Finshaggy
Well-Known Member
I just thought I would write up a "How to grow indoors" guide so it's out there.
First, Substrate. Soil has more Mercy, if you mess up in Hydroponic your plants will most likely die, while in soil you get days of warning and a few days to correct it, unless you really mess up. So soil is probably best for anyone just starting.
Then there is Coco Coir. Coco coir is Coconut shell fibers. It looks and works like soil, but it does not retain moisture like water does, so it allows your plants to grow to Hydroponic sizes using soil. So Coco gives you the best of both worlds.
Mylar. This will help you in Veg Cycle and Flower Cycle. People claim "If you have white walls you will be ok" or "If you put up paper you will be ok" but Mylar seriously helps. If you just have white walls you will lose a LOT of light, but if you look up "Space Blanket" on amazon you can get a pack of Mylar for cheap and you will see the difference. Or if you just do it from day 1 you will be set. If you get a grow tent the Mylar is usually built in.
Also for anyone just starting, when the "Veg Cycle" cycle is referenced, this means after your seedling is over like 1 inch tall and is past the "Germination" stage and has its first little leaves. Veg Cycle means you turn the light on for 24 hours a day or 18 hours a day, you get to pick this one. People claim plants can only absorb 18 hours of light, so most people choose 18. During the Veg Cycle is when your plant does the most growing. Veg Cycle usually lasts about 2 months, you can do it shorter or longer. If you buy a clone you get a jump start on Veg since you don't have to start with tiny leaves that hardly gather any light. Veg Cycle does not grow nugs until it is switched to flower.
For Veg Cycle Lights, you want to use CFLs or LEDs, these will produce more light of the right spectrum without running up the light bill like a regular bulb. CFLs and LEDs also won't get as hot as regular bulbs. Try "125 Watt CFL Hood" as a search on Amazon. You can also use Metal Halide bulbs which do get hot and don't save money on electricity, but they work very well.
Flower cycle is when you turn the light on for 12 hours a day and off for 12 hours a day, this makes the plant think that Winter is coming and it starts growing Buds, so that bees will pollinate it so it can make seeds. Some of your plants may be males, to check if you have a male during Veg so you don't get surprised during flower, what you do is make a clone and put the clone in the dark for 24 hours and see if it grows male parts or female parts (cloning is described lower down). ONLY FEMALE GROW BUDS, and males will make your females get seeds. If you don't want seeds, kill the males. Males are only for breeding. Flower Cycle lasts about 2 months, sometimes it can be 7ish weeks or 10ish weeks depending on the strain. You can also look up "30x Scope" or "100x Scope" or "200x Scope" and get a hand held Microscope that will allow you to see when the Trichombs are amber, when they are amber they are done, some people like to harvest at different colors though.
Flower Cycle Lights can be CFL or LED, but it is best to Flower with HPS or Metal Halide. HPS is best, it gives off the perfect light and it makes big frosty nugs. You can do a mixture of LED and HPS or CFL and HPS to get the best results, since HPS are expensive and also do not save on wattage. You can get everything for 100 Watt HPS to 1000 Watt HPS on Amazon, and you can find some amazing 1000 W pictures online.
Next is Methods. First there is "Sea of Green" where you grow tiny plants, but a lot of them. This way you can get about 1 oz per plant and grow like 20+ plants. This is not how you would grow in a Medical state though, for example I am in Colorado. So I am just growing plants in standard pots, and I plan on testing out a "SCROG" or "Screen of Green" eventually, Screen of Green is where you use a Flower growing technique and use a Screen to separate the branches, allowing each branch to grow larger buds. This is how large Rose buds are made and this is how large Marijuana buds are made. SCROG is done during Veg Cycle. If you can't make a net thing, you can buy a tomato cage and get similar results. The whole idea is just to give the skeleton of the plant support so it can support more.
SCROG shown here
Lollipopping is where you cut off all the bottom branches. Normally in a grow the bottom branches don't get enough light and end up being loose buds, and usually not much bud at all. Some people work to make the bottom branches SCROG to the top, but other people Lollipop, which just means cutting off the bottom branches so that the top branches get all the plants attention. This way no water or nutrients or light is used up on the small loose buds.
If you are wondering what Nutrients to use it is ok to use anything that works with other foods that are meant to be eaten. Miracle Grow is made for Tomatoes and it works for Marijuana, but most Marijuana Growers use a brand known as "Fox Farm". They have Nutrients for the Veg cycle and the Flower cycle.
