MrHowardMarks' experienced grower journal.

[DR. VonDankenstine]

What's up doc?

Thanks all...

From reading that I've done on my own, it's difficult to choose between methods, and techniques... Most sources give you a ton of options, like hydro or soil, what size containers, what method of hydro, what lights, what nutes, etc etc etc...

I like the grow journal idea because it shows just one growers one way of growing.

I'll try to put my methods out there as clear as possible, and by the end I'll have a seed to harvest thourough journal, with tips on all of the different things that might come up. After it's all said and done I plan on compiling everything into a shorter cleaner version (ie this post)

Burn one for me, cause I'm fucking ripped

As they say-------"grow with watcha know!!!"

 

[MrHowardMarks]

LOL...the government isn't running big business....just the opposite... big business is running government. It's been that way for at least 50 years.

Essentially the government is a buisness itself, there's a president, vice president, and a board of directors whom represent each region of the company... It's set up that way.

So, corporate ties do tend to sway the interests of this company. Therefore, the interests that are good for the people, and sometimes the planet aren't the biggest concern.

You can sway it either way, but big buisness doesn't run the country, they just have enough money to buy whatever they want. What I don't understand is when the tables are flipped, and the government is essentially buying company stock with taxpayer dollars, who gets the return? I know I'm not getting anything back, and I sure as hell hope it goes to fund something that is necessary instead of some bigass government building.

--- But, lets not turn this into a political thread. I believe we could do much better without any government, or laws, or taxes... I want true freedom.

 

[Thundercat]

Anarchism!

 

[MrHowardMarks]

Anarchy got such a bad name, it's like utopia if you think of it, no taxes, no one telling you what you can or can't do... Dialect materialism is where it's at, trading furs for grain, salt for sugar... I wish I lived a few hundred years ago.



-I'm picking up the rest of my perlite after work, so far the damage is 8 bales of Sphagnum moss (28 cubic feet), 6 bags of perlite (24 cubic feet) and a 40 pound bag of garden lime.
Costs-

Moss = 10.50 per bale (84 dollars)
Perlite = 17.50 per bale (105 dollars)
Lime = 5 bucks per 40 pounds

Total damage = 190 dollars


The price of worm turds (1-0-0) went up to 20 bucks for 30 pounds, so I'm not using any worm poop. Instead I'll supply a little more nitrogen via nutrients.

 

[Thundercat]

I completely agree about anarchy, people hear the term and just like many other things such as our favorite plant, propaganda has them thinking its somthing evil.

Materials get so expensive, I've been getting stuff for both my grows over the last couple weeks. My weed, and my mushroom grows, and I've prolly spent over 300 just on supplies, I already had the seeds, and my light.( I did get some cfls and fixtures and made a nice little veg light once I need my HPS to flower) But the rest was just standard supplies.

 

[MrHowardMarks]

I'm guessing I have well over a thousand invested in non-reusable supplies so far, ie dirt, nutes, mylar, paint... Not to mention all of the containers, I already had the 4 thousand dollar lights, so that was a big save... It costs a lot to run a garden inside, that's why it costs so much to buy stuff that was grown indoors... I just remembered a post I wanted to make...

 

[MrHowardMarks]

Right now is a great time to go and buy timers... Christmas time.

Think of all the people setting up their christmas displays and using automated timers for them, I was at Lowes and saw some new timers made for the outdoors that had multiple on off setting within the same time period, pretty complicated, and they were made for harsh outdoor winter weather... Good time to get some timers.


-On a side, the Lowes by me carries Premier Sphagnum moss, Home Depot doesn't, it's a shitload cheaper than Pro Mix, which is also made by Premier. Anyway, they were running really low on stock near the end of summer, into fall. I went up there yesterday and they were fully stocked, probably 100 bales of the shit. I wonder if anyone is actually tilling peat moss into their garden beds this time of year? The ground is frozen...

I assume it's for all the people like me who need lots of the shit for growing inside, either way, they have plenty, more than they do any other time of the year, and seedling stages for actual farm horticulture doesn't start for a couple months...

 

[bdrsouthsidesunnyshit]

dude i am so so glad i read this today! i was planning on starting my plants on 12/12 today and have to go buy a timer! glad i read this!!!

 

[MrHowardMarks]

No doubt, I was at lowes yesterday and saw a shitload of timers... Figured it was a good time to get some sweet timers on sale, the 15 dollar outdoor timers I saw were on sale for 8 bucks.

 

[SlikWiLL13]

I'm guessing I have well over a thousand invested in non-reusable supplies so far, ie dirt, nutes, mylar, paint... Not to mention all of the containers, I already had the 4 thousand dollar lights, so that was a big save... It costs a lot to run a garden inside, that's why it costs so much to buy stuff that was grown indoors...

have you ever figured a "cost-per-gram" for your non-reusables? i havent on my current rig, but when i was running something larger it was $2.63/gram nutes, medium, power, ect...

 

[MrHowardMarks]

Actually I have been keeping as many receipts as possible... Probably lost a bunch of them considering they were cash purchases and I can't claim any of it on my taxes.

I could figure it out probably by the end of harvest, that would be nice to know... Thanks man, wouldn't have ever though of how much a gram actually costs to grow in my garden, hopefully it ends up being cheaper than 2 bucks, that would be pretty high gap from what I would sell it for.

 

[SlikWiLL13]

when i figured 2 and some change, it was my first(and only so far) big attempt. i had a lazy, inattentive partner who fucked more up than did good. i would show up after being out of town for a week to find that the pumps have been clogged for what could only be days. so many things went wrong with that grow. i figured 3-5 lbs harvest and ended up with barely 1 1/2. i got my equipment investment back and an education and thats it. i would think a buck a gram would be a good benchmark.

