CONTEST #1: Essay (Best Grow)

PRIZE: 1 pack of 10 Schroomy Deeze

This is our first new fun contest in awhile so it's going to very EASY!

All you need do to be eligible is write about your best, most
enjoyable grow to date. Inclusions of pics recommended, but not necessary.

There will be 1 winner, 1 prize.

This contest starts now and will end this time next week. That should give you all plenty of time
to get those creative writing skills out and tell us all about the joys of growing.

Good luck everyone and most of all have fun!
:friends:
dg

Well here is mine and it was my first grow ever. I had ordered some papaya seeds from SD cause I'am kind of keep and it was my first real grow that wont from bag seed. It took 3 months from start to finish, and was alot of work for cause it was in the middle of winter. I was so sick of paying for weed so i just had to grow them in my closet.Well i had them in 2gal pots and got 2 females of the 5 i grew out and was very happy with that. It was some real work for me to set every thing up right but needless to say it all worked out and I have never bought from any dealer again. Also my firends were happy with me cause i gave them my free bee wich i still remember was Master Kush from nirvana and we all had a blast growing it out!! So this lady's and gentlemen was my fav. grow cuz it was my first real one.

Thats quite a story Stankbud, but now he will want his revenge and he will most definately be wanting to get you back, He may call the cops on you too.

My best grow ever was my very first grow.

I had just moved into a new apartment that had a balcony that had full morning sun.
This was my opportunity to finally try out a few seeds of Swazi gold bag seeds that I had been saving for just such an opportunity.
So I went off to the nursery to buy flower pots and flowers and herbs and soil and everything that I would be needing to grow flowers, herbs and of course weed.

If I have a whole lot of different flowers and different herbs all growing together then 2 or 3 weed plants might be sort of camouflaged, you know blend into its surroundings with all the other plants, and not be so apparent to anyone who just glances at the balcony will see flowers and not think much about it.

This was in 1994 before I even had a computer and long before all theses fantastic websites on the how too's of successful weed growing.

I know that I can grow any flower successfully and so weed should not be a problem. Therefore I planted about 5 or 6 seeds per pot, amongst the herbs, and in between the geraniums.

After a few days they began to pop up. I was so happy. At this stage - right in the beginning I did not know that there were male and female flowers and virtually anything about growing. But how hard could it be? Water when the soil is dry, feed with a nutrient solution according to instruction on bottle. Give love and care and success guaranteed.

This formula worked wonders. After a few months the plants turned into big bushes and the buds developed and were eventually ready. I had 3 female plants and 2 males on that first grow and there were loads and loads of seeds. But most importantly I had wonderful home grown buds that were simply gorgeous.

Then I went online and a whole new world opened up me and all of us. Fantastic Access to the world best secrets all at our finger tips.

Since then I have about 2-3 harvests per year. Naturally my strains have changed and the grows get better and better from harvest to harvest. But my very first time I will never forget. This fabulous feeling of flower success. Knowing that it really all starts from a simple seed.

Nice stories so far....this is going to be another difficult one to choose a winner, can see that already.

Keep them coming you all....some nice seeds are going to be given away, and they could be going to YOU!

:friends:
dg

My favorite grow was my second attempt at growing. I had just moved out into an apartment and decided I would throw a couple bag seeds I had and give them a try. At this time I didnt know about the internet and the most I knew about growing was from my glancing at some high time mags. I got some styrofoam cups and some black gold potting soil and planted the seeds. They SLOWLY started to grow and under the 125 compact flourescents light. They seemed to be growing REALLY slow to me so I decided to add some Fertalizer. I took some fish emulsion bought at the local store and started feeding full strength everyday. After weeks and barely any new growth I was stumped. My girlfriend's friend at the time unfortunatly had a SOB loser boyfriend who was beating her. We gave her the option of coming to live with us for a while so she could get away from the idiot and she accepted. Although I was sad because I had to take down the grow, this was where the real learning experience began. After ripping open the styrofoam I noticed a couple of things. The roots were soaked and looked like they had mold on them. There were little bugs crawling around in the dirt and the plant overall didnt look healthy. After this I had to do some research and find out what I did wrong. Over watering, Over fertalizing, no ventilation, pest infested soil, the list goes on. Long story short I found website's like this and books and have learned allot and done much better since then. This may not be my most SUCCESSFULL grow, but it is the most important to me because I learned more because of that grow that any others. Knowledge is priceless!

