Sigh, is it really this hard?

I really feel extremely frustrated. Like most of you I don't want to buy my herb from some shady stranger who may have laced his stuff with who knows what....

On the other hand the last 4 months has been so much stress on my mind, constantly thinking about my crop and constantly battling temperatures, PH, nutrient issues and this is what I end up with....(see pictures below).

I look at peoples harvests and am I just an idiot? Is it really that damn hard? I can't do hydro because I just CANNOT get my temps down past 88 therefore the reservoir would be too warm and produce algae. The reason I'm having temperature problems is because I can't exhaust my grow tent outside, it gets exhausted in the room its in...totally stupid but I just have no choice...I can't seem to keep a soil pH balanced enough to keep the plants thriving...Also I have just total shit seed genetics cause there is no way in hell im ording seeds from the internet.

What alternative ways could I grow, I feel like I've tried everything and nothing works

Looks like you have a hermie. Thats your biggest problem. All those seeds are a bad sign

That is alot of seeds.

jjf1978 first you can take a few deep breaths and relax... you are not the only one that has gone threw probs as a newbe.. i would try to make it as basic as possible.. what size light you got in your tent??? keep playing with those bag seeds for a bit and then at some point you got to get yourself a safe addy and get yourself some dank genetics... at some point you have to step up to finding the dankest bud you can grow or whats the point...

If you can't control your environment well enough to get your room temps below 88, there's no way you can do hydro.
If you want simple, low maintenance growing ...just grow in soil. Those plants must have seen some sh*t ... They're barely female.

jjf1978 said:

What alternative ways could I grow, I feel like I've tried everything and nothing works

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for the temperature thing you'll need an air conditioner (portable ones are best) or grow in a basement in winter.
I owe my success to the following: I grow in Pro Mix with soluble fertilizes I bought at Wal Mart, never had a PH problem. I buy good seeds from good breeders. I use rainwater only for watering.
It takes a while to get the feel for growing if your not an experienced gardener to start with.
I wouldn't say nothing worked for you you've got a fair bit of homegrown there. Some people don't make it past the seedling stage before giving up.

Yes there are a lot of seeds on that plant hehe. They are also 100% female, no male flowers on them, but I had a hermie in with them and left it in there because the bud on the hermie was looking pretty decent...well I didnt know that it was going to turn out with all seed and no bud lol....There was pollen EVERYWHERE so much so that I had to take it out the smell was making me nautious.

frmrboi said:

for the temperature thing you'll need an air conditioner (portable ones are best) or grow in a basement in winter.
I owe my success to the following: I grow in Pro Mix with soluble fertilizes I bought at Wal Mart, never had a PH problem. I buy good seeds from good breeders. I use rainwater only for watering.
It takes a while to get the feel for growing if your not an experienced gardener to start with.
I wouldn't say nothing worked for you you've got a fair bit of homegrown there. Some people don't make it past the seedling stage before giving up.

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A wise man once told me "A quitter never wins and a winner never quits".

But anyway, as t@intshredder pointed out there is no way I'll ever be able to grow hydro but I'd be happy with a solid few ounces of sensimillia from soil grow.

I will keep playing with the bag seed as you suggested ~wonka~ until I get a decent harvest and then I'll secure some good seeds, was thinking of possibly some lowlife ak47 from attitude.

I also need a good soil mix, you said Pro Mix is good? Do you use it straight out of the bag or have to mix it with peat moss / vermiculite?

~wonka~ said:

jjf1978 first you can take a few deep breaths and relax... you are not the only one that has gone threw probs as a newbe.. i would try to make it as basic as possible.. what size light you got in your tent??? keep playing with those bag seeds for a bit and then at some point you got to get yourself a safe addy and get yourself some dank genetics... at some point you have to step up to finding the dankest bud you can grow or whats the point...

