first time grow. any advice would be awesome!

okay, so i've been wanting to try this for a very, very long time now. so any advice any of you guys with experience would be more than appreciated.

the situation---

i ordered some low ryder 2's from drchronic.com a long time ago. its gotta be going on about 4 years now. and i honestly havent been able to stay in one place long enough to a.) have enough time for a grow, and b.) remeber i actually had these babies. so i am now attempting the inevitable. but i have problems. to start out with, i tryed germinateing these seeds for almost a week and got nothing. im not sure what is going on but there waas no cracking, no root shoots, nada. so i decided to be spunky and went out and got some fox farm ocean forest just in case. the next day 2 out of the five cracked and one had a very small shoot. so i planted all five of them directly into the soil about a cm give or take a mil or 2 down. i have them now in a makeshift pc grow box. the grow box setup has 3 2700 cfls directly above the planter, with a 300watt 2700 cfl on standby for when its time to beef it up.

questions--

should i be using nutes at this stage? and when you start out seeds that have not seen the light of day yet, how should you water? until thw water runs out of the drainage holes? should it be just barely moist?

also, its puzzling how all of these pc grows im seeing are able to run pc fans without the comp power supply. due to the fact that house current is 120v and the fans run off of 12v. how DO YOU DO THIS!?!? im getting scars from the head scratching i swear!

and another thing. does anyone think these seeds are dead? i mean at least two of them cracked, and one has a shoot. is it even worth trying here? or should i try to order more? and what is the bombest auto-flower strain out there? there are so many now compared to 4 years ago its astonishing. does anyone have an experience with these types of strains?

and as water goes, im boiling my tap, letting it cool, and adjusting ph to about 6.0. is this a good practice? i dunno just seems like common sense to boil out any en purities.

not a bad start....as for the seeds..as long as they sprout they are good...if they get a taproot...hell..plant away...but if you count in shelf life from the breeder and the distributor..you might have seeds that are 6-10 years old...so dont be surprised if some dont pop

and you shouldnt need to water them for at least a week or more when its a seedling...its just as bad to over water them as it is to under water them...when the pot they are in feels light...its time to water...cant judge it by how dry the top layers of soil is...go by weight...let it go almost dry before you water it...that will cause the roots to grow faster as they shoot out in search of water...and i use normal tap water..i dont boil it...i just let it sit out in a jug for a day or 2 to let the chlorine evaporate then ph it and its ready to use...and its not ready for nutes yet...fox farms loads their soils with nutes...you will be good for at least 3-4 weeks with the nutes that are in the soil...some strains ive grown i wait almost 5 weeks before they get their first feeding

and the way most people hook up cpu fans for intake and exhaust is by using cell phone chargers...or any type of ac adapter thats around 12 volts...just splice the wires...connect them...then tape them up with electrical tape

and for auto strains...ive grown diesel ryder,roadrunner and got a haze auto going right now...the first 2 was ok...stayed really small..but was pretty potent...the haze im growing now is going to knock both of those strains dicks in the dirt...2 1/2 weeks in...already forming trichs...smells great...and should give a good yield...only strain i dont like as it comes to autos is the short rider...all of mine didnt make it a week...most ive seen grow they dont stay short at all..ive seen 5 foot tall short riders...and most dont auto flower...i really dont trust any nirvana auto...they pulled almost all of them off the shelves

Nice start... hope those seeds work out for you. If you have them in cups with soil (or whatever really)... IMO it helps to cover the top with plastic wrap and a rubber band (spray to moisten top first)... Let them sit and wait... I would get different lights for the veg growth... 2700K is great for flowering, but for veg you want 6500K... if you got a walmart near you, try and find the 'lights of america' 60w (13 or 14 used) CFLs... blue box says 6500K on a side - only $.92 a piece... great for veg!!! No nutes til your babies have grown out for about four weeks... there is more than enough nutes in the Fox Farm for now... adding more will burn them before they can even grow. If your looking for new seeds, attitude is a great site (click on the seeds link - find attitude) They have an auto-flower section. Good luck!!!

wow i never thought about the cell phone charger. thats an excellent idea! thanks so much. cant wait to try it out. yeah i was looking at a few strains and i am very torn about which to choose. the smurfberry looks amazing. so does the double diesel. but i think im going to go with your suggestion and try a haze strain. research has now begun. thanks dj!

so i should use 6500k at first and then go to my 2700k. got it. also, light schedule's im confused about too. should i run 24/0 on 6500k until they flower with these strains? are you able to control when they start to flower with auto's? well i mean, of course auto-flower means just that, it automatically flowers, but will a light schedule have an impact?

I like keeping babies on 24/0... And since you are growing in a closed unit, you can run lights all the time. When it comes time to flower... you need a 12/12 schedule... and the dark 12 HAS TO STAY DARK... lol. Yes on switching the lights.

... the 12/12 light schedule makes the plant believe it is time to flower... like it naturally would, but you are doing it.

captbooyah said:

... the 12/12 light schedule makes the plant believe it is time to flower... like it naturally would, but you are doing it.

Click to expand...

autos dont need to go 12/12 thats the purpose of auto flowers...its best to keep them on a 20/4 light cycle...that gives them plenty of light and the much needed dark period...they will flower no matter what light cycle...so 24/0 would be overkill...also since most auto strains flower at 3-4 weeks...theres not really a veg period...so using all 6500ks would be pointless since they pretty much go right into flower...i would have mainly 2700k with 1-2 6500k from start to finish.....so no to using 6500ks only since they have little to no veg time...and theres no need to switch to 12/12 unless they dont flower on their own...id only switch to 12/12 if they have not flowered after 5 weeks

dj... read your thread, nice grow... I wasn't referring to the auto flowers- but to his current seeds (not sure if they are auto or not)
question for you... how long do most autos take from seed to harvest? Liking the idea of a quicker harvest myself...

captbooyah said:

dj... read your thread, nice grow... I wasn't referring to the auto flowers- but to his current seeds (not sure if they are auto or not)
question for you... how long do most autos take from seed to harvest? Liking the idea of a quicker harvest myself...

Click to expand...

thanks man...i think he said they was lowryders...so he is growing autos this time around...and some can take at a bare minimum 50 days...most are around 65-80 days seed to harvest...the quickest i had was my deisel ryder..it flowered at 12 days old and finished on day 52...just was a little to small for my liking...didnt even harvest an oz off of her....but was hella potent