Hey Friends,
I have been doing weeks and weeks of research on various cultivation techniques, grow products, nutrients, seed banks and anything else you can think of relating to me growing my own bud. I am currently living in a medical state that passed recreational (as long as the recount doesn't change things) in November. I'm ready to start growing my own weed, instead of constantly forking over cash for something that I can't even quality control.
I have decided on a 2x4 closet in my bedroom that I am going to sacrifice as my grow space. Tomorrow, I will be cleaning it thoroughly and getting it set up for the grow. I have purchased 10'x10' of Panda film to cover the entire area. There is no door on the closet, but I have a solution involving blackout curtains, cardboard, a staple gun, and velcro that will keep all light out when I am ready to flower.
For ventilation/fresh air, i have purchased a 4" exhaust fan and plenty of 4" ducting. I plan on exhausting hot air out of the top of the cardboard door with the fan, and ducting the cool air in from an area next to a window. Smell will not be an issue for me, so I have skipped any carbon. Free air freshener!! The closet is in a small bedroom, and I live in a cold state so temperature is very easy to control by opening a window for 10 minutes if things begin to get warm.
For lights, I will be vegging under one Mars Hydro 600, just for a few weeks until my second one arrives. From there, I will continue to veg and eventually flower under both 600s. The true w value on these lights is ~250-300w each, for a total of 500-600. Also the space is actually only about 20" wide which should help with the coverage area of these LEDs during flowering.
For seeds, I have an order that has already shipped from attitude. In the order are:
2x fem BCBD GSC(after reading more about these I'm regretting buying them)
2x fem BF Critical Kush
3x fem Humboldt Blue dream
1x fem bubba kush cbd
1x fem Sapphire OG
1x fem White Widow x AK47 (early)
For this grow, I will only be using 2 of these seeds, most likely one critical kush and the sapphire OG. I also have a mystery bag seed that I have already germinated. I plan on planting this as well and may or may not include it in the grow, especially if it's a male. The taproot is beginning to show so I will get it in a solo cup tomorrow when my soil arrives.
For soil, I ordered FFOF .I've read and read and read about soils and what to use and this is what I'm going with. I'm going to do a quick flush before I plant the germinated seed and do not plan on using any type of additional nutes for the first many weeks of the grow. I will be starting the seedlings in 20 oz solos and transplanting to 1 gal fabric pots around 2-3 weeks with fresh FFOF. This will increase the time I go without additional nutes. Around 5-6 weeks I plan on getting the plants into their 5 gallon fabric pots and under their screen. From there I will continue to train the plant and fill the canopy screen 75% before the flip to 12-12. Late in veg and in flowering I will most likely use fox farm nutes. I wouldn't mind trying advanced nutrients, but their website is full of advertising and annoying to me. Time will tell for nutes...
I will have multiple clip on fans blowing on the plants during the entire grow. I also ordered the ph up down and will make sure to check my ph before every watering. There will be a temp/hygrometer with a probe mounted right outside the closet so I can keep a constant eye on temps and humidity. It is the dead of winter so I'm hoping we won't be worrying about pests.
All of this sounds great, but I am definitely nervous for my first grow and know things are bound to go wrong. Oh well, here's to learning a shit ton on this grow, and many many more successful grows after this one.
I look forward to sharing my progress with you guys and gals and will have some pictures of the grow set up tomorrow. If anyone has any problems with it let me know because I will be putting everything up as soon as my order arrives! I will get a few days before my seeds arrive to monitor conditions and make any tweaks that may be necessary.
Hoping my seeds don't go through Chicago NYC!