First Grow in 20 years! - Sprouts Intro - Afghan

First off, I love this forum! I'm hooked

RIU is the first forum I posted on and this is my first post along with my first grow in 20 years. This will also be my first smoke in a decade or so (wish me luck guys)

I'm trying for the ultimate getto grow, so the aim is least overall cost(setup/electric usage) per total yield for two plants(business major).

Here is my setup:

-50 watt HPS FloodLight from Home Depot = $35
So if you bought 8 of these you would have 400watts for $280. When you pull some males you can turn off the extra watts or start more clones with it.
-150 watt HPS bulb replacement = $20
-32 quart Miracle-Gro soil = $8
-Miracle-Gro bloom booster = $5
-4 gallon popcorn containers with holes in bottom = $0

Bringing the total setup cost to $68 plus $3.50 a month electric for two plants.

My Afghans:

-Bought 15 seeds from marijuana-seeds.nl = $30
-Germinated 3 and got 2 sprouts.
-Keep on 24hr 50watt lighting for little over a month now resulting in 6 nodes and a total heighth of 8.5 inches.
-At 2 months(if female), going to put on 150watt 12/12, flushing at each watering while foliar feeding with seltzer water and bloom booster.

Now some cringe at the words "miracle-gro", but when cost per yield is taken into account, one must try what deep pockets shun. Besides, 20 years ago I used it with great success, so lets all keep our minds open and maybe learn from others mistakes(like mine if this doesn't work). If one of my babies turn out female, I will start a grow journal. Hope it's as great as some of the others I have seen here

Im on my first grow in about 15 years. Good luck.

welcome sprouts...good to have ya here.....this place is filled with great people and tons of experience. good luck with ur grow....and we look forward to your updates!

so your using a 150 watt bulb in a 50 watt light system ?

I'm using a 50watt bulb in 150watt light system. Won't get the 150watt replacement till I go 12/12. I might just spend an extra $35 on another lamp. This will help on the light dispursment. Lets see how many girls I have if any.

tahoe58 said:

welcome sprouts...good to have ya here.....this place is filled with great people and tons of experience. good luck with ur grow....and we look forward to your updates!

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Hey thanks tahoe! I've been in the shadows reading some of your posts. I'll be looking out for ya

sequento said:

so your using a 150 watt bulb in a 50 watt light system ?

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Here is a link to the lamp I am using:
Lithonia Lighting - The best value in lighting  -- Product Catalog

I'm not sure if my last post got through so here it is again.

Here is a link to my lamp:
Lithonia Lighting - The best value in lighting  -- Product Catalog

make sure that bulb will work with that light system b4 u buy it

welcome aboard. i read in seemorebud's book that you should pH your water at 7.4 using MG soil. but you may want to pick up the book or drop by a bookstore and verify the info.

good luck and happy gardening!

This is the lamp I am using. If two other posts with links pop up, they all lead to this. Not sure why the others didn't post.

email468 said:

welcome aboard. i read in seemorebud's book that you should pH your water at 7.4 using MG soil. but you may want to pick up the book or drop by a bookstore and verify the info.

good luck and happy gardening!

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Thanks for looking out! I'll read up on it. I know MG(along with other ferts)have a history of root lock. That's why I'm not going to add any to the soil and flush when I water. I think foliar feeding with carbonated water is the best thing for flowering plants. I could be wrong, but we will see how it goes. I'll be squirting them with a little CO2 once a day and feeding once a week.

hey sprouts have you checked on using cfl's they come in higher wattages 125, 150 and 200 watts they are really cheap to run and you can put them pratically on your plants. mix a cool white or daylight with the warm... with the bulbs I'm talking about you'll have to buy a mogul socket...I just let mine hang with no reflector, they lose alittle more light but they are more effective overall....I use the 125 daylight for side lighting along with 2 400hps's....but you can do a whole crop from start to finish with just the cfl's(i'd use 2 125 daylights with 1 200 warm) happy growing

I'm feeling very good about this grow so far. I transplanted and watered thoroughly with filtered water over a week ago and left them alone. I don't keep up with ph, temp, humidity, or even air flow! I got them in an open area so I'm guessing they are getting all the CO2 and O2 they need.

I let the soil dry out before I water and make sure the light is 6" over the tops. That's all it takes for me! I'll be a little more involved when flowering, like misting with CO2, adding bloom booster once a week, and flushing when soil drys out

blackdog said:

hey sprouts have you checked on using cfl's they come in higher wattages 125, 150 and 200 watts they are really cheap to run and you can put them pratically on your plants. mix a cool white or daylight with the warm... with the bulbs I'm talking about you'll have to buy a mogul socket...I just let mine hang with no reflector, they lose alittle more light but they are more effective overall....I use the 125 daylight for side lighting along with 2 400hps's....but you can do a whole crop from start to finish with just the cfl's(i'd use 2 125 daylights with 1 200 warm) happy growing

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Actually, I started out looking at cfl's. They work great in places where heat is an issue. But pound for pound HPS is best.

yeah you got that right...like I said I'm using 2 400 watt hps along with the 125 ...just use the right bulb with the right system stay with the same wattages...good luck

blackdog said:

yeah you got that right...like I said I'm using 2 400 watt hps along with the 125 ...just use the right bulb with the right system stay with the same wattages...good luck

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Thanks for the input blackdog. I posted the brocher on the lamp further back. Says it takes 50, 70, 125, or 150 HPS. But if I spend the extra $15 on a new lamp rather then replace the bulb, I'll have more dispursment for those lower buds. hmm

i dont shun the words "miracle grow" particularly as much as i preach there's better out there for the same or a little more money. of course, if thats all thats available, then by all means go for it, and not only that.... your havest will make you enough money to invest in better equipment on the next run. good luck to you and may lady cannaba smile upon you!

Sprouts said:

Thanks for looking out! I'll read up on it. I know MG(along with other ferts)have a history of root lock. That's why I'm not going to add any to the soil and flush when I water. I think foliar feeding with carbonated water is the best thing for flowering plants. I could be wrong, but we will see how it goes. I'll be squirting them with a little CO2 once a day and feeding once a week.

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I heard (repeat: heard - this is not from experience since i don't foliar feed) that foliar feeding during flowering is risky since buds are more prone to mold. also - sodium is an ingredient in most seltzer/carbonated water and would most likely stick to the leaves and cause spotting.

while we're talking about CO2 - i would spend the money on quality lights or nutrients before i'd worry about adding extra CO2. My understanding is you have to create a pretty ideal environment for your plants in order to use extra CO2. So unless you create this ideal environment, my opinion is your plants will get all the CO2 they need by making sure you have a constant supply of well circulated fresh air.

scias said:

i dont shun the words "miracle grow" particularly as much as i preach there's better out there for the same or a little more money. of course, if thats all thats available, then by all means go for it, and not only that.... your havest will make you enough money to invest in better equipment on the next run. good luck to you and may lady cannaba smile upon you!

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Thanks for bringing that to light. To be totally honest, it is the only name I trust. It worked for me once, and it seems to be working now. I just hear so many folks telling evenyone it's crap that I had to get my 2 cents in. And I'm seeing lots of new grows struggling that it's breaking my heart. Nobody wants to see pics of burnt or starving plants with growers crying for help. So, I say keep it simple. MG is on every shelf in America and it seems to work well with cannabis.

Oh, and all this bud's for me