help me.. [first time chick grower] questions, comments, anything.

alright. well. to start off, i'm new (as hell) to rollitup & growing. i know i'm a female, and should have some sort of a green thumb - but, i don't.. and i'm just starting out, out of boredom and brokeness. so, please bare with me if i don't exactly know the names of shhhiiatt, and so on.

i pretty much got stoned one night & decided that weed is getting way to expensive, & i wanted to experiment a little. my set-up is cheap & ghetto because i'm close to poor.

SOIL:
i spent about $4 on the soil [2 bags - yeah, it was cheap as hell and i had a coupon !] soil brand is called "GOOD EARTH", and is produced locally. it is POTTING SOIL (who knows if that was okay to use, but it was cheap). bag says prepared for all plants indoor and outdoor. has the little white styrophome beads in it (i don't know what they're called).


GERMINATION:
i germinated a shit-load of seeds [like 15 or so] in a paper-towel & a tubba-wear. not some crazy weed, just some bud-spot seeds. probably schwagg? but grade A schwagg. i only winded up planting about 9 of them [due to my parinoidness]. so.. here i am, with 9 little pot plants growing pretty strong (?) - maybe, they are; this is where it get's iffy - i've never done this before, so i'm not sure if they're healthy or what. i really don't have pictures right now, but.. to describe everything..


LIGHTS:
120 volt / 60 hz [? have no idea if that's the way to describe it] energy savers unlimited light is what i'm using. pretty sure it's used for reptiles. but, my friend gave it to me for free - & like i said, i'm broke.. and i wanna grow weed. it looks accurate, though. & my plants ARE growing. they also get a lot of sunlight, because they are in good range of a big window. QUESTION ONE: is this an okay light to use? if it's not, what should i be using.


PLANTS:
.. the plants are actually really good looking. i planted one a lot earlier than the others, and that one seems to be doing the best. it has it's four leaves, and the edged/divited ones have dropped a bit lower than the other two. so, in my opinion they ARE growing.


GROW SPACE:
as for my "grow space" .. it's my kitchen. (yeah, tell me about it). i will eventually find a new, "better/secluded" spot. but, for now.. i love cooking dinner with my plants [haha]. well. it consists of all the plants in 2 liters of coke (cleaned, & cut a little shorter; so everything will be easy to maintain). then, over-all .. they are all sitting in a huge tub-like plastic container (so my kitchen floor doesn't get dirty). i water them once or twice a day with a little syringe and distilled water.

QUESTION 2: how much water should my plants be getting?
QUESTION 3: what can i do to improve my plants? [chemical-wise]
QUESTION 4: about how long until i can smoke it?
QUESTION 5: i often blow weed smoke on them, because someone said that was a good thing to do. is this true?
QUESTION 6: what am i doing wrong, that i can fix for real cheap [i mean.. real..cheap].
QUESTION 7: what will i need in the long run for these plants to survive?
QUESTION 8: if i grow this weed in my basement, will it get a funny smell/taste? someone said it's not good to grow in an unfinished basement.

so, please people.. give me input, critisizim, anything.. just HELP! questions and comments are grealy appreciated. i'm confused. my plants are growing, but i just feel like i'm supposed to be doing more than just watering them!


Luren.

if u live in OH i got a light .... but if that is a CFL? u may need a few more especitally for 9 plants thats a lot.... ive grown twice and had two plants one female each time lol.... but my next grow im going to grow more now that i got my light... annyway that soil sounds like it will be okay.... as for nutes i would let a nute expert tell you lol i think ive had a couple minor probs with nutes but all has worked out... and natural sunlight will be reall good for your plants since they dont have much artificial light sun will do them a lot of good... thats what i did in the grow in my signature give you big fat leaves.... and it will begin to grow bud when you switch the light cycle to 12/12 and about 8 - 11 weeks after that depending on the strain... and u can vegitate for however long you want before you switch to flower but dont let ur babies get too tall b4 flower some strains strect 2 to 3 times during flower... hope that helps a little lol.... i will check back if you think of anything else gotta go now fingers hurt jus wrote a book lol peace

lol the magic carpet was jus sent out 10 min ago ..... and the hydro store i found by me is my new home lol ..... just say ur doing a project in school .... thats what i said and they told me the best nutes and if theres any prob come back and ask.... jus say your growin veggies or some shit lol ..... but i kno i wanted be like how i grow this weed? lol didnt kno if they would flip tho .... ha... ALSO they had this cool chart with the nutes i bought it walks you through the feeding scheduals at diff time of growth its pretty usefull.... good luck on finding nutes and ive been a sponge on here for about two months now and can still learn more lol jus keep at it you will have tight shit eventually ... and if you fuck up dont quit its a good hobby (thats gets u high)

PS thanks for postin on my thread gets kinda lonely on there... and i need to update my pics but becomes a pain lol

Deff gonna need some more light! With 9 plants you will not have the light penetration to get thru the canopy once they get bigger. Trust me dosn't take to long to get big. I currently am on my first grow and have 400w in a 39,39 area with 6 plants Here is a pic to show you how crowded that is with only 6 plants at 3 and a half weeks old from sprout!

