Started growing weed

[SlugButter]

I’ve been clean from marijuana for a couple months, but I’ve decided to start growing myself Instead of buying it at the shops. We just voted in favor of weed legalization here. I’ve decided to grow one plant in a store bought hydroponics system I just purchase, another in a homemade hydroponics system I am making myself, and another in a 10 gallon pot of dirt, all in the same homemade grow box, using the same seeds in each one. I understand the lighting cycles and have a basic understanding of how to move it from vegetative growth to flowering stage, etc. I will be starting off growing an indica strain, yet to be determined which exact one yet. Any advice on major things to do, or not do would be appreciated. This will be my first attempt at growing marijuana, but I have grown many veggies with some success. Any suggestions are more than welcome.

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[blazian87 10+ year member]

Congratz man. It's fairly easy but also easy to mess it all up. Are you going with LED or HPS? I've always been told not to mix hydro with soil because it might lead to bug infestation. Lady bugs are great way to solve that problem if you do come across that. Starting from seeds is usually not ideal but if that's the only option then it's understandable. You already waste 2 months and no guarantees its a female. Look into getting clones locally. Also with hydro, it's recommended you flush with water about 2 weeks prior to harvesting. One of the most overlooked thing of the whole process is actually the curing process. You can have dank buds and ruin it within days if you try to rush the curing process. check out growweedeasy dot com for more growing tips.

 

[Popwarhomie 5,000+ posts]

Never been into weed myself but interested in the growing process. If it were legal here I would try growing.

 

[blazian87 10+ year member]

If you're gonna do multiple at a time, make sure they are either on the same schedule or have absolutely darkness when they are "sleeping". Can lead into hermies if not dealt with correctly.

 

[blazian87 10+ year member]

Grow sideways, not upwards for best yield.

 

[SlugButter]

I’m going LED, and since I’m a cheap bastard, I’m making my own grow light. I read that vegetation stage needs less light, and flowering stage needs more, so for each plant I will build my own fixture with 6 bulbs of 30 watts each so I can adjust the amount of light manually. The seeds will probably be mailed to me from a friend in Colorado from one of their shops. Surely they are feminized? The climate here is one of my worries. I’m in Arizona, so it’s extremely hot, and I will be growing in my wood shop that is swamp cooled. Kinda worried about mold growing. I have a lot of reading to do on the curing process for sure.

 

[SlugButter]

Yeah, I am going to use a lattice and manually feed them through sideways as it grows.

 

[SlugButter]

Never been into weed myself but interested in the growing process. If it were legal here I would try growing.

I’ve been smoking for over 10 years, but decided to take a break for 6 months or so. Tired of the game of finding it and sitting in parking lots waiting on potheads who are never on time. Lol

 

[blazian87 10+ year member]

I’m going LED, and since I’m a cheap bastard, I’m making my own grow light. I read that vegetation stage needs less light, and flowering stage needs more, so for each plant I will build my own fixture with 6 bulbs of 30 watts each so I can adjust the amount of light manually. The seeds will probably be mailed to me from a friend in Colorado from one of their shops. Surely they are feminized? The climate here is one of my worries. I’m in Arizona, so it’s extremely hot, and I will be growing in my wood shop that is swamp cooled. Kinda worried about mold growing. I have a lot of reading to do on the curing process for sure.

With led you wanna go with as much power as you can practically. You also need to understand the light spectrum. You want to get as much blue light during veg growth and then when you transition to flower then you want to add red into the blue spectrum which will make it a purple spectrum and then eventually lead into full red spectrum. This will give you best results. With led, you don't have to worry about temperature as much but yeah high temps can lead into high humidity which is bad for them. Make sure to focus on good ventilation. Most seeds are not feminized unless they are designed that way. Fem seeds are not really worth it anyway cuz it's so pricey and they give you less seeds. the better option is to grow like 10 reg seeds, and maybe 50% of them will be fem, then kill the rest and make a separate mother plant with it's own enclosure and everything, then start cloning. That way, you'll be set for the future. hps is actually cheaper than led overall if you're only planning to do this short term but other wise you save money and A/C costs in the long run with led.

 

[audioholic 5,000+ posts]

The traditional school of thought is first time growers should start with dirt, and move on to hydroponics or aeroponics only after they've mastered dirt. This would also give you time to get your enclosure, lighting and ventilation dialed in before tackling hydro.

