits.

its all fun and games and exciting cause you havent ran into the problems yet, marijuana growing is still amazing, but when you start dealing with a shit load of problems and as soon as you fix one you got another problem well atleast thats how it was for my first outdoor grow and ive had 2 times as many problems with my indoor grow, but my plants are starting to look really nice.

Hey, I'm not naive, I know how hard it can be. Like I said, my first attempt was a fiasco. I didn't have a clue what I was doing. After I planted this batch, I found this site and now I think I actually know what I'm supposed to do. I purchased some CFLs last night on Ebay and should receive within the next few days (priority FedEx) and I've already cleared some space in the closet. I also purchased some organic soil, some perulite and some nutes that appear to be suitable for my purposes. Tomorrow is gardening day!! Heheh...All I want is a couple plants for personal use.

I have a question, if anyone is willing to answer...I planted my babies in Scott's garden top soil. I have not added any nutes so far. The plants are almost 3 weeks old now and are about 4-5" tall. The stems seem a little thin but otherwise the plants look healthy. Tomorrow I plan on transplanting into a mixture of organic garden soil, perulite and a little nutes. Is it too early to fertilize? Any help is appreciated.

1/4 strength

Thanks, seedless. I appreciate it. Anyone has recommendations on nutes available at HD, Lowe's, WM, etc? What I have right now is made by Dynamite and is "all purpose", for indoor and outdoor. Here is the link:

Dynamite Plant Food : Products : All Purpose

Ok. So I transplanted my babies this weekend into 3 gallon pots and they seemed to have survived and are doing well. 2 of the 5, I fertizlized using the Dynamite nute I provided the link to earlier. Two others I fertilized using Peters Nutes, with 20-20-20 ratio. Two others I put nothing on, pending how the other 4 respond. I also had a late sprouter who broke the surface on Friday, so now I have 7 plants total. I am hoping to end up with 2 females.

I also bought 5 CFLS totalling about 10000 lumens. Still inadequate, I know but I am still doing primarily an outside grow, with the lighting for supplemental and to extend the light when it gets dark here. I plan in pics sometime this week.

What's frustrating is that the plants appear to be healthy but immature, size wise, for being 3 weeks old. They are still about 3-4". I'm attributing this to the poor start I gave them and maybe genetics. Remember these were bag seeds (from a good strain, though).

A few things I see, a 3 gallon pot is HUGE at this point. I would have gone smaller. You talk about changing the soil, I would stick throughout the entire grow using whatever I started with, as a change may shock them.
As far as nutes, I like foxfarm, it's been good to me, but I would like to try earthjuice, as this is totally organic. Just a personal preference.

Thanks, VM. I hadn't thought of the impact of changing soil entirely. I transplanted them Friday afternoon using the organic soil and they seem ok so far, even sprouting new leaves, so hopefully we are out of the woods. As far as 3 gallon being too big, you are probably right but I didn't want to have to transplant again and they were at risk of getting rootbound in their previous pots, which were 5". All the roots were already at the bottom of the pot when I took them out.

The 3 gallon is the size I finished my grow in.
You should be fine.
May the the marijuana Gods shine upon your grow!

Thanks, bud (no pun intended). Did I read you got your seeds from Nirvana?

So I snapped a few pics this morning. Remember, I have the plants outside during the day and under the lights inside at night. I'm on the 20-4 cycle. Any comments or thoughts are appreciated.

Quick update for anyone following. All but one of the plants are doing extremely well and I'm seeing signs of significant growth. I had to transplant one yesterday because it looks like it's dying - the leaves look "eaten" and are falling off but there appears to be new growth leaves, so I am holding out hope. I gave them a hormone and vitamin treatment on Tuesday, in addition to the nutes on Saturday, and they seem to love it! I'll try and post some pics tomorrow but I'm excited. I am seeing a 2nd and in some cases, a 3rd set of nodes. Last night I have them a little CO2, using the sugar, water and yeast method. I used an empty drinking water bottle with the pop-up top. In addition to just shaking the bottle and leaving in the middle of the plants, I shook the bottle several time with the top snapped shut and let the CO2 pressure build up. Then I placed the bottle directly over the plant and released the top, allowing the CO2 burst to directly hit each plant. I only did the CO2 for about 2 hours. I plan on at least 4 hours tonight. Things are looking up so far....

