Best seeds for new growers

[Stoner Jay]

Greetings everyone

Hope everyone is nice and baked and doing great.

Right, so I have a current organic grow going with normal bag seed. All is well with the grow..plants are taking their sweet as time to grow..biggest one is on the 7th starting 8th node but using 80 watts cfl in veg in a space of just shy of 2 squared foot.

Anyway, after this grow or maybe 1 after the next. I would like to order seeds from altitude. They have a huge selection. .thinking of going feminised as well as the pick and mix ( 1 seed ) of a few strains.

What in your opinion is the best seeds to choose ?

Obviously I would like the notorious white widow..will be ordering that from femaleseeds. As I would like one of the original dank WW.

Others I may be highly interested in :

Ak 47/48 ?
Northern lights
Papaya

Looking for short plants, as it's in a micro grow.

Also, price will also determine if I say yay or nay as I am in south Africa, so a bit scared when it gets into my country with customs. Don't want them to take the package and goodbye money.. haha

Thanks everyone

 

[Snook]

hello. Attitude. Sensible Seeds or better yet, right here at seedbay.
2'x2'x? is not micro but close.. so, veg, 80*F. are you going to bloom in that same space? how many plants are you planning on? do you have intake (fresh air) and exhaust (to another area)? Good idea about starting with bag seed, it will be better than the sample they came in if you do your part. what seeds? you don't say how much height you have but indica strains can be shorter than sativa strains. The shortest/best potency, least expensive I've ever run was Herijuana by $annie @ Overgrow.com

 

[Stoner Jay]

Thanks Snook for your prompt response..much appreciated! !

Right. So I have a single cab split into 2. A veg and flower chamber..

The veg and chamber both measure 49 cms (w) x 49 cms (d) then the veg 60cm (h) and flower 75 cms (h)

With my current temp's, we currently in spring and things are getting hot..I had a huge problem in th beginning as I never had a extractor fan. Stupid mistake on my part. I have now managed to get temp between 19 degrees Celsius (night time ) to 26 -28 highest day time.

With the guys sellino here. Everything light is sold as skunk and everything dark and stalks and seeds are sold as Swazi. I have taken seeds from the lightest light and nicest smoked bud. So they are indeed mostly indica judging by the leaves. Will get pics up when I am home this evening for you to confirm, if you don't mind ?

Although 2 out of the 7 I have going have thinner leaves, but not as thin as some pics I have seen on the net. I have topped 2 of them and the rest I have started to lst which seems to be doing the job. I am thinking of doing a grow journal *more for help than anything else * but nervous..haha.

In the beginning I had huge problems with the bottom leaves "burning " and turning crispy. Think I over watered. Things are looking quite well now however. .that was the first 3 weeks I has issues. I am now in week 7.

I think my biggest problem now is my lack of lights. As I have 4 cfls @20watts each. 6500k.

My flower chamber I have 12 X 9.5 watts 3000 k @ 806 lumens per bulb. So that should be okay for the flower chamber..just need to get a timer and a extractor fan before I am going to use it.

 

[Stoner Jay]

Side note. .I have a extra 2 - 20 watt bulbs that I am going to throw in the veg chamber this weekend.

At the moment I have the bulbs vertical. I'm not sure if I should move them horizontally or keep them vertical. .what would you recommend ?

 

[bigbadbiddy]

Not feminized but every time I looked at the Mr. Nice Critical Mass plants in my garden I thought "damn, these are some forgiving ass plants and probably will yield great, I wonder why this strain is not suggested to beginners more often".

I mean they took all kind of abuse like not nearly enough light, way too dry (not watered regularly) and staying in solo cops for more than a month.

These guys just kept on trucking. As soon as they got transplanted, some more light and water they shot right back up, branched out, great node spacing, really bushy plants.

I couldn't water them for a 4 day stretch in veg, twice.
They looked by far the least limpy/sad when I came back and were the first to prop themselves right back up and continue growing beautifully.

On the flipside I have some C99 running and they took the abuse way worse. They still haven't fully recovered and sport some yellow leafs and such.

None of that with the CM. Look healthy, strong dark green, big and bushy like they had the perfect environment from day 1.

Highly recommended.

 

[chronosync]

250w cfl single big bulb works great in a 2x4 tent I use for veg so I'm guessing your 100w total cfl will do fine. You also have the advantage of placement. You will get better coverage than me because you can put the bulbs wherever you want and aim them.

