I've Smoked Weed for over 4 Decades; this is my First Attempt at Growing Anything.

FatMarty said:

This is exciting man.
So many people have been here - it's kinda cool to see if you make it without killing them all.

That is not a cut at all either - until you can't remember how many you have killed you haven't really grown.

In my limited experience I have learned to just go ahead and repot a seedling if it won't grow.
I figure it means I got it too hot or something and the soil (soilless in my case) is crap.
Repot into some of them kegger party plastic cups with a few holes in them and about a half cup of water for the first watering and don't rewater until the cup feels 'empty' when you pick it up.

Good luck man - I'm subbed if I can figure how to do that here.

Oh yeah - pH don't really mean much for one that young; so don't mess with pH until you see if they make it a week from transplanting.
You might have already taken them lower than they want to be.

If your tap water is 7 then all you really need is about 1/8th teaspoon of apple-cider vinegar per gallon bought from the grocery store to bring the pH to acceptable level.

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Thanks for both your perspective and for your advice. I can use all the company her I can get!

I'm getting ready to transplant into some 16 oz. cups with Happy Frog. I hope this is not the beginning of another killing spree! First, I will go and smoke a bowl of Sour Diesel with the girls and try to assure them I mean no harm. Pictures later.

Cool Man.
I figured out how to subscribe to thread too.
It's in the advanced area under where you write.

Hope all goes well for you.

The next week should show me just how hardy this weed is. Here are the girls right before transplanting.

Right after transplant on day 22 & 23 (& 1 28.) Some transplanting went better than some others. A couple where the dirt disintegrated around the roots before I had it sitting in soil. 4 or 5 that seemed to go well. The rest somewhere in between. After transplanting, I gave them half a cup of water each, (4-5-ounces). I guess at a minimum I should expect some transplant shock. Sure hope I didn't kill anybody. I wonder how soon I will find out.

Nice setup Old bastard here too 46. I have an LSD on deck after my Acapulco Gold is done.

Are you letting them sleep?
Most folks go 18 hours on and 6 off for veg.

Plants need sleep.
But leave that little oscillating fan on - they like air all the time.

the main thing with growin is havin fun bro .. lol i've killed hunderds over the years .. yours dont look too bad at all, and from what ive read you got a bit of bad advice and overcame it . The best advice i could give ya is learn to watch your plants .. after a while you will be able to read them, never trust the manufacturer's recomended nute schedual, start 1/2 strength for the first few waterings and lastly ... have a blast bro you will enjoy the rewards

Nice set up.

With all those plants tho, you're gonna need more space, and more light when they get into vegetative stage. But for right now, their just seedlings so it should be fine for a couple weeks.

FatMarty said:

Are you letting them sleep?
Most folks go 18 hours on and 6 off for veg.

Plants need sleep.
But leave that little oscillating fan on - they like air all the time.

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I've seen both opinions. Some say they'll grow faster with lights on all the time. But after getting my first grow electric bill today, I am inclined to go 18/6.

JWilson said:

With all those plants tho, you're gonna need more space, and more light when they get into vegetative stage. But for right now, their just seedlings so it should be fine for a couple weeks.

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Having the weed grow too big for the tent is a problem I wouldn't mind having! It's hard to imagine from this viewpoint. I've always kind of figured if I get 6 healthy plants, I'd be happy. But I hope you're right.

tellno1 said:

the main thing with growin is havin fun bro .. lol i've killed hunderds over the years .. yours dont look too bad at all, and from what ive read you got a bit of bad advice and overcame it . The best advice i could give ya is learn to watch your plants .. after a while you will be able to read them, never trust the manufacturer's recomended nute schedual, start 1/2 strength for the first few waterings and lastly ... have a blast bro you will enjoy the rewards

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I am having fun! I've never done anything like this. I took the pressure off myself when I decided that these were the plants I'd be learning from -mistake wise. I plan on doing some more planting in the not too distant future.

ok, first things first. welcome and good luck.
this thread is like the blind leading the blind because most of the pro growers don't care about first grows, 90% of the "advice" I've read in your thread was utter bullshit.

Since you are new to growing i will begin from the beginning.

Week 1 to ?
Time frame depends on how long you veg.

preamble:
1) Make sure you germinate your seeds in a room temp dark spot (70-80f), I use a pill bottle and place it in a medicine cabinet. you want it light proof. I let the seeds float and poke at them a couple times a day, once they sink they are ready to be sown.
2) Do NOT use seed starting mix! most are very limited in nutes and that causes a seedling to be a custom to lack of nutes and soon after you either over nute or the plants don't reach potential. It's just like every other living organism in nature, from birth it adapts to its environment. Plants are resilient and in the end its actually strengthens the plant, hard knock life. Most soil is good for about 2 weeks on nutes before the need to add anymore.
3) Now you got good soil and a ready to go seed its time to sow it. Don't start with small cups, pots, ect.. everytime you transpant it causes stress, stress = smaller plant and a higher chance of producing males. plant sex is determined in the first couple weeks on a plants life which include factors like temp, stress, water supply, air ect. Basically the less interaction with you that is needed is best route.

Light:
Use CFL's or 4ft fluros. Mixed cool white and warm white are best. 5000k and 2700k work best. You can place them within 1 inch of the plants if the air flow is right.
Adjust the lights daily if needed, keeping them as close as possible without burning them. Even then, a cfl burn takes a while and its completely salvageable. The more light the better = GET AS CLOSE AS POSSIBLE
Air:
Make them shuffle in the wind, this builds the stem girth and in turn increases water and nute uptake.
You can never have enough air flow, thick stems = more yield.

Water/Nutes:
No need to add nutes for about 2 weeks, most soil has multi-part fertilizers which means some are ready for consumption immediately and some are time released.

Note: All holds true as long as you use ph balanced water, ie distilled.

I think this covers the stage you are currently in, i'll sub to this thread because i like your style. if you need any real advice give me a shout.

scrapdizle said:

I think this covers the stage you are currently in, i'll sub to this thread because i like your style. if you need any real advice give me a shout.

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Thanks very much! There's an old Chinese proverb you may have heard: When the student is ready, the teacher appears. I'm very fortunate at this juncture that I have the time, space and enough money to invest. What the money can't buy is the experience of growers such as yourself. And, I'm finding out fast how much experienced advice I require.

A snowstorm is coming here on Thursday and I'm thinking of melting some snow for plant water. Probably can't hurt, right?

Looks good shotrocker, get ready to see those babies take off. Just make sure there are a few holes in your cups for drainage.

A little snow works fine, should have a real low PPM. What water source are you currently using? Tap, filtered, RO?

Green Revolution said:

Looks good shotrocker, get ready to see those babies take off. Just make sure there are a few holes in your cups for drainage.

A little snow works fine, should have a real low PPM. What water source are you currently using? Tap, filtered, RO?

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Right now I'm using well water. I'm waiting for a water tester for hardness and chemicals. I can get RO water very cheap if I need to.

great to see someone growing for the first time its the best feeling to see the rewards haha but anyways im growing tangerine dream too my plant is on its flowering stage at the moment so i should see some results my self and know if you need any help im more then glad to help out

ent931 said:

great to see someone growing for the first time its the best feeling to see the rewards haha but anyways im growing tangerine dream too my plant is on its flowering stage at the moment so i should see some results my self and know if you need any help im more then glad to help out

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Cool! And thanks. Tangerine Dream is a favorite smoke of mine. (Hmmm.....too early for a bowl of it? Nah.) I hope you'll keep posting pictures so I can see what I'm aiming at.