New indoor mmj grower, advice welcome

Hello everyone. I am new to this site, I have read through it many times, but decided to create an account today,
and see what I can learn from the riu community.

So, here is what I am working with. I recently got my mmj card (I never thought I'd live to see the day!),
prior to this, I have been an outdoor grower. I never grew anything special or name brand, just seeds from
regular commercial grade mj. I planted them in the ground, and had good luck. Actually very good luck
considering I never really read any books, seen any DVDs, or even had tips from others. I kept my garden
private, as well as my smoking. People were on a "not need to know basis". But now I have my permit, I
am less secretive, but not stupid.

I no longer have an outdoor area to grow in, and have to go indoors, and grow there. I'd just go to the
dispensaries, but I can not afford those prices. So, I am growing it myself.

I understand indoor is different that outdoor. I was pretty lucky outdoors, I planted the seeds, and treated
them as plants, water, food, measures against pests or animals, just the basics. My beginners luck lasted for
many years. And before it runs out, I am learning as much as I can. Google, cannabis forums, and I am
getting some DVDs.

I am not trying to grow anything too serious, maybe enough to get me a 1/4 oz per week. I do have my mind
set on getting LED lighting. And I have a pretty good deal lined up for one. I only have a 2 X 2 X 4 area to work with.
I have basic ventilation set up (120 CFM inline fan), an oscillating fan, reflective walls, and it is light proof. It is basically
ready to go, except for the growing medium part.

I do have a big bag of MG, and MG nutrients. And some 3 gallon pots that were used for other things. I am
kind of skeptical of using MG for mmj, it is the moisture control kind with the nutes built right into it.

Does anyone have any actual experience using MG moisture control soil, and MG nutes? Any other affordable
options recommended? Should I do hydro? Or would soil be recommended for a new indoor grower?

Any good mmj strain(s) recommended? I have not tried any name brand mj before, but I have had some
good quality "high grade", $50+ an 1/8. It was pretty good I guess. Nothing too much better, and at
times not as good as the stuff I had grown outside.

Sorry for the long post.

I do not think I will buy any seeds for this 1st indoor grow, not until I have better growing skills. Those seeds seem like
they can be pretty costly. I'll use some bagseed for now, I have plenty of them.

I wont germinate them until I am 100% ready. Makes no sense to germ them, anticipating I will be ready when the seeds
are, only to turn out that I am not. I am planning on being ready by the time I get my LED, which should be early next week.

i mean really its up to you. do some research on the strain that you want to grow i see most people will do whitewidow which after this bagseed grow i plan to get. i used MG soil for this first grow and for me it works good i didnt use MG nutes though i just kinda let the MG do its thing until recently when it went into flowering i used some tea and worm castings and so far they are doing good with CFL grow. If you get a LED you will probably do much better than I. but i would def recomend starting with bagseed under your LED light to get the hang of it and how the plants will react.

what led light are you planning on growing with, there are different light spectrums on each light. the one i have is the 6 band lighthouse which is more specific for veg and it works very well, cant speak on the flowering models but there is plenty of info around. if you are using miracle grow for your first grow all i would say is dont be too eager with the nutes. the soil already has nutes in there and dont start feeding extra ntes until the plants need it. also make sure you get a good mix of perlite in the soil because first time growers have a tendancy to overwater. with the perlite you should not have too may problems.
your first grow is a learning curve and the grow after that will be much better.
good luck with it and i hope it all turns out well for you.
lu

if your looking for a hardy plant then give the skunk a go. i got a good few but they were very old seeds and only 3 made it, but the 3 that made it have proved to be very hardy plants and a good yield will be instore. the ones i grew were dutch passion skunk 11. dont go with anything too difficult just a plant that is very hardy and a good yield and whe you have experience under your belt then you can grow whatever you want then. i know in the beginning you want to do everything at once but take everything step by step and you will do fine.
lu
sorry for the double post.

here is a link of a guy using a 90w LED for flowering its honestly one of the best buds ive seen using LED's http://forum.grasscity.com/advanced-growing-techniques/378954-spectra-unit-90watt-led-grow-almost-done-whe-got-buds.html

amaretsu said:

i mean really its up to you. do some research on the strain that you want to grow i see most people will do whitewidow which after this bagseed grow i plan to get. i used MG soil for this first grow and for me it works good i didnt use MG nutes though i just kinda let the MG do its thing until recently when it went into flowering i used some tea and worm castings and so far they are doing good with CFL grow. If you get a LED you will probably do much better than I. but i would def recomend starting with bagseed under your LED light to get the hang of it and how the plants will react.

