First Grow Journey

[drumin]

OK, this is my first grow effort so I thought I'd keep a journal to share with everyone. Feel free to give advice and or encouragement! I hope you enjoy my first grow journey. :D

I germed a few seeds I had lying around and 2 of them sprouted (I may have given up on the others too soon :( live and learn). These were started around the beginning of April. I'm going to refer to them as APR1.

Once they started to grow I started reading more about growing and tried germinating 11 seeds that I picked out of some average commercial smoke I got. On June 1st I started the germ and now armed with better info I got 8 of those 11 to sprout. These I'll refer to as JUN1

I germed them all using the wet paper towel method and then planted them in "Sta-Green Moisture Max" potting soil. After 3 weeks I started giving them Peter's 20-20-20 nutes once a week.

At night they sit under 4-48" GE EcoLux fluoros (on a timer which shuts off from 12-6am and I carry them out to bask in the sun every morning. They get sun from approx 8am to 8pm.

On week 4, APR1 got transplanted into 5 gal containers and JUN1 got transplanted into the ground.

So here we are all caught up and here are todays pics:

[gorilla]

Wow, very nice outdoor setup you got there drumin. I'm jealous, and I can't wait to see them turn into monsters.

Good luck buddy!

[billo]

cool man
u gots some nice littlies there
cant wait to see how this 1 comes about
im stickin close:)
stay safe
b

[Stayin'Sane]

Hi Drumin, your plants look really good. I am a first time grower too, all of mine are outside in pots. It's going to be interesting to watch the journal of another first time grower, good luck!

[drumin]

One Tuesday we had a pretty heavy storm that washed away a lot of the soil in my garden knocking over all my babies and exposing the roots. :( I braved the rain and lightning with my shovel in hand and diverted the runoff flow around the garden. I had to basically replant all of them and it's been cloudy and drizzeling ever since... cross yer fingers. :help2:

[Stayin'Sane]

Hi Drumin, I hope your babies have survived. Have you ever thought about putting decrative bark or gravel around your plants to maintain the soil during heavy rains. I have bark around the tops of my pots to help retain the moisture...simply because its what I do with my flowers so most of what I have done so far is just treating them like any other plant. That's why they were on miracle gro until a week ago. What do the experienced growers think of bark or gravel to maintain the soil during heavy rains?

[igohydro]

Lookin good,id use string and some bricks to hold em in place when its windy.
Gravell is a good idea,anything which will retain moisture.:watch:

[drumin]

I heard that rocks (gravel) heat up and drys the ground sucking away moisture. Mulch or bark would be better than rock... I made a bank to divert the runoff so hopefully that problem is solved. :gthumb:

[drumin]

Well, looks like the babies in the yard survived the storm, flooding and hail with only minor injuries and they are still a-growin!
Since I planted them so late I'm curious to see how big they get and how they produce. Time will tell...

My two in buckets are growing nicely and I think I'll put them in to flower and see what happens.

Note to self, don't use the home remedy spray to kill bugs use the Safer Soap instead.

I used a bug killing tonic mixture of Tobacco Tea, listerine, lemon dish soap and water. It burnt the edges and any weak spots on the leaves. Live 'n' learn...

[gorilla]

this is going to be a great learning experience for you, drumin.

Those plants in the dirt may not thrive like the ones in the pot, but as you can tell by now weed lives through pretty much everything.

Next year your garden will rock i'm sure

[drumin]

You're right on G, this is a great learning experience.

Last night I made some willow water and tonight I'm gonna snip a 2 low hanging branches off both of my potted and see if I can grow roots in just water...

After the cutting I'm gonna flower both plants. I think one is a male but without a magnifying glass I can't be sure. It doesn't really matter anyway since this is all an experiment so that I waste my money learning on good (expensive) seeds. :gthumb:

[gorilla]

After the cutting I'm gonna flower both plants.

Under the fluoros, drumin?

[drumin]

G, not under fluoros. I'll still carry them out into the sun for their 12 hours of light. I made a dark room out of the space under the stairs where they'll get complete darkness and a small fan to blow on them. It's dry, warm and has a vent so it should work well for the 12 hours darkness.

[drumin]

So, the 2 in pots seem to be doing well in their first week of flowering. Yesterday I gave them their 2nd dose of Peter's 10-50-10, all good so far.

The babies in the garden see to be doing pretty good considering all the shitty weather we've had since I stuck them in the ground. Last Friday we had another heavy down-pour accompanied by a little hail which (for the 2nd time this month) ravaged some of the leaves. All in all they seem healthy. It's hard to see in the pics but the lower leaves on all them are pretty mangled. New growth looks good though.