Buffalo huh, only a few hours away. Water them whenever they feel light. You can also stick your finger an inch or so into the soil and if it feels dry then water. You'll get use to what they need after a while. Good Luck

blowin weed smoke on tha plants is not a good idea. it clogs the pores in tha leaf n u dnt want dat

n u would also need the nutes for good healthy devoloment

u can get all purpose plant food at walmart for like 5 bucks but becareful not to over feed them tho good luck n happy growing

I smoke wit my plants everday anytime i smoke my hoe smoke too lol guess idc if its bad it could clog pores but i dont think any scientist has tested it .... an if they did o well my girl will get some resin and Co2 from my smoke lol

you can water till you see water drain out, you did make holes at the bottom for drainage right? the amount of water doesnt matter, you can give them a fgallon each if you like, just dont do it too frequently, checking to see if they are heavy(full of water) and light (dry) is good but you would need to do this a few times to know what it feels like, so stick you finger in the dirt, 1 inch like the other guy said is not good enough, if its dry 3-4inches deep then you can water,. for lighting you can go get compact flourecent bulbs, usually like 23watts each, pay attention to wattage and not volts, they run a few dollars each, you will need quite a few for all the plants, when the plants are young and depending if there is nutes in the soil already will determine when and how much to feed them, whatever type of nutrients you do use, always start using 1/4 the label strength, to determine when to start giving food is to see if the lower leaves are getting light and or yellow, yellow needs food, dark green and burnt tips is too much and will kill your plant, new growers tend to do too much too soon with plants, let the plant tell you when it needs water and food and you'll be fine...less is more, i cant stress enough that you should let the soil get dry and the pot be light before you water, overwatering is the most common problem among new growers

yeah, i've got drainage holes.

okay. well. wrote down pretty much everything people told me. another quick question - why do my plants look long, opposed to everyone elses on here that looks short? like.. the actual vine of the plant looks long. i see a lot of peoples are short and are sprouting many other leaves. mine are long, and each have about 4 leaves. doesn't really seem like a lot when i look at everyone elses plants, that are about half the length of mine.. and have several more leaves. i know pot can't grow DOWN, so.. am i going to have some abnormally tall plants? can it be because it's swagg, and a lot of people here are growing nugs? hmmm. i'm pretty slow when it comes to this shit. so thank you everyone for your help.

As a noobie i say

QUESTION 2: how much water should my plants be getting?
Like the others said feel for weight and test soil by using your finger for drynees

QUESTION 3: what can i do to improve my plants? [chemical-wise] get some nutes from a hydroshop and start on a small dose after 3 weeks, follow directions on them its pretty simple

QUESTION 4: about how long until i can smoke it? Depends on light, temps and meduim plus air theres a ton of factors and unless ya have optimal on all it could take many months, like veg time and size of plant to pots using ect. Read some growing guides

QUESTION 5: i often blow weed smoke on them, because someone said that was a good thing to do. is this true? Thats a myth and will harm your plants, the leaves will end up getting a coating like ciggeratte tar and will block air and light. Your best to work out in the same room for higher co2 levels.

QUESTION 6: what am i doing wrong, that i can fix for real cheap [i mean.. real..cheap]. Transplate to coco or better soil as soon as there safley rooted IMO, get a real lamp and read some growing guides.

QUESTION 7: what will i need in the long run for these plants to survive? Nutes, better lighting read some guides again

QUESTION 8: if i grow this weed in my basement, will it get a funny smell/taste? someone said it's not good to grow in an unfinished basement. Only prob would be temp and humidy and toxins if there are any read some guides.

word, buffalo does suck

Ladyganja, no, you were NOT wrong! However, I will say this... for a weed, cannabis can be finicky as hell!!

First of all, very few ventures started on a "shoestring' end well. Not to say it can't be done, but it's rare.
That being said, you wanna grow weed? Can you grow a Lima bean? Ever keep a plant alive? Thats all there is to this. Even easier than alot of ornamentals because this IS a weed. There is just way too much bullshit associated with it. Kinda funny how many of your friends are an expert on growing, aint it?

