This forum seemed to be the best source of knowledgeable stoners on the web so I will post all my log here.
Seeds germinated 6/7. Log as of 6/11:
Medium
I am now thrilled to see little green things popping out of the Empire Builder soil which I bought and put in 3 separate "18-gallon" plastic containers. I lined the bottom and edges with tinfoil to prevent leeching nasties out of the plastic. I used maybe half of the 25$ 56.6 cubic ft bag to fill the containers up about 1/6 each. I plan to fill in soil as the plants grow. The soil was compressed pretty thoroughly in the bag despite being only damp, not wet. It expanded a good deal when I poured it out and remained as large after watering and settling. I will probably get another 25$ bag for the flowering stage.
Seeds
I germinated 13 bag-seeds on Friday night that were acquired from medical quality weed that a seed or two wound up in somehow. I didn't keep track of the strains, I didn't know if I would ever get this far. I have been keeping them in the "pill bottle shaped pop-top containers that bud comes in from the dispensaries." All less than a year. All of them germinated, most within a day, but one didn't sprout until yesterday morning, Monday. I used the wet paper towel in a plastic baggie on the water heater method. From memory... 3 had cracked after 12 hours, 7 after a day, 12 after 2 days and the final one cracked after 2+1/2 days. The stressful part was waiting for them to sprout out of the soil after being planted. It finally happened this morning! I'm so proud of my babies!
Seedlings
I planted all but one in permanent soil on Sunday(6/9) morning. The last was planted Monday morning, after it cracked I had 5 in temporary smaller pots for Saturday, but quickly dismissed that idea as unneeded. As long as I kept my soil wet, shaded and warm, I was guaranteed some green, right!? 5 have poked their head out by now and more are coming I feel. the first one I named Pokey
. There were only three this morning, only 7 hours ago! I just have to keep checking!!! Pokey is growing like none other, I have already assembled a small mound of soil around my baby! I can see leaves on 2 now. The leaves are incredibly small and yet still look like weed leaves with the spikes. All have their calyxes or whatever those first leaf-like structures are called. So it took 2 stressful days with all my babies underground but, all the tension and bad feelings have gone away now that I am seeing green.
Lights
Seeing green means I got to turn on my 6 4' 5500K fluorescent lights in a sick ballast with tiny vents sticking out around all sides
.200$ after tax - Sun Systems - Sun Blaze. I support the lights horizontally from 2 towers on the floor, using banker's boxes that are about a foot high a piece. This makes my ballast adjustable by foot increments without installation or cost. They are currently ~2 ft off the floor, about 1ft from the current soil top level. That is as close as they can get for now due to the edges of the containers. I will raise the soil until the plants are kissing the lights, then raise it another bankers box of the floor, about a foot.
Reflector Hood
The tinfoil greatly reduces the amount of light that can be seen from outside the window of my grow room, which is the extra bedroom in my apartment. Pics will hopefully be coming up soon. Being in CO means this is legal, but I looked like a mad scientist when the lights first came on at night without the tinfoil shield. I assembled it with craft tape and it can be folded up and rested on top of the ballast to allow the soil to be worked and the weed to be admired.
Water
I just water when it's clearly dry till it's moist like a forest floor. I try to follow the 1 quart per gallon of soil rule that the bag suggests.
Conclusion(for now)
Please let me know if you have any concerns with my set-up so far. I plan to change to warm spectrum fluros when time comes to flower.
Big thanks!!! to forums like this and Google for getting me to this happy point! Also thanks to One Love where I bought everything I have bought, 230$ so far for lights and soil. I still need to buy a timer(10$?), nutrients($?) and new lights($?). I really hope Pokey isn't a male, I shouldn't have named him/her
The hardest part was waiting to see green, setting up was fun and took maybe a total of 8 non-labor-intensive hours. Research and planning took maybe 2 hours tops.
Seeds germinated 6/7. Log as of 6/11:
Medium
I am now thrilled to see little green things popping out of the Empire Builder soil which I bought and put in 3 separate "18-gallon" plastic containers. I lined the bottom and edges with tinfoil to prevent leeching nasties out of the plastic. I used maybe half of the 25$ 56.6 cubic ft bag to fill the containers up about 1/6 each. I plan to fill in soil as the plants grow. The soil was compressed pretty thoroughly in the bag despite being only damp, not wet. It expanded a good deal when I poured it out and remained as large after watering and settling. I will probably get another 25$ bag for the flowering stage.
Seeds
I germinated 13 bag-seeds on Friday night that were acquired from medical quality weed that a seed or two wound up in somehow. I didn't keep track of the strains, I didn't know if I would ever get this far. I have been keeping them in the "pill bottle shaped pop-top containers that bud comes in from the dispensaries." All less than a year. All of them germinated, most within a day, but one didn't sprout until yesterday morning, Monday. I used the wet paper towel in a plastic baggie on the water heater method. From memory... 3 had cracked after 12 hours, 7 after a day, 12 after 2 days and the final one cracked after 2+1/2 days. The stressful part was waiting for them to sprout out of the soil after being planted. It finally happened this morning! I'm so proud of my babies!
Seedlings
I planted all but one in permanent soil on Sunday(6/9) morning. The last was planted Monday morning, after it cracked I had 5 in temporary smaller pots for Saturday, but quickly dismissed that idea as unneeded. As long as I kept my soil wet, shaded and warm, I was guaranteed some green, right!? 5 have poked their head out by now and more are coming I feel. the first one I named Pokey
. There were only three this morning, only 7 hours ago! I just have to keep checking!!! Pokey is growing like none other, I have already assembled a small mound of soil around my baby! I can see leaves on 2 now. The leaves are incredibly small and yet still look like weed leaves with the spikes. All have their calyxes or whatever those first leaf-like structures are called. So it took 2 stressful days with all my babies underground but, all the tension and bad feelings have gone away now that I am seeing green.Lights
Seeing green means I got to turn on my 6 4' 5500K fluorescent lights in a sick ballast with tiny vents sticking out around all sides
.200$ after tax - Sun Systems - Sun Blaze. I support the lights horizontally from 2 towers on the floor, using banker's boxes that are about a foot high a piece. This makes my ballast adjustable by foot increments without installation or cost. They are currently ~2 ft off the floor, about 1ft from the current soil top level. That is as close as they can get for now due to the edges of the containers. I will raise the soil until the plants are kissing the lights, then raise it another bankers box of the floor, about a foot.Reflector Hood
The tinfoil greatly reduces the amount of light that can be seen from outside the window of my grow room, which is the extra bedroom in my apartment. Pics will hopefully be coming up soon. Being in CO means this is legal, but I looked like a mad scientist when the lights first came on at night without the tinfoil shield. I assembled it with craft tape and it can be folded up and rested on top of the ballast to allow the soil to be worked and the weed to be admired.
Water
I just water when it's clearly dry till it's moist like a forest floor. I try to follow the 1 quart per gallon of soil rule that the bag suggests.
Conclusion(for now)
Please let me know if you have any concerns with my set-up so far. I plan to change to warm spectrum fluros when time comes to flower.
Big thanks!!! to forums like this and Google for getting me to this happy point! Also thanks to One Love where I bought everything I have bought, 230$ so far for lights and soil. I still need to buy a timer(10$?), nutrients($?) and new lights($?). I really hope Pokey isn't a male, I shouldn't have named him/her
The hardest part was waiting to see green, setting up was fun and took maybe a total of 8 non-labor-intensive hours. Research and planning took maybe 2 hours tops.
