krygor
Well-Known Member
Operation: Dr. Rockso
Alright ladies and gents, I'm Krygor and this is my absolute first attempt at growing anything in my entire life. Up until a few days ago I never seriously considered starting my own little gardening endeavor, however in my area, bud is very expensive and low quality. In addition, I need a new hobby because I've found myself with far too much free time.
I decided to approach my first Grow-Op using CFLs as I was in no position to front the money it would cost to purchase a decent HPS or MH light and the things scare the hell out of me anyway.
My first attempt at a grow room didn't turn out quite as I had envisioned it:
After a few criticisms from forum members and a little bit of help from an unexpected paycheck, I ran down to my local Hydro store and acquired some slightly superior materials:
Now my first major problem was the fact that the room I'd chosen to grow in doesn't receive any heat from my furnace. So with the door closed, the temperature would dip below 40 degrees F. I was mortified thinking I might have to shell out huge amounts of cash to remedy the situation, cash I had already dedicated for additional CFL's. Fortunately, I found this gem at Sam's Club for $45.00:
Now originally I'd decided to just use some seriously low grade potting soil, the stuff that's like $2.00 for a 40lb bag. Fortunately I had some unexpected funds reach me so I was able to pick up a $20.00 bag of FoxFarm Soil & Fertilizer Company Ocean Forest potting soil. I'd read several posts on these boards praising the quality and I recently learned that earthworm castings are a big deal so I figured I'd start my first grow off right with some premium soil.
More specifically about my lights, a couple of days ago I went to Lowe's and thought I was getting one hell of a deal by picking up 2 Bright Dreams 40 watt CFLs which each put out 2600 lumens for $8.00 each. That's a cost of $0.00308 per lumen. However I dropped by Sam's Club today and picked up a 6 pack of GE 26 watt CFLs for $13.00. Each GE bulb puts out 1700 lumens. That's a cost of $0.00127 per lumen. So at the moment I'm working with 2 x 40 watt and 6 x 26 watt CFLs at a total of 15,400 lumens. I'm planning on adding about 6 26 watt CFLs every week until harvest time so by the end of my first crop I should have a very handsome lighting array.
Now I'd been looking for actual Mylar for a little while now, and just my luck, the local Hydro store happened to carry some at a price I found reasonable. For $24.00 I got a 25 foot x 4 foot roll of beautiful mylar. Now while I've only been able to hang about 20% of it so far because I've run out of duct tape, it appears as though it'll be more than enough to cover all the walls of my room along with the table surface.
So after setting up some of the basics, I cut open the bag of soil and poured it into four 4 gallon planters, a small step up from my clear plastic 16 ounce cups. The soil looks, smells, and feels great. I can tell my ladies will have a blast nestling inside of it. I can already tell it was well worth the $20.
Now by this point you're probably wondering where the name "Dr. Rockso" comes into play. Well, I didn't have the money nor the patience to order some premium seeds and as I've already explained, the buds in these parts are a far cry from Cannabis Cup contenders. About 3 days ago I started germinating 10 random bag seeds I'd been storing initially to use for cooking purposes. They've been germinating under my furnace panel using the paper towel and ZipLock bag method and I should be ready to plant in 8 or so hours. As I laid in bed the last few nights, unable to sleep as I worried about how I would finance my grow room and what I was going to call my previous bud when I was ready to show it off, it struck me that the only appropriate name for such an underdog strain would be Dr. Rockso. If that name doesn't ring a bell at all try Google'ing it.
I'd imagine by now you're likely tired of this novel so I think I'm going to stop for tonight. I'll be keeping a very frequent eye on this thread so if you have any questions I'd be happy to answer them however as I myself am very new to this, I'd appreciate any and all tips, pointers, criticisms, and general comments as Rollitup accounts for 98% of my grow knowledge and the Showtime series "Weeds" is responsible for the other 2%!
Alright ladies and gents, I'm Krygor and this is my absolute first attempt at growing anything in my entire life. Up until a few days ago I never seriously considered starting my own little gardening endeavor, however in my area, bud is very expensive and low quality. In addition, I need a new hobby because I've found myself with far too much free time.
I decided to approach my first Grow-Op using CFLs as I was in no position to front the money it would cost to purchase a decent HPS or MH light and the things scare the hell out of me anyway.
My first attempt at a grow room didn't turn out quite as I had envisioned it:
After a few criticisms from forum members and a little bit of help from an unexpected paycheck, I ran down to my local Hydro store and acquired some slightly superior materials:
Now my first major problem was the fact that the room I'd chosen to grow in doesn't receive any heat from my furnace. So with the door closed, the temperature would dip below 40 degrees F. I was mortified thinking I might have to shell out huge amounts of cash to remedy the situation, cash I had already dedicated for additional CFL's. Fortunately, I found this gem at Sam's Club for $45.00:
Now originally I'd decided to just use some seriously low grade potting soil, the stuff that's like $2.00 for a 40lb bag. Fortunately I had some unexpected funds reach me so I was able to pick up a $20.00 bag of FoxFarm Soil & Fertilizer Company Ocean Forest potting soil. I'd read several posts on these boards praising the quality and I recently learned that earthworm castings are a big deal so I figured I'd start my first grow off right with some premium soil.
More specifically about my lights, a couple of days ago I went to Lowe's and thought I was getting one hell of a deal by picking up 2 Bright Dreams 40 watt CFLs which each put out 2600 lumens for $8.00 each. That's a cost of $0.00308 per lumen. However I dropped by Sam's Club today and picked up a 6 pack of GE 26 watt CFLs for $13.00. Each GE bulb puts out 1700 lumens. That's a cost of $0.00127 per lumen. So at the moment I'm working with 2 x 40 watt and 6 x 26 watt CFLs at a total of 15,400 lumens. I'm planning on adding about 6 26 watt CFLs every week until harvest time so by the end of my first crop I should have a very handsome lighting array.
Now I'd been looking for actual Mylar for a little while now, and just my luck, the local Hydro store happened to carry some at a price I found reasonable. For $24.00 I got a 25 foot x 4 foot roll of beautiful mylar. Now while I've only been able to hang about 20% of it so far because I've run out of duct tape, it appears as though it'll be more than enough to cover all the walls of my room along with the table surface.
So after setting up some of the basics, I cut open the bag of soil and poured it into four 4 gallon planters, a small step up from my clear plastic 16 ounce cups. The soil looks, smells, and feels great. I can tell my ladies will have a blast nestling inside of it. I can already tell it was well worth the $20.
Now by this point you're probably wondering where the name "Dr. Rockso" comes into play. Well, I didn't have the money nor the patience to order some premium seeds and as I've already explained, the buds in these parts are a far cry from Cannabis Cup contenders. About 3 days ago I started germinating 10 random bag seeds I'd been storing initially to use for cooking purposes. They've been germinating under my furnace panel using the paper towel and ZipLock bag method and I should be ready to plant in 8 or so hours. As I laid in bed the last few nights, unable to sleep as I worried about how I would finance my grow room and what I was going to call my previous bud when I was ready to show it off, it struck me that the only appropriate name for such an underdog strain would be Dr. Rockso. If that name doesn't ring a bell at all try Google'ing it.
I'd imagine by now you're likely tired of this novel so I think I'm going to stop for tonight. I'll be keeping a very frequent eye on this thread so if you have any questions I'd be happy to answer them however as I myself am very new to this, I'd appreciate any and all tips, pointers, criticisms, and general comments as Rollitup accounts for 98% of my grow knowledge and the Showtime series "Weeds" is responsible for the other 2%!