CFLs emit light mostly from the sides

 

[Stoner Jay]

Thanks big bad. .much appreciated !! The C99 as well as the critical mass look amazing !!! That's for sure..will definitely definitely be checking those strains out for sure !! One of my bag seeds are bushy as hell. The internode spacing is less than 2 cms per node. It's crazy. The side bushing is coming out nicely as well. But not pushing out far enough for the leaves to get full light.so not sure what to make of that. I'm guessing my problems mean nothing without photos..haha

 

[Stoner Jay]

Ah sweet chronosync. Much appreciated! ! I will be moving the lights to the side this weekend for sure. Plus that will give extra height for the hopeful ladies to grow into. Which is great. The cab is made out of white melamine boards. So not going to bother much with light reflectors for now . Maybe will make home made bat wing type reflectors made from soda cans ?

 

[Cadfael]

I find indicas to be more forgiving.

While I don't know the seed company you prefer. I would think that AK-47 would be an easier time for your that the NL or the Papaya. But I really like the taste/high that NL provides.

One of the shortest strains i ever ran was Legends Ultimate Indica. It only got 2 feet tall but still had 4 ounces of bud on her.

Good luck in your grow. This site is a wonderful place for information and help. Welcome to ICmag.

 

[Stoner Jay]

This site is the best for sure !! Thanks cadfael. I have been lurking around for about 6 month's now, reading g as much as I can grasp, but reading and actually doing is sadly 2 different things. We do however get great advise and learn fro our mistakes.

Honestly, I would know which is my preferred seed bank as this will be my first ever purchase.so sweating balls a little, but totally worth it in the end. All I want is good bud to smoke at the end if the day that I grew and know where it came from . That's going to be the best feeling..smoking something you have worked for in the end

 

[Cadfael]

I would also suggest buying a journal and writing down information, thoughts, and good ideas you get from this site. Then you will have a list of things to try with your plant, when the time comes. Curing will become very important for you.

You might want to start a grow journal here and post pictures and your thoughts about what is going on. That way, people here can help you out and have all your grow information present to give the best advice we can for you.

Also, one of the best things that people can do is take time out of their day and meditate/relax. I find that the 10-30 minutes a day that you sit down with your plant is a wonderful mind clearing activity.

 

[Stoner Jay]

Cadfael ..great great advise! ! I was so hesitant to start a grow journal online with the legalities, but stuff it..going to start one this evening. Thanks for your help, advise and suggestions so far !

And no jokes..I always spend a minimum 20 minutes with the plants. .observing them..I can totally zone out in them till my wife comes and knocks me back into reality. Haha. The best is smoking a Jay and stare into the greenage. Most relaxing feeling ever apart from smoking a fattie on the beach watching the ocean.

 

[Cadfael]

On posting pictures....

Do not use your phone. Use a digital camera. Upload them to your computer first, strip out all the personal information, then upload it to ICMag.

 

[Stoner Jay]

And say if a person doesn't have a digital camera ? Can you still use your phone, transfer to PC, strip information and upload ?

 

[Cadfael]

That I do not know. Let us hope that some kind techie will read this and give us the proper info.

I do know that phone will place location data on the picture.

And while most LEO (law enforcement officers) do not care about personal grows. In fact, most like the idea of people growing their own and not buying/selling and thus keeping money away from the black market. I know you are wanting your privacy, so I pass these tips along.

 

[Tri_Cho_Me]

On posting pictures....

Do not use your phone. Use a digital camera. Upload them to your computer first, strip out all the personal information, then upload it to ICMag.

Can you elaborate more on this? Is this only if you're posting directly from your phone? Or is it any picture form your phone?
I use mine, but then text it to an email address, which I then access via a PC and save to my desktop. Is that ok?

Thanks!

Tri_Cho_Me

 

[Tri_Cho_Me]

That I do not know. Let us hope that some kind techie will read this and give us the proper info.

I do know that phone will place location data on the picture.

And while most LEO (law enforcement officers) do not care about personal grows. In fact, most like the idea of people growing their own and not buying/selling and thus keeping money away from the black market. I know you are wanting your privacy, so I pass these tips along.

Sorry, just saw this...

 

[bigbadbiddy]

Regarding pictures:
You can use your mobile phone just like any other camera.
What is important is that you don't simply copy/paste the pics from your cam (mobile or other) to your computer and then upload them.
The pictures have metadata (gps coordinates etc.) stored on them and that will be traceable even after uploading it to say IC.

There are 2 simple workarounds to this issue:
1) Open the picture on your computer, take a screenshot (print screen button next to F12) and then open MS Paint or another program like it. Paste the picture into paint, crop it to your desire and save it as a .jpeg file. The metadata has been removed from the pic.

2) There is software that can do all of this for you. But you have to trust in the software. Do some googling on "removing metadata from images" or something like that. I myself went the paint route because I haven't shared/uploaded many pictures yet. I would say for anything up to 10 or 20 pics that is alright. If you want to do an entire grow log/journal, it would likely be smart to find a software to help you with stripping the metadata.



Now to the (imho) more interesting part:
Which seeds should you buy and which seedbanks are "good"?

