A Newbie’s Struggle…..and an Economic Stimulus Package!

First of all, I would like to thank the countless people who have helped me (even though you didn't know it) get to where I am today.

The adventure begins with a trip to visit my friend in a Medical Marijuana friendly state. This was back in early november, needless to say, my friend shared some of his “meds” and showed me his set up. After I woke up about six hours later, from my “short nap”, I started to discuss the possibility and logistics of growing. The first thing I learned, is that when you “let it go a little long”, its great for naps. I’ve had some of his stuff before (he’s been growing the same phenotype for 8 years, bag seed) and it’s never quite knocked my ass out like that before. He said he usually harvests “a little earlier”.
Also, not only are the “homegrown” goods better, I personally can stop contributing to the “drug trade” and spend local money that generates tax revenue and actually contributes to our struggling economy.

Enough of that…well, being the newbie and a frequently bored flyer, I saw the ad for the Aerogarden…oh no!!! Not another one!! Stay with me, its not really an aerogarden grow; totally anyway. I started one seed (newbie remember) with the herbs that came with the garden. Oh yea, bag seed. It was started about the second week of December, per the directions and nutes that came with the herbs.

Here is my happy little plant about 2 weeks later (the chives and basal are kicking butt too)…Oh…I didn’t germinate this, just threw it in and walked away…took about a week to sprout. The root started to twist around funny, so I just shoved it back in with my fingers…this is relevant later… (My 1st grow).

This is about the time I realized that I had no clue as to what the hell I’m doing (did I mention I’m new?). I then started my research and found this site. The first thing that I noticed was that there are a good many people (not to mention names, Fletch) that think the aerogarden is crap; only a few grows to harvest with no modifications, low yield and a waste of money. Well at least that money stays in OUR COUNTRY…(It does, I checked) anyway, I managed to grow my one precious princess for about 4 more weeks without problems….then on January 5th, I found this…

Oh hey, it was looking pretty good…but, damn, look at the stem, its all soft and mushy…Wow, that’s right about where I messed with it as a sprout, hmmm……………………………………………it fell over the next morning. (Pretty normal newb story to this point huh?) Lesson-use tweezers…don’t touch it!! I learned this one a little late.
Hmm…oh well, I’ve got time.
So, I chopped all the branches off and threw them in some water for the day, cause I’m gonna try cloning (newb…), threw some new seeds (plural this time) into a paper towel and baggie to germinate (learned that when I was 17, that plant lived a stretched, unproductive, unhappy and un-harvestable life-wow almost 30 years ago!!), then went out to clean my garage and contemplate my chosen hobby.

Well, I’m sweeping out my garage and look down next to the driveway; in the rock bed, grows a sprout (Now how’d that get there?? Construction workers obviously!)….I recognized it instantly; because of all the research and the memory of my one sprout (who just fell over and is residing in a couple of shot glasses).

So……..I rescued it!!!
It has to be destiny!!!! Yea, whatever….

Anyway, this is early January…this poor thing has grown where there was no direct sun (is stretched), poor soil, has been frosted and has had its leaf tips frozen, but I’m farther ahead than I was five minutes ago (reference the first picture), so I’m gonna give her a go! (Enthusiasm should count for something!!)

So, when I pulled the stump of my first (and only) plant, I found that the roots were all brown and nasty and tangled with all the herbs…looks like the herbs have outlived their useful lives (the chives were delicious with baked potatoes, butter and sour cream, bacon bits and a little cheddar cheese….)…Ha ha, I just gave you the munchies!!! Anyway, I think I read something about using the aero for a cloner…Hmmm, out with the herbs, in with my new clones. This took some serious cleaning out of the gunk (I just followed the instructions) and getting some H2O2 (lernt that too!!). So I also saw a post about home made aero machines, thanks Filthy Fletch! Hope your reading! I made my aero out of a 2 ½ gallon bucket, a decorative fountain pump, some mister hose and fittings; I also purchased an air stone and pump. (The grow your own economic stimulus package)

About a week later…the clone in the back center was looking really poor, so I pulled it out and it had a little root tip!!! So, I planted it into my Miracle Grow soil (newb, sorry Fletch, we’ll address soil later) and hoped. Meanwhile, I really didn’t have any lights for my home made aero pot, so to the Depot we go…70w HPS Security light…good to go, buy the wire, and make a mount, easy beans! (More of my personal economic stimulus package).

