First grow, keeping the cheap

Well starting this somewhat late but oh well. Basically, ran into some seeds from some crappy green and figured I would give growing a try. Thing is I don't smoke more then maybe once a month so was trying to do this for rather cheap.

(Sorry for image quality, I only have a Cell Phone for all my pictures)

Germination:

Honestly, was not much of this. I threw a few in paper towels and around 30 in some soil and amazing 26 managed to sprout in the soil so I scrapped the paper towels. Here is an image of some of the sprouts



As I was going for cheap I just used 2 48 Florescent bulbs i already had in my basement.

Early life;

2 days after they sprouted I picked 7 plants I found worthy of keeping (Didn't want to many growing) and put them in a 3' long, 8"inch deep pot. I also moved 1 plant into a much larger pot. (1' wide, 9" deep)

Cross-Road;

Well as I mentioned before I did not want many plants, so a couple days after the transplant I decided to pretty much kill the 7 plants and focus just on the 1 plant in its own pot. (Please be a female)

Only Child;

Now that the plant was alone I of course moved the florescent bulbs over it. This image is about day 12 I believe from when it was originally transplanted.
(Other plants were still slightly alive just from some side light the fluorescents were emitting)

Vegging Out;

Well I decided to splurge on this little gal of mine and got her a 2000Lumens, 6500K bulb from a local store. (I know.... I spoil her) This was Aug 1, the same day I found out I had to make an unexpected trip to another state. I returned home on Aug 4, watered the plant and on the 5th decided to step up the lighting once more. I went to Wal-Mart, got 2 new CFLs each 1600Lumens at 6500K, and two light adapters that allow you to connect lights into normal outlets. The following image of the plant the day after I connected the new lights, which seemed to trigger a lot of new growth.




Lighting Update;

Removed the floursecent light and placed it over the 7 plants I previously left for dead. Main plant now has 3 CFLs all 6500K for a total of 6200Lumens in a perfect world.


Trimming;

In hindsight this part was probably a bad idea, but oh well guess thats a reason for a first grow. I trimmed some bottom branches as it seemed to me they would be waisting more energy then they were making since they were pretty much blocked from the lights above. I also topped the main stem.
Before

After

(White crap on soil?)

On the bright side the topping seemed to go well and now the plant appears to be splitting.


Start of Journal;

Well this is where I am at now. Plant is looking OK, and has decent growth. Transplanted her into a new pot today with all new Miracle Grow Moisture Control soil. I also made a ghetto focused disc design out of black CDs and put it around the bulbs and lined the pot with CDs in an attempt to help the plants get by with such little lumens. So here is how she looks now.(I plan on getting more lights tomorrow and starting with fertilizer in the next week or so)




Odd stuff;

New to all this so correct me if I am wrong in these things but I think I found two odd genes(??) of my plant. As you can see the this leaf only has 6 fingers, while all others are now either 5 or 7.


There is also this. From what I have read/seen most plants at each node have 2 branches, one on each side. Mine however has 4, is this normal?













Anyway, more updates to come as things progress.

u were goin so well till u trimmed it lookin good still though.i like your cd reflectors lol.

Yeah. I guess trimming at 3AM is probably a bad idea for the future. Just so I know is it suggested not to trim at all and simply top or just not trim like I did?

Any other suggestions or comments are welcome. Pretty much doing this log so people can tell me where I am messing up at.

Man CDs aren't that cheap. go make some soil covers with cardboard and aluminum foil LOL.

Well not much to report today. I got caught up in other issues and didn't get the new lights or mylar but should be able to tomorrow. The plant itself seems to be doing OK, but something new on a couple of the leafs has me a bit worried. I try not to over think when I see most plant issues like a few yellow dots or whatever as from what I have seen that often leads to overcompensation and thus a worse situation, but this ones got me a bit worried.



Anyone know what type of issue could cause the leafs to shrink up like this? Possibly the nutes in the new MG MC soil?



Heres another pic of one of the 7 left behind plants just for laughs. It along with the others became very stretched out but not that the two Florescent bulbs are over them they seem to be shaping up a little. Nothing I would want to keep but if my lady ends up going male I'll probably grow one.


(One in that small pot is one of my two outside plants, was falling behind so brought it in for some quick light fixing. I know its late in the season but like I said before I don't care to much of the final product due to that fact I don't smoke much, just enjoying the grow)



As for the CDs, not cheap but due to some online deals I have about 400 CDs and over 100 DVDs so not really saving them for much.

Money issue: Want to keep a running tally but sadly forgot to write down some starting numbers, so will just guess for now and check them next time I am at the store.

Seeds = Free (From friends bag)
CFLs 3x = 17$
Light socket adapters 2x = 3$
Potting Soil + Pot + fertilizer 21.50$
Total: 41.50

(Would like to keep entire projext under 100$ but feel like I am forgetting something and still need 2300K CFLS and a couple more 6500K so guess we will see how it goes. (I know I should use an HPS but don't intend on getting one)

Looking good for a cheap grow

Day 30:

Man time flys, hard to believe I planted those seeds an entire month ago. Anyway got two new 26watt CFLs doing 1600 Lumens each today and light adapters to go with them. Couldn't find Mylar so just got a space blanket. I know that is not good because of the heat issue but I have it in a tunnel shape with the fan on one end blowing all the heat out so seems to be working so far. Also gave her some MG and beer today, full strength. I know stupid way to do it, esp when using MG, but the deed is done. (Couldn't find molasses.)

(Just threw the blanket over a pole above the plant and made one of those old triangle tent designs. Mainly because it's easy and I am lazy, but also because for the most part this design should reflect the light back down at the plant.)

Though about having one set of lights below the leafs to add some bottom life, but don't want to confuse the little gal.
*Fan is on the Sony box on the right, channeling air.


As always, comments welcome/wanted.

Question, there a time limit to vegging or it just as long as I want? Don't really care to switch it to 12/12 right now but don't want to harm the plant or anything.


Cost updated: (Rounded up)
Blanket = 3$
Lights = 9$ + 15$
Adapters = 4$ + 4$
Potting Soil + Pot + Fertilizer(Also got for other plants, but I'll include it)= 22$
Total Cost thus far: 57$


Once I start flowering I will probably just use some more CFLs at 2300K which I happen to have many extras off around my house since that is what I use in my lamps, so hopefully about done spending money.