First Grow

Starting my first grow. I don't even smoke that much (only about 5 times this year), but my lady friend smokes everyday and I'm the one who finds her goods. Well, I figured it would be easier and safer if I just grew it myself....plus awesome brownie points! Then I started reading up on it and I've gotten kind of excited. Anyways....For my first try, I decided to get some bagseed from my usual supplier and give it a go. On Saturday, 6/15, I put 4 seeds directly in soil, no paper towel or water soaking first. Wednesday,6/19, around noon, I had 2 completely sprouted and pushed through with 2 leaves and 1 that was pushing through. I took a peek again about midnite and the two that had sprouted through had jumped a lot in 12 hours.

They went from being about a centimeter above soil to nearly 2 full inches above soil with 2 bright green leaves on each of them. I have to say, I was pretty stoked about that!

For my first grow, I'm just using some MG potting mix that I blended in with some perlite. I was sorta concerned last night when I saw all the MG hate going on, but as I read more, it seems to me, that as long as I don't over nute the MG potting mix, I should be ok...

Also, I've read a lot about people overwatering. I'm really leery about that, so I'm just using a spray bottle and spritzing them to make sure the soil is a little moist.

Any input or suggestions would be very welcome. Btw...I love this forum. I've been quietly reading it for a couple of weeks and there seems to be a lot of great info shared here. Thanks everyone!

Hi, welcome to riu and congratulations on your new hobby! You should have fun. There are a lot of good people here and you will learn a lot. yeah watch that overwatering that's a common one. I cant really give any advice on soil, I don't use it. Maybe post some pics in time? LgK

Thanks for the warm welcome LgK! I have a couple of pics to share. One from noon, then another from about 12 hours later. I am going to get some mylar to line my cabinet. I didn't expect the seeds to pop out sprouts so quick and thought I had a couple more days. I'm running 3 6500 CFL's right now. After the leaves popped, I moved the lights closer. I've heard that if you keep them far away, the plants will stretch. Between limited space and not wanting tall weak stems, I decided to move the lights down closer. Is this reasonable thinking? I'm completely new to this. I'm a country boy and I've grown a lot of maters, corn, okra, melons etc. But it's all been outdoors.

Yeah absolutely, basically, because cfl's aren't big on penetration power you want to keep them as close as possible without burning your plants. If you don't have a temp gauge you can place your hand at seedling height for 30 seconds or so to test. just use common sense basically! I have a 200w cfl on a couple of small plants at the moment i'ts about 4-5 inches away. Smaller wattage cfl should be closer than this. (old pic but you get the idea) I also have a small fan on them, does a couple of things keeps them cool and will strengthen them too. Hope that helps some!

welcome!

overwatering. that is surely one of the biggest problems among new growers... However keep in mind, when the seed sprouts, cotyledon leaves goes up, but at the same time like an anchor, tap root is dropping down to the soil 3-6", so if you will only be misting the surface, you might have to have some problems. Water like a glass or half of the glass right on the stem every 3-4 days. later when you see some 3-5 leaflet leaves you just water till you see runoff and leave it till the pot will become light. For the first two weeks you normally do not need to worry about feeding.
Lights. You're gonna need a lot. for 4 plants I'd say start thinking about MH/HPS/CMH/CDM. Ofc it depends on your grow room, cause HIDs produce heat. For first few weeks you should be alright with ~50w per plant of cfl 1-3inches from the tops with a fan blowing at them to cool and move the air around. later when vegging bigger plants and going into flowering you'll need at a bare minimum 100W for the first and 50W additional per plant. But thats like really nothing, I'd say you need 400W for 3-4 plants.
There are many other things you will need to worry about, but why talking about them when they are already discussed, so start reading, I'd start with this https://www.rollitup.org/advanced-marijuana-cultivation/267989-uncle-bens-gardening-tweeks-pointers.html cause it has hype-free info and is recommended for every starting grower. If limited on space, also do some reading about topping: www.rollitup.org/advanced-marijuana-cultivation/151706-uncle-bens-topping-technique-get.html

good luck!

