First Grow - Just Kinda Happened - Total Noob!

[TourrettesGuy]

Normally, I don't grow. I'm really not as into weed as 90% of you on this site may be. I'm still working on the couple of grams i bought last month.

Last Friday a buddy and I went to take a look at a Jeep for sale. We ended up chatting with the guy for a good hour and said we'd come back tomorrow with a trailer and pick it up. So that next day we drop by with the truck and trailer to pick up the Jeep and we get chatting with this guy again, before I know it he's handed me 6 little weed plants that he didn't want.

I didn't really know what to do with them, so I spent the better part of all last weekend online looking up how to grow these little buggers. So, with my very limited horticultural experience, a 40 dollar budget and 6 scraggly looking sprouts, I've put together what I think is a pretty decent little home for these "guys"(not sure what they are yet)

Now through extensive googling I've come up with the basics for my little "operation" but there are still a few little questions I can't seem to find specifically so I've come here to pick your brains a little.

As it sits I have 7 little plants in their original containers in my closet situated under two 60 watt equivalent fluorescent bulbs. They are on a 18-6 light cycle set up with a timer, ventilation is adequate (I hope). I have been making sure not to over water them, and from the looks of it they are in potting soil of some sorts.

Now my game plan is to let the sprouts harden up a little, they were pretty sickly and weak coming home with me last Friday, but since then they've grown about an inch in height and thickened up quite substantially, probably happy to live under decent conditions. One more week and I will be transplanting them into their final home which will be 1 gal milk jugs with the tops cut open and some nutrient enriched potting soil. Although I am going to hold off transplanting the 4 little guys in the one pot, I do not think they will be ready in a week.

Now, I have a couple questions for you guys/gals.
1. I know i'm gonna need to get some air flow moving in and out of that closet, but what kind of air movement are we talking about? Should it feel slightly windy in the closet, or should it be barely noticeable but still more then no forced current? Keep in mind that heat is not an issue at this point because room temp is around 60 F and the florescent bulbs aren't gonna make it boil in there. Also where I live humidity hovers around 30% and rarely spikes past 40%. I'm sure that will have some effect on what kind of "wind" I need.

2. Ambient temperature: How much does ambient temperature effect growth? Room temp here is 15 c or around 60 f. Is it worth my time and electricity to add a little heat to the mix? Or will they grow "adequately" at 60?

3. How old do you think these little guys are? all of these photos are from the same time except the first one with them in the back of my truck, that was from a week ago. Knowing the approximate age will really help me set up a more detailed game plan. I'm too much of a newbie to even guess at their age.

4. Lighting: are those two little bulbs gonna be sufficient or should i suck it up and add/swap in a couple of 100w equivalent fluorescents? Keep in mind I do not wish to spend big money on "professional" lighting. I have Fluorescent bulbs and light sockets, what should be the total output?


Obviously I don't expect much or any bud from this little setup, but from anyone who's tinkered with a grow with similar parameters, what kind of yield did you get per female plant?
Before last Friday I had never seen a real life pot plant before, so I'm not really sure what to expect in terms of size or growth rate and pics online rarely help because the plants depicted are almost always of unknown age and from unknown grow conditions. If anyone can throw me some rough numbers or rates on what to expect from a setup similar to this that would be appreciated as well.

I've got nothing to loose at this point, but not gonna lie I'm kinda looking forward to seeing this little "accident" come to fruition.

Cheers!

 

[BigNode81]

Re: First Grow-Just Kinda Happened-Total Noob!

nice mate.
how do i post pics or make my own thread

 

[TourrettesGuy]

Re: First Grow-Just Kinda Happened-Total Noob!

it's a well known secret for the technologically advanced.

 

[sshamish]

Looks good man, I'd try to separate the plants which are in the same pot and having some fluros is good, keep them close to the plants (1-2 inches) and just have a hit of fun with this grow, don't be expecting ounces on ounces just yet, use this first grow to tinker and learn and slowly build up experience and buy equipment when you can, soon enough you'll be Jorge cervantes


1LUV

 

[Radogast]

One of the best CFL only grows I have seen is SweetSue's First Grow. Sweetsue's First Grow - Stealthy Trio of Autos Under CFLs

It's an older, no longer active thread, and was a very busy thread, but there is a lot of good info and documentation.

