My Very First

Paper Planes · Apr 23, 2013

I want to start by saying that this place has been a huge resource in helping me learn all I can about growing, and for that I thank you. :mrgreen:

I have spent my entire smoking life buying, and I am finally ready to start growing my own! My plan is to keep it simple, keep it clean and produce my very own fire buds.
:weed:

Here's what I have;

5x Nirvana Master Kush Fem
2x DNA Genetics Sour Cream Fem (Ordered from Attitude)
1x BlimBurn Cream Caramel Fem Auto (My Attitude freebie)
1x Nirvana germination kit
5x Nirvana Root Xtender (Mycorrhiza)
10x Nirvana Soiltabs
10x Nirvana Flowertabs
10x 10 gal. Root Pouch
1x 4oz Dr. Bronner's Peppermint Soap (Hoping this is all I will need for pests)
6x 1.5 cu. ft. MG Organic Choice Garden Soil
1x 2 cu. ft. Coarse plain perlite
1x 6.75 lb Espoma Organic Lime

Germination- I'll be using the germ kit inside an empty cabinet. Just one cfl for 18 hrs/day, as soon as they outgrow the
germ tray into the pouches they go. Kit came with a small bag of bacto to mix with water that will be used to wet the tray.

Medium- The 10 gal Root Pouches hold 1.4 cf. - Six bags of soil at 1.5 cf ea/ gives me 9 cf or 1.125 for each pouch, leaving about 1/4 cf room to add perlite. Not sure exactly how much perlite I will be adding, only need it to keep the soil from compacting but I can add over 7 quarts to each pouch if needed. Any advice on that would be great. Also planning to mix in 1 1/2 cups of lime per pouch and will be watering with distilled water. Should keep my pH kosher.

Nutes- Like I said keep it simple, each plant gets 1 soil tab and as soon as flowering comes 1 flowertab. (The auto will get 1/4 of each tablet)

All said and done this will have cost me around $250, and both the Nirvana and Attitude orders came with no problems. I'm going to start germination within the next few days and get the pots ready this weekend. More to come soon, any advice will be greatly appreciated. Now, if you'll excuse me I have a plane to catch... :joint:

Paper Planes · May 9, 2013

Ok so these last two weeks have been crazy for me so...sorry 4 the wait.

I had 8 seeds; (5 Master kush, 2 Sour Cream and 1 Caramel Cream) I left them to soak in water for ~16 hours. All opened and formed a small taproot, and were carefully placed tip down into their respective starter pot. It took 4 days before all but 2 master kush seeds had successfully sprouted. The 6 that did spout grew well, though I think all but one of them needed help getting rid of their shells. It was really strange, the shells had all partially broken off but there would be a kind of "cap" of shell left at the tips of the first leaves not letting them open. I know how delicate they are, but I ended up gently pulling off the "caps" and within a few hours the leaves opened nicely. A good pair of fine tip tweezers worked well. The two that suffered a failure to launch were thrown away, I have no idea why they didn't make it.

Fast forward to 5/7 my babies were ready to transplanted to their final home, a 10 gallon root pouch. I'm using MG organic choice garden soil with about 30% perlite. I added 2 cups of espoma organic lime, and 3 tbsp of MG water storing crystals. The lime has beneficial trace elements and the MG crystals will help protect them from baking in the Florida sun. For my first grow wwith the teething issues I had so far I think it's coming along nicely, what do you guys think? :joint:

Paper Planes · May 15, 2013

Got out to see my girls and took some pics. They seem to be doing well, but I am a little worried because they aren't as dark green as I think they should be? Then again this my first grow so any and all advice will be appreciated. Tomorrow morning I am going to be watering and top dressing with espoma plant tone 5-3-3. I figure a little organic boost won't hurt them, and maybe they will darken a little. What does everyone think? Are they growing ok? Tips? Criticism? Anything?

Paper Planes · May 20, 2013

Went out to see my girls today, and to give them that top dressing of plant tone and some blood meal. Hoping the blood meal will provide some quickly available N to my girls as they seem to be a little on the light green side. As usual I was amazed at the growth since I last saw them :mrgreen:

. They really do seem like happy healthy plants to me, although my thoughts on nutes has changed quite a bit from my first post. My original plan was to pretty much just use the soil & flower tabs respectively, however with all the knowledge (read as many a late night on RIU) I have gained since then I have figured out a couple things about growing, and how I want to do it.

First, I have pretty much decided that chemicals are not for me. Not to take anything away from them as I know what kind of plant they can make, but the ever present risks of burning, toxins and salt buildup in the soil and coming to understand that what you put into a plant can make or break the finished product, I'm going organic. Though if my bud has any resemblance to that blood meal I will reconsider...
:spew:

Second, I really wish I had known what I do know, so I could have made super soil instead relying on (probably) gimmicky tabs.

Oh well, grow and learn right? Anyway I think that's enough of my green rambling for tonight... :joint:

Turm · May 20, 2013

Looking good so far man, those fuckers are gonna get big. So are you doing this outside? Sorry if i missed it, but couldn't seem to find anything about light/outdoor. (Dunno if your dragging them outside to get better pics)

Paper Planes · May 21, 2013

Turm said:
Looking good so far man, those fuckers are gonna get big. So are you doing this outside? Sorry if i missed it, but couldn't seem to find anything about light/outdoor. (Dunno if your dragging them outside to get better pics)

Thanks man I really hope so. Sorry for not making that clear but yes these are way out in the woods.

