First grow f××k-ups

[Mr. Crisco]

Epsom Salts are magnesium sulphate so you get both Mg and S from them and the stuff they sell at the drug store is fine and cheap. Sulfur is the 'secret ingredient' bloom boosters have and Big Bud has 10%. I have a 500g can of the powdered BB.

I have an analog temp/RH controller that uses a heat/cool thermostat wired for cool in series with a bathroom fan humidity controller in the silver box. My DIY speed controller is made from a ceiling fan controller, (not a dimmer!), you can see above the silver box and it's set about half speed all the time. The black cord runs to the 6" inline exhaust fan. The thermostat for the heater is sitting on the shelf to the right and I need heat during the dark period summer or winter. Even with just a single 400W the heater is needed a bit during the day period in the winter.

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I call it a bunker and my grow room would be the safest place to be if a tornado showed up but they haven't got this far north in Alberta yet but could with global warming. The grow room was actually a cold storage room the original owner built downstairs. It's about 7x9x6.5'h in a concrete room that's 10x25x7'h and under the house/shop. We get our water from a dugout on the property and the plumbing for that is down there. If I ever have a big leak the water from the dugout will fill that bunker and I'll get a free indoor swimming pool. Had a flood down there a few years back in the spring and got 8" of water down there. All the air going into the grow room comes from the larger basement area where the warmest it gets is around 64F and down to about 45F in the winter so got lots of free cool air and no need for AC. Power is almost 25¢/kwh here so if I can save a bit it helps.

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75F seems to be around the sweet spot for growing and what I aim for. With soil grows the bacteria and fungi in the soil are most active around that temp but if the room is 75 the pots can be 10 degrees cooler mostly due to evaporation. I mainly grow in soilless ProMix HP or do DWC. Neither of which need bacteria or fungi.

I recently decided to try organic growing and managed to burn the plants pretty good so yesterday I up-potted from 2L pots to 8L using almost all soilless with 1ml/L of all 3 base nutes for watering them in. I'm not much of a dirt farmer. lol

In case you need some reading material you can get lots with this link.

I found a great spot to download I downloaded a grow bible first and got lots more. Books look great and complete like the real ones I have here. No web site but just a page of links. Just right click on what you want and then "Save Link As" to download so they don't open first as many are 50+ megs. They got lots. Enjoy.

Awesome, thank you much man. That pic of the flood looks rough. But looks like she pulled through. Checking out those grow books now.

 

[hawse]

Best of luck! Yeah, for a good long time my first year, I used only Fox farm trio (salt based), and never ever flushed the soil because I didn't know any better. To be honest for the most part, there were a handful of strains that didn't seem to care at all so I stuck with those, but maybe 80% of the other strains would get chloris, dried up leaves crunchy leaves, and much lower yield than they could have. Plants are hardy - we just have to learn how to baby them though...

 

[Mr. Crisco]

Best of luck! Yeah, for a good long time my first year, I used only Fox farm trio (salt based), and never ever flushed the soil because I didn't know any better. To be honest for the most part, there were a handful of strains that didn't seem to care at all so I stuck with those, but maybe 80% of the other strains would get chloris, dried up leaves crunchy leaves, and much lower yield than they could have. Plants are hardy - we just have to learn how to baby them though...

I'll need to flush these babies. I didnt think into how much could build up. I keep getting greedy with the nutes

 

[Lethidox]

many problems basic to not so basic.

1. over watering - kill a bunch of seedlings my first run by simply over watering and getting root rot
2. it was an outdoor grow didn't take into consideration how much direct sunlight i got outside it was about 3-4 hours a day only plant eventually flowered earlier then i wanted it to
3. plants got eaten up by pests.
4. over fertilizing
5. not training for a potted plant with height restrictions due to legalization in my state.

loads of issues your first grow is way better then mine. to me the key to growing is don't compare yourself to other growers. learn at your own pace and if you are happy with your end results great if not take what you did wrong learn from it and get better. i just harvested my 3rd grow not to long ago so far the best buds i ever gotten next run will be even better.