My boy was feeling neglected so I snapped a shot of his mug... he's 8months old :D

[bigsmoker420]

damn drummin those are all lookin real good i like the dog to :cool:

[gorilla]

Looks like you're on the righ track drumin. should be real nice come fall.

I think I've read that plants are sensitive to light times. IE, that's why people use timers and not on/off switches. Um.. I also believe people overthink this whole gig and you'll be fine. Just passing the word, so you know.

[drumin]

Weekly update!

The 2 in pots are doing well on their 2nd week of flowering. The bitches are getting TALL :eek: and they look like they are both going to be good producers. :peaceman:

The garden plants are doing nicely too even though we've been having so much rain... :(

You can't really see it well but the big one in the lower right hand corner is the one I broke the neck on. Today it's standing straight back up! I was hoping it would take a few more days to give some of the lower growth some extra energy. It was just an experiment anyway and now I understand how it works. I can't wait to see how these in the garden turn out come fall.
:grow:

[high2dsky]

im really diggin the garden u got there. ill be keepin my eyes on that patch to see how she turns out. good luck with the grow mann. peace-:cool:

[dredank]

good lookin plants d that one in pic 2 looks like its gonna be a beast:D

keep us updated

[drumin]

Thanks guys, the dominant genes really show between the 2 potted. I don't know what either of them are beyond the obvious Indica for pic 1 and Sativa/indica in pic 2. The garden plants are from decent smoke but nothing special and they look indica/sativa. :bandit:

.

[gorilla]

Plants look killer bro. :eek:

You sure this is your first time? :p

[drumin]

Heh, I chalk up any success I'm having to all you folks. Thanks for being so cool about my pestering. :hug: :rockon:

[drumin]

Update:

The 2 in the pots are into their 3rd week of flowering and I've run into some trouble with my Indica... hopefully a good flushing and laying back on the nutes for this one will fix my problem before it ruins the yield (or worse). The Sativa/Indica seems to be doing great!
http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=5219&stc=1&d=1154278429
http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=5220&stc=1&d=1154278429
http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=5221&stc=1&d=1154278429

The garden plants are doing well, the fan leaves on some of them are HUGE! :wow: I've got 3 of 8 confirmed male :damn: http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=5227&stc=1&d=1154278429
http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=5227&stc=1&d=1154278429

and one is either male or hermie. The other four are either fems or just can't tell yet... doesn't really matter since all of them are going to make either hash or baked yummies! :eat:
http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=5224&stc=1&d=1154278429
http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=5225&stc=1&d=1154278429

Thanks for stopping in! :buttshake

[gorilla]

Why is it the potted plants seem to be growing so much more quickly than the ones in the ground? Just the type of dirt?

Buds look right-on for 3 weeks of flowering.. you're doing a fine job. :cool: Got that same.. hairy baby bud look going on as mine do. They're only starting to fill in now, and no worries, they'll get much larger. GJ bro.

[gorilla]

Did you, or are you going to, kill the males?

[drumin]

Why is it the potted plants seem to be growing so much more quickly than the ones in the ground? Just the type of dirt?
The potted are much older. I planted those in the garden long after the two in pots.

No I didn't remove the males and I'm not going to. I'm gonna let all eight go to harvest and use all of them for hash. I might give some seedy buds to some of my freeloading friends. :rofl2: You know, those guys who never have any weed but when they come over they go "hey man, got any bud? Let's get stoned". I'll be like, "sure dude, here take a nugget home with ya too". :roll:

[gorilla]

So you're only in it for the hash, huh? :eek:

How you going to make your hash bro?

[drumin]

I haven't decided yet on the method. I'll prolly do something fairly newbie proof but ya never know what kind of wild hair I might get up my ass... :jam: Why you got a suggestion?

[drumin]

Another Sunday and another update!

The 2 potted are coming along nicely. The Indica looks like it's going to take quite a bit more time to finish flowering than the Indica/Sativa... Especially if I let it go long to get a nice heavy couch-lock.
Indica/Sativa http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=5305&stc=1&d=1154878710http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=5313&stc=1&d=1154878953
http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=5308&stc=1&d=1154879117

Indica http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=5306&stc=1&d=1154879215http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=5307&stc=1&d=1154879215
http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=5309&stc=1&d=1154879349


It's hard to really see all the plants in the garden but there really is 8 there. :sun:
3 of the boys are already releasing pollen and the fems are a long way from flowering so maybe the boys will shoot their load prematurely!! :courtjester: :peaceman:

http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=5310&stc=1&d=1154879349http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=5311&stc=1&d=1154879349http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=5312&stc=1&d=1154879349

[gorilla]

Is that purple I see, drumin? Oooh.. Nice. :D

[high2dsky]

im really digging the garden u got there. there purple pink hairs should make for sum lovely buds. gl with the grow. niice pics.:watch: :share: :watch:

[igohydro]

Love the pics Drumin,coming along nicely hope alls well!