Hello everybody.. I would like to say that my first grow was my best good grow. Although it was from a bagseed, it was my best grow. The reason being because I was learning something new and cool. I was so darn interested in it that I would come home and immediately tend to it. I was so fascinated by this grow with the growth and the overall botany of a plant. I would always learn something new. During this grow I had to admit that I attended it for like 20 times a day 10 minutes each time. I'd just loved it. This grow was very healthy and fast. Although it wasn't with quality beans I was very impressed with the grow. I was so impressed by it that I'd just couldn't help to think about it then I would just visit it. The craziest thing was that I couldn't even sleep every single night that it was grow. I had to just keep thinking about it then finally falling alseep two hours. Now seriously I must admit that was crazy.

During this grow I used Scotts potting soil, schultz plant food and tap water. I must say that I thought I that I was overwatering but it seems that the plant loved it. The bagseeds just made me really crazy and made me go into a shopping spree, trying to get the best of the best. Man oh man how I loved the plants and the time I have spent attending it and loss of sleep totalled to about 4 hours less in my life.The results were awesome I had about one to two ounces and my own work. How proud I was of myself.Now I must wait until I move to a new area and if I win these beans will be the first to sprout.

Well thank you for reading and good luck to everyone. Everyone has such great stories. And darn it stankbud that is a really good story..it was like a page turner..

First and only grow...

First and only grow...

Well, I've never actually had a completely successful grow... I'm in the middle of a very promising project right now. Everyday when I wake up in the mornin' I spend at least an hour tending to my sweeties, it's by far the most satisfying feeling ever to see something you've created, and especially to watch it grow up and become everything you know it could be... Although, I've no clue of the joys of parenthood, I feel like growing cannabis is a small taste of the greatest feeling a human being can experience, creation. Even though I haven't "finished" a grow yet, I'd have to say this is the most enjoyable "hobby" any person could engage in. Also, I'm kind of on a budget, and some free beans would make me exstatic. Thanks for reading I hope I persuaded you to send those beans my way. Peace & Love -A

The most enjoyable grow to date for me was my Deep Chunk ladies provided by Gypsy. Its what kick started my passion of learning more about this amazing plant. Before then, i was growing bush indica's and had no idea of the strains available these days.

Since growing the Deep Chunk i have learnt so much in the world of cannabis and can still remember the feel of growing them out.
The massive broad leaves biger than dinner plates had me hooked the minute i layed eyes on them. The plants have an aura all of their own and take up so much space its hard to not feel their presence.

The flower of this plant was THE most beautiful MJ bud i have seen to date...glorious hues of purple and almost a creamy coffee aroma, my only grivience is that i could not keep her particular genetics alive as i found the cloning process very difficult with this strain. This without a doubt, has been my best rewarding grow to date..even though i didnt get much of a harvest from her, i would still do it all over again

It all began one sweet day...

It all began one sweet day...

I feel very lucky with the way things turned out for me after joining IC. IC led to my first prolific grow, using not only good strains, but sound advice and growing techniques that were proven and unwaivering.

With every grow I seem to take in a lesson or two, or three, or sometimes four. When I learn more than five lessons in one grow I've usually done something very,very wrong.

After joining IC I quickly began surfing the boards looking for better ways of growing, great pictures, great friends, and also ways to be involved. Crazy Composer had posted a "Help-Wanted" banner for the up-and-coming Flower Pix News. I eagerly responded and in no time recieved an answer back from CC. He was excited to hear my enthusiasm and got me working right away. After three or four editions CC and I became good buds. He shared with me some of his close-to-heart strains and got me going on my feet with his understanding of pot and its enviroment.

