Come Grow With Me: A Beginners Guide

[Buds Buddy]

Well I'm interested in purchasing 1 big 10 - 12 Bar LED Grow Light that is somewhere between 650 - 1000 watts. Looking for one that says it will Flower a 5 x 5 since I couldn't care less about the Veg area. To me that's a bullshit number they should leave out. I mean, the plants get bigger not smaller so only the Flower area matters.
I went through all our sponsors to see what they have to offer. Perfect Sun, Medic Grow & Mars all have something close; but not perfect.
PhotonTek is coming out with an X1000 that sounds pretty good; but they didn't have all the Specs yet. I messaged them to try to get more info.
So far the most promising of the lights I checked out seems to be the Budget LED "DEMON" model. I just don't like the $1000 price tag on it. $800 I'd jump on it. But for $1000 I'll keep shopping to see if I find something comparable.
I'm not sure I can find a nice bar type light that will flower a 5 x 5 for $800 or less; but I'll keep looking as I wont need it for 4 - 6 weeks anyway.
So if anyone has any suggestions I'm all ears.

 

[Nunyabiz]

Well could build it yourself pretty easily.
The only lights I've seen come close to what you could build yourself for probably a couple of hundred more is the Atreum

 

[JamesBong502]

It seems like building a LED is the way to go. I haven’t done it yet but doing some research. You get a lot more for the money.
The price of LEDs is a pill I’m not yet ready to swallow.

 

[Buds Buddy]

I would like to build my own; but not sure what to buy or where to buy it. Not sure how many watts I'll need for a 5 x 5 light of this style. I'm guessing the light strips would have to be about 4' long & I'd need 10 - 12 of them & ? on the drivers ? Then knowing what to get as far as rails & connectors ? Putting it together seems like the easy part. Knowing exactly what to buy is the hard part. I have a really bad habit of buying the wrong thing & usually by the time I have what I wanted, I end up paying more; because of the buying mistakes. I've been bit so much I get scared to pull the trigger on things I'm unsure of.

 

[LizardMate]

Awesome plants man. Learnt a shitload in here. Abit hectic with that one falling over! I hope it make its stronger if anything. Is that a rare thing to see happen? Im just starting the flower process of my very first grow. Wondering if i should take measures to stop somthing like that happening myself.

 

[Buds Buddy]

Awesome plants man. Learnt a shitload in here. Abit hectic with that one falling over! I hope it make its stronger if anything. Is that a rare thing to see happen? Im just starting the flower process of my very first grow. Wondering if i should take measures to stop somthing like that happening myself.

It was my own fault. I should have trimmed off all the twig branches before I started flower. But I wanted to see what happened if I just let her grow. I found out .... lol. I got a shit load of popcorn bud on the bottom; but some good size nugs up top. No big ass cola's on this one though because I didn't trim her for it. I should be harvesting that one some time this week. I just tried a bunch of different ways of training & topping this grow to see what the results would be. I picked up a couple things I liked along the way & will repeat this grow.
Right now I'm waiting for my Cherry on Top to show their sex so I can post pics of each. Hopefully, I'll get 1 of each; but I wont complain if all females.
Glad to hear the journal is helping out. If you see any newbie's out there struggling send them over to check it out.
I'm always happy to see someone be successful on their 1st try.

 

[Buds Buddy]

Be back soon with an update. Have to resize pics & all to post them. So smoke a fatty & relax !

 

[Buds Buddy]

 

[Buds Buddy]

So here we are in the 5 x 5. 3 - Peyote Wi Fi Clones are in the back because I know they're fems. 6 Cherry on Top are up front to determine sex. They've been on 12/12 for 6 days so we should know sex in about a week. All 9 are being fed at 4 gr. per gal. & 2 ml. of Cal Mag per gal. Next feeding I'll add 1 ml. per gal. of Terpinator. I never increase both at once. After that feeding it will be 4.5 gr. of MC & 1 ml. of Terp. Then 4.5 gr. & 1.5 ml. of Terp. Eventually I'll get close to 6 gr. MC & 3 ml. of Terp. That's about as high as I go. That usually adds up to 1150 ppm by the end.

