KatKit's Incredible Journey - First Grow

[KatKit]

Hello everybody! I've been stalking these journals for the past four weeks, ever since a friend of mine handed me some old dead-looking seeds as a practical joke (we were debating prohibition). I can't even begin to say how long it's been except to say that I now wonder if the AARP sanctions prohibition since they have recently started to send me mail which i refuse to open lol.

Anyway, i can't thank everybody enough for all the education and help you have provided me! My seeds DID start growing and with all your help, i actually am starting to believe i can do this. Of course i've made every single "new grower mistake" you have listed, but those plants keep forgiving me and growing!

I plan to post some pictures tonight but for now I just wanted to start this and say thank you. I have about 40 plants going and know that's way too many, but who knew almost all those seeds would sprout! And as much as I've obsessed over them since the first day, i find it very difficult to end any of their lives lol. But i must figure out something soon because 40 is probably not a good "rookie" plan.

Indoors, unknown seeds, CFL lights, MG organic soil, but they look exactly like most of the pictures that are posted - at about four weeks. Except i don't think they are growing as fast as they should, and they don't smell. I keep waiting for the smell, no smell whatsoever which worries me. But then again, they feel like my children now so everything worries me lol.

Thank you again, i will post some pictures, and i really enjoy this website and the forums.

/K

 

[LiveTour]

Good luck KitKat, and I can't wait to see those pics!

 

[Wingman420]

KatKit and I am in for the show so lets grow!

 

[KatKit]

Well here we go! 26 days from sprout and I think maybe they aren't growing as fast as they should lol! I had them in the basement for a week and think maybe it was too cold. Do they look healthy? One of them seems more yellow than the others, is this normal? And they still don't smell, that is beginning to really worry me!
Thanks for any feedback, I'm really nervous about these babies -

 

[MountainHigh]

They look healthy, but look to be in stasis as 4 weeks and only that size is a good indication something is wrong (growing very slowly), cold can do it, wierd light cycles can do it too...

Try your best to keep them between 60 and 85 and I would get a timer and set it up for 18/6.

I read an interesting article about putting your mothers into statis, use 12/12 light and 3 times during their sleep cycle, give them light evenly spaced for 5 minutes each time. Make sure the light you give your babies is consistant, if it is off it is off. So odd light cycles and interruptions kinds mess up the girls.

Otherwise they look good.

 

[ConqueringLOJ]

Katkit,

They look nice and healthy to me. Great job so far! Also remember that less is more for a "rookie"...don't make it too complicated for yourself. Just give them the light they need, ph'd water when they are thirsty, and they will grow up just fine.

Also, don't worry that they don't smell yet. Some strains have very little to no scent untill they start to make flowers.

Aloha

 

[LotzOfTrycs]

What are your light cycles?

 

[KatKit]

Thank you MountainHigh! I'm pretty sure the 'something wrong' is me lol! I keep reading the "top 10 mistakes new growers make" and am pretty sure i've hit most of them. But the biggest mistake I made, i think, was moving them to my basement last week which is just way too cold and damp. That's when they seemed to slow down.

I moved them back upstairs yesterday and am hoping they will forgive me and start growing again -

 

[KatKit]

I downsized yesterday, almost broke my heart but after freezing them in the basement, i decided to keep only the ones that looked the strongest. I will downsize again because 18 is still too many, only this time I will probably "transfer" them to some woods and let the deer enjoy them. It is just too painful to kill them lol!
And thanks for the info on the smell, that one was really worrying me

 

[KatKit]

I'm running them on 18/6 light cycles now based on everything I've read. I said I was using CFL's but now that I've done more reading here on lights (I see that I should have taken more electrical engineering courses in college) I'm not using CFL's, i'm using High-Output T5 lights and some regular shop-type 6500K lights I picked up at Lowes.
Top 10 mistake #5 i think - spend too much money without having a clue what you're doing lol
I bought three Sun Blaze T5-24 High Output light systems and they are really nice, but i see I probably should have gone another route or need more. I'm still going to school (aka reading every thread i can on the subject) on lights. But it's slow going. As is evidenced by all the reading I've done and it wasn't until yesterday (when i looked at a picture) that i realized CFL stood for "compact" and were those light bulbs vs. tubes lol.