"I had to transplant one yesterday because it looks like it's dying "

Dude, stop transplanting! I am afraid that one day I am going to come back to read this thread, and see you have your babies in 55 gallon drums! lol

Also, vegging should be done at 18/6 not 20/4
When you get your lights, keep em close, about 2" away, maybe 2 and a half inches to be safe, and get an oscilating fan blowing across them. Make sure the fan blows past the plants to give them a break, this will simulate nature. It will give them stronger stems too.

I think the next obstacle you are going to encounter, is going to be stretching, the lights will help avoid this, if placed right. Also a temp difference of more than 12 degrees over the 24 hour period will promote stretching.

VM, thanks again for the advice. Always welcomed and appreciated. Let me clarify a couple things. The one plant that was sick had never been transplanted. It was in a 5 gallon pot since I planted it. The problem I think was the soil. It was old soil that had been sitting in the pot. I moved it to a small 5" pot now.

As far as the light arrangement, here's what I've been doing for the past 5 days or so: I take the plants out each morning at 6am, as the sun is rising. They are in an excellent location, where they receive a lot of light and warmth (I live in South Florida). When the sun starts going down, I take the plants indoors under the lights. I have them on a 20-4 cycle but I see where you recommend 18-6? I will research and adjust accordingly.

I am expecting to receive add'l lights that I won on Ebay but for now I have 5 CLFs of varying wattages and lumens strength. I have a 2600 lumen, 2 1200 lumens and 2 CFL spot lights of about 600 lumens each. The 2600 lumen I have under a large reflector, about 12" diameter. The other 2 regular CFLs I have under an 8" and 6" reflector. The spot lights have no reflectors. Except for the big light, all the other lights I put within 2 or 3" of the plants. I check the heat repeatedly and it seems ok. I also have a fan going to keep things cool (except when the COs is administered), although it doesn't oscilate. The lights I ordered come with reflectors and 2 sets of 2 lights (2 for veg and 2 for flowering). These lights are rated at 6500K (kelvin heat units) for the red spectrum lights and 5500K for the blue sprectrum lights.

I THINK I am on the right path? Comments appreciated.
So far the plants seems to be doing good.

Updated pics. Starting to see some real growth now after a very slow start. I am noticing some brown spots on the leaves of one of them though. Any thoughts from anyone?

Well, we are well into one month since the seeds prouted and I thought it's a good time for an update. One plant died over the weekend, I am sad to report. It just shriveled up and died. I transplanted it to better soil, gave it some nutes and TLC but it didn't pull through. Another one seems to be battling some grubs or something. I actually spotted (and killed) a bright green fat little worm on it. Some of the leaves were eated and had holes in them and are turning a little brown. I sprayed with soapy water, so I hope this helps. Any other suggestions?

On the bright side, I also for fun had thrown some seeds into out garden in the back at the same time I planted the others and lo and behold, on Saturday I saw this little plant struggling to make its way to the sun. I transplanted it to a 5" pot and it seems to be ok.

So right now I have 2 tiny ones, about 2" each and 4 very healthy plants and one sick one. The healthy ones are starting to show strong growth and are about 6-8". It was amazing how much they grew over the last 3 days! My wife was out of town Friday and Saturday and when she saw them yesterday, she couldn't believe they were the same ones she left! I gave them their 2nd vitamin and hormone dose when I watered them yesterday. I use Superthrive. They seem to love it. As of today, I am now on strict CFL growth. It's becoming too risky to leave outside and it's a big problem trying to take them inside in the evenings without the kids wondering what the hell I am doing transporting a bunch of plants to the bedroom. So, as of today, they will no longer be getting their daily dose of 10-12 hours of natural sunlight, supplemented by 6 hours of CFL light.

I will take pics of the plants and grow room tonight and hopefully post tomorrow.

The brow spots may be signs of nute burn. I am having the same problem as well. Recommended methods are flushing the plant or chill on the nutrients and see if they make it out. Depends on the strength of the plant. Good luck.