True Beginner / Poor Man's Grow

What's up everybody? I've been rolling around this place for a few days reading up on what I need to get fulfill my dream. I've come to realize that no matter how much I look into this I'll never be a perfect grower, as will nobody. Anyway, I live in a small town right now, and can't find ANYTHING worth using. So I've decided to make a journal on using the bare minimum of essentials. I'm still going to do my best and measure a few levels, but I'm mainly going to try to get this going with all natural stuff I have readily available to me. Nute's in liquid form more than likely won't be an option for this first op, but I do plan on trying to get some powder mix. The problem is all we have here is crazy NPK levels, so I'm not too sure what's up with that yet.



This is my first time growing, so tips are definitely appreciated. Keep in mind though, I'm trying to keep this one a little less technical so more people can see that growing some personal smoke isn't as hard as everyone thinks it is. IMO The more people growing, the bigger of a problem it is in our country, and the closer we are to legalization.


Picture # 1:


There are currently 4 42w CFLs right now, and within a week or 2 I'm going to get a couple stronger ones. Wal mart was our only selection here in town worth using, and that's all they cary. There is a general hardware store here selling some really nice big CFLs but they had no idea how to help me get what I needed, and each bulb cost $25. So since this is my first time and I don't have a job, I'm going to do the best with what I have.


My seeds are germinating now and should go in some soil either tonight or tomorrow.


Thanks for whoever follows this.

Me and my room mate threw together a list of everything bought so far.

(4) 42w CFL Lights from Wal-Mart $9 ea.
(3) Light Bulb Socket Splitters from hardware store $2 ea.
(3) Light Bulb to wall socket adapters from Wal-Mart $1.27 ea.
Power strip 3-in-1 combo box from Wal-Mart $10
Bag of organic manure from Wal-Mart $1.36
Bag of miracle grow organic soil from Wal-Mart $3
Solo-Cups $3
(3) 6" Pots $1 ea.
Roll of Foil from Dollar Tree $1
Digital Timer from Wal-Mart $10 <----They have one that's not digital for $5
pool pH tester kit from Wal-Mart $6
Case of H20 $2.50

The seeds went into the ground Feb 25th. Took me a couple of days to realize it was rediculously dry and I needed a dome, so today I put one on. A few hours after I decided to do this I saw the first little sprout of green Hopefully tomorrow I can get a picture of the sprite. Working on getting an ipod and a fan in there, just need to make another trip to wal mart.

Edit: When's going to be the time to start thinking about smell?

Not too much is happening yet. The seed I planted on the 25th is showing it's first sign of a sprout, I have a picture for you guys. Don't have a therm. or hydr. in there yet, but I will hopefully have one in a couple of days. I made a couple of improvements to the "box/closet" I took off most of the foil since the walls are fairly bright colored, and added a white poster board in to help with light. Also I added 2 more 13w bulbs just for a tiny bit more juice, and a little color change.

Best News:
I dropped 7 more seedlings in the ground today, most of them will probably only take a day or 2 to come out since they're were so large from germinating.



I was waiting on naming my plants until I see the sex, because I figured it was only fair But I had to go ahead and name atleast one of the plants.

Plant number 7 will be Lucky Number Slevin A.K.A Lucy Liu (I'm feeling lucky with this one, it's gotta be a girl)

Anyway, here are the pics:



EDIT: Found out today that my grow room has been sitting at 95*F........moved some stuff around to try and get a little more circulation. So far the least I can drop it to is 85* I was really hoping I wouldn't need to open the doors all the way, but I'm beginning to think I'm gonna have to :/

I'm pretty sure the grow room is going to continuously change atleast untill flowering, if not till the end. I finally got the temps right for the most part. My max Temp was 95 which I know is extremely high, but since then I've put another fan in there and rigged up my own humidifier. right now there are 3 coming out of the soil, with for sure 4 others that will be right behind them. In the heat of moving this around trying to get more circulation I knocked over 3 or 4 of the cups, but that was yesterday and it didn't seem to effect them. One I did knock over this morning and I think it might have failed. There will be no more knocking over cups I assure you.

All of these plants vary in combinations of soil. As the plants get bigger and have names I'll start giving you these details.


What is a good humidity for veg? When's a good time to take them out of the dome?

Pictures:


Edit: I forgot to mention that these plants are currently listening to about 100 Cypress Hill songs

I planted another 6 seeds today, can't wait to see them sprout out of the ground
5 of the first 7 are sprouted up a solid inch or 2 out of the ground, the other 2 are slacking, but still alive!

Pictures:

Looking good. Just wait till they start filling in with true leaves - unbelievably exciting. You'll be sitting and watching them grow in no time.

Nicely written up journal-- sub'ed.

You are off to a great start. Be careful with the MG soil-- it has nutes in it that can burn young seedlings. So far, they look good and healthy though.

On ferts: if you're going low budget, Jacks has a great reputation. Not sure if you are acquainted with some of the veterans on this board, but there is some good reading available for your style of grow:

https://www.rollitup.org/advanced-marijuana-cultivation/267989-uncle-bens-gardening-tweeks-pointers.html
https://www.rollitup.org/newbie-central/316301-calling-all-noob-growers.html

Everybody on this site has their own ideas of what works, so not everyone agrees with Riddleme and UB, but if you want to grow cheaply and simply, they are a great resource.

Regarding smell: shouldn't be a real issue until you start flowering, though there will be some smell after several weeks of veg.

Definitely keep an eye on the temps. Proper ventilation will likely be the biggest issue you will have to contend with going forward.

Regarding humidity: 40s is good; once you get in the upper 50s, you are inviting mold. As you fill the space, this will be a ventilation issue.

Take the sprouts out from the dome soon (a couple days) after they have sprouted. Staying in a humid environment will invite damping off.

