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I have heard nothing but bad things about growing using products available at walmart. Most people can either goto walmart or order off ebay or amazon, etc which is a pain and takes to much time. Here is my method for using most reusable items from walmart. The yeilds can be impressive, I pull off 1-2 ounce off a plant from clone started at 12/12, depending on strain.
It is a little more work, be warned.
Items you need.
Miracle grow micromax soil. Do not get the water control, just the standard green bag. Agian, not the BLUE bag, just the green.
A GOOD ph and tds meter. At least have a ph shaker test. Do not even try without some way of testing the PH. This is the key.
Miracle grow tomato fertilizer or equiv. I actually used a 4 dollar box of some off brand, was blue. 10-15-10.
Lights. Personally I use 3 90w leds and 2 105w 2700k cfls. The 90w leds I got off ebay auctions paying less than 100 for each. The cfls run 25 dollars at www.1000bulbs.com (look for the 68 lumen per watt bulb in the 105 watt section, friggin awesome light for the price). You could use 4 cfls for under 100 dollars and be totally fine flowering 4-5 plants, which is how i started. Each bulb is around 7k lumens and runs cool enough to place within an inch of the plant tops. I added the 90w ufos as i found them over the next year or so.
Dolemite lime. I got a box for 4 dollars at walmart.
Step 1. Prepare the soil.
Take some dolemite lime and mix it in with the soil and water it heavily several times. I use about 1/4 cup or so for a 8-10 inch pot.Soak it good with water let it sit, soak it again and stir it around, make sure its worked in really nice. Let the soil dry for a day or 2 before moving to the next step.
Step 2. Seedlings or clones.
Add the seedling or clone to the soil. You will not need to do much to get it to grow. It will veg perfectly fine without much water.
Step 3. Wait
Wait for the plant to get to the size you want. I recommend no more than a foot tall.
Step 4. Begining Flowering.
During the stretch you shouldn't need to add any fertilizer or additives. Water with 6-7 ph corrected water if needed. I normally had to water once. Wait until you see bud sites.
Step 5. The tricky part.
This is where things usually go terribly wrong, but with a little elbow grease, you can take the plant through flowering without much problems. When you see the bottom leaves start to yellow start watering with 1/2 strength tomato fertilizer every other water. When using just water, collect the run off and test it with the ph meter or shaker or whatever. After a few feedings you might notice the ph plummet down to 5.0 or so, or it may stay up depending on how well the dolemite has been worked in. When this happens, do a mini flush until the runoff is back up in the 6 range. Once the runoff reaches above 6 your safe until the next feeding. After a few feedings and watering your get the hang of it. Slowly increase the fertilizer to full strength. This will get your plant through flowering without many problems. I got so good at it, I hardly ever run into problems any more.
Repeat until the plant is ready to ripen.
Step 6. Riping.
Stop all fertilizer and just heavily water with ph adjusted 6.5 water. I use about 3 gallons in my 10 inch pots each water on each plant. If you notice the plant start to claw.. where the tips curl down, take out and mini flush again, even if it doesn't need water. This shouldn't happen often if you worked in the dolemite lime good enough, it should buffer most the acid build up.
Step 7. Harvest
Harvest as usual.
Hopefully these steps help those that grow from walmart on a budget.It can be done quite nicely as long as the soil ph is watched carefully.
It is a little more work, be warned.
Items you need.
Miracle grow micromax soil. Do not get the water control, just the standard green bag. Agian, not the BLUE bag, just the green.
A GOOD ph and tds meter. At least have a ph shaker test. Do not even try without some way of testing the PH. This is the key.
Miracle grow tomato fertilizer or equiv. I actually used a 4 dollar box of some off brand, was blue. 10-15-10.
Lights. Personally I use 3 90w leds and 2 105w 2700k cfls. The 90w leds I got off ebay auctions paying less than 100 for each. The cfls run 25 dollars at www.1000bulbs.com (look for the 68 lumen per watt bulb in the 105 watt section, friggin awesome light for the price). You could use 4 cfls for under 100 dollars and be totally fine flowering 4-5 plants, which is how i started. Each bulb is around 7k lumens and runs cool enough to place within an inch of the plant tops. I added the 90w ufos as i found them over the next year or so.
Dolemite lime. I got a box for 4 dollars at walmart.
Step 1. Prepare the soil.
Take some dolemite lime and mix it in with the soil and water it heavily several times. I use about 1/4 cup or so for a 8-10 inch pot.Soak it good with water let it sit, soak it again and stir it around, make sure its worked in really nice. Let the soil dry for a day or 2 before moving to the next step.
Step 2. Seedlings or clones.
Add the seedling or clone to the soil. You will not need to do much to get it to grow. It will veg perfectly fine without much water.
Step 3. Wait
Wait for the plant to get to the size you want. I recommend no more than a foot tall.
Step 4. Begining Flowering.
During the stretch you shouldn't need to add any fertilizer or additives. Water with 6-7 ph corrected water if needed. I normally had to water once. Wait until you see bud sites.
Step 5. The tricky part.
This is where things usually go terribly wrong, but with a little elbow grease, you can take the plant through flowering without much problems. When you see the bottom leaves start to yellow start watering with 1/2 strength tomato fertilizer every other water. When using just water, collect the run off and test it with the ph meter or shaker or whatever. After a few feedings you might notice the ph plummet down to 5.0 or so, or it may stay up depending on how well the dolemite has been worked in. When this happens, do a mini flush until the runoff is back up in the 6 range. Once the runoff reaches above 6 your safe until the next feeding. After a few feedings and watering your get the hang of it. Slowly increase the fertilizer to full strength. This will get your plant through flowering without many problems. I got so good at it, I hardly ever run into problems any more.
Repeat until the plant is ready to ripen.
Step 6. Riping.
Stop all fertilizer and just heavily water with ph adjusted 6.5 water. I use about 3 gallons in my 10 inch pots each water on each plant. If you notice the plant start to claw.. where the tips curl down, take out and mini flush again, even if it doesn't need water. This shouldn't happen often if you worked in the dolemite lime good enough, it should buffer most the acid build up.
Step 7. Harvest
Harvest as usual.
Hopefully these steps help those that grow from walmart on a budget.It can be done quite nicely as long as the soil ph is watched carefully.
