canadaseed 2014 (first grow)

[canadaseed]

Hey guys at the farm.

I'm growing for the first time this year, my girls will be going outside. I have 4 (Mataro Blue auto) which I got on sale at the puff-shop. Four out of five sprouted and they're doing alright. The Mataro Blue auto is feminized. I was shopping for some smoking supplies and they offered me the seeds at a really nice price so I took em'... I will most likely make hash or some other type of concentrate with all the harvest material, as I have read this bud lacks potency.

The rest of my seeds are bagseed from various batches I've had. I'm not really sure why but I didn't label the seeds each time i found one... should have. They come from: afghan kush, purple kush, green crack and possibly others. I'm very interested to see how these turn out...

I'll update with pics weekly. I'll be going to buy supplies soon. I'm currently doing my research on the farm to see what supplies I'll need. My budget is restricted. All the seedlings are under 3 cfl 6500k just to get them ready for planting season. So far I've had to help each one get the seed casing of while sprouting... one died because it became trapped. So after that I've been helping each one out (literally lol) not taking anymore chances, already lost one. Any tips here?

Mataro Blue Auto

Mataro Blue (1)

Bagseeds

P1

P1

 

[justanotherbozo]

welcome to the site and to the hobby, if you are totally new at this then i suggest you research straight coco hempy buckets with either hydroton or grorocks or lavarock in the bottom, ...hempy buckets are a passive form of hydroponics that is extremely easy to run and it is very forgiving of inexperienced hands.

...i would also suggest you begin by using KISS principles (Keep It Simple Stoner) and feed your plants nothing but MaxiBloom and mix it weaker than they suggest, 1/4 teaspoon per gallon of water should be plenty once your plants get a bit bigger, ...don't feed ANYTHING for the first couple 3 weeks as seedlings are very fragile.

...and don't sweat it if things do go so well your first time, this is a skill so each of your efforts is practice for the next effort and pretty soon you will be a cultivator for real.

good luck and welcome, bozo

 

[canadaseed]

Thanks bozo I'm looking into the soil and nutrients you mentioned. You said don't feed them anything first few weeks, I think the soil I'm using has nutes in it??
well it's this:

Bad for seedlings??

 

[justanotherbozo]

...that, like coco, is NOT soil.

the one you linked to is a peat based product that does indeed have organic fertilizers already added in and i'm not qualified to say whether or not that particular mix is good for seedlings, if it isn't your seedlings should already be showing signs of distress.

...that mix is an 'amended' soil-less medium that is intended for those who will grow according to organic principles and ideally this is the best way to grow, it is completely natural and when done right it is very easy to run with almost all of the feeding labor done when mixing the soil so for the most part the plants only get water and occasional teas and maybe a guano topdress or 2 during the flowering cycle.

...the problem is that when you are first starting out you may be better served limiting yourself to a single learning curve at a time, managing a living organic soil for an indoor operation is very, very difficult unless you have a backyard composting op to supply it, doing this and keeping a healthy micro-herd inside a few plastic bins is a whole seperate process that, for me at least, became much more difficult that the actual growing of marijuana.

...if you are a purist dedicated to the organic philosophy then i commend you and wish you great success and i know that you will find MANY others with similar dedication who are currently succeeding at high levels and who will be just as willing to help you as you could want. ...sadly though i would be unable to help in that regard because i failed to manage it.

...on the other hand, if you are just a noob who is looking for a method that would be easy to learn and to run and that would produce reliable and repeatable results then in that regard i can help you.

here are a couple of links, one to a 5kg bale of coco available at Amazon and any growshop that may be in your area and the other to MaxiBloom, also available on Amazon and also available at local growshops and even better garden centers although traditional outlets seldom carry these products, forget Walmart.

COCOTEK 5KG BAIL

2.2 lbs. - MaxiBloom - Bloom Stimulator - Hydroponic Nutrient Solution - 5-15-14 NPK Ratio - General Hydroponics

just to explain, in simple terms, what a 'hempy bucket' is and how it works i'd say first that it is a technology that is an adaptation of ancient Roman technology and what we have done is bring that indoors.

...lol, this is considerably more complicated to explain than it is to actually DO, lets try a couple pics.

...first, ANY watertight container can be made into a 'hempy' simply by making a SINGLE drainage hole up the side of the container, usually about 2 or 3 inch's up the side of the container.

here's a couple of Folger's 'hempy's' where you can clearly see the single drainage hole and liquid leaking out.

...now here are a couple of some Coke bottle 'hempy's' where you can see the single drainage hole and also see clearly that different materials are used above and below that single hole, ...what you are trying to do is to create a mini reservoir for your plants to drink from and if you are using coco you have to have a seperation with a different material with different absorpative properties for the hempy to function properly, ...in these pics below you can see i was using straight coco up top and perlite in the bottom, one also has some hydroton mixed in with the perlite and i have since abandoned perlite altogether now preferring hydroton or grorocks or lavarock but that's another discussion.

all of these pics are from a few years ago when i was just learning how to work with these materials and technologies so what i'm showing you is the early part of my own learning curve, ...now here are a few shots of some of the plants that were grown back then in those Coke bottle hempy's under a 400CMH inside a smallish cab and all of these plants were fed absolutely NOTHING but MaxiBloom, no additives whatsoever.