 

[ANC]

Best of luck! Yeah, for a good long time my first year, I used only Fox farm trio (salt based), and never ever flushed the soil because I didn't know any better. To be honest for the most part, there were a handful of strains that didn't seem to care at all so I stuck with those, but maybe 80% of the other strains would get chloris, dried up leaves crunchy leaves, and much lower yield than they could have. Plants are hardy - we just have to learn how to baby them though...

You don't flush soil, half the stuff isn't even mobile in soil and won't go anywhere.

 

[Mr. Crisco]

Are these too short to put into flower in about a week or so and scrog? Does how tall the plant is affect yield as much as just how tall the colas are? Just fimmed two of them, two days ago.

 

[Mr. Crisco]

many problems basic to not so basic.

1. over watering - kill a bunch of seedlings my first run by simply over watering and getting root rot
2. it was an outdoor grow didn't take into consideration how much direct sunlight i got outside it was about 3-4 hours a day only plant eventually flowered earlier then i wanted it to
3. plants got eaten up by pests.
4. over fertilizing
5. not training for a potted plant with height restrictions due to legalization in my state.

loads of issues your first grow is way better then mine. to me the key to growing is don't compare yourself to other growers. learn at your own pace and if you are happy with your end results great if not take what you did wrong learn from it and get better. i just harvested my 3rd grow not to long ago so far the best buds i ever gotten next run will be even better.

I definitely feel I would've made the same mistakes had I not had this site.

 

[Lethidox]

I definitely feel I would've made the same mistakes had I not had this site.

idgaf if i make mistakes for me it's just a learning experience i don't smoke much cannabis anymore what i get in 1 grow can typically last me more then 1 year and i get around 6oz atm off 3 plants give or take stems and not trimmed too nicely.

hardest part for me though it heat. i live in Hawaii hard to keep the heat and humidity in check. without running an AC your likely fucked humidity wise it's not too bad. next grow imma try run lights on during the evening get a temps to drop a little lower. growing outdoors should be fine if you have that option i don't just due to lack of natural sunlight and people stealing my plants.

 

[ANC]

idgaf if i make mistakes for me it's just a learning experience i don't smoke much cannabis anymore what i get in 1 grow can typically last me more then 1 year and i get around 6oz atm off 3 plants give or take stems and not trimmed too nicely.

Geez, in my mind I'm already mourning the fact that my next harvest won't last forever and I'm still getting the babies up to speed in the veg room (to be honest I'm just keeping them alive, as I ran out of lights.

 

[Lethidox]

Geez, in my mind I'm already mourning the fact that my next harvest won't last forever and I'm still getting the babies up to speed in the veg room (to be honest I'm just keeping them alive, as I ran out of lights.

yea man it's not really that i don't smoke just that i have living situations. live in Hawaii on Oahu with a low paying job. you can already imagine the cost of living here so im basically forced to live at home with my parents ( now dad and sister and her bf ). my dad is like extremely against smoking i understand why but he is a hypocrit because he used to smoke and grows still. he grows more then i do count wise but doesn't get as much weight as i do since his is purely outdoors.

if he wasn't against smoking i'd be sparking up daily. they know i smoke though and im well over the age limit. thats why i always tell people who think it's all fun and games living here it's not. pretty much hell living here. my neighbors just bought the house idk at least 5-7 years ago and just started selling it they don't work they retired already but yea thats just reality people can't even afford. same like at my house we renting 2 rooms out to strangers they are elderly but in the end it benefits us all less we got to pay and extremely affordable for them.

 

[ANC]

Not going to spoil your day by telling you about my life and income.
My life is probably still way better than I deserve.
Went pretty shit for a while there until I decided to fuck the man, and grow weed.
Now it just goes shit occasionally.

 

[Lethidox]

Not going to spoil your day by telling you about my life and income.
My life is probably still way better than I deserve.
Went pretty shit for a while there until I decided to fuck the man, and grow weed.
Now it just goes shit occasionally.

yea i mean everyone got there financial struggles i got quite a few friends in various states so i get an idea of how their income and where they live affects them kind of an interesting topic. i mean i don't plan to live here forever either eventually want to move for better job opportunities and that might be a possibility because of how we are living right now. my 2 aunties on the other side can't even afford there rent my grandparents are helping them with that and once they die then they either need to step it up or move out. i know my mom wanted to buy out our side of the house so that way when that does happen we don't get screwed over.

