New to the site.. seeking advice of the indoor variety.

Hello.. new to the site.. I'm a grower of the indoor variety and am 1 month into my first indoor garden.. things a going great as best I can tell but I wanted to post pics to get some feedback and ask questions of more experienced growers.. I didn't just dive in mind you.. I studied for over a year before making any attempts.. I feel like I have it down pat in my brain as if I've been doing it forever.. just really have been devoted to understanding first..

That being said.. my first attempt I have used some mystery seeds that I pulled from a great bag of stinky.. but seedy weed.. I'm not expecting greatness necessarily as I understand it to be a crap shoot when you don't start with bonafied good seeds, but I just want to have a successful harvest before bringing up a mother for regular long term operations.. (disclaimer.. by operations I mean for personal use only of the misdemeanor variety)

So.. posting pics... interesting.. how does one go about posting this kind of content?.. is there a "safe" site that will host them with absolute confidentiality? Can they be hosted on this site? If anyone can help me out, I'd love to get some thoughts and predictions.. as much as one can predict from a picture during vegetation that is, if anything..

Some info until I can figure out the pics... My plants are 1 month old as of last thursday.. I just topped them.. Aside from a fiasco with cooling the grow box, that has been resolved.. I've had no major problems... (not counting the plant I accidentally killed while changing out the light.. err!)

They have just reached 10 inches and are apparently growing at a rate of about 1' per day... The leaves are looking great I think.. rich green and growing very fast..

My medium is miracle grow moisture control with plant food.. (I know, I know.. it's just what I had.. I'll be using uncle malcom's when I get good famanized seeds) none the less, I think they're doing great and the moisture control is a great quality for me where it's harder to over / under water..

Right now they're vegging under the metal halide 400watt and i'll be flowering with HPS 400watt.. I'm using a 72" grow shed in a closet.. "The Caddy".. if you're familiar with that.. has a vented light.. intake and exhaust fans.. mylar lined.. good box..

So a few questions I have and can't seem to get the answers to.. #1.. how long can you keep a mother? Do you periodically replace the mother with one of her clones? If so how often.. or do they live for a long time and supply clone after clone?

#2. Do any characteristics of the leaves give one any insight at all as to what they can expect as for quality assuming that person grows them perfectly? Any characteristics of the plant at all?

#3. Is it true that a plant can become a hermaphrodite randomly later in the life of the plant, or once a female always a female?

Last one for now... cooling methods.. You probably noticed the fiasco above I mentioned with my box getting too hot.. only for about 4 hours, but much longer than I was comfortable with.. anyway.. I've resolved this for the moment with a cracked window in the room and an attic fan.. when it really gets warm.. hopefully the AC will keep the room cool enough to supply cool air to the box.. my preference though is to outfit the box with some kind of portable AC unit.. I need it to be very small and effective.. I want something that doesn't run on batteries if possible. Any suggestions for the solution here? Thanks!!! -bluntz

$bluntz$ said:

Hello.. new to the site..I didn't just dive in mind you.. I studied for over a year before making any attempts.. I feel like I have it down pat in my brain as if I've been doing it forever.. just really have been devoted to understanding first..

Click to expand...

Welcome to RIU

And in your year of studies you learned to use Miracle Grow?

There is a GROW FAQ fuction here that contains a TON of knowledge. You can also use the search function and look up certain topics.

Not to be argumentative, but you come on here telling us you've got it down pat then ask a bunch of simple questions. Come on here and show us what you did with the knowledge you learned. Show us the money!

1. Keep a mother as long as you can keep her healthy. Change her out when you want.
2. They'll indicate, Indica, Sativa or a cross between. Maybe the amount of resin "snow" that forms on the leaves closest to the bud will get you a rise
3. Yes, its called evolution. Plants, sometimes at the end of their lifecycle will attempt to fertilize itself by growing balls and releasing pollen.

Cool tube and fresh air exchange...lots of it.

You can upload pics to this site into your picture folder then bring them into the thread by attaching files or using the postcard with mountain and stamp looking thing on the tool bar of the text box.

Boneman said:

Welcome to RIU

And in your year of studies you learned to use Miracle Grow?

There is a GROW FAQ fuction here that contains a TON of knowledge. You can also use the search function and look up certain topics.