There aint anything arcane, mysterious, or magic about this, it's just horticulture 101. I'd wager that almost 90% of first time failures can be attributed to over-engineering, and over attention. We love 'em to death!!
Boil this down to it's bare essentials. Grow pot. Don't worry about getting the "nth" degree of fatness, or yield, just grow them. That will tell you whether or not this is for you. You can throw away a shitload of money when you first start out just making mistakes.
If you get all your girls across the finish line, then you can start refining.

You WILL need a space for them that will have UNINTERRUPTED darkness for 12 hrs. I doubt your kitchen is gonna cut it, unless you light seal a cab or 2.

The incredibly confusing and endless list of "marijuana miracle" products is designed to get the Nth degree of product outta your grow. Once you understand the plant and it's needs, you can make an informed decision as to whether you use them.
But before you go spending money you don't have on shit you don't need yet, get the very basics down.
You will NOT become Jorge Cervantes overnight, or by buying the latest and greatest in the nute line. Trust me, I know. I could take the wife on a nice Jamaican vacation with the money I spent learning what I didn't need. I'm the kinda guy that has to learn what DOESN'T work first. As broke as you say you are, I hope you heed this and save some money. Spend on what you know, or prepare to spend on learning.
I finally figured out that the EASY road to success is being repaved, and won't be open again in my lifetime!!!!!

I cannot stress enough the importance of DONT TELL ANYONE!!! You are your own worst security risk. I have absolutely no idea why the first thing we wanna do when the girls poke thru to daylight is show them off to ANY and EVERYBODY who will look!!. Thank god for the forums for ego stroking!!!!

Starting off with bagseed is a set-up for misery if you intend to feed everyone the same thing at the same time. All the brothers and sisters in there will all have different needs. When you are learning about deficiencies, pH problems, pests and diseases, you will quite often treat one "plant" for a perceived malady only to screw up another plant. This shit can be really confusing to try and understand all at once, since pH problems and nute deficiencies mimic each other. Treat them the wrong way....
If you can get ahold of some good genetics (Clones preferably) that will make things easier initially.
If you're serious about growing, you'll get lots of free help. Maybe even be fortunate enough to be gifted some good genetics. (I think I got mine given to me just so I'd quit crying about my failures!!! LOL)

Good Luck!!!

thelastpirate said:

First of all, very few ventures started on a "shoestring' end well. Not to say it can't be done, but it's rare.
That being said, you wanna grow weed? Can you grow a Lima bean? Ever keep a plant alive? Thats all there is to this. Even easier than alot of ornamentals because this IS a weed.

There aint anything arcane, mysterious, or magic about this, it's just horticulture 101.

Boil this down to it's bare essentials. Grow pot. Don't worry about getting the "nth" degree of fatness, or yield, just grow them. That will tell you whether or not this is for you. You can throw away a shitload of money when you first start out just making mistakes.
If you get all your girls across the finish line, then you can start refining.

You WILL need a space for them that will have UNINTERRUPTED darkness for 12 hrs. I doubt your kitchen is gonna cut it, unless you light seal a cab or 2.

The incredibly confusing and endless list of "marijuana miracle" products is designed to get the Nth degree of product outta your grow. Once you understand the plant and it's needs, you can make an informed decision as to whether you use them.
But before you go spending money you don't have on shit you don't need yet, get the very basics down.
You will NOT become Jorge Cervantes overnight, or by buying the latest and greatest in the nute line. Trust me, I know. I could take the wife on a nice Jamaican vacation with the money I spent learning what I didn't need.

Click to expand...

haha. of course i've grown/maintained a plant before. my favorite lesson in science as a child. haha. i really have no idea why that was in the curriculum; kids definately started their own little pot farms with that information.

as for trial and error.. i think thats my plan from now on. i got them in a closet, with my same cheap little light. got a little fan going in there for vent. now, i'm giving it around 18-24 hours of light. i guess that's good. going to buy more lights next week. shorten the lighting period too. they're looking pretty good, but.. as i said, never actually grew marijuana; so i wanna get some pics up here so you guys can tell me how my babygirls our looking.


ps.. all of you have me calling my plants my "girls". terrible habit, you know. people are like "what girls is she talking about.. must be the ones in her head. crazy bitch"haha. & once again: thanks everyone for the help. .


SOMEONE TELL ME WHY MY PLANTS VINES ARE SO DAMN LONG. it's wigging me out. i'm pretty sure i'm hullucinating, and they're really not abnormally long - but, do long stems signify something bad or good?.. i mean they're real long, and still only have 4 lil leaves. i'm done now. thanks ;o

yeah. i've stopped talking about them outloud, for the most part. only people who know are my upstairs neighbors, and it's because i plan on growing their 2 plants with mine.. &.. they'd probably be a bit curious why it reaked so strongly of marijuana in our shared hallway. thanks for the advice.

triiiiial and error. triiiiial and error. only time will tell about my babies, i guess.