 

[KatKit]

I have a few more questions on the size of pots I should be using for an indoor grow. Of course no clue on what i'm growing, but everything I'm reading says 3-5 gal pot. Right now they are in 1 gal pots and those seem too big. I can't tell in most pictures how big the pots are, but I picked up a 5 gal pot the other day and it's HUGE! Will my plants outgrow their 1 gal pot?
THank you for all your help!!

 

[LotzOfTrycs]

I'm running them on 18/6 light cycles now based on everything I've read. I said I was using CFL's but now that I've done more reading here on lights (I see that I should have taken more electrical engineering courses in college) I'm not using CFL's, i'm using High-Output T5 lights and some regular shop-type 6500K lights I picked up at Lowes.
Top 10 mistake #5 i think - spend too much money without having a clue what you're doing lol
I bought three Sun Blaze T5-24 High Output light systems and they are really nice, but i see I probably should have gone another route or need more. I'm still going to school (aka reading every thread i can on the subject) on lights. But it's slow going. As is evidenced by all the reading I've done and it wasn't until yesterday (when i looked at a picture) that i realized CFL stood for "compact" and were those light bulbs vs. tubes lol.

The T5's are great and that is what I use. The plants really love it. I usually put my plants on 20/4 when they are seeds to about 4 weeks old, then I will switch to 18/6 until flowering. This is the light cycle I prefer because it works great for me.

From what you are describing, sounds like it is a temp issue if you are getting close to freezing, the plants don't like that. You should pick up a little space heater and since it is your first grow, don't try to do too much. Just water them, make sure the temp is good. You will learn the basics and can tweak different things you are doing in future grows. You will also know what you are looking at through different stages of growth.

When I first grew, I was lost, I used to think plants needed 12/12 through the whole stage of growth and I used 1 heat lamp bulb from a reptile shop. That is why I only pulled about 2-3 grams from the plant. I am still learning everyday and now can pull 1.5-2 oz per plant guaranteed.

Relax, take a toke, let nature take it's course and learn.

I would also recommend keeping a notepad that you can record everything you do to the plants. It will help you to learn from previous mistakes that you made.

 

[KatKit]

Thank you so much for the words of encouragement! I am now starting to keep a journal, this has become a fascinating hobby, who knew lol!
I moved them out of the basement over the weekend, repositioned the lights closer, turned a fan on, set that timer, read the How-To threads a thousand times, and spent half my day yesterday jumping around on Journals.
And in the space of less than two days, those babies apparently forgave me for all my newbee mistakes and are taking off!
First they all have brand new leaves and their older leaves are getting huge! Now i'm going to start obsessing about pot size lol. And the most *exciting* thing was that I can smell them now (I was worried about that too).
I hope they look healthy to all of you too, so I'm posting a few more pictures. You all are so helpful, i just love this site! Please let me know what you think!

 

[ConqueringLOJ]

Looking great Katkit! Good to see you are back on track. As for container size, a good rule of thumb is 1gal or container per month they will be growing. ie: 4 month grow = 4 gal container. 5 gal homedepot buckets work great!

 

[LotzOfTrycs]

5 gallon buckets are good. Foxfarm growing mediums are good too. I know a lot of people here prefer the FF ocean forest because the soil will allow some air to get down inside it, just like perlite does. I use Sunshine mix #4 which has perlite in it and contains no nutes. I have heard of people mixing 1 bag of FFOF with 1 brick of coco.