"Whoo them some sexy ladies ! Do you think they'll show us their DOOBIES ? "

And here is the 3 x 3 tent. 6 Cherry on Top Clones in 1 gal. Only 1 of the Glue Cookie Clones rooted so far so that's in a 1 gal. Other 2 are starting to root. They all get 1 gr. MC & 1 ml. Cal Mag per gal.
And the 3 in the 3 gal. pots are the Glue Cookies I started from seed. They are being fed 3 gr. MC & 2 ml. of Cal Mag per gal.

BREAK TIME .... Smoke Em' If You Got Em' !

 

[Buds Buddy]

So here we go with the drunken girl who can't stand up straight on her own. She has pretty much quit growing & is ripening up. She will get chopped sometime this week. My pics aren't the best with the HPS light but hopefully you can see how frosty things look. Outsides of the buds have lots of frost & even the fan leaves have quite a bit.
So here she is in all her glory .... lol .... Miss Peyote Wi Fi.

Next up is the Bruce Banger. So why did they give a Female plant a name like Bruce ? They trying to Jinx us ?
She's small & stocky but putting out some nice looking bud. So Far, So Good, So I'm Happy !

 

[Buds Buddy]

And here we have the White Widow. She's also stacking up pretty nice considering all I put her through. Man, looking at all these plants frosting up has got me dying to try it.

 

[Buds Buddy]

And here is ... well, what is suppose to be Gorilla Girl. Like I said before, she's growing totally different then the last 2 times I grew it. Never the less, the bud she is putting out looks pretty good so far. Not a lot of it, but nice frosty nugs.

And we'll round it out with a couple group shots.

All I can say is "Blaze The Lord" for Marijuana !

 

[Buds Buddy]

High there ! Took some pics yesterday so I figured I'd post them. These 1st 3 pics are the 5 x 5 tent. It looks like they are starting to show sex as I think I see a couple white hairs on some of them starting to emerge. Should know this weekend. I wish I was good enough to tell the sex early. They say you can see signs of a male plant 3 weeks into Veg & a Female at 4 weeks in Veg. I'm watching the growth very closely this time so I can start learning how to determine sex early. It would be nice not wasting soil, nutes & time on males if I can get good at it.
Anyway, I haven't kept track of time as usual; but I think these girls have been on 12/12 about 10 days now. I'll do 1 more trim job on them to remove anything from the lower branches that grew back from the trim job 2 weeks ago.
I'm going for larger Colas up top this time & less small bud.
I'm currently feeding these girls 2 ml. of Cal Mag, 1 gr. of Sweet Candy & 4 gr. of MC per gal. Decided to go with Sweet Candy instead of Terpinator for the Tent Girls.
Here's a few pics :

And here is the 3 x 3 tent. The 3 Glue Cookies are about ready for an up-pot as roots are starting to come out the bottom. Trying to hold off till I can move some plants around. Just waiting for the Peyote Wi Fi to finish so I can make it all happen. 3 of the 5 gal. pots in a 3 x 3 along with 9 more in 1 gal. just doesn't sound like a good equation to me.
Anyway, all the Glue Cookie Clones are now in 1 gal. pots. No more Clones for now. I can't Thank @Emilya enough for the tutorial on making a Bubble Cloner. 100% success ! I can't believe it after all the trouble I had trying to clone other ways. I was at maybe a 25% success rate before so I'm thrilled with this Cloner. Going to make a Bigger & Better one soon.
So here a the ladies vegging in the 3 x 3 :

 

[Emilya Green]

The 3 Glue Cookies are about ready for an up-pot as roots are starting to come out the bottom.

Looking great in there! This is my only criticism. This is never a good reason to uppot. I have seen roots get lucky and shoot out of the bottom chasing the water, in only 4 days in a solo cup, and it certainly wasn't ready for transplant. Monitoring the water usage, so you can "see" how thick the rootball has become and if you have formed a rootball... that is how to grow the strongest plants.

 

[Buds Buddy]

Pretty embarrassed to even show this girl; but reluctantly, I will. She's just looks like a total disaster ! But I see no signs of Hermie's so just letting her go. She isn't really putting on much weight which kind of worries me. Kind of wondering if it could be making seeded buds instead. Hey, @Nunyabiz , is it possible for buds to produce seeds without showing Balls or Nanners ? I don't see anything, but the buds aren't swelling as much as they usually do.
Anyway, I'm still feeding her at 6 gr. MC, 3 ml. of Terpinator & 3 ml. Cal Mag per gal. She keeps building frost up so not sure wish way to go with her. I checked Trichs last night & we are about 75% Cloudy with a little Amber & a little clear so I want to leave her 1 more week as long as she doesn't show any Hermie signs.

