Greetings,questions.

[listenupson]

First off,I'd just like to introduce myself. I've been smoking for a good few years now,and like many others,have become disillusioned at the prices I have to pay to get high. I live in the south east of Ireland,and dope isn't always available. The quality of the dope is also pretty lousy,mostly solid and tampered with. So I've decided to grow some White Widow.

I bought feminized seeds. They're germinated,and have been put into a small pod like pot for the first growth stage.
I have a general grasp on what I have to do to grow,I'm pretty sure,though some extra help would really put my mind at ease.


How long should the sprouting take? I'm under the impression from reading up on it that I should have something grown (with regular watering etc.) in two weeks,and to move to a larger pot then.

The larger pots are in a closet in my old house (where my friend now lives and we'll be taking care of them together). We have a 250watt heating bulb to place over three white widow plants in an enclosed closet,with the walls covered in foil. I've heard foil might not be the best,but does it really have an adverse effect on growth? If so,what such effect is it?


Finally,there's eight weeks left 'til Christmas now. Considering this,do you think there's any chance of us having this grown (taking full and proper care of the plants) by Christmas week or just after? There's a bit of a drought on where I'm from,and I don't want Christmas without dope! Also,if buds are showing and we do decide to harvest relatively early,will it affect the high?


Thanks for all who take the time to answer some of my concerns,feeling a bit lost,and more than a bit confused by all those crappy youtube videos. Some of the threads I've trawled on this site have been really informative and helpful though,so keep up the good work. I should be keeping rather active myself over the growth period,so I'll talk to you all soon.

 

[DoeEyed]

First off,I'd just like to introduce myself. I've been smoking for a good few years now,and like many others,have become disillusioned at the prices I have to pay to get high. I live in the south east of Ireland,and dope isn't always available. The quality of the dope is also pretty lousy,mostly solid and tampered with. So I've decided to grow some White Widow.

I bought feminized seeds. They're germinated,and have been put into a small pod like pot for the first growth stage.
I have a general grasp on what I have to do to grow,I'm pretty sure,though some extra help would really put my mind at ease.


How long should the sprouting take? I'm under the impression from reading up on it that I should have something grown (with regular watering etc.) in two weeks,and to move to a larger pot then.

The larger pots are in a closet in my old house (where my friend now lives and we'll be taking care of them together). We have a 250watt heating bulb to place over three white widow plants in an enclosed closet,with the walls covered in foil. I've heard foil might not be the best,but does it really have an adverse effect on growth? If so,what such effect is it?


Finally,there's eight weeks left 'til Christmas now. Considering this,do you think there's any chance of us having this grown (taking full and proper care of the plants) by Christmas week or just after? There's a bit of a drought on where I'm from,and I don't want Christmas without dope! Also,if buds are showing and we do decide to harvest relatively early,will it affect the high?


Thanks for all who take the time to answer some of my concerns,feeling a bit lost,and more than a bit confused by all those crappy youtube videos. Some of the threads I've trawled on this site have been really informative and helpful though,so keep up the good work. I should be keeping rather active myself over the growth period,so I'll talk to you all soon.

Ok - first off, how long it takes to get a sprout depends on if you germinate the seed, before you plant it. If you do, you should see a sprout within 48 hours or so. If not, around 4-5 days.

When you transplant it is dependant on the size of your starting pot, and how fast it takes up the room. Personally I start out with something the size of an egg cup - and transplant into it's final 3 gallon home, a week from germination.

Aluminum foil is NOT recommended for use with growing mj - it can cause hot spots, and burn your plants. A better bet, if you can't get mylar, is some emergency blankets - I get mine at Wal-Mart in the camping section, if you don't have one there, you can get them on-line, as well.

I don't know for sure what you mean by a 250w "heat lamp". If it's literally a heat lamp, probably incandescant, it won't be good for growing.

Lastly - it takes most Indica dominant plants 8-9 weeks to flower, and Sativa dominant plants 10-12 weeks to flower - and a good month after that for drying and curing. So no, you would not be done in time for Christmas. Hope this helps!

