Just Getting Started

Hey All,
Ive been lurking on this site for a while now, thought it would be cool to keep a journal of my first grow. Thanks for looking, I would appreciate any tips or feedback as I am a bit green at this myself.
Since I'm a newbie, Im starting small and trying to do things fairly low budget with stuff i have on hand...

Jan 14, 2014
I ordered 9 seeds from the attitude. Was a bit overwhelmed with all the choices so pretty much just picked a few at random:

5 'Brainstorm" from Dutch Passion Seed Company
2 "Auto NYC Diesel" from Advanced Seeds
1 "Critical Automatic" from Dinafem (freebie)
1 "California Hash Plant" also from Dinafem (freebie)

1.30.14
Seeds arrived. Dropped them right into cups of water separated by strain that afternoon

1.31.14
By late morning all seeds except 1 (NYCDiesel) sunk. They soaked for about 18 hours.
I planted them in some Miracle grow potting mix
Now my seedling box is a bit unusual. I am using a refrigerator. Its unplugged but i am mainly using it for its insulation, my space is a bit chilly and i want to keep these seedlings warm. I have a lot of food industry stuff laying around so they are sitting in a stainless food tray, covered loosely with clear plastic, under a heat lamp set up. I was using 1 250W heat bulb and 2 32W(1600 Lumens) CFLs and was monitoring my temperature and humidity. The heat bulb brought my temp up over 90 degrees in less than 10 minutes so i wound up switching it out for another CFL. The CFLs seem to give off enough heat so i can maintain about 77-78 degrees and 85% humidity. The door of the fridge remains cracked for airflow from the extension cord feeding these lights.


2.1.14
Around 3pm my Critical Automatic Sprouts! I was not expecting this to happen so fast


2.2.14
I mixed some 18-18-21 into a spray bottle and lightly mist everything with this concoction.

2.3.14
By 9 am The California Hash Plant has also sprouted. I lightly mist the inside of the plastic cover and add warm water to the metal pan to keep my humidity in check. I think its funny that the 2 freebies sprout before anything else. Starting to wonder about the others...

2.4.14
1 brainstorm sprouts!

Looking good

2 NYC Autos sprout! (1 was the seed that never sunk when soaking)
Misted everything with fertilized water and gave them a bit of a drink as well.
Re-wired my heat lamp today so both fixtures now work. This allows for (4) 32W (1600 Lumen) lights. Now 6,400 Lumens @ 5,000 Kelvin. 2 Clamp-ons hang from the 2 fixture heat lamp.
Seedlings are getting tall enough where i will have to remove the clear plastic cover in the next day or so. I am a bit worried about maintaining a high humidity once uncovered.
Still waiting on 4 Brainstorm seeds to sprout. Its been 7 days since i dropped them into cups to soak.

Thanks Ajckcc!

2.16.14

-So not a lot of news. Had to relocate my plants as we have some guests staying with us.

I am pretty disappointed in the 20% germination rate of the Dutch Passion "Brainstorm" seeds ( 1 out of 5) but am happy with the 100% germination of the other 3 strains ( 1 for 1, 1 for 1, and 2 for 2).

Was also pretty bummed this morning when my 3 yr old uprooted the 2 NYC Diesels and broke some leaves on the other 3. I replanted the uprooted ones- even deeper as they were getting pretty leggy but i think i might have messed this batch up. I know mother nature is pretty resilient so Im not giving up- just feeling a bit disappointed today.

2.19.14

I wrote both the Attitude and Dutch Passion Seed company an email yesterday voicing my disappointment with their Brainstorm Seeds. Dutch Passion, after requesting some pics agreed to send 3 replacement seeds through the Attitude. I am pretty impressed with that…. (even though 4 didn't make it).

fyi I had the Same problem with Seedsnan. Not a single white widow sprouted. I paid for those. 4 outf of 5 of the free sleestack skunk are doing fine. Seedsman is supposed to be sending me replacements. We'll see.

That's good to know Extracheese. I'm glad to hear it's not just me. Thanks for the post and please let me know if the replacement seeds ever show up.
I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

2.25.14
Changed around the set up a bit…. Im no longer using the food warmer for these little guys, I now have them under some proper fluorescent grow lights. Sylvania 32W/2708 Lumen, 6500 Kelvin x3, and kept 2 of the clamp-on CFLs 23W/1600 Lumen, 5000 Kelvin. Thats about 11,324 Lumens right now!


Im a bit worried about the paler green BrainStorm in the back (since 4 of its seed mates never made it), this ones color looks a bit off but we'll see. The 2 freebies are the ones looking the best right now, Crit + Auto on the right and California Hash Plant on the left. The Cali Hash smells so nice!

The 2 smaller NYC Diesels in front are what got uprooted a few weeks ago, i wound up planting them a bit deeper since they were so leggy, they look like they will pull through but definitely now behind the others.

2.28.14
1 month update….
View attachment 3009397
Im concerned with a few of these… The brainstorm looks much more pale than the others. Does anyone have an idea why?


Does this look normal or is something going on?

Also the 2 NYC Diesels… one has more red in the center veining of the leaves and looks a bit more pale also…. Any thoughts?

All of your attachments on your last post except the last one aren't showing up for me...

Legalize god's plant said:

All of your attachments on your last post except the last one aren't showing up for me...

Click to expand...

Thanks Legalize! I think the pics are working now….

3.4.14
Repotted today, upsized from 4" to 9" pots.
Changed my fert solution from 18-18-21 to 30-10-10.
These girls are starting to smell good!

3.5.14
So i just realized last night that my lights have been on a 12/12 cycle instead of an 18/6. This morning i have a plant that is starting to bud already, lots of white hairs.
View attachment 3014071

I didnt want this to happen so soon! Plants are only 5 weeks old and still small. I was hoping to clone each as well once they got a bit bigger....
I am hoping the longer light cycle will take care of this and keep them all in a veg state.....

Looking good to me, how old are they now? Im fairly new to growing and just started a journal myself maybe check it out . Im on a low budget too, maybe a little lower than yours but am trying my hand at autos , and from what i know about autos your lights can be on even longer than that, even 24 hours a day, mine are 20/4. This is becuase unlike regular plants they have a set lifespan and flower depending on age not on lightcycles so with more time under the light they can spend more time getting bigger. Also with autos having a set lifetime its probably not a good idea to clone them because cutting off peices will just stunt growth and the clones will be the same age as the mom... are all the plants your growing autoflower?? anyway your ladies are looking nice , shes pushing out fat white pistils im jealous;/ Your a little ahead of me so ill check back and see how things are going for ya and maybe learn a little along the way .. good luck!

Thanks Nube!
My plants are almost 5 weeks old, I think the only auto I have is the one that flowered. Once it's big enough, I was hoping to cut off the lower branches to clone with and force one to seed in case I feel like going through this adventure again.

On another note, my replacement seeds from the Attitude arrived today (hidden in the packaging of a kids wedding veil).
i was pretty skeptical that they would show up, have to say I am impressed with them and would order from the Attitude again.
they sent 3 Brainstorms to replace the 4 that didn't germinate. Makes me a happy camper!

sweet , ive used attitude in the past and they have always had good service, recently i used the single seed centre and they have great service too. As far as seedbanks go those are the only two i use. hopefully these ones germ 4 ya;/ !

Do you happen to know if attitude ships usps once they enter the us?

Sent from my LG-VM696 using Rollitup mobile app