...anyway, there are many ways to skin this cat and i don't mean to imply that my way is any 'better' than any other, what i advocte for, especially for new growers, is simplicity, the simpler your operation is, the less there is that can go wrong and while this may not be the 'best' way to grow, it probably is the best way to begin learning to grow.

peace, bozo

 

[canadaseed]

Hey bozo, thx so much for the information this is perfect for me... Price wise it's way lower than i expected :) I'll be able to do everything I need and plus I noticed the pot sizes using that technique is smaller than soil potting. That's good for me to keep spaces confined, I decided I'll keep 2 of the Mataro Blue auto's inside start to finish. Once again thanks a lot for the info and the pics... and can I go ahead and plant these straight into the ground outside? because my plants will be outdoor.

 

[justanotherbozo]

you're welcome man and i'd say it is maybe too early to put anything outdoors yet, ...that'll depend on where you live of course but i live in New England and for us it isn't safe to put anything outside until like mid May.

...if what you are running are true auto's then they will be well on there way to finishing up by then. ...i've never run auto's though so i could be wrong.

peace, bozo

 

[canadaseed]

Your plants are awesome by the way, nice sized cola's and looks very fruity!! Yeah around here Eastern Ontario, planting season is around 5-6 may. Can I leave em' in the hempy's when i plant outdoors or would transplanting into the ground be smarter? So apparently my auto's (mataro blue) need a 12/12 cycle, they don't autoflower. No problem for me as they'll be outside, except for the 2 i'm keeping indoor. Everything is looking nice so far. As I still have another whole month to go before I can plant, I'm thinking about getting some more cfl's or an actual grow light. I'll see how things go if they get sturdy enough I could possibly use natural sunlight from the window in addition to the cfl's. (btw I don't smoke cigarette's :p)

Here's a pic of the sprouting area:

Name: Plant 1

 

[canadaseed]

An update this afternoon. I had a planned transplant last Sunday, March 30th, that turned into an emergency transplant due to some mold growing on some of the tissue roll containers... I'll never use those again lol. So the transplant itself was sloppy, really sloppy. When I finished I was certain most of my plants would die. The reason for that is because the seedlings were very stressed during the process and some lost all the soil around their roots. However, I was delighted to see after 48 hours that my plants had responded to their new growing medium. I started 2 new seeds and one of my Mataro Blue is a mutant. So here they are now.

Mataro Blue (mutant)

A little 'Great White Shark' today not a bad smoke. Creeps up on you and has a long lasting buzz!!

 

[canadaseed]

2 questions to anyone who can help me out?

Is this plant root bound should i transplant? I'm doing hempy's like u suggested bozo. Just wanna know should i transplant.

Next question my growing area is very dry... I find myself watering them a lot, they're drying out fast. Can anyone suggest a low cost way for me to raise moisture levels. Perhaps something DIY. I don't mind buying a humidifier at the same prefer not.

 

[north knect]

Your plants are awesome by the way, nice sized cola's and looks very fruity!! Yeah around here Eastern Ontario, planting season is around 5-6 may. Can I leave em' in the hempy's when i plant outdoors or would transplanting into the ground be smarter? So apparently my auto's (mataro blue) need a 12/12 cycle, they don't autoflower. No problem for me as they'll be outside, except for the 2 i'm keeping indoor. Everything is looking nice so far. As I still have another whole month to go before I can plant, I'm thinking about getting some more cfl's or an actual grow light. I'll see how things go if they get sturdy enough I could possibly use natural sunlight from the window in addition to the cfl's. (btw I don't smoke cigarette's :p)

Here's a pic of the sprouting area:
View attachment 391847
Name: Plant 1
View attachment 391848

hey there..im from northern ontario..im lookin round may 24 to put mine out..if ur lookin for an cheap cfl go to ealmart and get a 200 watt cfl..huge spiral bulb..dont get the shatter proof one cuz it has less lumens and is 5 bucks more..screw into normal bulb outlet..i bought a trouble ligjt from walmart also and hung thaylt..worked well for 18 bicks...24hrs a day costs me 23 dollors a mpnth to run

 

[canadaseed]

hey man awesome stuff, cool to meet another grower from ontario :) May 24 sounds like a safe time to plant. I'm gonna do may 5-6 just because my ladies are getting big... These are actually getting quite big I wonder if this means they're gonna be 7-8 feet tall?? Guess I'll just find out lol. Thanks for the suggesstion about the cfl bulb, I'm gonna look into it. Currently I have 3 cfl's for 13 plants. Ughh I can't believe they aren't wilting or anything, they're actually thriving... Well It's more lights for this grower and/or transplant them soon. On another note, I stayed awake last night (was on psilocybin) And when I went to check on my ladies I noticed a spider lurking on the sliding door to my grow area. He's eyeballing my crop while I'm sleeping... anyway now that I've spotted him I'm aware and will monitor that situation.

