T
TheOmicronic
- 9
- 3
So. I don't know how to start threads.
I am a first-time grower and quite honestly, I've kind of half-assed (more like 3/4-assed) everything.
My brother did a grow at the start of the year which got me interested in attempting it for myself.
I smoke a joint per day, which some people would consider a lot, and some people would consider nothing. But I thought to myself; how nifty would it be to grow my own, instead of having to buy it...
I asked my brother where he got his seeds from, and apparently it involved bitcoins and overseas shipping (he began his adventure in growing before Cannabis was legal here) and that sounded like a huge pain in the ass. So I asked another friend, who put me in touch with ANOTHER friend, who sold me some clones for 5 bucks. Perfect. I was the proud owner of a few tiny Bubba Kush plants.
Now what?! I had no idea how to care for these plants. And every house-plant I've ever owned has died a gruesome death. I know plants need light, so I shoved the plants on the top shelf of my pantry, directly underneath 2x100W normal everyday light bulbs. I knew this would only be a temporary solution, and, my wife immediately commented on the smell. I just needed to buy myself 24-hours.
I started doing a ton of reading (and whoa-boy there's a lot of [mis]information out there) and came up with a plan. I pulled up Amazon and ordered -overnight- basically the cheapest grow light I could find (600W LED). Then I grabbed a big plastic rubber-maid bin and taped a bunch of tinfoil to the inside. And setup a box fan in the basement window. See the ghetto-setup below.
After about a week, the plants had doubled in height.
After 2-3 weeks, they tripled in height! (I know the container says OG Kush, but it was a re-used container, and I have been assured the plants are Bubba) The Pyrex measuring cup was used to scoop water out of the other medium sized blue plastic rubber-maid container and water the plants. The water in the blue tub came from my aquarium after doing my weekly water change. In my mind, I figured aquarium water would be perfect for use growing cannabis... It's already perfectly pH balanced, it's full of nutrients, etc.
Right around the 1-month mark, I decided it was time to get serious. A friend of mine just-so-happened to have a brand new 4x4x8 grow tent that he wasn't using, and he gave it to me for free (I would have given him a reach-around at least). Score! And then it was back to Amazon to order some cloth pots. I went with 10-gallon pots because they seemed to be the best bang for my buck. I think I paid 20 bucks? I also picked up some 25kg bags of plain old topsoil from the local garden center... They were on sale for $2 each. Last but not least, I went to my parents farm and grabbed a couple of 5-gallon pails full of mulch. Mostly wood shavings and horse manure. I took my pails from the center of pile, mulch that was nearly a year old, fully composted.
[Side note: at the end of every year, I am the one responsible for hopping on the tractor and distributing the manure pile evenly all over the farm, in the trees, flower beds, etc. The pine trees surrounding the farm have shot up like crazy ever since we started this practice - hence why I figured it would probably be great for my cannabis plants] Pics below.
Beginning of Transplant day:
After Transplanting:
New grow tent all setup;
As this is my first grow, and I have no idea what I'm doing, I wanted to do it cheaply - that way if I failed miserably, I wouldn't be out of pocket very much. My brother, on the other hand, dove straight in and spent $1000 on a fancy grow bulb, liquid nutrients, etc, etc... I decided to keep using my cheap $100 LED grow light. I bought some plastic shelving to use, and also invested in a cheap 6" duct fan, and ran some 6" dryer hose out the basement window, to keep the smell out of my house.
After just 1 week (week 5 of veg, for those of us counting) in fresh soil, with compost, and aquarium water - the plants were looking really good!
Week 6 and Week 7 below:
The little guy in the middle was just a random houseplant I thought I'd try to bring back to life in the grow tent. It worked!
Week 8:
For week 9, I pulled everything out of the tent, the light couldn't raise any higher, and the plants were getting too close. I removed the shelving and scrubbed the floor of the tent clean (it was quite brown from dry run-off). I also picked my first couple of dead leaves off the very bottom of the plants. It's time to switch from veg to flower. I flipped the switch on my LED light and adjusted my automatic timer. Went from 18/6 to 12/12. No, I did not do it gradually, an hour per day, because "ain't nobody got time for dat!"
Unfortunately, after switching to flower, my life got VERY hectic. Work was insanely busy, I was out of town almost every weekend, and I have literally ZERO pictures of weeks 10-12. And to top it all off, I had scheduled vacation coming up, and I was going to be away from home for 8-10 days. I watered the absolute fuck out of my babies (I really do feel like a proud papa to these plant-girls) and crossed my fingers.
I just got home yesterday, the plants have been in flower for 4 weeks now (week 10, 11, 12, and 13) and here's what they look like today;
There are bud sites forming! I am very VERY excited.
I will update this thread as is prudent. Thank you anyone/everyone who decided to read this rambling nonsense.