The clone in my aero pot was really struggling, Ph fluctuations, brown roots, and bad smell….more research! Found Hygrozyme, it looked good on the stuff I found in the ad so, to e- bay I go…hope it comes soon!

To be continued tomorrow....

On to more research, starting with another trip to my buddies, for more discussions and long naps…After one said long nap, I realized that my buddy just grows in soil and I like long afternoon naps…perfect! I’ll just keep the clones in the aero, the Mother, if she grows (or is even female!) in my homemade aero pot and flower the clones and my rescued baby in soil. Hmm….It seems that I’m short a light…more research…E bay (OK!!!! All kinds of stuff on E bay!!!) So, I buy a 400w HPS and an Eye Hortilux, enhanced spectrum bulb. Hey, it’s all an investment right? (Hey, look at it like this, I will end up spending about $600.00 on this project…the Economic stimulus package is $600.00 per tax payer; that’s money I won’t buy weed with!…Spend your money on grow equipment, stimulate the economy and put a Mexican Cartel leader out of business, or at least hurt them a little. You Too!! Growers of crappy weed and tric thiefs!!

I also ordered some Fox Farm Nutes, like the entire line (still kinda new), also figured out Ph, as I had been using pond Ph adjusting stuff from the pet store, ordered some real stuff and a tester.

I managed to keep 4 clones alive (one in soil, one in my aero and 2 in the aerogarden). The hygrozyme really helped clean up the root system, encourage new growth and stopped my tank from smelling. I really didn’t take any more pictures, mainly because I really didn’t have a lot of faith in my rescued plant, and I didn’t want to re document my clones following (or falling over) in their mothers footsteps.

I started flowering on February 2nd, the rescued one, the soil clone and my aero pot. So, I guess they got about 2-3 weeks veg time. The aero clone was only about 6” tall, the other two were about 10” tall…figured I have a 400w light, why not do all three, right?

The next week drags by…..you know what I mean…getting up and waiting for the lights to come on, searching for hairs, spending way too much time staring….. You all do it, or a least have!
Then I see this on my soil clone:

Time for a cigar….I’m the proud father of at least two (my aero pot and soil clone) little ladies!!! Yea!!! Now I await my rescued Damsel (don’t let me down Baby)…it’s grown very nicely (Fim) in the past month, but, I’m not real optimistic. Again, unknown genetics, stress…hermies, blah, blah, blah……
Two days later, I see this:

I’m thinking it’s a boy (do I ask anyone? No), so I pull it out of the flower room and toss the two clones I started from it (before flowering) into the trash (this is my first grow-remember) I bet if I would have asked…1/2 to 3/4 would have said KILL IT, ¼ to ½ would have said …wait and see a few days, its too early too tell.
THREE HOURS LATER I find this:

Back In the flower room you go!!!…I dug the clones out of the trash, put them back into the water and they perked back up in about an hour!! (Now rooted and growing great)
Time for another cigar!!! Man, if I keep this up, I’ll need more cigars!!

So, in about 2 months I’ve gone from 1 unknown seedling (that I tried to kill) to 2 flowering clones; 1 flowering rescued baby; 2 mothers in my Aerogarden and 2 mothers taking off in soil (2 of each)…plus 3 more new plants from seed in my Aerogarden. Two are growing like males and one is branching out really nice like a female.

This is crazy, I’m starting to spiral out of control!!! I’m in way over my head!! This is just personal use!!

I never dreamed that I would even keep these things alive, after all the abuse!

Anyway………..

Now what you’ve all been patently reading along with my silly ass and waiting for….cause you knew it would turn out good…Didn’t you? How about this?? So, this is six days later 2/17/08.

I have names for them; the first one who I tried to kill repeatedly is now “9 Lives”.
The other little lady is now “Rescue Me”

Day 15 Flowering- you gotta read the story to find out veg time (I’m not even sure!)
400w HPS/Eye Hortilux
3.5 Gal Pots
Miracle Grow Organic soil
Fox Farm Nutes- using their schedule- ½ to 2/3 strength, every other watering
Hygrozyme every watering
Night temps 67/ Day Temp 74
RH- 33-38%
Ozone and air freshener odor control-may need charcoal soon

Rescue Me is the center picture; 9 Lives #1 to the right.