What I do for buckets is I start with a keg cup, when the sprout is 10-14 days out of soil I will transplant to a 2 gallon bucket. At about 5 weeks into veg I will transplant again to a 4 gallon bucket where they stay till harvest. I transplant 3 seperate times to allow the roots to build a good, tight root system. I would not reccomend planting more than 1 plant per pot, it will turn into a big mess if you have a problem with 1 plant, it won't spread to the other plants or if you have to pull 1 because it is a male.

 

[KatKit]

Thanks everybody for all the advice; i can't decide if i'm more stressed or more excited with these little plants. I have them in 1 gal pots now so I went out and found some 3 gal pots and they are HUGE! I have plenty of space; have them in a spare bedroom, but i think that's part of my problem. I think there is TOO much space and maybe I'm not concentrating the light enough.
I also still have too many plants. I cut down to 18 last week and 10 today because I don't have enough lights to go around. And then when i transplant them to 3 gal pots, i'm going to have to cut down more. I don't want this many but since it's bag seed, i have no idea what i'm getting AND i am terrified if I cut down too far, i'll be left with nothing but males lol. So i'm going to try to hang on to them and maybe I will go out and get more lights.
I think they are looking good, but will post pictures and would appreciate any feedback. They will be five weeks in a few days.

 

[KatKit]

I'd really like some advice on whether or not i should just start moving them to Flower stage? Are they big enough yet? I keep reading everyone's journal and it seems some do this fast; others wait a while. I want to end up with just a few plants but I'm afraid to 'down-size' anymore because i might not end up with any females. This is my first grow, i plan to get much better at this, but I just really want to end up with a female that I can clone. Any advice is greatly appreciated. I have learned so much on this board, spent a TON of time out here too lol!

 

[Green Utopia]

I'd really like some advice on whether or not i should just start moving them to Flower stage? Are they big enough yet? I keep reading everyone's journal and it seems some do this fast; others wait a while. I want to end up with just a few plants but I'm afraid to 'down-size' anymore because i might not end up with any females. This is my first grow, i plan to get much better at this, but I just really want to end up with a female that I can clone. Any advice is greatly appreciated. I have learned so much on this board, spent a TON of time out here too lol!

Hiya. Your plants are looking pretty healthy now. Looking back it seems the gals were a little slow out of the starting blocks, but they're up and running now.

As far as how long to veg - as long as you want/can. Depending on the pheno, the plant will stretch about 3x its current height during flower. 1 foot in veg = 3 foot tall at harvest. A good rule of thumb, however is to wait til you see pre-flowers - IF you have the space. There are two reasons for this: 1 - it will make it much easier to spot the males. 2 - The pre-flowers tell you the plant has matured in veg. They will look like little white hairs at the nodes. When you see those, you know the plant has established roots and is ready for whatever you wanna throw at her as far as nutes. After that any extra time is a bonus! 1 extra week in veg at that phase will add significantly to your yield. You can't extend the flowering period really, but you can extend the veg.

EDIT: not to be confused with the female hairs. I guess the pre-flowers really aren't hairs. They are more green as well. - Sorry if that's confusing.

It sounds like you are concerned about spreading out or buying more light. That is a valid concern. Not only horizontally but vertically as well.

Not sure if you're moving the light up for the pics, but if not, that sucker needs to be basically on top of the plants. A few inches away tops.

Depending on how many plants you keep, you will prolly want to invest in a bigger light for flowering. Think HID most likely.


Nice grow! Power to ya for throwing your hat in the ring!

 

[Green Utopia]

Cat - I'm a Kitty Cat

YouTube - cat i'm a kitty cat

 

[KatKit]

Papa Green! That damn kitty cat video made my day, funniest thing i've seen!!! Thank you!
And thanks for the advice too, I think I'm going to wait until i start seeing pre-flowers, that makes complete sense to me. Now i need a magnifying glass, lol, who KNEW there was so much studying and "tools" lol.
Thank you again, you all are amazing!! That's my southern twang of course -
/KK