Countryfarmer
Active Member
Hey all. New to outdoor growing. I welcome all constructive criticism (if you just want to tell me how retarded I am you can stop reading now). My goal on this grow is to keep it simple and learn as much as I can. I will build on what I learn this grow.
Anyway, I started a bit late due to the length of time it took for my seeds to arrive from the seed bank. I purchased Big Bud seeds from the Netherlands because many sites that I read said that this indica strain was a good one for a beginning grower. I also planted a few bag seeds that I had collected from some good smoke I had.
I planted on May 20th, directly in soil, without germinating the seed. As I said, I planted a bit late for my area (deep south). All of my seedbank seeds were viable, and most of the bagseeds I planted were viable.
In keeping with my plan to KISS (keep it simple stupid), I used Miracle Grow Garden Soil and Miracle Grow Peat Moss as my soil mixture. I mixed the two in 70/30 ratio.
The seeds were planted in a standard peat nursery tray and located on my rear deck. I watered them with tap water that had been left to sit in an open bucket for 24+ hours (the tap water has been repeatedly checked for ph due to my wife's hobby of keeping a large indoor freshwater fish tank and has always come up as neutral). After a few days the first seeds broke the surface and eventually most of them broke ground.
And now to my first mistake. In a moment of stupidity I thought just a few granules of 10-10-10 fert would help the newly hatched seeds to grow faster (ok, you can laugh at me, I did). Anyway, I killed half my seedlings and learned the first of lessons in what not to do.
My surviving seedlings did kick into high gear on vegetative growth and I had to transplant them from their nursery tray to individual pots. For this I used some 4" peat pots with the same soil mixture. I was extremely careful when transplanting and noticed no shock to the plants. At this point I began weekly feeding with Miracle Grow tomato feed, which is a soluble 20-20-20, non-burning fert. Keeping with suggestions I have read online, I cut the recommended dosage down to one-fourth of the what the package suggests.
I continued to water with tap water as needed, with mother nature helping me out on the watering some as well. Keeping with suggestions I have read, I would water the peat pot, check it for weight and only water again when the soil became dry. Since I live in Georgia, with our temps that means I had to water at least every other day while the plants were in their small peat pots.
Two days ago I did my final pot transplant (the next transplant will be into the ground). I had timed this transplant perfectly using the standard I had read online of comparing height of plant to height of pot. The plants were just beginning to be in danger of becoming rootbound.
I transplanted from the 4" peat pots to standard black plastic nursery pots (1.5 gallon size). As I stated above, this will be my last pot transplant and the next transplant will be into the ground on a site I have prepared.
As far as the site goes, I think it is pretty good. It is in the middle of an old growth blackberry vine. After clearing a path to the middle of the blackberry growth I used my brush cutting tool on my weedeater to clear an area approximately 15' wide and 30' long. The path is easily camouflaged since I was able to bend some of the vines back when making the path and then when backing out allow them to go back to their original position. When I back out of the site, it is difficult for me to see the path I have made, and I know where it is at, so it is as camouflaged of a site as I could hope for.
About a month ago I prepared the final ground that the plants will go into by first cutting all of the blackberry vines and then using a tilling tool on my weedeater to till up the clay soil (if you have ever lived in Georgia, you know how much clay is in our soil). The site has excellent sunlight and good access to water. When I go back to the site, I expect that blackberry vines will have started growing again, and should help provide some camo from the air for my plants. I also already have additional Miracle Grow soil and peat moss on site covered with a tarp for me to use when doing the final transplant.
Back to the plants:
When I transplanted them this last time into the 1.5 gallon containers I did do something that I have only read about in a couple of locations. According to some information I read, a marijuana plant will root along its stalk similar to a tomato plant. That is why when transplanting a tomato plant, if you are container growing, you want to strip a few of the lower leaves and plant it as deep as possible. In keeping with this, I stripped the bottom pair of true fan leaves and planted my plants up to the second pair of fan leaves.
Again, I seem to have done a relatively shock free transplant as all the transplants have shown significant growth in just two days.
When I transplanted this last time, I did use a 16-18-14 slow release, non-soluble, non-burning fert. I followed the instructions on the package as to how much to add to the 1.5 gallon container, and mixed the granules in thoroughly with the soil mixture I am using. I plan on continuing with my Miracle Grow tomato feed (20-20-20) on a weekly basis, with tap water in between feedings.