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I have a 150W HPS. I only want to grow 2-3 plants for a few ounces - I dont smoke that much just a few tokes here and there after work

Do you think I should chop those? they are flowering for almost 8 weeks - I believe they are sativa dominant if not 100% Sativas so isn't it like 12 weeks for Sativas? Do they look ready? There are a few white pistils popping up but for the most part they look like they are finished with their life cycle since their seeds are matured...but who knows could they possible grow new buds now? There is no more chance of them being pollinated so if I wait it out would I get a little more bulk?

jjf1978 said:

Do you use it straight out of the bag

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pretty much, I like to add extra perlite (you can never have too much) I recycle it from old soil by dumping it in a tub of water and skiming it off (it floats !)
I urge you to buy some seeds, there decent seed out there for $30-40 a ten pack. Bagseed is prone to hermieing on you.

my soil mix is
4 - PARTS - Roots Organics / 1.5 cft / 10gal

1 - PARTS - Casting - Wiggle Worm Earthworm Castings

1 - PARTS - Perlite - Big and Chunky

I Also use the roots organics Bloom and Grow line~you could use the fox farm line or botanicare which i have used with cal-mag and liquid karma...

Thank you both for your input on soil mix!!!

As for the seed, yeah damn bagseed sucks. I've seen people growing some dank buds on their first grow because they got the right seeds...just dont know where I'd send them. I could have them sent to my brother (he lives with my parents lol) and he could send em out to me...but if i paid with my CC they'd be able to trace it back to me anyway...what form of payment do you guys use?

I have ordered seed online at least 4 or 5 times now.I use my CC and have them sent to my house. Believe me, unless you already have someone watching you for something, you should be OK. If customs happens to open your seeds in a random check, they will keep them and send a form letter telling you that shit has been confiscated blah blah blah.... They do not imediately send out a swat team of seed Nazis to shoot you and your family. As far as the mind fucking problems that always come with growing your own, get used to them. They do not go away. As you learn more about growing, it just gets easier to cope with them. Hang in there.

Spend a couple of bucks on some decent seeds.
Find a site that allows you to buy 'pick n' mix' feminized seeds. Buy a few, and grow them out as mothers so you can eventually cut clones from them. Maybe also buy some ak-47s or lowryders that will finish up quick and that should tide you over while you wait for your moms to grow out.
Get yourself either some foxfarms or black gold potting soil. Add a little extra perlite for drainage. You can even use up whatever hydro nutes you have left over
Good luck!

if your exhausting the heat back into the room your never going to control the team with out an ac unit.

mygirls said:

if your exhausting the heat back into the room your never going to control the team with out an ac unit.

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In my opinion, before you do anything to your room, you need to take care of your environment.

You need to be exausting that air and replacing it with fresh air. This will not only drop your temps by atleast 5-10 degrees but will help your plants get new, fresh co2 to breathe. Also, It will keep your humidity constant. This would be my first step.

If you can spend a couple hundred bucks, this will save your crops and you will be delighted.

Do this.... Get a 300+ cfm inline fan, and put a carbon filter on that thing. Vent that hot, stale air out of your tent and just have a small inlet hole and you will be amazed at the performance. Good luck.

txhomegrown said:

They do not imediately send out a swat team of seed Nazis to shoot you and your family.

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rofl because this is exactly what I am picturing!!! That would be just my luck lol.

mygirls said:

if your exhausting the heat back into the room your never going to control the team with out an ac unit.

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Yes I found this out, frustrating

I wonder if I can cut a hole in the ceiling of my closet and vent into my attic? Attic is right above me but man I dont like cutting holes in my house haha. I'm a computer geek not a damn carpenter...dennis leary said it best

"They say marijuana leads to other drugs. No it doesn't, it leads to fucking carpentry. "

If you don't like cutting holes then why not just put a window air conditioner in for that room ? That will keep the temps down in the room and take care of that problem.

As many people that belong to this board there has only been one verified person that got into trouble ordering seeds and they were under suspicion for something else at the time. I don't think you need to worry too much about it. If you are that paranoid, how are you even growing the plants without losing sleep ?

la9 said:

If you don't like cutting holes then why not just put a window air conditioner in for that room ? That will keep the temps down in the room and take care of that problem.

As many people that belong to this board there has only been one verified person that got into trouble ordering seeds and they were under suspicion for something else at the time. I don't think you need to worry too much about it. If you are that paranoid, how are you even growing the plants without losing sleep ?

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I am growing with peace of mind because:

1) No one knows about it.
2) I live in a small boring retirement community where the most action is a loose dog - so there arent any helicopters flying over with FLIRs or whatever infrared imaging gear they use.

I feel pretty secure and that is exactly why I dont want *any* suspicion being raised.