Not to be argumentative, but you come on here telling us you've got it down pat then ask a bunch of simple questions. Come on here and show us what you did with the knowledge you learned. Show us the money!

1. Keep a mother as long as you can keep her healthy. Change her out when you want.
2. They'll indicate, Indica, Sativa or a cross between. Maybe the amount of resin "snow" that forms on the leaves closest to the bud will get you a rise
3. Yes, its called evolution. Plants, sometimes at the end of their lifecycle will attempt to fertilize itself by growing balls and releasing pollen.

Cool tube and fresh air exchange...lots of it.

You can upload pics to this site into your picture folder then bring them into the thread by attaching files or using the postcard with mountain and stamp looking thing on the tool bar of the text box.

Click to expand...

Well first thanks for the welcome... not to be argumentative either, but all message boards are the same drama.. let me clarify a few things.. firstly.. I said I "feel like" I have it down pat.. If I knew I had it down pat I wouldn't bother coming here.. I did point out this was my first grow.. so if my questions are simple then the answers don't need to be a complex explanation to point out that they are simple questions, as I never tried to imply they would be hard.. just that I didn't know the answers for sure and want "advice".. I don't know why people bother.. makes me insane..

Yes of course I can spend hours digging through searches and posts to find various and sometimes conflicting answers.. I hate it when people say.. you didn't need to post these questions etc.. they're answered elsewhere already.. I know how it works, and I know how every message board has a core, and very up tight community within it, however big or small, that just can't stand repeat questions that have been answered already.. well listen.. I don't expect you to repeat yourself, so if you don't want to answer, or if it's a burden.. cool.. just don't click on reply and go to what you consider a more productive post.. please. basically.. I can compile all my questions right here in one post and get multiple answers to try and establish a true reference.. when you're teaching yourself you can never have anything down pat.. growing advice is like snowflakes..

So long story short.. again.. I'm an amature first time grower.. so don't expect my questions to be mind numbing.. I never meant to imply that they were profound questions that were hard to answer..

And why the shot about the miracle gro when I clearly said.. "(I know, I know.. it's just what I had.. will be using uncle malcom's.. etc.. ) So obviously I knew that much already.. therefor that was not necessary.. so don't be a dick.

None the less thanks for the welcome and for your answers.. take care.

Ok.. here are the pictures.. feedback greatly appreciated.

Bluntz,

You can keep the mother around for as long as you want to as long as she stays healthy, but a lot of people I know replace their mother on a regular schedule. They usually replace them with one of the plants own clones thats proven to be unusually strong (rooted quick, grew fast, etc). I've just started into cloning myself so my mother plant is still young, but I'm planning to try and have a replacement ready every two months so i can rotate the old mother into my flowering room.

As for hermies, there are several things that can cause plants to do that, but for an indoor grower the most common culprit is a light leak. Outdoor plants go hermie because of high nightime light levels (bright moonlight, city lights, etc) and there isn't any way to prevent it, but an indoor grower can actually keep the room pitch black. I've heard of plants still going hermie even under perfect lightless nightime conditions, but it's not very common. The point is, you want your flowering area to be completely lightless for 12 hours a day. Cover the windows with something thats 100% light proof, make sure there isn't any light leaking in under the door, and never, ever, go in and turn the lights on during the dark hours. If you have to go in there for some reason, use a green light to see with, since it won't wake up your plants. Do all this and you shouldn't have much of an issue with hermies.

One suggestion for you though- If you know someone that does clones it may be more cost effective for you to just go out and buy a few clones from a good quality strain and work from there, rather then going to the expense of feminized seeds. Turn the strongest of them into a mother plant and you have a steady source of guaranteed female clones ready to start whenever you want to take the time to cut them. You have a slight added expense for cloning equipment, but you can get all of that for less then $50. My issue with buying from seed banks is that it's too much of a crapshoot, even with the feminized seeds. I've read too many threads from experienced growers complaining about how only 40-50% of the seeds planted actually got anywhere, or about how 7 out of 10 of a non feminized pack of seeds turned male for me to be willing to pay $4 to $10 per seed. Add in all the seed banks that take your money but never ship your product and it just makes sense to go the clone route.