I'll post some pics later today. Thanks for reading.
Anyway, I started a bit late due to the length of time it took for my seeds to arrive from the seed bank. I purchased Big Bud seeds from the Netherlands because many sites that I read said that this indica strain was a good one for a beginning grower. I also planted a few bag seeds that I had collected from some good smoke I had.
I planted on May 20th, directly in soil, without germinating the seed. As I said, I planted a bit late for my area (deep south). All of my seedbank seeds were viable, and most of the bagseeds I planted were viable.
In keeping with my plan to KISS (keep it simple stupid), I used Miracle Grow Garden Soil and Miracle Grow Peat Moss as my soil mixture. I mixed the two in 70/30 ratio.
The seeds were planted in a standard peat nursery tray and located on my rear deck. I watered them with tap water that had been left to sit in an open bucket for 24+ hours (the tap water has been repeatedly checked for ph due to my wife's hobby of keeping a large indoor freshwater fish tank and has always come up as neutral). After a few days the first seeds broke the surface and eventually most of them broke ground.
And now to my first mistake. In a moment of stupidity I thought just a few granules of 10-10-10 fert would help the newly hatched seeds to grow faster (ok, you can laugh at me, I did). Anyway, I killed half my seedlings and learned the first of lessons in what not to do.
My surviving seedlings did kick into high gear on vegetative growth and I had to transplant them from their nursery tray to individual pots. For this I used some 4" peat pots with the same soil mixture. I was extremely careful when transplanting and noticed no shock to the plants. At this point I began weekly feeding with Miracle Grow tomato feed, which is a soluble 20-20-20, non-burning fert. Keeping with suggestions I have read online, I cut the recommended dosage down to one-fourth of the what the package suggests.
I continued to water with tap water as needed, with mother nature helping me out on the watering some as well. Keeping with suggestions I have read, I would water the peat pot, check it for weight and only water again when the soil became dry. Since I live in Georgia, with our temps that means I had to water at least every other day while the plants were in their small peat pots.
Two days ago I did my final pot transplant (the next transplant will be into the ground). I had timed this transplant perfectly using the standard I had read online of comparing height of plant to height of pot. The plants were just beginning to be in danger of becoming rootbound.
I transplanted from the 4" peat pots to standard black plastic nursery pots (1.5 gallon size). As I stated above, this will be my last pot transplant and the next transplant will be into the ground on a site I have prepared.
As far as the site goes, I think it is pretty good. It is in the middle of an old growth blackberry vine. After clearing a path to the middle of the blackberry growth I used my brush cutting tool on my weedeater to clear an area approximately 15' wide and 30' long. The path is easily camouflaged since I was able to bend some of the vines back when making the path and then when backing out allow them to go back to their original position. When I back out of the site, it is difficult for me to see the path I have made, and I know where it is at, so it is as camouflaged of a site as I could hope for.
About a month ago I prepared the final ground that the plants will go into by first cutting all of the blackberry vines and then using a tilling tool on my weedeater to till up the clay soil (if you have ever lived in Georgia, you know how much clay is in our soil). The site has excellent sunlight and good access to water. When I go back to the site, I expect that blackberry vines will have started growing again, and should help provide some camo from the air for my plants. I also already have additional Miracle Grow soil and peat moss on site covered with a tarp for me to use when doing the final transplant.
Back to the plants:
When I transplanted them this last time into the 1.5 gallon containers I did do something that I have only read about in a couple of locations. According to some information I read, a marijuana plant will root along its stalk similar to a tomato plant. That is why when transplanting a tomato plant, if you are container growing, you want to strip a few of the lower leaves and plant it as deep as possible. In keeping with this, I stripped the bottom pair of true fan leaves and planted my plants up to the second pair of fan leaves.
Again, I seem to have done a relatively shock free transplant as all the transplants have shown significant growth in just two days.
When I transplanted this last time, I did use a 16-18-14 slow release, non-soluble, non-burning fert. I followed the instructions on the package as to how much to add to the 1.5 gallon container, and mixed the granules in thoroughly with the soil mixture I am using. I plan on continuing with my Miracle Grow tomato feed (20-20-20) on a weekly basis, with tap water in between feedings.
I'll post some pics later today. Thanks for reading.
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