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I was totally thinking about WW, the only time I ever had it "available" to me, was in Houston, and it was like $25 a gram. I passed it up.
Because it may not have been WW.

I have seen a lot of bad LED grows, and good LED grows, and I tried to see what all the factors were as in why.
It came down to experience of the grower, the quality of the LED, and quality of the medium, and the strain.

Honestly, I am not expecting much my first time, it's more of a practice run.

luciferateme said:

what led light are you planning on growing with, there are different light spectrums on each light. the one i have is the 6 band lighthouse which is more specific for veg and it works very well, cant speak on the flowering models but there is plenty of info around. if you are using miracle grow for your first grow all i would say is dont be too eager with the nutes. the soil already has nutes in there and dont start feeding extra ntes until the plants need it. also make sure you get a good mix of perlite in the soil because first time growers have a tendancy to overwater. with the perlite you should not have too may problems.
your first grow is a learning curve and the grow after that will be much better.
good luck with it and i hope it all turns out well for you.
lu

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I'm getting my friends LED, he bought it from HTG, got one grow done with it, seed to harvest, it is the 90 watt UFO,
He is no longer able to grow at his place, and offered the light to me for pretty cheap.

I do have 2 bags of perlite.

if your looking for a hardy plant then give the skunk a go. i got a good few but they were very old seeds and only 3 made it, but the 3 that made it have proved to be very hardy plants and a good yield will be instore. the ones i grew were dutch passion skunk 11. dont go with anything too difficult just a plant that is very hardy and a good yield and whe you have experience under your belt then you can grow whatever you want then. i know in the beginning you want to do everything at once but take everything step by step and you will do fine.
lu
sorry for the double post.

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One of the few "name brand" strains I have tried, was Skunk. Not sure which Skunk though. Damn, that was like 1996.... I liked it, and read it is
one of the easiest to grow indoors. But one of the smelliest too. I'm not too concerned about odors, but too much could cause issues.

welcome.. and I am doing Dina Fems Critical+ right now. One of the most beautiful and easiest plants I have tried. Flower time is gonna be about 55 days not bad.. and looks like it will be a big yield with one plant. Highly recomended and if the "high" is as good as the grow I will be in love.

r1tony said:

welcome.. and I am doing Dina Fems Critical+ right now. One of the most beautiful and easiest plants I have tried. Flower time is gonna be about 55 days not bad.. and looks like it will be a big yield with one plant. Highly recomended and if the "high" is as good as the grow I will be in love.

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That's Big Bud x Skunk isn't it? How is the odor while growing?

I've grown plenty of mj using miracle grow fertilizer (the blue stuff) and mg potting soil (although I've never used the moisture control variety). Cannabis will grow quite well with mg products. I do agree that cutting your mg potting mix with some perlite is a good idea.

The cab I'm currently using is almost the exact same size as yours (mine is 24"x21"x48"). I used three 42w CFLs for flowering and I just recently harvested 3 oz from a grow that lasted fourteen weeks from seed to chop (3 weeks veg, 10-11 weeks flower), so it's definitely reasonable to expect to be able to produce an oz a month in a space that size. You might do even better with an led light, and if you grow a strain that doesn't take 11 weeks of 12/12 to mature and/or use clones instead of starting from seeds you could probably cut the overall length of each grow cycle by two or three weeks easily.

Update:
I just returned from my friends house.
I got my LED, and a trunk load of other goodies! All free! Except the LED, I paid less than $100 for it.
Another mutual friend was there, and decided it would be nice of him to donate some of his stuff he no longer uses or needs.
This is what I got:

*More MG soil (I know, now I have 2 bags, the really big ones, 64qt I think)
*More perlite
*An HPS ballast and socket (not sure the wattage)
*HPS reflector (no bulb)
*Homemade hydro system (I may or may not use it)
*Grow rocks, forgot what they are called. But there is enough to totally fill each of the netted pots in the DIY hydro system
*Hydroponic nutrients (3 different bottles, looks like a litre each, not sure the name brand, I'll have to look)
*PH test kit (the cheap kind, the little paper stuff on a roll, you dip it into the water, and match the colors)
*A handful of CFL bulbs, various wattages, ranging from 10 watts, to 26 watts, mostly all 2700k spectrum.
- I'll use the smaller 10 watt ones in my bathroom, those wont grow anything I imagine.
*Basic light fixtures (for the CFLs), and electric cords. No reflectors.
*A partial roll of black and white reflective film.
*unknown strain seeds, said to be pretty good, and not from bagseed (this may or may not be true, but it was free, so I don't care)
*An unopened jar of rooting gel.
*a bunch of starter cubes (some are rockwool, not sure the others, looks like little blocks of dirt, but spongy)
*flexible ducting, 4" inch size, length unknown, maybe 7'.