[Stayin'Sane]

looks super drumin...and I too want to know...is that a purple strain I see? Your plants look so much more advanced than mine...I hope next year mine look as good as yours!!! very very well done!!!!

[drumin]

Hey thanks for the kind words guys. Update coming tomorrow!

I think I look forward to updating my journal just because it means I'm one week closer to harvest!! :roll: :cheeky:

[drumin]

Update time... :shuby:

Heading into their 6th week of flowering things are going along nicely. Nothing new to report, just more growing. I guess that's a good thing ;)

Indica/Sativa
http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=5405&stc=1&d=1155489166http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=5406&stc=1&d=1155489166

Sativa
http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=5408&stc=1&d=1155489166http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=5409&stc=1&d=1155489166http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=5410&stc=1&d=1155489166

And the 8 in the garden are looking nice. The males on the right are over 6' tall. You can see the knot on the fems where I broke their necks. I can't wait to make cookies and brownies and banana bread OH MY! :eek:
http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=5414&stc=1&d=1155489773http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=5413&stc=1&d=1155489773http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=5412&stc=1&d=1155489773http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=5411&stc=1&d=1155489773

Thanks for stoppin by... :gthumb:

[drumin]

Hey ya'll, time for an update.

So going into week 7 of flowering for my two potted. I've got a couple questions but I'll post them in the nursery... so go look there when you're done here and not before! :p

http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=5477&stc=1&d=1156120033 http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=5478&stc=1&d=1156120033
Here's a shot of the boners on the Sativa/indica

http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=5476&stc=1&d=1156120033

The boys in the garden look finished so I'm gonna pull them. The bees sure do love that pollen!

http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=5473&stc=1&d=1156120033 http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=5474&stc=1&d=1156120033 http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=5475&stc=1&d=1156120033

OK, now you're dismissed to go to the nursery. :gthumb:

[gorilla]

Very good drumin!

I know you dont know anything about the strains you're growing. You're using synthetic nutes. Any idea when you're going to start flush?

You're a week ahead of me, Start of week 6 for me now. Around 8 weeks I figure i'll be looking at trichomes, But my plants sure don't seem ready for a flush.

Funny, I can't wait to harvest 'em but it sure beats me up to have to watch 'em start to die. Going to be interesting for you, none-the-less.

Here's to a great first harvest! :cheers: May you become high as a kite! :sodrunk:

[drumin]

Yo G, I got my microscope finally and looked at my Sativa/Indica and decided she was ready for harvest... NOW. So, I'm not going to flush her because I'm going to do a water cure.

Here she is today and tomorrow morning she gets harvested. She's so top heavy from that cola that she has started to bend from the weight. I'm gonna try and reveg her. :watch:

http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=5576&stc=1&d=1156725051http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=5577&stc=1&d=1156725051

http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=5578&stc=1&d=1156725051 http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=5580&stc=1&d=1156725051

http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=5581&stc=1&d=1156725051

Here's the Indica, she has at least 1 more week but who knows... I'll be watching those trichomes.

http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=5579&stc=1&d=1156725051 http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=5582&stc=1&d=1156725051

[drumin]

Well, my first grow is reaching the end. Currently I'm water curing both of my potted and you can follow along with my water cure here http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1593

A quick recap; 2 different seeds germed and grew up to be nice little plants. I had some nutes issues and a bad spidermite infestation. All in all a good learning experience. I smoked a couple of popcorn buds off the Sativa/Indica after using a quick dry and the high was nice and heady. The Indica should be a nice couch lock but I'm gonna wait until it's done curing since the other tasted yucky with the quick dry. :p :ciao:

[gorilla]

Feels good doesnt it, drumin? Yet.. it leaves a yearning for more. Because.. after the first time, you're sure you can do a better job. :D

One thing i've learned from finishing my second grow, and doing a hell of a better job, is that genetics play an important role in the finished product. Regardless of how well i grew my buds and how much nicer they look this time; I am doubting a noticably increased potency. Same Genetics.

They say the 3rd times the charm.. :rolleyes: