My 1st Grow 2004

Hey peeps!

Frustrated at the price of decent buds fluctuating around the price of gold and silver I finally resolved to grow my own.

I learnt to grow over the net ... RIP overgrow ... in the spirit of giving back I submit my very 1st grow tadah!

First up here's a basic list of numbers / equipment / ferts etc


Stats:
L x W X H
1200 mm (4 feet) x 600 mm (2 feet) x 1700mm (5 foot 6 inches)
400w HPS Son t gro / HID conversion tube
120mm exhaust fan to homemade scrubber
fan
passive intake

medium: jiffy peat for clones
worm castings / pumice / for veg bloom 1/3 ea


I translanted 3 times during the cycle from jiffys to 1 l / 3 L (veg) / 9 l (flower) pots


Ferts: EJ grow; bloom; Catlyst; Superthrive; Nytrozyme; Aquablue; Biohoki; Alaska; Bounty; cloning wax

Here's a later shot of my WR it has a flower chamber and 3 sections of the right for clone bins / mothers / seedlings.

[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]These are 1st photos of my 1st grow approx 6 weeks after germination. They are only Nirvana IM seeds ... so it's a bit of a lucky dip. Flipped to 12/12 light cycle approx 2 weeks before this date and was very pleased to positively idnentify female calyx – see close up![/FONT]

[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]29 May[/FONT]


[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]big drink H20 only for plants today. last feed am 26 May. Rearranged so tall plants on outside and 2 shorter ones with Indica phenos in middle. added a more ties to taller plants as these leggy girls were spreading and taking up too much space. [/FONT]

[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]4 june 2004[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Pleased with spread of canopy but with later grows I am to discover the benefits of scrogging[/FONT]

eg Killascrog screen see attach ... it's da shit!!

18 June 2004

watered all plants yesterday ... according to my grow diary I made a mistake in mixing my fert mix ... I got my proportions all wrong ie added 10 ml of EJ bloom to 4l h20 ... should have been 8l h20 ... to correct the mistake I carefully emptied the pot water trays and rewatered with h20 and superthrive only mix ... hopefully this will correct the error.

22 June


alas ... discovered this arvo that the indie girls are in fact indie transsexuasls!! ie hermies ... my fuck up either light leaks or temp ... ot whatever ... anyway I am so paranoid about growing seedy head that I resolve to immediately cull the 'indies'
... with the benefit of hindsight and a bit more experience I realise I was a bit paranoid but it's best I reckon for newbies to err on the side of caution ... my mindset was a mean, conservative pappa saying "aint nobody going fuck my girls!!

25 June


and then there were were two ... heaps more space for these girls and I center them under the 400w HPS

26 June


These photos show my manicured buds from the 2 indies. Only got a couple of ounces but have never ever had this much personal smoke ever so I am very pleased. I am also very impressed with the taste despite the premature harvest. Very earthy taste with mean couchlock like stone. I must have been getting ripped off over the years paying top dollar for bush weed cos this is honestly the best smoke I have had for sometime. In subsequent grows, It only gets better!

2 July


Watering girls every 2 days / 4l h20 with ej bloom /catalyst /superthrive; bud growth still good ... leaves are turning yellow ... fed clones ej grow 5m/4l they are growing next door in a 40 cm X 40 cm chamber under CFLs ... couple looking wilty need a fan!


[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Feeling I need to get these under in the big chamber under a HID so will probably harvest in 2 more weeks. [/FONT]

4 July - Independance day!


nothing to do but admire ... all leaves are yellow, buds still seem to be growing but noticing more brown hairs, they are smelling really beautiful - not the stankness of skunk but a fruity plum grapey smell - cut a sample bud from lower canopy ... just couldn't resist it! The best buds are 15 – 20 cm long and as fat as a coke can. As a newbie I am very fucken pleased with myself!!

more july 4 pix ... tried to attach more but there are limits to file size ... will tray and come back to this post

12 July


I think I gave the plants the chop around 9 or 10 July after a 48 hour dark period.... lol I can't be too sure as my usual efficient record keeping was neglected around this time ... wonder why?