With great genetics in the closet I began focusing alot of attention to what great bud is all about. My first grow after joing IC showed some big improvements with how I grew, along with great buds, and also helped to introduce me to my photography hobby (and new passion ) I owe everything to the great members here and also a big thanks to CC and Boink for getting me so involved with IC.

You wanted us to share a story about a memorable grow; the lesson's I've taken from my first grow on IC will stay with me forever. The friendships and the willingness of others during that first grow (specifically IC members) has taught me ways to help others and given me the knowledge to teach others. I'm greatful for all of that.

Oh yeah...did I mention my weed was GREAT! I couldn't have done it alone. Thanks to all that helped me on my first grow and to all of those who continue to help me as I keep growing! I'll be "paying-it-forward" always!

Later OH


*I have many pictures but can not load them at this time! I will when I can.

The grow I enjoyed the most wasn't my first grow, but it was the first time I got to really do it right. It was the first grow after I got my Med card. I grew 4 Sour Queen from Rez, 4 bogbubble or bogglegum(cant remember which it was had both at the time) and 4 train wreck that I got from my a very good friend of my families that has lived in Nor Cal and been going to the private harvest fests down there since the mid 70's. I Vegged them under a flourescent shop light that had 4 bulbs in it and vegged them for about 3 weeks before they went into flower. When I say vegged for 3 weeks I mean I grew out the seeds and sexed them then took clones from the females. I then let the clones veg for about 3 weeks after they had got roots going and then put them in flower. Of course that wasnt need with the TW cause I got clones of it. They where flowered under 2 1000 watt plantstar HPS air cooled lights in 4 gallon pots and used Fox Farm ocean forest soil. Used earth juice, liquid karma, and pure blend for the ferts. I used a little dark energy, and b'cuzz bloom 2 time during bloom. When they where done I let them hang to dry for justunder 3 weeks then they went into jars for the final cure. I cured them for almost 2 monthes in the jars and wanted to go longer but just couldnt wait any long. I had found a VERY special sour queen and I saved almost all of it for myself, even though EVERYONE wanted to get some of it when they tried it. When I was down to less then ounce the friend that I had gotten the TW clones from had decided to pop out of the mountains again to visit and I let him try the train wreck and sour queen, they where all that was left. Seeing the look on his face when he tried the first hit through a clean bong was great. He told me he was VERY PROUD of me, threw in some shit about "your training being complete young jedi" in his best Yodi voice or someshit like that and asked if he could buy the rest of it so he could take it back down to Nor Cal and show all his buddies what his trainiee could do, which I of course just gave to him. Ever since then I have got some REAL nice stuff from his group of friends and it just really made me feel like I had done it right.

Sadley DG, there are not many responses with essays on this comp. DG.
Perhaps peole dont like to do creative writing? :-(
Pity because everyone writes quite well - there are millions of posts to prove it.

Well the deadline is today. And you only have 10 stories to choose from.

Would it be of any help if we all nominated, then in a few days time or when ever- you can count up the nominations and you have a winner... because its a hard to choose, they are all good stories...

Anyway if this suggestion helps then I nominate OHenry...

Thanks Ronley

Ohenry you write nicely...