I started out with 4 foot, 4-tube 216W CFLs - with those lights, you could veg all 7 plants to 2' tall and 2' wide.
I have no experience with the smaller CFL lights like you are using and SweetSue was using, but with thse two lights, I imagine you can veg 2 plants to 2' tall, but only 6 inches wide because the light does not spread wide out to the sides.

I used the word veg for the first part of growing, where you bulk up and build lots of leaves. For the flowering phase, you need about 3x as much light as for vegging.

If you want to grow all of these plants, and your closet is 4' wide, I suggest you take the simplest route and buy a single 4-tube 4' T5 CFL light for $100-150, flowering spectrum (2700K.) Add a timer, a pair of adjustable light hangers and a recirculating fan and you have spend $150-200.

I haven't done flowering under CFLs, but I suspect this will yield 1/2 oz to 3/4 oz per female plant and take 4-6 months.

For fertilizer, you either spend about $200 per grow on a set of 'nutes' or $200 to build a good quality soil that requires only water and can be reused multiple times.

- - -

If you will need to keep the aroma down during flower (because you don't want your room smelling like pot all the time,) you will need to spend another $150-200 on a small carbon filter, a good in-line fan, a vent, and air ducting.

- - - -

If you would like to grow 3-6oz of marijuana, harvested once every 4-6 weeks instead of once every 4-6 months, spend another $400-450 on a 4x4' dedicated flowering tent, a clonebucket, and a nice LED (say a Mars Hydro reflector 192.)

 

[Radogast]

Since I answered question 4 first, continuing in reverse order...

4. You probably need 3-4 hanging CFLs per plant - the costs quickly add up to where one tube fixture is cheaper and easier than many small hanging lights that need adjustment twice a week.

3. Your plants range in age from 3-4 days old to about 3 weeks old.

2. Marijuana prefers human temperatures 65-85 degree F,

1. A fan that would be a confortable breeze on a human is good for your plants - I like oscillating fans.

 

[TourrettesGuy]

Hey thanks for all you input guys! I will be transplanting the 3 larger plants into final containers tomorrow! i have thrown in an extra 200watts of cfl lighting to brighten things up and ive set up a small fan that lets the whole closet breathe a little. as for smell, i personally have no sense of smell and if anyone else in the house complains i'll direct air current out the near by window which should be enough... i hope.

 

[Radogast]

Here is JimmyJ's active CFL only grow JimmieJ's First Grow - Closet - Soil - Bag Seed - CFLs

It appears, smell is not so much of an issue in Canada these days. In most of the USA there would be major risks from the police and/or theft of plants.

 

[trichadelic63]

I would add also that if smell is an issue with such a small grow, just buy some ONA gel. its cheap, works wonders. I generally use them in conjunction with carbon filters from the middle of flower on, as smell is definitely an issue where I live. And then my whole apartment smells like clean laundry all the time.

 

[TourrettesGuy]

Haha yeah, the cops have better things to do unless you do something else to piss em off. Pretty sure if the neighbours caught wind of the smell we'd just set up a campfire once the weeds done and pass around the joint. Things get mighty neighbourly up here!

 

[Radogast]

I would add also that if smell is an issue with such a small grow, just buy some ONA gel. its cheap, works wonders. I generally use them in conjunction with carbon filters from the middle of flower on, as smell is definitely an issue where I live. And then my whole apartment smells like clean laundry all the time.

Good advice there trichadelic! I always forget about the ONA gel. I tend to look for "do it once and forget about it for a long, long time" type solutions. Thanks for mentioning the easy, cheaper method

 

[dr.h00k]

...While I have never heard of this product...I just spent a bit of time doing a quick search...seem's that it works...but...one article warns of having it in the grow room without being in an exhaust only situation, although used outside the room might be somewhat effective(coulda' used it in my bathroom fan exhaust ducts...skunks under the shed excuse is getting old...lolool...)...reason being,it binds with the plant itself and can affect the flavour and taste of the final product!?...TG, you experience that?...cheerz...h00k...I should mention I just invested in a carbon scrubber and should I have miscalculated on blower/room size...this could be a good supplement...gracias...