Matman's first grow, come in and slap me for my noob mistakes!

matman4444

Well-Known Member
It all started on a rainy afternoon in December. My roommate came home with a big bag of weed of supposedly 'good shit' I don't smoke weed mind you, so I'll take his word for it. The weed had a lot of seeds in it, which obviously means somebody did not know what they were doing, or didn't take all the proper cautions.

But whatever, my friend picked the seeds out so he could smoke the rest, I took two seeds and started germination, my friend took the rest and did the same, we were going to have a little competition of who could grow the best.
This was before I had joined this wonderful site, before I read up any of the guides, I didn't know anything.
I used the paper towel in saran wrap method, and 1 of the 2 sprouted.

From there we had unused potting mix on the side of the house so I filled a dixie cup with it and planted this little sprout.
When it popped out of the ground I put it stacked up on some cans under my cfl in my room.

My friend had 3 of 6 or so sprout, he put them all in one cup, on the windowsill which gets a very sparse amount of light, kitchen lights which are very far away, and light from outside which isnt much since its winter.

I decided to take his over for him and see if I can make something magical happen.
Thats when I joined this site and read up so many threads and guides, even watched that damn full length movie with the green dude.

My first set up


Cleared out my tv stand, put in these two dual 12" fluorescents that I estimate are about 10 watts, just guessing compared to what my new fluoros are.
Look at that, lined with aluminum foil, how noob and naive I was.

Here we are at day 10, my plant looks to be doing very well, the other three, are doing somewhat shitty.



One is a bit stretched, one is a late bloomer and quite small. Most of them have a little discoloration or something bad on a leaf or two.

After a noob post and some good replies, I found out I needed a lot more light.


Added a 20watt 24" fluoro with a plant/aquarium gro light. And a 15watt 24" fluoro which said for plant growth, weird though, both lights say they are for growing plants, both have a different tint of color to them.
And for later on I have a twisty type cfl that is, I think 40 watt but looks like 150. 2700 Lumens.

After even more research I decided to paint the inside of the house with flat white paint. I cut out cardboard and painted it for the doors, since I didn't want them to be permanently messed up.

I also bought MG African Violet soil, and Perlite with a 4-1 mixture.
Transplanted my best plant. Hopefully I can get 2 of the other 3 plants to make it and ill be able to transplant them too. In my next growing spot I only have room for 3 plants anyways so even it they dont make it, I suppose I can try cloning.


Even added my little laptop lap fan to get some air circulation and hopefully make the bases stronger.



And day 14 since sprout, my plant.




I know MG has some nutes already in it, but I wanted to know what kinds of additives will I or can I start giving it in very small doses when the time comes? I need something that I can get at Home Depot and similar. They have African Violet ferts and I dont know since the soil is good, the ferts too?

Or since the soil has stuff in it already, should I just supplement with the super thrive stuff?

And also if I'm doing anything wrong, or things I should look out for coming up, I'm like a sponge soaking up any and all good information presented to me:mrgreen:

Thanks!!
 

Rocky Mountain High

Well-Known Member
Slappity Slap Slap!! just jokin brother, welcome.

I'd advise against the African Violet soil, I tried it and had problems.

Your grow box is awesome, great job. I really like the idea that you have some side lighting in there. the fans are the icing on your cake.

I use the Thrive Alive B-1 for seedlings and when I transplant, just dilute it down a little bit.

Good luck

Farm Hard
 

matman4444

Well-Known Member
Oh, and about how much water should I use for the big pot? I think its around 2 gallons.
Rocky Mountain! Hey do you have something else you tried or can recommend that I can get at Home Depot or similar stores? We have this CA only store called orchard supply and they had probably 10 potting soils but I just went with MG and figured it wouldn't be the best, but at least it wouldn't be shit.
Thanks!
 

Rocky Mountain High

Well-Known Member
I would say look for something withOUT any nutrients or any fertilizers in it. Just a plain jane soil. I had problems with MG because of the little 'time release' pills. There's no way to really know what your plants are getting or when, giving you very little control over your grow.

On the watering, I suggest the Turkey Baster Method TBM, do a search on here and you should find info, if not let me know and I will give you the skinnny.

DO NOT opt for draining 10% of your nutes and ferts out the bottom every watering. I know it is a prevalent method but I think the TBM is much better.

Good luck

Farm Hard
 
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