As for growing out seeds until they sex, that can be a tricky task in a state that only allows 6 plants per adult. My for personal consumption system that worked best for me was a mother plant grown for clones, and a separate growing enclosure for the vegging and flowering plants. One mother and 5 clones is what Id do if I lived in Az and was growing.

My advice for a first time grower... cleanliness of the growing area. Ideally the growing area is separate from your living space. I even changed to clean/quarantined clothes before entering the growing space. And closely inspect any new plant/clone you bring into the growing space. If you ever get spider mites, you will understand why Im telling you this. This is a lot of work, but much less work than trying to eradicate spider mites once you've got them.

Also if you haven't already, you should consider a filtration system for the ventilation. Unless you live in the middle of nowhere and never have guests. Even if its legal, the smell can attract unwanted attention.

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

Id rather grow shrooms. Much easier

 

[SlugButter]

The traditional school of thought is first time growers should start with dirt, and move on to hydroponics or aeroponics only after they've mastered dirt. This would also give you time to get your enclosure, lighting and ventilation dialed in before tackling hydro.

As for growing out seeds until they sex, that can be a tricky task in a state that only allows 6 plants per adult. My for personal consumption system that worked best for me was a mother plant grown for clones, and a separate growing enclosure for the vegging and flowering plants. One mother and 5 clones is what Id do if I lived in Az and was growing.

My advice for a first time grower... cleanliness of the growing area. Ideally the growing area is separate from your living space. I even changed to clean/quarantined clothes before entering the growing space. And closely inspect any new plant/clone you bring into the growing space. If you ever get spider mites, you will understand why Im telling you this. This is a lot of work, but much less work than trying to eradicate spider mites once you've got them.

Also if you haven't already, you should consider a filtration system for the ventilation. Unless you live in the middle of nowhere and never have guests. Even if its legal, the smell can attract unwanted attention.

I do live in the middle of nowhere, and have a large tough shed separate from the house, but I’ve already started building a filtration system, not for smell, but because I work in the shed building boxes and cabinets and I don’t want my ventilation system blowing sawdust and paint fumes into the grow box. Bringing in outside air while simultaneously not allowing light pollution in is proving to be a little difficult. Probably have to us a little ductwork and do some testing for unwanted light coming through it. The enclosure is just some 2x4 framing with 1/4 inch drywall on the outside and silver backed styrofoam insulation on the inside. It’s basically a 10 foot by 4 foot room in the back corner of the shed.

 

[THATpurpleKUSH 5,000+ posts]

I can harvest at least 4oz from roughly 3.5sq ft (20x28) on 168w worth of 100w household LED bulbs. Ive been doing closets grows for years.

Last grow I did 2yrs ago

My yield per sq footage rivals larger scale operations but i have mine optimized for space and efficiency. Heat is my enemy but i have a 4 inch inline blower that pulls the low amount of heat generated by the LEDs.

 

[SlugButter]

marijuana plants sure are pretty.

 

[THATpurpleKUSH 5,000+ posts]

Avoid nutrients from General Hydroponics/General Organics, its owned by big Ag specifically Monsanto.

Botanicare is another one to avoid, another corporate Ag product owned by Scotts/Miracle Grow which is under the Monsanto umbrella.

Advanced Nutrients has a lot of marketing hype but the product is legit, I've had solid yields with them.

Humboldt Nutrients is good from what I've heard, I've used some of their supplement stuff but not the main line.

Vegamatrix is good, its all plant based and developed by Kyle Kushman the guy who created strawberry cough. Vegamatrix has been used by cup winning growers in Colorado on strains of Strawberry Cough that clocked over 30% THC. I used it on the second to last grow I did, no complaints

Most recently I tried Cannabis Gold and had great results, its a part system with a very low cost to run all 5 parts.

My buddy uses Canna, his grow shop swears by it, I have yet to try. He's a licensed medical caregiver with about 15 plants in 5 gallon buckets on 6 1k double end hps lights lol. His yields are stellar.

 

[THATpurpleKUSH 5,000+ posts]

Some grow tips:

Invest in grow books, The Cannabis Grow Bible is excellent and Marijuana Garden Saver by Ed Rosenthal is another must have. It helps troubleshoot if/when problems arise. Everything from nutrient deficiency by element to bugs etc.