This is the Bruce Banger. Not much to say really. She's doing great. Still has a few weeks to go.

This is the White Widow. I'm so pleased to finally get a White Widow to grow. Only took 4 tries ... lol. Not sure if it was the seeds or me. It was a few years ago & I think I may have been over watering back then. She also has a little ways to go.

 

[Bill284]

Pretty embarrassed to even show this girl; but reluctantly, I will. She's just looks like a total disaster ! But I see no signs of Hermie's so just letting her go. She isn't really putting on much weight which kind of worries me. Kind of wondering if it could be making seeded buds instead. Hey, @Nunyabiz , is it possible for buds to produce seeds without showing Balls or Nanners ? I don't see anything, but the buds aren't swelling as much as they usually do.
Anyway, I'm still feeding her at 6 gr. MC, 3 ml. of Terpinator & 3 ml. Cal Mag per gal. She keeps building frost up so not sure wish way to go with her. I checked Trichs last night & we are about 75% Cloudy with a little Amber & a little clear so I want to leave her 1 more week as long as she doesn't show any Hermie signs.

This is the Bruce Banger. Not much to say really. She's doing great. Still has a few weeks to go.

This is the White Widow. I'm so pleased to finally get a White Widow to grow. Only took 4 tries ... lol. Not sure if it was the seeds or me. It was a few years ago & I think I may have been over watering back then. She also has a little ways to go.

Can you get a better shot of your problem child. Its too yellow to tell anything about her. I'd really like to know what's going on. Genetic? Or Environmental?

 

[Buds Buddy]

And here is the Gorilla Girl. 1st plant I grew that looked like this one. Never the less, I think she looks kind of cool since I'm not use to getting anything like this in my grows. I still think it's something else & they got a seed mixed in at the seed bank. It's the only GG that came out this way & I've grown it a couple times; so who knows. As long as it's good .... Who Cares .... right ?

As usual, a couple of group shots ....

 

[Buds Buddy]

Can you get a better shot of your problem child. Its too yellow to tell anything about her. I'd really like to know what's going on. Genetic? Or Environmental?

I'll try to get some during lights on today. Doubt it's environmental because the other 3 plants are fine. This was all my mistake not being experienced with 10 gal. pots & vegging for over 8 weeks & then not trimming it up before flower.
Just way too many small branches that couldn't hold up. I topped this girl 1st between the 4th & 5th node. Then Topped the 4 branches when they grew out at the 3rd node. Them topped each of those branches that grew out at their 3rd nodes. Yes, I over did it big time. Trying to beat my best yield at 11.1 oz. on a plant. I want that 1 - lb. plant .... Indoors without SCROG .... lol. Anyway, I feel I have nobody to blame but myself for this mess.
I'm not really worried if this plant gets seeds; but I don't want it spreading pollen to the other plants.

 

[Bill284]

And here is the Gorilla Girl. 1st plant I grew that looked like this one. Never the less, I think she looks kind of cool since I'm not use to getting anything like this in my grows. I still think it's something else & they got a seed mixed in at the seed bank. It's the only GG that came out this way & I've grown it a couple times; so who knows. As long as it's good .... Who Cares .... right ?

As usual, a couple of group shots ....

I just love looking at your girls. So neat clean and well organized. You give me something to strive for my friend. Thats alot of work on one lady, I did that on an outdoor girl this summer. Worked well.

 

[Buds Buddy]

I started getting my drying room ready for harvest. My grandfather use to can fruits, veggies & Honey before he passed away so I inherited a buttload of jars. Still have 2 - 3 boxes of jars in the shed 2 years later. My friends like it when I give them weed in jars with a Humidity Packet in it so surprised I still have so many.
As you can see I use Shower Curtain Hooks for drying also. I also have a drying rack that will hang in the corner where it's sitting. I use a fan & filter for smell but just recirculate the air for the most part. It's sitting next to the door & there's about an inch gap under the door so it should suck in some fresh air too.