First, Substrate. Soil has more Mercy, if you mess up in Hydroponic your plants will most likely die, while in soil you get days of warning and a few days to correct it, unless you really mess up. So soil is probably best for anyone just starting.
Then there is Coco Coir. Coco coir is Coconut shell fibers. It looks and works like soil, but it does not retain moisture like water does, so it allows your plants to grow to Hydroponic sizes using soil. So Coco gives you the best of both worlds.
Mylar. This will help you in Veg Cycle and Flower Cycle. People claim "If you have white walls you will be ok" or "If you put up paper you will be ok" but Mylar seriously helps. If you just have white walls you will lose a LOT of light, but if you look up "Space Blanket" on amazon you can get a pack of Mylar for cheap and you will see the difference. Or if you just do it from day 1 you will be set. If you get a grow tent the Mylar is usually built in.
Also for anyone just starting, when the "Veg Cycle" cycle is referenced, this means after your seedling is over like 1 inch tall and is past the "Germination" stage and has its first little leaves. Veg Cycle means you turn the light on for 24 hours a day or 18 hours a day, you get to pick this one. People claim plants can only absorb 18 hours of light, so most people choose 18. During the Veg Cycle is when your plant does the most growing. Veg Cycle usually lasts about 2 months, you can do it shorter or longer. If you buy a clone you get a jump start on Veg since you don't have to start with tiny leaves that hardly gather any light. Veg Cycle does not grow nugs until it is switched to flower.
For Veg Cycle Lights, you want to use CFLs or LEDs, these will produce more light of the right spectrum without running up the light bill like a regular bulb. CFLs and LEDs also won't get as hot as regular bulbs. Try "125 Watt CFL Hood" as a search on Amazon. You can also use Metal Halide bulbs which do get hot and don't save money on electricity, but they work very well.
Flower cycle is when you turn the light on for 12 hours a day and off for 12 hours a day, this makes the plant think that Winter is coming and it starts growing Buds, so that bees will pollinate it so it can make seeds. Some of your plants may be males, to check if you have a male during Veg so you don't get surprised during flower, what you do is make a clone and put the clone in the dark for 24 hours and see if it grows male parts or female parts (cloning is described lower down). ONLY FEMALE GROW BUDS, and males will make your females get seeds. If you don't want seeds, kill the males. Males are only for breeding. Flower Cycle lasts about 2 months, sometimes it can be 7ish weeks or 10ish weeks depending on the strain. You can also look up "30x Scope" or "100x Scope" or "200x Scope" and get a hand held Microscope that will allow you to see when the Trichombs are amber, when they are amber they are done, some people like to harvest at different colors though.
Flower Cycle Lights can be CFL or LED, but it is best to Flower with HPS or Metal Halide. HPS is best, it gives off the perfect light and it makes big frosty nugs. You can do a mixture of LED and HPS or CFL and HPS to get the best results, since HPS are expensive and also do not save on wattage. You can get everything for 100 Watt HPS to 1000 Watt HPS on Amazon, and you can find some amazing 1000 W pictures online.
Next is Methods. First there is "Sea of Green" where you grow tiny plants, but a lot of them. This way you can get about 1 oz per plant and grow like 20+ plants. This is not how you would grow in a Medical state though, for example I am in Colorado. So I am just growing plants in standard pots, and I plan on testing out a "SCROG" or "Screen of Green" eventually, Screen of Green is where you use a Flower growing technique and use a Screen to separate the branches, allowing each branch to grow larger buds. This is how large Rose buds are made and this is how large Marijuana buds are made. SCROG is done during Veg Cycle. If you can't make a net thing, you can buy a tomato cage and get similar results. The whole idea is just to give the skeleton of the plant support so it can support more.
SCROG shown here
Lollipopping is where you cut off all the bottom branches. Normally in a grow the bottom branches don't get enough light and end up being loose buds, and usually not much bud at all. Some people work to make the bottom branches SCROG to the top, but other people Lollipop, which just means cutting off the bottom branches so that the top branches get all the plants attention. This way no water or nutrients or light is used up on the small loose buds.
If you are wondering what Nutrients to use it is ok to use anything that works with other foods that are meant to be eaten. Miracle Grow is made for Tomatoes and it works for Marijuana, but most Marijuana Growers use a brand known as "Fox Farm". They have Nutrients for the Veg cycle and the Flower cycle.