 

[rhollin1]

That would mean that roughly 15% of your "revenue" is expenses on the ounce (oz at $400 per) and almost 30% on the lb. (lb at $4.2k per)

 

[Nacho420]

Hey MrHowardMarks,
Since it looks like you know your shit pretty well so I thought I would hit you up with a question. I'm starting a grow down in my basement (actually my second with my first being in my closet) and separating the room into 2 sections; one for flowering, one for vegetative. I bought a 18 pot ebb & grow system with a 55 gallon reservoir and plan on putting the 18 pots on a 6.5' X 3' table under a 1,000 watt MH bulb (I actually got the grow system at a garage sale and it came with the Metal Halide). It also came with a track and motor to move the light over the plants. I will also have a 3' by 3' area for the clones and mothers roughly with the mothers in 5 gallon buckets and the clones in a 2' X 4' ebb and flow tray. I also have a 600 watt HPS light from my first grow.

My first question is whether I should put the 1000w MH in the flowering room, 600w HPS over the clones and mothers, and some growlux over rooting clones or if I should put both the 1000w and the 600w in the flowering room hooked up to the motor and just use growlux for the mothers and the clones?

My second question is whether 1000w MH, 600w HPS, & some growlux will be a big enough bump in the electrical bill to arouse suspicion?

Thanks,

Oh, and my picture is of the Jack the Ripper strain that turned out not half bad considering it was my first time... lol

 

[SlikWiLL13]

That would mean that roughly 15% of your "revenue" is expenses on the ounce (oz at $400 per) and almost 30% on the lb. (lb at $4.2k per)

i couldnt charge $400 and sleep at night first of all, thats crazy. $325 tops. second, ask anyone running a business if getting almost 1000% return on your money is acceptable. i think its damn acceptable.


MrMarks-- im glad i could actually give you an idea. although i know i could have done much better, it was still nice to know how little my cost was compared to market value.

 

[MrHowardMarks]

Hey MrHowardMarks,
I bought a 18 pot ebb & grow system with a 55 gallon reservoir and plan on putting the 18 pots on a 6.5' X 3' table under a 1,000 watt MH bulb. It also came with a track and motor to move the light over the plants. I will also have a 3' by 3' area for the clones and mothers roughly with the mothers in 5 gallon buckets and the clones in a 2' X 4' ebb and flow tray. I also have a 600 watt HPS light from my first grow.

My first question is whether I should put the 1000w MH in the flowering room, 600w HPS over the clones and mothers, and some growlux over rooting clones or if I should put both the 1000w and the 600w in the flowering room hooked up to the motor and just use growlux for the mothers and the clones?

My second question is whether 1000w MH, 600w HPS, & some growlux will be a big enough bump in the electrical bill to arouse suspicion?

First of all, no worries about your electric bill, that's hardly any power being used...

The Metal Halide should be used for veg, over the mother plants, and some fluorescents for clones.

The HPS should be used for flowering... The spectrum of a MH is blueish for veg, HPS is red for bloom.

The 18 pots will work perfectly in what you're describing, two 3 x 3 squares with 9 pots each... What I'm doing on a smaller scale.

The light mover is great, to set it up, find the center point to hang the track, and you'll want the light to move 3 feet back and forth over each 3 x 3 area, stopping over the direct center of each 3 x 3.


The clones don't need that much water, so an ebb flow table might be overkill, clone domes cost like 5 bucks at a garden store, and you could use jiffy pucks, rapid rooters, or rockwool in them.

Having a 1000W MH for veg, you'll be able to fully veg out your plants and put them directly into the flowering room, but using the bubble buckets will prevent this, so you might want to think about either getting more of those buckets for faster turnaround, or use a different method, and add another 600W HPS to the bloom room...

But most of all, I recommend doing a little reading on how to grow well, and the basics, it's always good to get a little refresher on the basic horticulture info that's around. Since you had confusion on MH or HPS for flowering, I assume you haven't done extensive research. Hope this helped a bit.

 

[max420thc]

im going to ask you about something ive been thinking about..if i were to clone in a DWC cloner..after the roots were established...i know i could veg them right there on the spot..and they would take off fast..all id really have to do is add nutes to the water..and watch em shoot up ...now..after veging them in the cloner for a few weeks..could you take them..put them direct into dirt..and directly into flower? or does the root system need time to become accustomed to the dirt before you put it into flower?

 

[MrHowardMarks]

Dammit, I just typed out a reply and it didn't work.

Yes, what you're talking about will work fine, you can veg them in there for a while, and put them into soil when you're ready... But they might fight for light if you leave them too long.

You can pretty much always put a hydro plant into soil, but not vice versa.

I don't like hydro cloners because it's a pain to plant the clones, with root plugs there is a base that will keep the clone upright, with the hydro cloners you get great roots, but there's no support when planting and it can be a bitch keeping them upright. After a few days the roots support them, but planting can still be a pain.



I adopted some yellowing rootbound hydro mothers, repotted them into soil and they bounced back great in a few weeks. So, hydro can be put into soil, these were over a year old when I got them.

 

[max420thc]

i was thinking of space issues..and handling issues and of course speed....ive had a few plants starting out that wanted to fall over..this is how i solve that till it has roots to stand under itself...the little neoprene circle's that go into cloners..i put them at the base of the plant..and that stand em right up..then take em off after they have some feet under em..and some silica in them

 

[MrHowardMarks]

That should work... Another thing I didn't particularly like about the hydro cloners is there is a lot of crap to disinfect, all the neoprene plugs, and the plastic bin has a lot of hard to get to places, a good spraydown with 99% alcohol and HO does the job, but the neoprene plugs wear out from the cleaner, and they cost as much as root plugs... So I figured screw it, and just go with the plugs.