Best Grow

Best Grow

In the beginning this was the first time ordering from seedsdirect & I bought the nirvana line for the first time last spring to make sure it was legit like all the other companies I bought from i got the low-priced strains ww,wr, & a bunch others nirvana strains for my first seedsdirect "test"grow none of the seeds sprouted from the dirt !40!!! seeds "Killin em' with kindness even the greenest thumbs make mistakes" under my hot beaming lamp. I was very upset after with all my years of experience in growing being it was my first purchase with SD so I sat them on the cold fall porch November in the pot seeds & all after 14 days of trying to germ .I went to a gas station got a calling card called called seedsdirect & I talked to a lady told her my problems then she in turn put a man on the phone he said "hi can i help u" in a humble tone of voice with an accent of a cool youthful brit. I told him the situation on non germination He said"that's rubbish ( I was dying laughing when he said rubbish as i am american-lol)not to call u aliar or any thing but those seeds always have good germ rates"that they must've been irradiated etc, etc none germinated he said "my name is Gypsy Nirvana you're talkin to him" I was Bm357 <- Being kind (But I was angry) this is so cool I told him !!!he said he has never had a complaint like this where none of the seeds germed out of that many packs of that brand & he said It could be my(Bm357's) fault but u poor unlucky chap then he proceded "send the packs back to me GN with a letter & I would send you Bm357 "Something special" with the next order of 20$ or more I sent it got a bunch of good seeds & little by little the seeds that wouldn't grow began to appear days after I got off the phone seeds where already on the way to late to call him with the good news as baby sprouts came up outside in god's conditions THEY MUST'VE LIKED THE TEMPS 20 celcius pretty coold germers I coudn't believe my eyes I grew 3 female out to maturity & made a few seeds for the ones I lost with my best females & males & I lived happily ever after & i think it's the best bud I ever smoked I will always give you my buissness thanks again for these great genetics DG & GN u make it possible to smoke world - Class strains of connoisseur grade marijuana flowers. THE END By:Bigmone357

I was writing a post for 1 hour. Now i lost it. I hate myself.

Always a good idea to write a lengthy post such as an essay in a
word document, then paste it into your post.

I've learned the hard way too many times
I know the feeling, you have my sympathy.

:friends:
dg

Okay, so here is the second try. I am preety pissed right now. But hey... I will smoke a joint at the end to reward myself.




One sunny day, I was smoking a joint on balcony and throwing away seeds.... and than BHANG in the head. Hey Tic, plant a seed! Why not. I've puted one seeds in a pot on balcony. And it grew. I had no idea what am I doing at the time. I got like 5 grams from the plant. It was week but nice taste. Next year, I rememmberd to put a seed in soil at the right time. Three flowers came out and they were growing. I wanted to make better and more buds so I found OG. I didnt know for IC at that time. I was happy with what I got. It was for free, and it was all mine! Real homegrown... I was so pround on myself and dediced... I need a indoor place to grow. And it happend. I made a closet and I grew inthere with 110W HPS. 4 plants. Unknow strain. I got freaky lucky. I got some pure indica and some pure sativa. Plants were so strange then to me. I grew them and I soooooo badly wanted to smoke I harvested 2 week too early. Ofcoure I have regreated that later on, but that is life. With time, I managed to collect enough money, to buy cheap 400W hps. I was planing new place to grow and looking on OG for some ideas. Than I noticed "Hydroponics" forums. I said... WTF? I was so thrilled about idea that I started to read about that so much, I understood everything. I said to myself... ' Tic, if you can do that, you are tha man...' So I decided. I was collecting money for hydro (ebb&flow, didnt know any other exist at the time ) few motnths to buy nutes and other things. I even got my first bought seeds. A pack of 10 Nirvana Northern Lights. I feelt in love in that strain. I coulnt wait for more time that I make hydro. I just germed them and put them in soil. 3 of NL were growing under 2x CoolWhite 60cm... each one giving 2200 Lumens.. In a week or two I manged to burn 2 NL plants with nutes..... Had no PH or PPM meter. After a month I finaly assembeld hydro. But untill then one NL died and I prepared two younger ones. So here I was. I had hydro system infront of me and nutes. No ppm or ph meter or no info how much ferts should I use. I just mixed 2ml/10L....


Plants grew. I was happy. There were some problems with hydro tho. The two buckets were the same size. So when pump was pupmping water from lower tank, the upper one filled, but not enough. So I had to add just a little water everyday or else I made a flood or no water came to the roots. The whole system was developed and made at home with help of my father.
It has been cheap and ghetto but it worked. With no mesurements of any kind. Plants were getting bigger and bigger and I didnt like the idea that I have to add water every day. So I decided to make DWC (deep water culture). It took a while to get the cash for new things. But I made it. When transplanting, plants lost 70% of root mass, but it worked.



For a week. Than my fan gave up on me and when I came to growroom, I look at thermomether and it was screaming 40°C. Ofcourse I got root rot. There is nothing else to explain. Guys on OG told me that plants will not survive. The roots were coocked. So I took cutings and put them in cooler. That way should stay fresh for months. I didnt know what to do next. Than I meet GrowDoc. I must say he changed my life We will leave that for later. So, I had no choice but to shut down hydro. There arent good contidion at current space I got. Maybe someday.... somewhere ....

