Okay here is my first journal on my grow. This should be fun.
Get R done!
Cant wait to follow along! Good luck!
welcome to forums and good luck with your grow @Oldsoldier1976
Thanks. I am sure I will probably make all the mistakes. So far I have.
Yep, that is normal, we all have and do!
Oldsoldier Where are you at in your grow? Will you be posting any photos?
BAM
Welcome to the forum! Best of luck with your grow, and don’t be afraid to ask if you need help.
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So here is what I have done so far and what I have done about it. It all started with a couple of seeds I got from some random bags of pot. Even at that point in time I had no idea that it is rare to get seeds out of pot. I put them in my Aerogarden to seed and a few days went by and up came one out of the pod. I didn’t think it would but sure enough it went.
A week went by and I started figuring out what to do with it as I realized that the little hydroponic was going to be rapidly too small. I decided on a soil planting. Well I should also tell you that I started this December. I live in the recreational state of Massachusetts and growing indoors is now the only way. So I buy a small tent and 300 watt LED light.
Now comes the research. I find out that I need to have a female plant to grow. How do I know? More research yikes. So then I get started and I am keeping my two plants small. I have no idea that even that isn’t helping but I think my light is too close to my plants. Well it certainly was. I had a 24 inch square 48 inches tall. Yikes I am looking for buds to grow that tall. Oh my I need a bigger tent. So I order one. It took a few weeks for it to come in.
Oh just to let you know I didn’t just get the small tent and light I also did get an exhaust vent and filter set. While waiting for my tent which by the way was 4 foot square and 80 inches tall. I also bought a bigger grow light. An LED 1500 watt job.
So more research and watching my plants still struggle I plant two purchased seeds from here. Both of them are just now sprouting but I am still babying my first two start ups that I have no idea if they are male or female yet. I kept trimming them because of the small tent and I also was committing the ultimate sin with an indoor grow.
More research and I now reveal that my PH is just a bit too high. I have been trying to get these two random seeds to perk up but they just never seemed to be growing roots too. But then just this past week I get a PH tester and ordered some PH UP DOWN. My PH tester told me it was high. Researching PH I find that I can use vinegar to lower it. So Friday I did. Saturday I stripped all the dirt from around my dwarfed plants until I see some small roots. I put them in a mix of organic soil and canna coco with some magnesium added to it. It was moist and not wet. This is day three and I am beginning to see results.
Oh and the two seeds I bought here and planted are just a couple of inches tall but they are looking very healthy now. I will post pictures when I figure out how to do this.
Anyway thanks for all the support and help I know I will get.
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Nice,
I am going to watch your progress! One thing I know you got Right! Research! Sure takes a whole lot of that when starting a new grow type or grow period!
Can’t wait to see those photos!
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This is my grow set up. I just put all four plants into 5 gallon fabric pots. I decided I would use both lights in the grow. It can’t hurt them that is what I am learning so far. So I just ordered some cal-mag as well. That will be a couple of more days coming but I think I am getting it. My temperature stays about 80 to 81 with the lights on probably drops some when the lights are out. I have the lights running 18/6. I hope that it will not hurt the plants to have taken so long to get started. The humidity is about 70% with the little windows open at the bottom. I haven’t turned on the exhaust vent yet but it is really very early in this I think.
Just for everyone’s information I ordered Durban Poison and Maui Waui. I have one of each growing. I figure to learn and make mistakes on only two. I might put a couple of Durban’s outside this summer but that is a while from now.
I don’t know how posting pictures will go but I am also a amateur photographer so I hope to photo document the grow too.
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Looks great! Nice set up!
I just read something in @stells blog journal that intrigues me. Can someone else confirm this? I am using LED grow lights. One is 300 watts the other is 1500 watts and that one has two switches veg and bloom. Should I be putting my light close? I have a meter that measures it analog scale. Right now I am 30 inches away and I have the meter reading at about 1000. I can put my hand arm and anything under it and feel relatively no heat. Is it advantageous to really keep the lamps close to the plants? Right now they are recovering from a high PH and wet feet. Would bringing my light even closer help?
Also this is an awkward thing. I wanted to ask this question earlier but I was limited and had to wait an additional time before I could post. I am not complaining. I just didn’t see that coming.
Anyway so far I see signs that my newer plants one of each Maui and Durban Poison are not growing up but the leaves that are there are strong and green. One is a week and a half old the other is one week old. By that I mean they are that long in soil. After starting them in water and then a paper towel. I had one Maui seed not germinate. I put these directly into a 5 gallon fabric pot with a mix of organic garden soil and canna coco I also put in some vermiculite and a bit of organic sulfur and gypsum to raise the acidity.
For watering I am now learning obviously the hard way by not paying attention to PH. I believe in my first two plants I had an incorrect PH and I also took leaves off every time I saw the leaves turn brown. I initially thought my LED was too close but now I am thinking incorrectly. Since this is my very first grow these first two free pot plants are great to practice on. I think I am well on the way to helping them recover. I don’t know if they will be male or female but that is what makes them valuable as expendable. If they turn out to be female great. If they are males, maybe spring will be here soon enough for me to plant them outside. I will keep the tent for the two feminized plants I bought from ILGM.
