First Grow, 12/12 from seed.

Hey all...long time MJ fan, first time gardener.

We started out with a couple of CFLs and then built a table top box framed with PVC pipe and lined with thermal blankets and now we are at the next stage...shelves. Not quite SOG green yet .

I started all of these plants in Miracle Grow Fruit and Vegetable mix with nothing other than water. Today, I transplanted them into 3qt pots and into some organic soil mixed with organic cow manure. There are a handful of seeds germinating, 8 seedlings and the grandma (hopefully not the grandPA) that started this new hobby when I found her in the potato patch in the front yard (I had tossed some bag seeds there with a shrug and a what the heck). Grandma also got a good watering with a little Alaska Fish Emulsion 5-1-1 to hopefully solve what I'm thinking must be N deficiency.

We have been doing 12/12 from seed. I know there's a lot of debate on it, but from what I've read, the way pluses outweigh the minuses. The main appeal is that it will allow a continuous cycle of new starts without having to design separate lighting solutions. Getting as big a yield as possible from each plant isn't my main concern.

There are three shelves. The top one is for germination, it has a pair of 48" T8 32W "Sunshine" fluorescent tubes. The bottom shelf is for seedlings and has the same two T8s as the upper shelf. The middle shelf currently only houses Grandma and some Tabasco and Pequin pepper seedlings, but it's where I'll move the seedlings when they outgrow the bottom shelf. This shelf has two 48" T12 40W "Kitchen and Bath" tubes (my thinking is that it will introduce some redder light since this is the shelf where the plants will flower) and two 48" T12 40W "Daylight Deluxe" tubes.

Top - Two 48", 32W, 2800 lumens @ 5000K

Middle - Two 48", 40W, 3400 lumens @ 3000K and two 48", 40W, 2325 lumens @ 6500K

Bottom - Two 48", 32W, 2800 lumens @ 5000K

I'm excited to see the results. Depending upon the those, I'll look into HPS lighting. But if it ain't broke, I won't fix it.

Any input would be appreciated!

Here are some pics...the last one was of the previous set up. I still have the CFL lamps, so I'll probably clip those onto the front of the shelves as well.

I have no idea why the pics are sideways...they shouldn't be. Sorry.

ill be looking to start a grow here real soon myself,it be my first.. cant wait

Bump...

Any thoughts on the potential effectiveness of the lighting and on the yellowed lower leaves? It's not any worse this morning after Alaska 5-1-1, which is at least something because it was yellowing rapidly before.

Well, the garage proved to be way too hot and humid so I brought the plants in a set them up in a closet. The big plant is exactly 8 weeks old now and the little guys are probably 4 weeks old. It's been exactly 7 days since I brought them in, the last two pictures are the before and after of the big, formerly sick plant. It went from puny and yellow to big and green in less than a week. It just started flowering about 1.5 weeks ago...TGI Female! This is all bagseed by the way. Obviously, it's not all from the same bag. I've got a pretty even mix of indicas and sativas, looks like. The first two are weirdo mutant plants.

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I also added th pair of 68w, 4200 lumen CFLs you see hanging in pic 5. They're enormous, but even at $14 each, why not. Now I have a total of 20,000 lumens for them. There's a new round of seedlings going on the shelf above under a pair of 28w, normal sized, CFLs.

They're all getting a good watering every few days with some aged tap water, pH 5.8, with a little Alaska 5-1-1 and for the big girl, some Pro-Bloom. Am I covering my bases? I'd love to get an dried ounce from each plant. Any thoughts?

Hey bro. I use fluoros for my seedling and the 6500K daylight ones work great for 2-3 weeks. After that, the light penetration just isn't there, so my guess would be that the yellowing of the lower leaves is due to lack of light, not N deficiency. If anything I would say lay off the nutes a little bit. Did you check the bag? That Miracle Gro Fruit and Veg mix already contains fertilizer and feeds for up to 6 weeks. You see how in that last pic some of the leaves are curled under and down in that "claw" shape? That is usually a sign of nutrient burn.

The last pic and second to last pic are of the same plant, 5 days apart. It was super sick, but by moving it from the garage to the closet, it has made a full recovery. It's has been out of the MG for 5 weeks. She has tripled in size in 5 days and what I corrected was the heat and humidity (75% humidity and over 90F) and a minor pH issue.

Tried this method... never again....All i got was little plants bout 7 grams each. A total waste of time unless you can do 20-30 plants IMO.
Dont wanna discourage ya but invest the 30 days or so to veg, the harvest amount will more than make up for the extra time. Good Luck

I know it could go either way, but I did a ton of research and there are enough people getting the kind of results I'm hoping for that it seemed worth a shot. If I have results like yours, of course I'll go with more traditional methods next time! Thanks for the input .

Also, I've been surprised at how mild the smell is. My boyfriend says that closet smells super pungent, but he's new to Mary Jane in general and to me, there's just the faintest lemony skunk smell. It mostly just smells like 60 year old closet , which I guess I should be glad about because we like to have company over. I'll be glad when it cools off and I can move it all back to the garage though.

Last weekend, I gave them all a very light feeding of Alaska 5-1-1 with a TINY amount of Pro-Bloom and the Indicas LOVED it...but the Sativas HATED it...the two little ones are in desperate shape, I did a big flush tonight so I'll hope for the best.

I topped the biggest plant last Sunday and cloned it. 2 out of 3 clones appear to have made it, though I know it's a little early to count on them. But they're definitely female and if the two overfed baby sativas die, well, at least I'll have these two guaranteed-girls to replace them.

They survived the nute burn, both of the clones took, and the biggest plant has blown up since being topped...she's flowering all over the place. Unfortunately, two identified as males today. I guess this is the beauty of 12/12 from seed...I just moved the two best seedlings into the emptied pots. Keeping a half dozen or so seedlings in stasis allows me to replace as many males as appear without having to wait for germination. Watching and planning has been a lot of fun! I spend lots of time fussing over them and examining them with a magnifying glass.