Free stuff is awesome. Once I figure out the wattage of the HPS, I may get a bulb for it. I imagine it is either a 150 or a 250 watt.

I am going to map out what I want to do. I'd like to maybe set up 2 small flower rooms, and one veg/clone/mother room.
I can expand my 2 x 2 x 4 area, to 2 x 2 x 7 1/2, and split it in 1/2, upper/lower levels, and use the other end of the closet and build an
identical 2 x 2 x 7 1/2 are with 2 levels. So, of the 4 compartments, 2 would be for flowering, 1 for veg/clones/mothers, and the last for
the ballast, ducting, and other utility related stuff.

I'm going to the Home Depot tomorrow, and get some more inline fans. I have a bunch of PC fans right now, and plenty of ac adapters.
I could probably use those for something too.

I know I only said 1/4oz a week would work, but more would be better, less is unacceptable. If I double my efforts, I will have better
chances of fulfilling my goals.

you did alright fella well done, the only thing you need to be careful with is not to let anyone else know you are growing, you say your friends are not growing anymore so just be careful of any envy. also make sure they or you dont tell anyone and for gods sake dont fall out with your buddies. not for the next 4-5 months anyway!
good luck with the grow and cant wait to see how your plants (whichever you decide to grow) come along.
lu

Strain stain stain is sooooooooooooo important. Can't stress it enough...indica short grow. Sativas flower 100 plus days. When growing bagseed you don't know if your getting an indica sativa....hermis. shit genetics that hermi on you 75 % thhrouggh flower and fuck all your plants.
id say the light. The medium and the seed are the most important. Its the did between brewing rubbing alcohol and a one malt aged wisky or some shit. Research the buds its soooo important. My background is that im 36 and been doing this gotten plus years....first out then in like you

luciferateme said:

you did alright fella well done, the only thing you need to be careful with is not to let anyone else know you are growing, you say your friends are not growing anymore so just be careful of any envy. also make sure they or you dont tell anyone and for gods sake dont fall out with your buddies. not for the next 4-5 months anyway!
good luck with the grow and cant wait to see how your plants (whichever you decide to grow) come along.
lu

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I've been friends with both these guys since 1989. Not too much to worry about from them, but definitely, no one else needs to know.
I will either start another thread with my grow, or start a journal.

luciferateme said:

you did alright fella well done, the only thing you need to be careful with is not to let anyone else know you are growing, you say your friends are not growing anymore so just be careful of any envy. also make sure they or you dont tell anyone and for gods sake dont fall out with your buddies. not for the next 4-5 months anyway!
good luck with the grow and cant wait to see how your plants (whichever you decide to grow) come along.
lu

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Wow. I just totaly found this post. It was so long ago. Idk what happened. But yeah I did great while I could . Before kids I got to two 600 watt hps in a 5 by 5 with 8 plants and pulling more than a quarter off each 5 gallon bucket. Honestly I did a lot of research on this site and it went well be and you know what though, I was paranoid all the time. Nothing happened but I still lived in fear of someone talking. Any way I was using promix hp in 5 gallon buckets 8 plants fimmed , topped , Lst all that fed grow and bloom and grew probably over 150 different strains since then ..I wanna so bad. I'm getting my card this week and getting right back to it. I was loving star 47 , sensi star , Grand daddy purps Chemdog, super skunk , la conf , grape ape , afghani special , black Russian, some subcool seeds , Bubba, Skywalker x og . I miss it so bad. Blz-bud, sour disle, train wreck, girl scout cookies , God bud , a whole bunch of cheese strains , white widow and the list goes on , hash plant , Afghani, yumbolt , green Crack, man the list is so long I couldn't ever remember. I do know I love star47 best ever. So everything turned out good. I grew some that took 120 days to finish and others like star 47 that finish in 57 days or so ...if I ever did it again. Like if we legalize here in mass I'll be in the public about it , otherwise I'll hide my medical garden. Peace dudes.

I learned the friend lesson early on. He thought he deserved half of it because he stopped by and watered it for me a few times, half. Hahah Yeah right. He got nothing and if he didn't act like a scumbag about it he could have had it all of he wanted except some for me. All he had to do was ask and I'd have taken care of him instead he gave me attitude and said I owe his ass half...rt there it was never the same because he wasn't getting anything at that point on principle..so everyone who may eventually readThis , don't tell anyone , it's so not worth it. And it's very rewarding on a gardening spiritual level of in a peaceful no worried atmosphere. Young friends bring trouble. I hope someone takes my advice on this.