 

[racerboy71]

first of all. welcome to the world of growing.. it can be a fun and exciting hobby..
my first concern is what is a 250 watt heating bulb? i live in the u.s. and just am not sure if this is a british term or what? if you are talking about an hps bulb, then it is perfect.. but if it is some kind of heating bulb for like reptiles and the like, then it it not the right kind of bulb to grow ganja with.. since i am not sure about it i will not comment..
i think your next guestion was about using the foil on the walls of the grow area.. get rid of it.. the foil tends to reflect the light at all kinds of crazy angles and not much of it will get back to the plants.. you can always just paint the walls with either a flat or semi-gloss white paint, and you will see betterll results..
thirdly, that is a big yes about picking buds before they are done and affecting the high... get yourself a jewlers loupe and when the plants are in flower look at the buds with the loupe.. you will see the trichromes with it.. to me they look like a lil lolipop, and the ball on top of it is where the thc is housed.. you will notice that as the tric's mature, they will start off as a clear head, going to a cloudy color and finally finishing with an amber color.. depending on the type of high that you are after will tell you when to harvest.. cloudier heads give a more up high, and amber colored a more couchlock high.. don't rush the harvest.. after all of your hard work to get them that far it would really be a travisty to pull them before their time..
i would recomend sticking around here for awhile and just read up as much as you can...
i wish you all the best of luck with your grow, and if you have any farther ?;s don't be afraid to ask..

 

[strain stalker]

...don't use foil as a reflector. .... you should paint your walls flat white = 80 - 85% reflecting

...how long it will be before you have to transplant depends on how big the pot is your presently in. The way to tell potbound plants is by looking at the root system developed. Carefully loosen the sides of the soil and flip plant and pot upside down, work the plant out carefully and glance at the roots. Once the roots have covered 3/4 of the mass of the pot shaped soil...then you need to transplant.....Hopefully this answers your questions. Good Luck.

 

[listenupson]

Thanks for the swift responses guys,really helpful.

I'll make sure to strip the walls of my enclosed area of the foil,I was rather skeptical from the start about it. The walls are painted white,so by all accounts that alone should be enough.

The light I'm using is a CFL lamp,sorry I probably should have been more clear! As far as I know it's the right sort of light,any comments?

The seeds germinated in about 48-56 hours,and they were planted this morning in an area not too much larger than an egg cup. I'm pretty sure everything has been done correctly thus far,although I'm not too sure about the next stages. I plan to move into 5 liter pots as soon as I can,and as I understand it,it should be in the next two weeks or so?

Also,what's the deal with light during the stage that I'm at? When should I start growing under a light?

Thanks again,guys.

 

[DoeEyed]

I plan to move into 5 liter pots as soon as I can,and as I understand it,it should be in the next two weeks or so?

Also,what's the deal with light during the stage that I'm at? When should I start growing under a light?

Thanks again,guys.

Sounds like a good plan. If you have a 250 actual (not equivelant) watt CFL, that'll work great. What is the K range? You'll want the 5000K - 6500K for vegging, and the 2700K - 3000K for flowering. Keep the light as close to your plants as possible - with my 27w CFL's this is within two inches, with that higher watt one you'll have to test it - stick your hand above the top of your plants, and bring the light as close as you can without it burning your hand.

Technically you don't need light until the sprout breaks the surface - but personally I like to put mine under as soon as the seed is in the soil. So that's kind of up to you, but if you wait, put it under as soon as it breaks through the soil.

 

[listenupson]

Not sure what the k range is,though I'll take these figures into account. I'll really have to look into it,though am not around plant or bulb now


Cheers for the advice everyone,I'll keep posted with updates and pictures. Once they become pic worthy,of course!

 

[racerboy71]

not sure if anyone mentioned this or not, but you'll want to leave the lights on for the first week 24/7, and after that take it down to 18/6... thats eighteen hours of light and six hours of darkness.. leave them under that schedule untill they get to a good size, and then flip the lights to 12/12 to induce flowering.. you have to take into account that a plant will more than likely double in size or possibly triple from when you flipped the lights to flower, so this will help you determine when you want to change the lights according to how much space you have.. and also bigger plants, ie longer vegged plants, will get you more bud at the end of the day, but also takes up more space. some people would rather veg more plants for a shorter period of time, and others do the opposite and veg one or two plants for a longer period of time.. the choice is yours really... just want to make up your mind about what style of growing you will want to do..
best of luck mate