To be continued tomorrow...

I should be back up to real time on my next few posts.
Comments are welcome as long as they relate to this post!

3 Weeks Flowering (Day 21):

Bag Seed and a newbie….go figure!

1st pic is Rescue Me, next two are 9 lives.

3 ½ Weeks Flowering (Day 25):

I was out of town for the last 2 days, when I returned the soil was pretty dry, but no stress.
Watered well with plain Ph water and they are happy! My aeropot is a different story…its way too small now; she’s drinking water and nutes like crazy, starting to show a little burn on the lower leaves and some Ph stress as well. So…..upgrade time….

Now she (9 lives clone #2) is in a 5 gallon bucket; this basically triples the amount of solution and she is going to love it!! It also makes it a lot easier to maintain as well. I backed off the nutes at the first sign of burn, so I hope she’ll be alright. She also seems to be about a week behind, but she is growing fast and will probably pass the soil one real quick.

4 Weeks Flowering (Day 2:

Well, this just happens to be today…I was bored so, I’m going to catch you up. Things are going great and I just keep waiting for the other shoe to drop….As anyone who has actually read this whole thing knows, I’ve just been writing my own little fictional story here; then posting pictures and my story to maybe build a little interest.

I ended up finding a couple hermie balls on Rescue, this was about a week ago…I picked them off, one spilled pollen onto a lower flower and are now developing seeds; just like 4 or 5. I’ve been watching all the new growth and its all female, so I’m thinking it may be a stress thing and not genetics (I did have to transplant after I started to flower). I’ll have to wait for the next generation to know for sure. These things are starting to go crazy….you still can’t smell them in the room (ozone works great!), but if you could, it would be a pretty fruity smell (9 Lives), not associated with weed. Man, I lucked out on that too!! Rescue is starting to smell a little more like a road killed skunk, so I’m glad the ozone works!
I’m just starting to see the pistils turn red, one or two here or there. Most of the ones I’ve seen have only been on the pre-flowers so far.

Now for my first two newb questions...Are a few of these Hermie balls, all on the very bottom nodes pretty normal? Should I get Dutch Masters Penetrator and Reversal? I haven't seen any in the last week. (I've been looking at them a little each day)...Let me know if you have used this.

Here are a few more pictures; as you can see, the next generation is getting up to speed. The Aerogarden still has the original 2 clones and the 3 others that I put in there (Clones are already rooting, so I can sex).

Now your caught up to me. So, I'm going to go back to writing my little fictional story and taking pictures. Everyone likes a good story, right?!
How do stories end?...You don't always know, that's the beauty!

I figure that these probably won't be ready for harvest for at least 5 to 6 weeks. The Indica dominant one (Rescue Me) will be ready earlier (Maybe 4 weeks). The two Sativa dominant ones will be a lot longer; So...I will post again after I harvest, with a few pics thrown in now and then!

Oh...hopefully I won't really have any problems that I can't find answers for.

In the couple of months I have been looking at this site...more plant problems are probably caused by people giving directions to people, without all the facts or information.

Example...yellowing leaves...please help!!! Nitrogen deficiency ...you should be feeding. Guy go's out buys "nutes" feeds his seedling that just needs to be re-potted and burns the crap out of it.

DON'T TAKE EVERYONES ADVICE!!!

The info is all here!!!

See ya in a couple of months!!

Peace
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No new problems....Enjoy!

Questions, comments, suggestions welcome (may not use the suggestions...Aint' broke...)

sweet job m8.

Thanks Mastakoosh!

Updates soon....

Comments.....anyone???

So....241 views....1 comment..

Maybe this will help....

Picture 4- MommyGarden

Picture 5- Next Batch

wow they are getting better and better. people should check this out.

Right on man! Looking great!

Your plants look great.

What turned you on to hygrozyme?
I just did a few searches and that seems to be some pretty intense and expensive stuff?

Your clearly have figured out some good things.

Cheers.