First grow, exploring my options.

Alright. On 9/23 I planted some seeds. On 9/24, one of the seeds sprouted, and I also adopted a plant I found in my back yard. And finally, on 9/25 a second seed sprouted.

This is kind of a test grow. I'm growing under small lights, but I'm growing for the fun of it less than the yield, and I want small plants (I'll be happy even if I only get a g per plant)

I'm using a 20W flourescent and a 13W flourescent.
About 2.5 feet under the ceiling mounted 20W light, there's a shelf, which I have the adopted plant on. Or rather it's set on my (roughly 15 inch) trash can, which is on the shelf, putting it about a foot away from the light.

The 2 seedlings are on my desk, with the (fully adjustable) 13W light set about 2 inches above them.

Which of the 2 is more helpful? The stronger light that's got a bit of distance from the plant, or the weaker one that can easily accomodate?

Also in the spirit of small size, I'm considering topping or LSTing. Should I try one? Or should I just focus on growing this time and experiment father later? I plan on doing a little bit of tying down on the adopted one, it's kind of tall and stretched from not getting much sun when it was outside I suppose.

Advice, suggestions, encouragement, all accepted.

they are both fluorescents so they both can be put in close as they shouldn't hurt the plants...that said do you know what kind of fluoros they are? Look for something that would say soft white cool white warm white daylight or a K/Kelvin rating on them. You want 6500k for vegging and 2700k for flowering. Have fun w/ your grow


-potlike

Do you think I'll be able to get any bud out of such small lights?

I would have to agree..I would take your adopted one and.....get rid of it. less of a chance of a male sneaking areound and trying to get some ass!

I'm pretty sure the adopted one is female.
There were 2 outside, and I guess form not getting much light they showed their sex. One seemed to have tiny pollen sacs, and the one I took appears to have 2 small pistils.

yes, you should be able to get bud.... it will be airy but it will smoke and you will gain experience. Make sure you use 6500k bulbs for vegging and 2700k bulbs for flowering and keep the lights as close as possible to the plant. If you want you can add some cfl's for cheap also to help you out... keep in those spectrum ranges 2700k and 6500k for each respective stage. If you want to buy some cheap nutrients I would suggest Blue Mountain Organics line.. Super Plant Tonic, Foliar Harmony, Grow it Green & Flower Power...VERY inexpensive nutrients and VERY powerful for their prices and it's all organic. Which means you won't have the opportunity to smoke the chemicals at all
Have fun with your venture, if you have any questions feel free to pm me.

Blue Mountain Organics Ebay Store

-potlike

What I'm currently doing for nurtients:
There's a little layer of used coffee grounds with a few egg shell pieces on top of the soil.
I'm soaking dead leaves in water, then using that water to water my plants (which I believe gives the water nitrogen)

I know banana peels have potassium which is necessary for flowering. Would soaking banana in water release potassium? Or would I be better off putting banana peel in the soil? Also, does sugar work in the same way that molasses does?

yeah you might be able to get by that way, but in the long run I would advise investing in some nutrients or atleast in some items that you can make your own CHEAP nutrients.... the ones I linked you to earlier is about as cheap as they get and those are very good nutrients as well. Ohsogreen seems to be on the up and up with organics I'd suggest giving him a few messages and picking his brain as I am just getting into it myself but loving its' world thus far. I haven't completely left the chemical world, but it seems like a strong possibility.


-potlike

So here's whats up. The adopted one wasn't doing so good, so I just threw it in my compost pile.
Now I've just got the 2 sprouts. The thing is, they're both in the same pot (I never had good luck planting seeds before, I wasn't anticipating more than one sprouting.) I'm gonna go ahead and assume that having them both in the same pot will severely limit rootspace, and also cause a bit of crowding, eventually preventing them from getting enough light. Should I take one out? Or do you think that having the two in there would give roughly the same result of having only one with more root space?

As for the condition of them, they're both a couple of inches tall. One is a lime green, on both the stem and the leaves, the other has a purplish stem with leaves that are slightly darker than the other plant. Is this only a genetic difference, or something more serious (I don't know what strain they are or even if they're the same strain)

Also, they don't seem to be growing as rapidly as a few days ago. IS this natural, or should I cut back on watering a bit?

The green stemmed one's leaves seem to be drooping a bit. And both seem to have areas on their leaves that are a bit yellow. Any ideas?

I tried to upload pictures, but it doesn't seem to want to work. I'll put some up as soon as I can.