First try I started with 3 plants in a 2’x3’ closet and during the vegetative phase it became clear that only two would fit, so one was moved outdoors. This time it’s all about growing a single plant since I now have plenty of bud drying almost ready to be cured.
Same 2’ x 3’ space created inside an existing closet in our junk room, lined with 97% reflective Mylar. Exhaust is a homemade contraption of 6 inch foil duct connected to a fan I had, that works great. Air intake is through a gap at the bottom of the door, with a small fan on the floor to move air around. Ain’t pretty but it all works well.
KingLED 1500 watt equivalent (260 watt) + 4 100 watt equivalent full spectrum CFL’s which seemed perfect last time and produced abundant vegetation and a surprisingly thick stalk with no stretching, so I stick with this combo.
Tap water used has a PH of 6.5 out of the faucet. Our water in this area is from a glacial runoff lake and tests better than nearly all bottled water.
For soil, even though it’s a sin, Miracle Grow potting soil that tests as a PH of 6.5 just as the label says, since it gave me terrific results last time with this auto flowering strain. Also even though it’s frowned on, last time I used FoxFarm nutrients, but only really during the flowering phase and the increase in bud growth the day after feeding vs. the lesser growth with plain water convinced me it’s OK as long as I used just half to a third of the normal amount. Last time I did have some sign of a calcium deficiency right at the end, just before harvest.
Seed sprouted June 12th. The images below are from today on June 22nd, so ten days.
First thanks everyone. I’m a fan of the KISS (keep it simple stupid) principle. I had very little money to work with so, poor people have poor ways. Lots of experience with growing food and tending to fruit trees and berries growing up, so the basics seem the same.
I kept reading criticism of using things like Miracle Grow potting soil, but I had a couple of bags and it’s always on sale somewhere. I figured growing under lights, with the accelerated growth a little extra nutrients might just work out OK, even in that kind of soil.
I think where I need to change is in trimming during the vegetative phase to get more light in and get rid of more of the unproductive branches. I have no experience with that at all, so I’m hoping for some advice as this progresses.
I plan on training the branches to spread them out and give them plenty of room. I topped last time and it worked out great, so I’ll top this time. By mid-week this thing will be growing like a weed, pun intended, so will it be too early to think about starting to train the branches?
@bigdaddyflexn I’m a noob also. I’m not sure what you mean by 50%?
I’m in Anchorage, AK so humidity in my house is usually around 50%. I used a humidifier I had to increase that for the first few weeks to drive it up to about 65% and then I let it go back to 50% before flowering started. Seemed to work fine with the WWA strain. That’s the limit of my knowledge on that.
I also put the bottom of a clear plastic bottle over them when they sprouted to keep it high. Edited to add: with slits to let air flow through.
I’d imagine different strains have different needs.
Question about temperatures and what the right moves to take are.
We are having a bit of a heat wave and having days in the upper 70’s which means around 80+ inside. Air conditioning is not really a thing in older homes here, or any homes to speak of for that matter.
Are there things I should do differently when I can’t keep the temperature down? Is this a time I should consider CO2 somehow?
An interesting observation. I also put two WWA’s outside and the seeds sprouted the same day. 3 days ago the one inside was up to it’s 5th node starting so I topped it, but the two outside are at least four if not more days behind, even though it’s sunny and great outside and warm enough at night. So growing indoors is clearly more productive so far.
I have WWA outside in flower that started in a closet and it looks like the flowering will take as much as 2 or 3 weeks longer than those in the closet took. It was maybe ten or twelve days younger than the ones I have curing now, so all in all, probably added three weeks before harvest due to being outside.
I started off thinking simple. Then I got into reading forums and post. And looking into Amazon seeing all the stuff out there for growing weed. Honestly I got away from my kiss mindset. A bit carried away really. After this grow I’m gonna dumb it back down a bit.
Some of the more expensive stuff would be necessary if I needed to worry about the smell. I’d have to invest in a real tent and charcoal filters and what not. It’s legal here, I’m self employed and if anyone comes to my house and smells it, so what.
I need to get a photo up of this new plant. I started the training a few days ago and it’s growing like a weed. Pun intended. I wan’t to see if a single plant with room around it will produce more than stuffing two in there like last time.
I found it interesting that both the other plants produced almost exactly the same amount of bud.
OK finally got some pics together. Day 25 for the single plant inside. I’m getting ready to trim it quite a bit since flowering is likely about 12 to 14 days away and it needs to loose some stems. This one was topped and it looks like it may actually fill up the 2’x3’ closet by the time it’s done. I’ve started training the branches and you can’t see it but they are tied down.
These two outside are also at 25 days and sprouted the same day. Not topped. Even though we have plenty of sunshine now, the one under lights inside is clearly outgrowing them by leaps and bounds. Same soil, same everything. Sunrise today was 4:30 AM and sunset will be 11:30 PM. The pic is at around 8PM last night.
This is one I had to put outside on the last grow due to lack of room. It’s taking a few weeks longer outside even though it’s and Auto. Fan leaves turned yellow and they are trimmed off and it appears to be one week from harvest.
Very long days here, but we pay for it with very short days come winter. Record setting heat for quite a few days now. Thank god by the end of the week we are supposed to get back to normal temps. We’re acclimated to temps always being below 70 and anything over 55 is t-shirt weather. It gets over 80 never, but it’s been getting up near 90 and we are just not used to that.
Lots of fires and the smoke has been bad. I’ve been wondering what impact that has on plants. I’m in Anchorage, Alaska.
Harvested the plant on the deck last night. It was further along than I thought.
