First "real" growing attempt

[Covert]

Well this being the first time i have really tried a hand at growing, I am without a doubt inexperienced and have been relying on forums as well as Google to help me in the process.

So far i have pretty much a bedroom setup i guess you could call it with only 1 Florescent bulb in a desk lamp that has an adjustable reach. The specs on the bulb is its a "Bright White" Florescent Bulb with 9w of power i think?

Secondly i am using potting mix as well as a pinch of miracle grow just to get that little nutrients boost. Along with the miracle grow for nutrients i am using some Vigoro (Link) every couple days or so just to make sure they are getting enough. To be honest i am holding the fertilizer in a Miller High Life 40oz with the correct proportions of the Vigoro so that its a little less then half strength. When i feed, i only fill up the twist off cap and pour it in the center of the plants and then a few drops of water so as to help spread the nutrients throughout.

As far as lighting schedule goes I have decided to make my plant nocturnal :). Don't know if this will harm the plants at all but they seem to be taking it well. What i mean by nocturnal is that i turn the light on at about 10pm at night and then shut it off around 930-10am the next morning. The reason i decided to do this is because my room gets a lot of outside light and since I'm growing indoors i want to make sure there's a concentrated spread of light without any "distractions" from other light sources.

On a side note, When i first started these seedlings, had the light a little too high and the stems got about 4 inches long by themselves. So to fix this minor problem i have put in some more potting mix/ pinch of miracle grow to try and shorten the stems if you will and also added a few drops of fertilizer to give it that boost.

My main question is am i doing it right?!?! Also, if anyone with some higher knowledge has an questions, comments, or suggestions please don't hold back. I'm an open person and can take constructive criticism. I'm here to learn and that's it.

Thanks in advance guys. Really looking forward to this grow.

-Covert

PS: I have a attached a couple pictures of my small setup as well as the plant food information in a jpg.

 

[t.o.med]

welcome to the farm covert. do you think you can grab yourself a t5 fixture or even a 250w ? you have to start somewhere and its cool your giving it a go but i think youd be alot happier at the end with more light. you might want to build yourself a cabinet or buy a small tent to put them in. even a closet would work. good luck with your grow.

 

[captainkip]

depending how big you want your plants to be you could use 8 23w cfl's they're pretty good for the top cola buds but definitely 1 9w cfl is going to get you maybe as little as 3 grams per plant

welcome to the farm covert. do you think you can grab yourself a t5 fixture or even a 250w ? you have to start somewhere and its cool your giving it a go but i think youd be alot happier at the end with more light. you might want to build yourself a cabinet or buy a small tent to put them in. even a closet would work. good luck with your grow.

 

[CAPO]

Welcome to the farm!
This place is a wealth of knowledge. I don't want to give you a full tutorial in just one post, so I'll just point out a couple things so you can better prepare yourself for purchases and such.
You need a closet or cabinet to flower in, cause cannibus needs 12 hrs of total darkness when you are ready to flower.
I would give each plant it's own container if they are not the "auto flower" types, but don't worry; you can cut the males off at the base. Transplanting might prove a little challenging.
I don't like any fertilizers that are time released. If you want to give cannibus plants food when they are young try a little bit of worm castings or compost mixed in the potting mix.
I agree with TOMED it would be wise to invest in at least a 250 h.i.d. or a t-5 florescent. The light you have will cease to impress you in a week or so and find yourself adding more of those; and in the end have very little to show for your efforts.


After all, a grower always remembers his/her first grow, ugly or not!

 

[Malachi]

Reminds me of my very first grow when I was like 16 in my parents house. (Needless to say my Dad busted me) These guys are right though, the more light the better. You can pick up a 2x2 grow tent on Ebay for like 100 bucks, then spend another 100 and pick yourself up a used 400W MH or HPS light. For the 200 dollar investment you will be able to pump out some quality nugs for yourself. You will need plenty of air-circulation to keep your temps cool, so you will also need a very good exhaust fan and a timer. But with those little things it will make a BIG difference! Oh, welcome to the farm, LOL

PS. Ditch the miracle grow! Get your self a cheap 2-part fertilizer, Earth Juice grow/bloom would be a good start for your soil garden.

 

[Kennie_B]

You will want to leave that light on for at least 18 hours a day forvat least the first couple of weeks.

 

[astonyx]

Hey bud welcome to the farm,
for starters dont use miracle gro as it burns the plants most the time.
htgsupply.com has a 400 hps watt set up for $100
if thats all your planting i reccomend just building a cabinet with a small axial fan you can get at a computer shop for like $20 they have 110 cfm which should be enough
also for future plans, you want to plant each plant in thier own container, more root space mean more initial buds.
good luck man.

what strains do you have?

 

[captainkip]

if you buy from htg grow supply getting a diy ballast you can get a brand new one for under 100$

Reminds me of my very first grow when I was like 16 in my parents house. (Needless to say my Dad busted me) These guys are right though, the more light the better. You can pick up a 2x2 grow tent on Ebay for like 100 bucks, then spend another 100 and pick yourself up a used 400W MH or HPS light. For the 200 dollar investment you will be able to pump out some quality nugs for yourself. You will need plenty of air-circulation to keep your temps cool, so you will also need a very good exhaust fan and a timer. But with those little things it will make a BIG difference! Oh, welcome to the farm, LOL

PS. Ditch the miracle grow! Get your self a cheap 2-part fertilizer, Earth Juice grow/bloom would be a good start for your soil garden.

