" The beginnings will not be easy; they shall be extremely difficult."
- Che Guevara April 1967
[Warning: Extended introduction rant! Scroll down for photos!]
I've been lurking on these forums for several months, learned lots and only just scratched the surface I'm sure! I joined so that I could share and learn, and maybe even contribute here and there should the situation provide itself.
I started growing cannabis late in 2008, but I've been smoking the stuff and saving seeds up for years. I finally got a place with a "small" area I can grow in and not be disturbed, and I've been experimenting with a few things.
I began this adventure in a spare bathroom with a few CFLs and a dozen "Red Rhino" bagseed (as all of my seed currently are). I used rockwool, hydroton, and a rubbermaid with netpots. The nutrients I had were of a brand I've not read anything good about on cannabis forums, needless to say they weren't great. But it was free, gifted from a friend.
As the plants grew, I constructed a wall to section off the future growing area. The area is about 14'x19'.. but only 5' high. I was determined to make it work.
Before long it was all setup and I installed an intermatic T103 timer, a small space heater (I live in a very cold area, especially this time of year), several fans and my (second hand) lighting.
A vertical 400w MH with parabolic reflector, and a vertical 940w HPS conversion Eye Hortilux bulb on a 1000w MH ballast, with matching parabolic reflector. The intense HID lights were so bright, I was amazed. And thoroughly hooked on this hobby.
Over the next few days I stabilized the lights off temps to about 15C or higher, which is acceptable to me. The lights on temps never go over 26C. Humidity was very low without any plants or water in the room.
Transplanting the Red Rhino seedlings into their own 5gal DWC's, and switching to the GH Lucas Formula feeding schedule, I was off to the races!
I vegged those plants to about 30 days old, then flipped the timer to 12/12.
While all this was going on, I was down to 6 red rhino plants (my mortality rate has improved since then), and still didn't know the sexes. I only had bagseed which may or may not be feminized, so I decided to stack the odds in my favor and start germinating some of the other beans I had.
I ended up popping about 40 more bagseeds from my "Unknown" stash, as well as some other gems that came out of sacks such as "Northern Lights", "Endless Sky", "Pink Grapefruit", "Hash Plant", and "BC Big Bud".
Of course, I'm hoping that once these plants are full on flowering, you the fine members of IC can be the judge as to how close some of these plants come to the names listed on them. But that will remain to be seen.
The plan was to save on expensive buckets, pumps, etc, and instead use soil less medium and hand water. I now see how flawed it was, but at the time it seemed reasonable. The seedlings suffered. I eventually gave up on that idea and transplanted all of the seedlings and young plants to soil, Pro Mix BX mixed with perlite and worm castings. Now they are much happier!!
The Red Rhino plants are now in full flowering, however there are only 3 remaining as the other plants ended up being male. One of these I have since transplanted to soil, as the root ball didn't look good. This particular Red Rhino plant has a "CatPiss" skunky aroma, it's absolutely intoxicating.
The other two are still in the DWC's, with H202, SM90, and lucas formula, and doing well. The were mildly LST'd, one moreso than the others.
I did have some issues with light burn, and I will have to move the plants away from the 940w as they grow towards it. I will remove the reflector if the plants ever reach the "ceiling" and top them as needed.
Now the seedlings are starting to become vegging plants, and as I didn't germinate them all at once, but instead several weeks apart of each group, they are all different sizes!
The Pink Grapefruit is about 6" tall, and already beginning to flower. Quite a few of the "Unknown" seedlings are looking like healthy sativa hybrids and one of them has shown female sex as well. There are a few very indica dominant unknowns as well, so there should be a nice mix when these begin to finish.
The Northern Lights plants are very uniform, with large spear shaped early leaves. I hope that one of the plants exhibits the stinky phenotype that I was accustomed to smoking a few years ago when I collected these seeds. A classic favorite, that I dearly miss. Sour and deadly.
Hash Plant and BC Big Bud, I killed the first few seedlings but I've germinated the remainder of my seeds and a few are now coming up. I'm confident that these will do better in the Pro Mix soil.
I intend to pick up some 3 - 5 gallon containers to flower the soil plants in. I am only using about 25% of the space in the grow area, but this allows for massive air flow, temp control and lots of storage space. As my spacial needs increase, I can add another 400w MH light and space out the plants. I expect that up to 50% of the unsexed plants maybe male, so space isn't a concern yet.
My T-103 powerboard is built with the intention of running up to 4x600w with light movers, as well as 1 additional outlet of constant power. If and when funds permit, I will consider something along those lines, but before that I must purchase odor, humidity and climate control equipment. Right now there is none, and humidity can get up to 75%. Currently the growing environment is completely sealed.
And that just about brings us up to speed on my project. I know this has been a wordy post so far, but I love taking tons of pictures. So I'll add a few now, and I intend to make a habit of updating this thread as everything progresses! Thanks for reading!