I am a first-time grower and quite honestly, I've kind of half-assed (more like 3/4-assed) everything.
My brother did a grow at the start of the year which got me interested in attempting it for myself.
I smoke a joint per day, which some people would consider a lot, and some people would consider nothing. But I thought to myself; how nifty would it be to grow my own, instead of having to buy it...
I asked my brother where he got his seeds from, and apparently it involved bitcoins and overseas shipping (he began his adventure in growing before Cannabis was legal here) and that sounded like a huge pain in the ass. So I asked another friend, who put me in touch with ANOTHER friend, who sold me some clones for 5 bucks. Perfect. I was the proud owner of a few tiny Bubba Kush plants.
Now what?! I had no idea how to care for these plants. And every house-plant I've ever owned has died a gruesome death. I know plants need light, so I shoved the plants on the top shelf of my pantry, directly underneath 2x100W normal everyday light bulbs. I knew this would only be a temporary solution, and, my wife immediately commented on the smell. I just needed to buy myself 24-hours.
I started doing a ton of reading (and whoa-boy there's a lot of [mis]information out there) and came up with a plan. I pulled up Amazon and ordered -overnight- basically the cheapest grow light I could find (600W LED). Then I grabbed a big plastic rubber-maid bin and taped a bunch of tinfoil to the inside. And setup a box fan in the basement window. See the ghetto-setup below.
After about a week, the plants had doubled in height.
After 2-3 weeks, they tripled in height! (I know the container says OG Kush, but it was a re-used container, and I have been assured the plants are Bubba) The Pyrex measuring cup was used to scoop water out of the other medium sized blue plastic rubber-maid container and water the plants. The water in the blue tub came from my aquarium after doing my weekly water change. In my mind, I figured aquarium water would be perfect for use growing cannabis... It's already perfectly pH balanced, it's full of nutrients, etc.
Right around the 1-month mark, I decided it was time to get serious. A friend of mine just-so-happened to have a brand new 4x4x8 grow tent that he wasn't using, and he gave it to me for free (I would have given him a reach-around at least). Score! And then it was back to Amazon to order some cloth pots. I went with 10-gallon pots because they seemed to be the best bang for my buck. I think I paid 20 bucks? I also picked up some 25kg bags of plain old topsoil from the local garden center... They were on sale for $2 each. Last but not least, I went to my parents farm and grabbed a couple of 5-gallon pails full of mulch. Mostly wood shavings and horse manure. I took my pails from the center of pile, mulch that was nearly a year old, fully composted.
[Side note: at the end of every year, I am the one responsible for hopping on the tractor and distributing the manure pile evenly all over the farm, in the trees, flower beds, etc. The pine trees surrounding the farm have shot up like crazy ever since we started this practice - hence why I figured it would probably be great for my cannabis plants] Pics below.
Beginning of Transplant day:
After Transplanting:
New grow tent all setup;
As this is my first grow, and I have no idea what I'm doing, I wanted to do it cheaply - that way if I failed miserably, I wouldn't be out of pocket very much. My brother, on the other hand, dove straight in and spent $1000 on a fancy grow bulb, liquid nutrients, etc, etc... I decided to keep using my cheap $100 LED grow light. I bought some plastic shelving to use, and also invested in a cheap 6" duct fan, and ran some 6" dryer hose out the basement window, to keep the smell out of my house.
After just 1 week (week 5 of veg, for those of us counting) in fresh soil, with compost, and aquarium water - the plants were looking really good!
Week 6 and Week 7 below:
The little guy in the middle was just a random houseplant I thought I'd try to bring back to life in the grow tent. It worked!
Week 8:
For week 9, I pulled everything out of the tent, the light couldn't raise any higher, and the plants were getting too close. I removed the shelving and scrubbed the floor of the tent clean (it was quite brown from dry run-off). I also picked my first couple of dead leaves off the very bottom of the plants. It's time to switch from veg to flower. I flipped the switch on my LED light and adjusted my automatic timer. Went from 18/6 to 12/12. No, I did not do it gradually, an hour per day, because "ain't nobody got time for dat!"
Unfortunately, after switching to flower, my life got VERY hectic. Work was insanely busy, I was out of town almost every weekend, and I have literally ZERO pictures of weeks 10-12. And to top it all off, I had scheduled vacation coming up, and I was going to be away from home for 8-10 days. I watered the absolute fuck out of my babies (I really do feel like a proud papa to these plant-girls) and crossed my fingers.
I just got home yesterday, the plants have been in flower for 4 weeks now (week 10, 11, 12, and 13) and here's what they look like today;
There are bud sites forming! I am very VERY excited.
I will update this thread as is prudent. Thank you anyone/everyone who decided to read this rambling nonsense.