Anyway clones are ready to grow I'm keen to get em under a HID as they look a bit scrawny under CFLs.

15 July

First pic shows my clones which are a bit scrawny and neglected under the CFLs and poor ventilation ... note the yellowing leaves on one of the girls I was able to correct this by giving it a N heavy fert for a couple of weeks.

This grow worked out even better as I was to use a SCROG method with 6 plants ... I am now harvesting btw 300 - 350 GMS each harvest ... it's a bit slower with dirt granted, but it's a lot more forgiving IMHO and much easier. All you have to worry about really is maintaining a simple and regular feed schedule and ensuring you contain light leaks and let the plants do the business ...

Here's my 'weigh in'. Dunno now whether it's totally accurate because as an inexperienced newbie I got a bit paranoid about drying the buds out too much ... but all up including the 'indies' which I harvested early I reckon I would've eclisped the 200 gms mark which I was fucken over the moon about – I never had so much bud in my life!!


My mates are also very impressed with my persie ... even though I have kept my little grow room secret between myself and my lady ... I really wanna be a blowarse and show my mates but that could compromise the whole operation ... I much rather blow em way and be generous with my buds. It's a really good feeling knowing that me and my good friends and family are no longer beholden to paying exhorbitant prices for weed!


All in all it's been a great experience – the marujuana plant is simply amazing – cultivating it and watching it grow gives one so much satisfaction in more ways than one ... so whaddaya waiting ... get growing!!

Peace out

TC

Hi Toca Cola Welcome to rollitup and thanks for sharing your first grow. I loved your last statement (All in all it's been a great experience – the marujuana plant is simply amazing – cultivating it and watching it grow gives one so much satisfaction in more ways than one ... so whaddaya waiting ... get growing!! ) I just started my first grow a few weeks ago and I enjoy reading other peoples grow journals. Its good for this site to have a newcomer who already has experience and knows what they are doing. I will be starting my journal in a few more weeks
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Hi Doobie - thanks for your comments.

Hope your grow is going well - I'm sure you will enjoy ... will keep a look our for your journal - grow hard brah!

TC

welcome toca, ty for sharing your 1st grow, i am on my 2nd indoor grow i have grown outdoors the last 3 seasons, unfortunately i never got to go to o.g. before it was shut down, but i did learn a helluva lot from former og members on icmag from what i hear it was a great informative place to be. welcome to rollitup and i look forward to future posts on your grows.

Awesome stuff, thanks for sharing. What cfl's were you using for your clones?

Hey there Spliffie.

Thanks for your feedback.

My first lot of CFLs were:
OSRAM DULUX EL LONGLIFE,
20W/21-840
220 - 240V - 156mA
50-60 Hz - Germany

(These are the specs on the light)

They work really great ... had 'em for 2 yrs + and still going strong, however the downside is that they were real expensive ... about $70 each.

As i might have mentioned I have as many 3 cloning sections running at anyone time ... it's a numbers game for me, I ususally select the best clones for flowering and trash the rest ... but have since been buying generic chinese-made CFLs from a hardware store. These only cost $3 each and they work absolutely fine ... I brought 10 of the fuckers and only issues are thay I have a tendecy to break cos I can be a bit clumsy!

Here's the details:

RESULTS
EUT-20W 130 mA
220-240V 50/60Hz

The guiding principle for me - following advice from OG - is to get CFLS that are 'cool white' rather than 'warm white' ... this is obviously to mitigate heat issues.

... i have 2 bulbs each covering a 30 cm x 30 cm area and it seems to be effective ... probably could do with more but WTF it works for me ... have a simple PC fan exhhausting once I extract from humidity dome.

My long term plan was to have a mothers chambers a la bonsai style using CFLS ... here's a great tute on the subject which I plan to copy but instead of using shop flouros, I going to try my CFLS because of space limitations, but i reckon I should be able to maintain 3 - 4 mummies.

Bonsai Mothers....and Dads, Marijuana Growing



Tt present I dont have any mothers cos I had to close my grow down for a number of months because of travel!!

However Im back into it again and keen to maintain 2 - 3 bonsai mums using CFLS