Paper Planes · May 22, 2013

Oh and something I forgot to mention, I went out Monday night (5/20) and released over my girls 750 live ladybugs. They came with a packet of "nectar" which was to be mixed in a spray bottle with water. I misted the pouches and the surrounding vegetation before releasing so hopefully the ladybugs will stick around for awhile. I will be checking on them again in a few days so then I'll know how many (if any) are still around.

Paper Planes · May 25, 2013

Got out to see my girls this afternoon, they're getting big and I'm getting giddy :weed:

As for the ladybugs, only ones I saw were the ones that were DOA. Can't complain though, no bugs I could see on my girls. Oh and I have bag of bone meal, any suggestions as to when they should get that? I would think they would love for it to be available when they go into flower, not sure how long before the nutrients are available but they seem to love the plant tone and blood meal. As always any comments or criticisms welcome.

personalgrow · May 25, 2013

They look healthy bro. I got 3 about the same size. The last pic is about the size I transition from indoor to outdoor. They can handle a lot more at that height to minimize death of babies. I personally stay away from the bloodmeal, fish emulsion, etc.. due to wild boars putting their snouts through my soil because of the smell. Im in hawaii though, you might not be dealing with boars.
Good luck

zack66 · May 25, 2013

Not just boars to worry about digging up your shit. Raccoons love that fish smell. Dig your hole fill it with your mix. Wait a week or so before putting your ladies in it. This gives the local critters a chance to check it out before planting. Good luck!

Paper Planes · May 25, 2013

personalgrow said:
They look healthy bro. I got 3 about the same size. The last pic is about the size I transition from indoor to outdoor. They can handle a lot more at that height to minimize death of babies. I personally stay away from the bloodmeal, fish emulsion, etc.. due to wild boars putting their snouts through my soil because of the smell. Im in hawaii though, you might not be dealing with boars.
Good luck

zack66 said:
Not just boars to worry about digging up your shit. Raccoons love that fish smell. Dig your hole fill it with your mix. Wait a week or so before putting your ladies in it. This gives the local critters a chance to check it out before planting. Good luck!

Well these girls have been outside since 5/7, and they will be staying in those root pouches above ground. You are both right about animals potentially messing with them though and there is no shortage of hog, armadillo, raccoons etc., but I have already solved it and here's how I did it. I bought a bottle of capsaicin concentrate certified to be within +/- 5% of 1 million scoville units. Capsaicin is the compound responsible for making hot peppers hot, it is also the active ingredient in pepper spray. Mixing 1 tbsp in a spray bottle with water shaken well right before and during use, produces a liquid that is extremely hot and unpleasant. For comparison a jalapeno will max at around 8,000 scoville units and habanero at about 350,000. Misting the ground and surrounding vegetation keeps just about all animals away except for birds. It does degrade outdoors so I re-apply every outing. Just be careful to not breath in the mist, or get any on your hands and go to take a leak.

Glad you guys think they look good though :bigjoint:

and I will be checking out your grow personal, or should I say personalgrow lol

Paper Planes · May 30, 2013

Yesterday we had some rain and wind, nothing that seemed out of the ordinary for this time of year. Went out to check on them today, to find that the wind had wreaked havoc on my poor girls. :-(

Only one that survived unscathed was Mk5, which from the beginning was the most vigorous of the bunch.

These pics were all taken after I had got them standing again as my first thought was far from taking pics. You can see that they had been on their side for a little bit and had turned up towards the sun. Thankfully all are only bent (by themselves at that) and apart from them orienting towards the sun no other damage occurred. The last pic of this set shows Mk5 with her beefy stem that allowed her to stay up.

So anyway, I went into full damage control mode. Filled the pouches up with leftover soil to provide more inherent support for them. Also stuck wood skewers in next to the stems and fastened them gently but firmly with twist ties. Oh and I ordered a bottle of Dyna-gro protekt and it will be here tomorrow. How do you all think my girls look?

On the bright side my caramel cream auto is in full flower mode :mrgreen:

Ohh what a day... :joint:

Paper Planes · Jun 1, 2013

Got up early this morning, I just had to get out and see how my ladies were doing after this recent fiasco. I am SUPER happy to report that all 6 of my young ladies are doing great! Only damage worthy of note was a dead spot that ran an inch back from the tip on a leaf of Mk3 (I assume from laying directly in the dirt). Cut it clean with a sterile razor blade and once again I have a healthy happy garden. :mrgreen:

Second from left is Mk5, in the last pic you see how the plants have re-oriented themselves beautifully. Either way they all seem pretty damn happy. Maybe I'm not to shabby at this growing game after all haha :lol:

...Don't worry I still know my place at the bottom :dunce:

This is my flowering auto, being an utter noob at all this I would love some feedback on her since she is now clearly in flower. In the group pic she is front left, and the smallest of the bunch.

Paper Planes · Jun 2, 2013

So today we had some very heavy rain and winds in my area. With the memory of my poor plants being toppled fresh in my mind, I went out when the weather had subsided to check for damage. I have to say getting close to my plot my heart was beating through my chest. All of that anxiety melted away when I saw that all my girls looked just like they did the last time I saw them, except bigger and greener! They really look great and are really taking off in growth. The only bad news is that my phone was dead, so no pics today.

ETA: Forgot to mention that I gave them all their first round of Dyna-Gro ProTekt when I went out. I fed at the suggested rate of 1/2 tsp or 2.5 ml per gallon. Let's see what all that readily available Silica will do for them...here's hoping it gives them some protektion.

Paper Planes · Jun 22, 2013

Life got in the way and I haven't been updating this thread recently, but my girls are doing great! All I can say is I am very happy with my first grow so far. I'll let the pictures do the talking. :bigjoint:

6/8