Here's some pics.

 

[justanotherbozo]

high bro, i just wanted to say that spiders don't eat plants, they are carnivores hunting for insects so you and your plants have nothing to worry about.

peace, bozo

 

[north knect]

ya def nice to have some bidy who understands my climate lol..wat size of cfls are u using? looks like the lil 13watt ones lol? if thays the case im impressed on the size of ur girls lookin good man..the 200watt cfl i told u bouy from walmart is just a gaint curly bulb like urs now...they screw into a normal outlet aswell..i bought a trouble light, took the lil metal gaurd off..then bought a large stainlras steel bowl..cut an x in the bottom peeled ub the four tabs

 

[north knect]

peeled em up enough to fit the light bulb in..sounds redneck as hell lmao bit il take pics and u will b impressed for a $35 setup its amazing man lol

 

[north knect]

hey man awesome stuff, cool to meet another grower from ontario :) May 24 sounds like a safe time to plant. I'm gonna do may 5-6 just because my ladies are getting big... These are actually getting quite big I wonder if this means they're gonna be 7-8 feet tall?? Guess I'll just find out lol. Thanks for the suggesstion about the cfl bulb, I'm gonna look into it. Currently I have 3 cfl's for 13 plants. Ughh I can't believe they aren't wilting or anything, they're actually thriving... Well It's more lights for this grower and/or transplant them soon. On another note, I stayed awake last night (was on psilocybin) And when I went to check on my ladies I noticed a spider lurking on the sliding door to my grow area. He's eyeballing my crop while I'm sleeping... anyway now that I've spotted him I'm aware and will monitor that situation.

Here's some pics.View attachment 396958
View attachment 396958

bow many dahs in are these pics??

 

[canadaseed]

Hey Bozo. thx for the info bud good to know i don't need to worry about any spiders. Things are looking good with the plants. I found a 430 watt hps with ballast for $100 on Kijiji (like craigslist). pretty excited about that. I'm gonna transplant the 2 bigger ones soon, after transplant I'm gonna put them under the HPS for flowering. I guess I should keep them in the veg room for a few days after transplant to settle then flower, or is this not necessary?

Hey northknect thx for ur advise man, I'm definitely investing in more lighting for my veg room i'll check out the one your talking about. As for your question how many days in are they: two bigger ones were started March 20 and the rest March 25th. It's currently 10 plants under 3 cfl 23watt. Needless to say I have to get more lights. However last night i realized there's a fluorescent over my kitchen sink so i have 3 plants there now lol. The 2 bigger plants are getting direct sunlight from the window now instead of being in the grow room. Would be awesome to see ur setup man!!

I topped a plant 2 days ago, it's starting to have new growth. I'll post pics soon.

 

[north knect]

ya for surre il put some pics up some time after the weekend ....lots of plans lol ...im actaully going gold panning haha..happy easter weekend fellow farmers

 

[north knect]

you're welcome man and i'd say it is maybe too early to put anything outdoors yet, ...that'll depend on where you live of course but i live in New England and for us it isn't safe to put anything outside until like mid May.

...if what you are running are true auto's then they will be well on there way to finishing up by then. ...i've never run auto's though so i could be wrong.

peace, bozo

hey there bozo..just wondering when u would start from seed if ur able to put em outside round may 24? my grow season is early OCT maybe mid oct if thefrost holds off..

 

[north knect]

hey there..im from northern ontario..im lookin round may 24 to put mine out..if ur lookin for an cheap cfl go to ealmart and get a 200 watt cfl..huge spiral bulb..dont get the shatter proof one cuz it has less lumens and is 5 bucks more..screw into normal bulb outlet..i bought a trouble ligjt from walmart also and hung thaylt..worked well for 18 bicks...24hrs a day costs me 23 dollors a mpnth to run

Hey Bozo. thx for the info bud good to know i don't need to worry about any spiders. Things are looking good with the plants. I found a 430 watt hps with ballast for $100 on Kijiji (like craigslist). pretty excited about that. I'm gonna transplant the 2 bigger ones soon, after transplant I'm gonna put them under the HPS for flowering. I guess I should keep them in the veg room for a few days after transplant to settle then flower, or is this not necessary?

Hey northknect thx for ur advise man, I'm definitely investing in more lighting for my veg room i'll check out the one your talking about. As for your question how many days in are they: two bigger ones were started March 20 and the rest March 25th. It's currently 10 plants under 3 cfl 23watt. Needless to say I have to get more lights. However last night i realized there's a fluorescent over my kitchen sink so i have 3 plants there now lol. The 2 bigger plants are getting direct sunlight from the window now instead of being in the grow room. Would be awesome to see ur setup man!!

I topped a plant 2 days ago, it's starting to have new growth. I'll post pics soon.

 

[north knect]

theres some pics of the redneck light set up..iv used it a few times now..i just planted those today..still have 9 that are germinating..il keep u updated