EdGreyfox said:

Bluntz,

You can keep the mother around for as long as you want to as long as she stays healthy, but a lot of people I know replace their mother on a regular schedule. They usually replace them with one of the plants own clones thats proven to be unusually strong (rooted quick, grew fast, etc). I've just started into cloning myself so my mother plant is still young, but I'm planning to try and have a replacement ready every two months so i can rotate the old mother into my flowering room.

As for hermies, there are several things that can cause plants to do that, but for an indoor grower the most common culprit is a light leak. Outdoor plants go hermie because of high nightime light levels (bright moonlight, city lights, etc) and there isn't any way to prevent it, but an indoor grower can actually keep the room pitch black. I've heard of plants still going hermie even under perfect lightless nightime conditions, but it's not very common. The point is, you want your flowering area to be completely lightless for 12 hours a day. Cover the windows with something thats 100% light proof, make sure there isn't any light leaking in under the door, and never, ever, go in and turn the lights on during the dark hours. If you have to go in there for some reason, use a green light to see with, since it won't wake up your plants. Do all this and you shouldn't have much of an issue with hermies.

One suggestion for you though- If you know someone that does clones it may be more cost effective for you to just go out and buy a few clones from a good quality strain and work from there, rather then going to the expense of feminized seeds. Turn the strongest of them into a mother plant and you have a steady source of guaranteed female clones ready to start whenever you want to take the time to cut them. You have a slight added expense for cloning equipment, but you can get all of that for less then $50. My issue with buying from seed banks is that it's too much of a crapshoot, even with the feminized seeds. I've read too many threads from experienced growers complaining about how only 40-50% of the seeds planted actually got anywhere, or about how 7 out of 10 of a non feminized pack of seeds turned male for me to be willing to pay $4 to $10 per seed. Add in all the seed banks that take your money but never ship your product and it just makes sense to go the clone route.

Click to expand...

Ed thank you!!! That's all great information and I will use it all.. I didn't realize that the seed banks were so shoddy like that.. I hadn't had any luck finding any that will ship to me, so I've already found an alternative there luckily.. and it won't cost me a thing.. got my grow box from a guy who wasn't making full use of it in exchange for part of the harvest.. it's a great box, so I really lucked out.. he also still has a variety of seeds he had found to be productive in the past.. good strains.. If I can get one or two out of them I'll be happy as can be! I almost topped my plants down six inches lower to just clone them now, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it.. didn't want to set back my plants at all, but I'm going to clone them as soon as they are a little bigger.. probably in a week or so.. wish me luck.. some have told me it's hard to fail and some say it's hard to get them to take off.. I figure that depends on the strain and the health of the plant plus other variables I'm sure but I'm looking forward to finding out..

my box is in a closet and short of a seal I'll put on the door before flowering there really aren't any sources of light.. sucks to hear they can go hermie like that, but hopefully the won't.. hopefully they're not all males to begin with knowing my luck.. great info though.. I'll cover the window to play it save for sure.

The first guy mentioned getting a cool tube to solve my heat problem.. well I'm already using a cool tube.. came with the box.. it still gets hot.. I think I'll manage with the attic fan and the window cracked, but really still want to have a more permanent, convenient solution if anyone has any suggestions there..

I posted pics but got a message saying they must be approved, so I'll get them up asap.. Ed thanks again, you're a gentleman and a scholar

Ok, gonna try to post these again.. hope it works, and hope to get lots of feedback and insight.. anything at all you can tell me from the pictures! Thanks in advance!

Just tried to post it again.. didn't realize that the post itself wouldn't be visible until a mod approved it.. sorry about posting it twice mods..

How long does it take for pictures to be approved?

You should be able to post pics already. Just go into advanced, then manage attachments, and click on the file the picture you want to post is in.

Ed thanks again! I had tried to just insert them with IMG tags.. which would be easier as far as people looking at them, but each post has to be approved I guess..

anyway.. here are my babies.. These pics were taken at 1 month old.. Anything at all you can tell me from the pics.. anything.. I know absolutely nothing about any characteristics as far as size.. leaf size.. leaf shape.. rate of growth.. etc.. I would really appreciate any feedback at all.. Thanks!

No info on the pics?