- Che Guevara April 1967
[Warning: Extended introduction rant! Scroll down for photos!]
I've been lurking on these forums for several months, learned lots and only just scratched the surface I'm sure! I joined so that I could share and learn, and maybe even contribute here and there should the situation provide itself.
I started growing cannabis late in 2008, but I've been smoking the stuff and saving seeds up for years. I finally got a place with a "small" area I can grow in and not be disturbed, and I've been experimenting with a few things.
I began this adventure in a spare bathroom with a few CFLs and a dozen "Red Rhino" bagseed (as all of my seed currently are). I used rockwool, hydroton, and a rubbermaid with netpots. The nutrients I had were of a brand I've not read anything good about on cannabis forums, needless to say they weren't great. But it was free, gifted from a friend.
As the plants grew, I constructed a wall to section off the future growing area. The area is about 14'x19'.. but only 5' high. I was determined to make it work.
Before long it was all setup and I installed an intermatic T103 timer, a small space heater (I live in a very cold area, especially this time of year), several fans and my (second hand) lighting.
A vertical 400w MH with parabolic reflector, and a vertical 940w HPS conversion Eye Hortilux bulb on a 1000w MH ballast, with matching parabolic reflector. The intense HID lights were so bright, I was amazed. And thoroughly hooked on this hobby.
Over the next few days I stabilized the lights off temps to about 15C or higher, which is acceptable to me. The lights on temps never go over 26C. Humidity was very low without any plants or water in the room.
Transplanting the Red Rhino seedlings into their own 5gal DWC's, and switching to the GH Lucas Formula feeding schedule, I was off to the races!
I vegged those plants to about 30 days old, then flipped the timer to 12/12.
While all this was going on, I was down to 6 red rhino plants (my mortality rate has improved since then), and still didn't know the sexes. I only had bagseed which may or may not be feminized, so I decided to stack the odds in my favor and start germinating some of the other beans I had.
I ended up popping about 40 more bagseeds from my "Unknown" stash, as well as some other gems that came out of sacks such as "Northern Lights", "Endless Sky", "Pink Grapefruit", "Hash Plant", and "BC Big Bud".
Of course, I'm hoping that once these plants are full on flowering, you the fine members of IC can be the judge as to how close some of these plants come to the names listed on them. But that will remain to be seen.
The plan was to save on expensive buckets, pumps, etc, and instead use soil less medium and hand water. I now see how flawed it was, but at the time it seemed reasonable. The seedlings suffered. I eventually gave up on that idea and transplanted all of the seedlings and young plants to soil, Pro Mix BX mixed with perlite and worm castings. Now they are much happier!!
The Red Rhino plants are now in full flowering, however there are only 3 remaining as the other plants ended up being male. One of these I have since transplanted to soil, as the root ball didn't look good. This particular Red Rhino plant has a "CatPiss" skunky aroma, it's absolutely intoxicating.
The other two are still in the DWC's, with H202, SM90, and lucas formula, and doing well. The were mildly LST'd, one moreso than the others.
I did have some issues with light burn, and I will have to move the plants away from the 940w as they grow towards it. I will remove the reflector if the plants ever reach the "ceiling" and top them as needed.
Now the seedlings are starting to become vegging plants, and as I didn't germinate them all at once, but instead several weeks apart of each group, they are all different sizes!
The Pink Grapefruit is about 6" tall, and already beginning to flower. Quite a few of the "Unknown" seedlings are looking like healthy sativa hybrids and one of them has shown female sex as well. There are a few very indica dominant unknowns as well, so there should be a nice mix when these begin to finish.
The Northern Lights plants are very uniform, with large spear shaped early leaves. I hope that one of the plants exhibits the stinky phenotype that I was accustomed to smoking a few years ago when I collected these seeds. A classic favorite, that I dearly miss. Sour and deadly.
Hash Plant and BC Big Bud, I killed the first few seedlings but I've germinated the remainder of my seeds and a few are now coming up. I'm confident that these will do better in the Pro Mix soil.
I intend to pick up some 3 - 5 gallon containers to flower the soil plants in. I am only using about 25% of the space in the grow area, but this allows for massive air flow, temp control and lots of storage space. As my spacial needs increase, I can add another 400w MH light and space out the plants. I expect that up to 50% of the unsexed plants maybe male, so space isn't a concern yet.
My T-103 powerboard is built with the intention of running up to 4x600w with light movers, as well as 1 additional outlet of constant power. If and when funds permit, I will consider something along those lines, but before that I must purchase odor, humidity and climate control equipment. Right now there is none, and humidity can get up to 75%. Currently the growing environment is completely sealed.
And that just about brings us up to speed on my project. I know this has been a wordy post so far, but I love taking tons of pictures. So I'll add a few now, and I intend to make a habit of updating this thread as everything progresses! Thanks for reading!