 

[Oregonic]

Covert, some decent nuggage can be put out from some cfls if you have in enclosed space. My first grow was with cfl's and a made a box out of two big rubbemaid totes stacked on top of each other and the middle cut out and all glued together added a small pc fan and life was sweet not much yield just over an oz but it was fun and a great learning experience.

Tent is a good way to go as long as you can deal with the heat issues that will come up. I wish you the best and I hope you realize how freakin addictive this shit gets!

Weed isn't addictive but growing it sure as hell is!:sun2:

 

[Covert]

Alrighty well! I have taken the suggestions about making a grow box and tried my best with what i have at my immediate disposal. Not going to be using it just yet because i am going to need to get a better light setup to accommodate the different arrangement of plants. Going to go to radioshack tomorrow and get a basic switch so i can switch the fan on/off.

Here are my results:

 

[captainkip]

completely right look at this thread of my baby grown under 4 23w and 2 30w cfl's in a 3x3x8 closet cfl's are good for smaller plants but if you plan to grow huge plants for example if your a cargiver or med marijuana patient with plant limits cfl's are not for you

Covert, some decent nuggage can be put out from some cfls if you have in enclosed space. My first grow was with cfl's and a made a box out of two big rubbemaid totes stacked on top of each other and the middle cut out and all glued together added a small pc fan and life was sweet not much yield just over an oz but it was fun and a great learning experience.

Tent is a good way to go as long as you can deal with the heat issues that will come up. I wish you the best and I hope you realize how freakin addictive this shit gets!

Weed isn't addictive but growing it sure as hell is!:sun2:

 

[Covert]

Figured out the light problem temporarily. Wired three lights on a daisy chain type setup so that if one light fails then the other will be all good. It was a long night last night working on all of this just coming up with ideas and implementing them. Took a lot of testing and going through ideas but i think you guys will be somewhat pleased with my decision.

Here are some pictures and a little video:
http://invalid.com/player.php?v=34rg9s2&s=6

 

[captainkip]

alright but when you go into flower i wouldnt do it with anything under 23-30w cfl's no matter how many you have just my opinion but they don't bring barely any yield at budding time i'm going to shoot for a 400w hps for my flower room once iget some cash

 

[Covert]

Oh yea i feel ya on the hps system. Just kinda low on cash at the moment so i decided to try my hand at some zip ties and electrical tape ;). When i have a little more time i plan to build a legit grow box out of wood with the top cut out to accommodate a nice hps setup. Also plan to purchase 120mm computer fans and set those up instead of this puny 80mm. Best believe i got big plans and this is, as you can see, a temp setup for the time being until some cash starts flowing in from "outside sales".

 

[Covert]

Ok so ive been doing some research and it looks like THIS would be the best deal for the money in terms of lighting. im going to be building my own box out of wood so i dont have to worry about buying that. Just gunna get a 120mm computer fan like i previously stated for air flow. What do you guys think of that? Remember im new and open to any suggestions.

 

[Malachi]

Get a 400W HPS, if you have $150 bucks to spend I would get a HID you will end up there eventually, you may just wanna get it and no step through different lights before you get there. If its power consumption you are worried about, a 400W will barely hurt your wallet on the light bill. You should wait to you get your light before building your box ... just a suggestion

 

[CAPO]

awesome....love to see some one learnin.....I never had a "website" when I started....lucky you!.....remember to waterproof your box with plastic or paint when you build it, you don't want to invite mold...honestly, on the lighting it's up to you, either t-5 or 400w would work...there is lots of DIY projects on this site such as grow boxes from big and small breeders alike....you can get a $20 inline fan from anHVAC supply house and make your own carbon filter out of fish tank carbon, if down the road smell and heat become an issue.

 

[captainkip]

something like 40w fluorescents is the most lumens per $$ in the cfl range just so ya know [=

Ok so ive been doing some research and it looks like THIS would be the best deal for the money in terms of lighting. im going to be building my own box out of wood so i dont have to worry about buying that. Just gunna get a 120mm computer fan like i previously stated for air flow. What do you guys think of that? Remember im new and open to any suggestions.

 

[Covert]

Yup when i make the box im already going to be picking out the light because the swize of the light will determine how big my growbox is. Ive been looking at HPS lights for the past few hours and it seems as though they arent as expensive as i originally thought.

Bulb

The only problem is i cant really find a fixture just by itself. and i am not really sure what type of fixture i should get.

I think that florescent link i posted is the best for my needs since im not going large scale and will probably just be growing at most 5 plants at a time.

 

[Covert]

So its 2:50 n the morning over here and my insomnia is kicking my ass. Anyhow I have taken the last 3 hours researching hydroponics and have came across a decent looking setup at a low cost.

Hydroponic Drip System

Combined with:
Light System

Any comments?