 

[OldMedUser]

Are these too short to put into flower in about a week or so and scrog? Does how tall the plant is affect yield as much as just how tall the colas are? Just fimmed two of them, two days ago.
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If you are doing a ScroG you need to veg longer to be able to tie down the growing tops to the screen for a while before flipping to flower.

If you are just putting up a screen to support standing colas then that's not a ScroG and you should make sure it's going to be at a good height when the plant stretches up. I see so many grows where peeps are putting up a 2nd screen because the tops are way above the first screen and falling over rendering the first screen useless.

I use chains to hang my lights etc and to hang a screen from the ceiling sometimes. For screen I use wire sheep fencing. Very light but strong so no frame is needed tho I built one just using bamboo garden stakes around the edge. When I cut the screen to 4x4' I left a couple inches of the wire sticking out to wrap around the bamboo to hold it on two sides. Bits of baling wire or twist ties to secure it top and bottom. Then hung it with light chains and S hooks from the ceiling.

Not the prettiest picture but you can see better what I did. All those branches standing up were lashed down to the screen as they grew during veg then flipped when the screen was as covered as I wanted it.

 

[ANC]

Don't worry, I'm not above throwing a screen on in testy times.

 

[hawse]

You don't flush soil, half the stuff isn't even mobile in soil and won't go anywhere.

Don't understand what you mean... I just mean Fox farms is designed for you to use a ton of salt based crap and then use their other stuff to wash away the salts so you don't get nute lockout... Which is what I would get.... Which is why i don't use it any more...

 

[ANC]

That sounds like salty dirt, not soil.

 

[Mr. Crisco]

If you are doing a ScroG you need to veg longer to be able to tie down the growing tops to the screen for a while before flipping to flower.

If you are just putting up a screen to support standing colas then that's not a ScroG and you should make sure it's going to be at a good height when the plant stretches up. I see so many grows where peeps are putting up a 2nd screen because the tops are way above the first screen and falling over rendering the first screen useless.

I use chains to hang my lights etc and to hang a screen from the ceiling sometimes. For screen I use wire sheep fencing. Very light but strong so no frame is needed tho I built one just using bamboo garden stakes around the edge. When I cut the screen to 4x4' I left a couple inches of the wire sticking out to wrap around the bamboo to hold it on two sides. Bits of baling wire or twist ties to secure it top and bottom. Then hung it with light chains and S hooks from the ceiling.

Not the prettiest picture but you can see better what I did. All those branches standing up were lashed down to the screen as they grew during veg then flipped when the screen was as covered as I wanted it.

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Ah okok. I was under the impression I should put a net on the canopy now, then flip to 12/12, and tuck the tops during the stretch. But I should set a net and tuck tops while they're vegging, then flip lights once there's a sufficient amount of tops out of the net?

 

[hotrodharley]

Also have any of you tried the Exhale Co2 bags? I've been think about buying some

Forget those. They’re expensive and show limited results. You can make your own with a 5 gallon bucket and yeast you buy at the grocery store. An easy build and the instructions are out there. Probably YouTube as well. Look for homebuilt CO2 generators.

 

[Mr. Crisco]

Forget those. They’re expensive and show limited results. You can make your own with a 5 gallon bucket and yeast you buy at the grocery store. An easy build and the instructions are out there. Probably YouTube as well. Look for homebuilt CO2 generators.

Just looked them up, seems super easy. But is it really enough co2 production to be beneficial? I guess I could get 2 of them going. I want to get a tank and regulator, but I doubt the wife will be ok with it

 

[hotrodharley]

Just looked them up, seems super easy. But is it really enough co2 production to be beneficial? I guess I could get 2 of them going. I want to get a tank and regulator, but I doubt the wife will be ok with it

Read up more on using CO2 including ventilation. Personally I believe in just more light. I’ve tried CO2 and in my own experience it was too much trouble for the setups I could make.