I look forward to reading where this goes....

Gastanker said:

Looking good. Just wait till they start filling in with true leaves - unbelievably exciting. You'll be sitting and watching them grow in no time.

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Omg are you kidding? I've been in there all day for the past 2 days. It's so addicting Lol.

Nitegazer said:

Nicely written up journal-- sub'ed.

You are off to a great start. Be careful with the MG soil-- it has nutes in it that can burn young seedlings. So far, they look good and healthy though.

Definitely keep an eye on the temps. Proper ventilation will likely be the biggest issue you will have to contend with going forward.

Regarding humidity: 40s is good; once you get in the upper 50s, you are inviting mold.

Click to expand...

I hate the MG soil for sure, but all the plants with mixed samples of soil seem to be doing great! Turns out MG isn't quite so bad as long as you dilute it a little bit. I'm going to be using MG All purpose food diluted to 1/10th(I saw somebody do this and was very pleased with the yield they had.) As far as flowering, hopefully I'll be able to get some FloraNova Bloom. I try to keep my temp around 80*, but it's really hard. The temperature is getting up to 77 during the day, and with no insulation in my house + those giant CFLs it's really hard to keep it under 85* during the day. It's good to hear my humidity as around the right level, I thought 25-35% was kind of low so I threw my own home made humidifyer in there, but I think I might take that out just to stay on the safe side.

Thanks for all of the tips and links....going to research now. I might post pictures of progress again unless you guys would rather wait and see a 48 hr difference.

Psychild said:

Thanks for all of the tips and links....going to research now. I might post pictures of progress again unless you guys would rather wait and see a 48 hr difference.

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Pics are always good, just don't burn yourself out-- def want to see this to its sweet conclusion.

Well I'm pretty sure I made the mistake of over watering them last night, because a couple of the smaller one's codelydons have wilted. I've provided a couple of pictures for you guys to give me your oppinion. Other than that everythings going pretty good, the big plants are growing fast! All of the plants that I planted on the 2nd are popped up and already showing their first set of leaves.

Pictures :

lol, good for you for watching them so early on - it helps them grow better. When I am home I end up checking on my plants about every 15 minutes - they just pull me to them over and over again.

Gastanker said:

lol, good for you for watching them so early on - it helps them grow better. When I am home I end up checking on my plants about every 15 minutes - they just pull me to them over and over again.

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Tell me about it....I'm doing this in my room mates closet, and I'm in his room all day and night, poor guy Lol

Good stuff man! Im sub'd.looks good so far.and the grow room is magnetical! Fuhsho!!

Kottonmouth king15 said:

Good stuff man! Im sub'd.looks good so far.and the grow room is magnetical! Fuhsho!!

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Thanks man, I'll be posting a picture update later on tonight.

Hey everybody...I had some company over this weekend so I wasn't able to get an update, but have no fear, I've finally completed it. It seemed like I over-watered some of the little guys which nearly killed 3 of them. I quit watering them untill they started to turn yellow, at this point I "Made it rain." I figured why not flush them out a little since that's what's happening to some little seedlings I threw out a couple of days ago. Anyway, they seem to be pulling through so far. I've noticed the difference in cheap soil now because it seems like the soil is extremely hard and compact instead of allowing a good water flow. Once I transplant hopefully I'll be able to fix that. The big guys are getting huge, already showing their second set of leaves....pretty soon it'll start looking like weed

Pictures:

What's up guys? Not a whole lot going on today...I was reading a few threads today about plant disease and deficiencies, so I decided to take a couple of the little one's who looked like they were struggling and give them a little boost with some diluted MG All Purpose Plant Food. It's been about 6 hours since then and nothing has really changed. The big plants I have right now are growing extremely fast!

Whenever I planted those seedlings on the 2nd I had a couple of extra one's I threw outside just for shits and giggles. Anyway, out of 5 two of them made it through the harsh weather. It's been really cold these past two days, and I decided since it was getting down to 34* tonight I would dig them up and bring them in. Have no fear I took off almost all of the soil that was attached so that bugs won't be an issue. Also I figured they would probably die anyway, so why not see what these little guys are capable of. They've already seen a 12/12 schedule as that is what our son is giving us right now, so I'm interested to see how they react to 24hr Veg time with new soil.

Pictures:




Outsiders:

Just a little update and thread bumper....the plants that received Food are doing pretty well. I figured this would have killed the plants but it seems like it's at most stunted their growth, or had 0 effect on them at all. The 2 plants that I brought in from outside are doing great. Last night I put them facing away from the light so that I could see their progress in the morning. Both of which have turned towards the lights and don't seem to be enduring any kind of shock at all. I can't wait to get pictures of the big guys!

Update!

Everything's looking good....most of the plants that were hurt by over-watering are recovering quite nicely. The majority of the plants will most likely be runts, but I'm perfectly fine with that as I'm trying to get a solo cup grow going too. I'm hoping I can pull off 7g dry each off of the solo cup plants, I think that's a pretty realistic number to hope for. I did some LST to the plants who looked like they stretched. 2 out of 3 that were LST'd are showing a great response, already curved back up towards the light as if nothing happened. The 3rd one hasn't started growing towards the light, but it also is slow in opening up it's leaves so who knows how it will react. The room has been sitting at a consistent 78* today and I'm thinking about getting the big plants ready for a transplant.

How long do you guys think I should wait?


Pictures:


The LST's:


The Outsiders:


The guard dog Rillo:

Wait another half a week at least before transplant. I generally flip the plants over and remove the cup to check root progress. Once all the soil stays together and the roots are quite visible transplant into presoaked medium. (get the new soil really wet the day or two before you transplant so it has some time to dry out a bit)