So now that I know a bit more about this site. I hope to gather as much information from you all as I can. I have a bottle of CAL-MAG liquid and I plan on putting a bit of that at every watering unless someone here says I shouldn’t.
Thank you all for the help. I am off and on the way to a grow.
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Fun when things start to develop…enjoy your grow…good luck
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Hi @Oldsoldier1976, mine are dimmable where as yours are veg and bloom. I’m thinking it kinda means the same. And by all accounts some where around 18 to 24 inches is ideal. I’m just winging it all the way… but @dbrn32 is the lighting guy to help you. Good luck with your grow 
x
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They are kinda same. Your light gives you pretty linear control over the output current, which means you can run it anywhere from all the way up and all the way down. The other difference is that that your light spectrum doesn’t really change. Veg and bloom switches turn a driver or series of drivers on and off. The drivers have different leds wired to each, depending on which switch controls them. The leds powered by veg switch will be predominantly blue wavelengths and leds powered by bloom switch will be predominantly red wavelengths. And there’s no adjustability on most, each is simply on or off.
@Oldsoldier1976 heights will vary a lot depending on model. Check your owner’s manual for recommendations on height. If they don’t provide any, see how much power each model actually consumes and I can give you some suggestions. The 300w and 1500w are usually arbitrary numbers assigned to fixtures to help them sell. Chances are, you can run then closer than 30".
If you’re recovering from a nutrient or ph issue it may help to wait a little bit or slowly lower over time. That will help the plant to acclimate to higher light intensity. Also, the heat on hand trick doesn’t really work on led fixtures, most of the heat is removed through top of fixtures.
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So are we saying it’s better to have a veg & bloom rather than a continuous light spectrum in your opinion?
And as ever you’re the cats ass! 
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Not really. I prefer your light over a light with those options. But it would depend exactly on what the total light spectrum is. The last light I built for myself uses two different light spectrums, and has linear dimming on both. However both spectrums are strikingly similar to the one you grow with. Simply blending 4000k 80cri and 3000k 90cri.
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Yip… exactly what I thought you’d say! x
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@stells thanks for the ping of @dbrn32. It is good to get some more knowledge from people who can explain.
As I read this the numbers are arbitrary but I think they are very different in that I spent a lot more on the 1500 watt one. I actually plan on getting another one as I think it is a very good model and the 300 watt one is more red spectrum than blue and there is no switch. Money isn’t a problem for me. I don’t want to over spend but I also don’t have a budget I need to follow either.
I am a retired soldier that spent many years in the army. almost 38 to be more specific. All that time cannabis was a strict no no so this is all new to me. I smoked when I was a teenager and for a while after but to remain in the army I could not so pot left my mind. Now retired and time on the hands I want to try something new and fun. I like learning and with this little project it is something new. I have a pretty good idea about plants but this is very different and unique.
I really am seeing a lot of changes though the leaves haven’t begun growing yet the stems leading to the leaves are turning green from the pale color the stems are darkening and I also think stiffening up. It is only 4 days since replacing all the soil surrounding my root ball but these tell me I am heading in the right direction.
Now with these two early grows I read someplace that a rounder circle on the end of the seed is a sign that the seedling will be female. That is what I looked for as well as the darkest colors I had in the few seeds I harvested from some random bags of pot I smoked. The plants now are undersized and are not showing definite signs of either trait. I don’t mind if they are males. It was an education to get to this point. Also we might get an early enough spring that I can bring them outside and away from the two fem plants I am expecting from the seeds I bought here at ILGM. The uncertainty of the two older plants is the only reason why I can hold off buying the second grow light. I am sure that my next grow I will have two 1500 watt lights and grow 4 plants from the seed I have.
So for now thanks for the help. I will post pictures of the progress next week with new leaf growth and all. Fingers crossed.
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Welcome to the forum! I see you have met some of the caged animals here lol.
When you are starting seedlings it is normal to see them pause. What they are actually doing is putting down roots. Once the foundation is set they will start to go.
What medium are you using? Coco or soil? Or some combo of both?
I would suggest you choose someone to be your primary mentor as lots of folks jump in to help and it can get overwhelming with (sometimes) conflicting advice.
It would be good to know exactly what you are growing in and what nutrient line you intend to use. Along with any supplements you are contemplating using.
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Thank you for the warm welcome and I am very happy to be here. Seeing the seedlings pause is good because I wasn’t sure about these two newest ones. They haven’t done much yet. Thanks for that information.
I am using a combination of coco and organic soil. I amended it with some sulfur and vermiculite. I haven’t started feeding the seedlings though I did my first two plants and that might have had a lot to do with my initial slow start but hell I made a hundred mistakes on these and yet they still survive.
I generally will listen to any advice and check and analyze it then see if it would apply to my situation anyway. The trouble I have had so far has been a lack of knowledge that I am slowly gaining by reading and watching other people talk about their grow. Now I sit back and watch the plants grow.
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