The Cannabis Grow Bible: The Definitive Guide to Growing Marijuana for Recreational and Medical Use (Ultimate Series): Green, Greg: 9781931160582: Amazon.com: Books

The Cannabis Grow Bible: The Definitive Guide to Growing Marijuana for Recreational and Medical Use (Ultimate Series) [Green, Greg] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. The Cannabis Grow Bible: The Definitive Guide to Growing Marijuana for Recreational and Medical Use (Ultimate...

www.amazon.com

Amazon.com: Marijuana Garden Saver: Handbook for Healthy Plants: 9780932551917: Stitch, J. C., Rosenthal, Ed: Books

Amazon.com: Marijuana Garden Saver: Handbook for Healthy Plants: 9780932551917: Stitch, J. C., Rosenthal, Ed: Books

www.amazon.com

Keep a journal! Log date, time, temp, humidity, observations, nutrient mixes, every single little thing!

You need a thermometer and hygrometer to measure temp and humidity.

If you are serious about growing and want to learn, get a PPM meter, they are inexpensive ~$25

One I use: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B007KDYOMU/?tag=caraudiocom-20

Get a PH pen as well (starting around ~$25 and up)

I use this one: https://milwaukeeinstruments.com/ph-tester/

Your grow area will need adequate airflow in the form of intake and exhaust ventilation as well as ability to circulate airflow and create wind across the plant.

You will need some sort of filtration for smell when you enter the bloom stage...it gets really skunky!

Never use tap water, always used reverse osmosis or water that has been filtered or purified to ppm of 0 or near.

Growing is the easy part

Drying and curing is what makes or breaks the terpenes you have worked for months to develop and is what ultimately affects the quality of your finished product.

 

[SlugButter]

Avoid nutrients from General Hydroponics/General Organics, its owned by big Ag specifically Monsanto.

Botanicare is another one to avoid, another corporate Ag product owned by Scotts/Miracle Grow which is under the Monsanto umbrella.

Advanced Nutrients has a lot of marketing hype but the product is legit, I've had solid yields with them.

Humboldt Nutrients is good from what I've heard, I've used some of their supplement stuff but not the main line.

Vegamatrix is good, its all plant based and developed by Kyle Kushman the guy who created strawberry cough. Vegamatrix has been used by cup winning growers in Colorado on strains of Strawberry Cough that clocked over 30% THC. I used it on the second to last grow I did, no complaints

Most recently I tried Cannabis Gold and had great results, its a part system with a very low cost to run all 5 parts.

My buddy uses Canna, his grow shop swears by it, I have yet to try. He's a licensed medical caregiver with about 15 plants in 5 gallon buckets on 6 1k double end hps lights lol. His yields are stellar.

I hear ya about Monsanto. We just finished working for those bastards, doing some work at their new Bayer facility in Marana AZ. I over bid the job on purpose, and still got it. Absolutely massive grow facility they built here, and super secretive. We worked in the office building, and we were completely barred from seeing the inside of the rest of the facility. We were not allowed to take our cell phones out of our pockets while on site, and taking pictures was an automatic banning for the entire company returning to the site. They were more secure than when we work at the air force base.

 

[SlugButter]

The small hydroponics system I bought came with some fertilizer made by “FoxFarm”. A 6-4-4 mixture. They gave me a choice between 3 different ones, and since I didn’t research before I went, I just guessed.

 

[SlugButter]

The water I will be using will be filtered through a homemade filter I made with some mesh, cheese cloth and charcoal in a 4 inch pvc pipe. Hopefully that does the trick. I already have some ph test strips from my days doing maintenance for pools. I’m so damn cheap, lol

 

[THATpurpleKUSH 5,000+ posts]

That might not be enough filtration. Something I noticed with Britas is that they seem to lower ph.

I used test strips on my first grow, I would not recommend them, they are not accurate enough. You need something with a clear range between 5.5 and 6.5.

Its also a good idea to get ph up and ph down solutions or at least ph up and white distilled vinegar.

You can test grocery store bottled water gallons or buy RO water from the grocery store for around $.30-.50/gal

Fox Farm is average, nothing stellar about their stuff imo.

6-4-4 is a general purpose veg fertilizer. You will need a bloom fertilizer for later in the grow cycle.

What kind of lights are you planning on using? Veg cycle uses a blue spectrum and bloom cycle uses a red spectrum of light. I use daylight 5500k and soft white 2700k light bulbs. They make specific light bulbs with the exact spectrums plants need but I've had great luck with my low cost setup so I haven't tried much else.