Tough one buddy, very tough.
The market is full of bullshit and there are very few, actual breeders that do the lord's work. Most just cash in on the work of others, re-labelling, copying, stealing and selling as their own work.

A nice summary for the whole situation that has been thrown around quite a lot is: "The truth is in the seed".

Ultimately I agree with this statement. You will know which breeders know their work and do something and which are the ones that don't, once you grow out enough beans and compare.
But who wants to go through a lot of shitty seeds just to form their own opinion. I guess that's what forums like this are for.

I did close to half a year of research before I decided what seedbanks I consider as "good" or "honorable" or "professional" or "fair" or what you want to call it.
I also set myself a price line that I never crossed.

Let me share some pointers with you but be aware that this is my personal opinion that I came up after doing a loooot of research but nonetheless, this is not fact, just opinion:
1) I would never spend more than 5 bucks per seed. No matter the breeder, no matter the strain. It is just where I draw the line. Why? Because I know for a fact that there are primo genetics, as in competitive with the best of the best on the market, available for less than 5 bucks per seed. So why would I pay more? Keep in mind though that I am also not a brand guy. I would never buy an iPhone for 200 bucks more than a comparable phone from some other manufacturer, just because I am blinded by the brand. Others might disagree though.

2) Here are a few of the breeders that stuck out for me and/or that I purchased from.

- Ace Seeds/Cannabiogen (they are collaborating with a third breeder, forgot the name, they basically represent what is "right" with Spanish seed producers/breeders while there is a whooole lot wrong with what is going on there. Can trust all of them, prices are acceptable but on the high end (although they have great offers like Zamaldelica). You can find landrace strains here that have been kept pure and preserved, just adapted to indoor conditions. A rarity these days)
- Mr. Nice Seeds (highly recommended, they wouldn't be Tier 1 for me if I hadn't discovered their auction site. I bought a lot of stuff from them, careful, the auctions are addictive. You will get things like Black Widow (the original White Widow) for less than 2 bucks/seed. I bought over 50 seeds of Ash for something like 80 cents per seed. So far they are living up to their name)
- Bodhi, Karma Genetics, Connoisseur Genetics (these are 3 of the "new school" breeders that I deem reputable and alright in terms of price. I went with Karma but haven't grown them yet. If you are interested in Chemdawg genetics, the Diesels and the OG Kushes and Cookies and such, then these 3 will be your best bet, imho)
- BOG - bushy old grower (come here for all things bubblegum. if you don't live in the US or Canada, getting the beans to you will be a bitch though as you will pay close to double what our US/Canadian bretheren would pay for his gear)
- PeakseedsBC (a small Canadian independent guy that just made me a great offer and was a pleasure to do business with, very friendly, smart and business savvy. I like how his catalogue reads (not too many strains, just a fine selection of what tickles his fancy) and he had 2 of the strains I was highly interested in: Blueberry and C99)


But there are no definitive answers here, just opinions (and a few facts sprinkled in). If you read a bit in the forum and search a bit, there are tons of threads dedicated to "which seedbank" etc.

I would say stay away from feminized and autos. But why I would say that would be a whole other discussion xD

Also I would say: If you want that old dank White Widow, then go to Mr. Nice as they have the original (they rebranded it Black Widow after everyone and their mother claimed they had the original - to better distinguish themselves from the blinders).

 

[daveyhouse]

I use ( jstrip v3.3 ) on my pc after blue toothing pics over from phone to pc

 

[coconutcurry]

I would like to order seeds from altitude.
...

Obviously I would like the notorious white widow..will be ordering that from femaleseeds. As I would like one of the original dank WW.

Others I may be highly interested in :

Ak 47/48 ?
Northern lights
Papaya

Looking for short plants, as it's in a micro grow.

The AK-47 is a good choice for beginners. Easy to grow, a good yielder and produces strong weed. Also the White Russian (same breeder), which I would recommend instead of White Widow. White Russian is a cross of AK-47 and White Widow.The original White Widow like it was sold in the 90th is not available anymore. As far as I know, closest to the original White Widow is the Black Widow from Mr. Nice.

Choose AK-47 or White Russian. Both are from Serious Seeds and they offer very good and reliable seeds. The strains are very stable. Phenotyps will not differ much, what means literally every plant is good. There will be no 'hay-weed'. To keep them short top the plants. Start early after second or third internode and keep on topping. Search for 'topping tutorials'. And generally for beginners: Keep it simple. Don't overfertilize and don't overwater.

The AK-47 is still a good choice for beginners
https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?threadid=100875

and for the advanced growers
https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=101080

The AK takes some more days, because it's sativa mostly, but it's worth it. It is one of the fastes and easiest to grow sativa-mostly hybrids one can get.