So plants went to soil. They were doing OK. In 14 days time I meet a guy, living 200km away from me. About 35 years old. We met and I gave him my two NL. A gift for first time indoor grower. He was so happy when he got 60cm tall plants. He really threated them with care and love. Unfortenetly one was male and was killed. But from other one, he got 42 grams dry. I say not shabby for a first timer and If he only knew what that plant was trough.... I am really proud on him and I dont regret I gave him the plants.

So where are we? In our pants, yes . When me and GrowDoc met, he has shown me his results in soil and I was amazed. He conviced me to go to soil and so become my mentor, teacher and very good friend. Than "from seed to bud in 55 days project" was getting it's form. GD has sent me some AngelDust and BubbleDust to use in my indoor grow and he tought me lots of stuff. He really is handy dandy tool

So, today is 18th day of project 55. I am writing this the second time and it is bit offtopic. I am high and this is a free country, free forum. Why should I limit myself?

If you have read carefuly, you had to notice few facts. I kept one NL. Now where is she? I can tell you. It is more than 6 months old and still vegging.



My fist indoor:



Ghetto Hydro with no ppm/ph control;












Yes, the fact, I got no home grown buds in last half of year is true. This is because I was learnig and I leared a lot.

Knowledge is the only thing nobody can take away from you.
Remember that.

Now I am tierd. I will roll a phat one an go to sleep. I hope you enjoyed reading my post. I enjoyed writing it... well, at least the fist time :wink:

------

I am sory for my bad english, it is my third launguage and I am still preety young.

Dutch...any results yet...I like these contests...Oh the suspense! lol.

my go

my go

The road I had been marching was a long, arduous one ravaged by land mines and riddled with dead ends.

As I sit here now nestled in the sanctuary of a mexican hammock, sipping a cool mojito, gently swaying in a welcome and mannerly carribbean breeze and stoned out of my gourd on some Flo pheno bleuberry, it is with more than a little fright that I remember back to that rough path.

You see, back then all i had then was some miracle grow potting soil, a copy of a well-respected cannabis magazine and a couple of packs of expensive seeds. I read the grow tips in tha magazine, opened up my seeds and planted them just like I did my tomatoes, cucumbers, and marrow.

They popped up and I knew this was going to be easy for I had picked the expensive seeds and they must be better than the cheaper ones. They grew free and wild in the soil just off the cruel path of deception.

I cracked the eternal beer and watched them grow for six weeks. They were beautiful thick stalked babies. I was quite proud of myself for I discovered that I had "the green thumb of the ages." [read with loud thunderous God-Like multi-tracked voice, occassionally lightning does strike when you read the phrase. please make sure your computer is grounded].

But then the gorgeous plants lost their emerald sheen and were mottled by this barbaric yellow and silver. I vowed to attack and defend my children with supplements and fertilzer and anything expensive looking or sounding. What? Nothing was too much for my babies hummingbird toungue compost? Yes, I'll have three Bags, please!

Nothing worked... they turned silver then brown around the edges and stopped growing and the once glaring-aura filled leaf withered and fell beside the path of deception. I battled every imagined enemy possible: thrips, mites, underfertilization, over fertilization, watering, light, wind, even the dreaded flora syphillis!

What could I do? I set off for the cavern of knowledge-- the land of Google. And only there did I find my angel. The cavern of google led me here, to a place filled by very wise and kind people who guided me off of the crooked path and onto the highway, they even showed me where to get seeds a lot cheaper and quicker. Along the way i picked up many tools. One of the best ones was shown to me by The Puff Master of smoke-- he showed me the power of the pH sword. what a mighty weapon it is.

And now I can quit talking like I play D&D and puff this L and swing in this hammock and chew on a piece of mint from my mojito. Because my worst grow was also my best-- I found knowledge and help and community.

now i could probably even grow a pure haze...