Thanks guys! I can't keep from going and looking at the lil ladies(hopefully ladies) every once in a while. It seems like you can almost see them growing as you watch. 3 of 4 have pushed out and have all started with their 3rd and 4th leaves. I'm pretty excited

It may be a bit excessive, but I have another pic to post. It's amazing to me how she has shot up in just a matter of a day, heck hours even. At midnite last night, she was about 2 inches above soil, at noon today(6/21) She was a good 4+inches above soil. I planted the seed directly in soil 6 days earlier, took her about 4 days to germ and push up through the dirt. Now she's popping out little leaves. I'm excited about watching her reach up and spread her arms!

new2420grow said:

It may be a bit excessive, but I have another pic to post. It's amazing to me how she has shot up in just a matter of a day, heck hours even. At midnite last night, she was about 2 inches above soil, at noon today(6/21) She was a good 4+inches above soil. I planted the seed directly in soil 6 days earlier, took her about 4 days to germ and push up through the dirt. Now she's popping out little leaves. I'm excited about watching her reach up and spread her arms! View attachment 2708737

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First of all, welcome to the madhouse .

Nothing excessive about it at all m8. That is the very feeling that keeps everyone here doing what they are doing, damn sure does for me, I am as equally excited over a germinating seed as a finished cure.

Peace and Great Grows

Asmallvoice

This is my baby ... She's about 2 months old and has been flowering for about 15 days and just showed sex...she's a female...I am a total noon also .... I bring her inside every night for 12 hours to induce flowering... I am in Ohio.... Mg soil all the way baby

Be careful in setting pH range, more than 80% problems in a growth are pH related. All the best for your first grow.

Well Done New ... I totally know where you're coming from, I'm thankful that I work all day, if I didn't, I would be watching the girls all day long.

shess been flowering for 17 days now.. why r the buds taking sooo long and are soo small ?

Got a question guys/gals....I've seen a lot of back forth about 24/0 vs. 18/6 during veg. Some say it doesn't matter, some say the plant gets better growth if you cut out the lights for a bit. I haven't picked up a timer yet and since I'm always on the go, I've left it on 24/0 so I wouldn't mess up and leave them off for too long. better safe than sorry ya know. I was going to make sure to hook up a timer when I start to flower, but if the 18/6 will help her grow during veg, I'll go ahead and put on a timer this week. Any thoughts?

I do 18 /6 organic grow in veg an that's good, the girls need a break 2.

Thanks Tom! I'll just manually put em dark until later this week until I get a timer.

i've been growing my girls 24/0 for about 2 weeks now and they are exploding with growth i'm using cfls also 3 6500k and 5 2700k i'm a noob to but its seems to be working for me!

Here's some new pics. These are bagseed that I put directly in MG potting mix, cut with perlite 7 days ago. I have 3 6500 CFLs, 2 above and 1 beside. I have another 6500 and 6 2700 that I can try to work in if needed. I don't have a lot of room as you can see from my cab. It's a pantry that I cleaned out. As it is, I can lower the bottom shelf another 4-6 inches, I Can do some cleaning out of the lower part and maybe get another 12 inches on top of the 4-6. I'm not looking for high yield, this is just for personal and I'm treating this as a test run, so I'm going to try and flower pretty early on. Any input on how my girls are looking would be greatly appreciated by this noob grower. Thanks!

Alas, I have another question. I actually have this question because of the researching I've been having. Will aluminum foil actually hurt my ladies. I was talking to my galpal last night and mentioned that I was going to head out to get some mylar to line the cab with and she said, just use foil, put the shiny side out. I was like, heck yea, no brainer. But now that I'm reading around the site, I've seen a couple of people say that not only is less efficient as mylar(and white paint even one said), but that it will cause harm to the plants. Any experience in this? Thanks!

I can't answer your question as I'm a noob myself, but I'm on my first grow too using MG organic soil. Your plants look great so far, and yeah I was am still am excited every time I see my babies! Link to my grow in my sig but here was the most recent group photo.

Wow Paper. Those ladies are reaching up there. Looks great!