My First Grow Ever! I'm Excited!

Mngrowman said:
Good luck sir! just remember to turn off geo tag in your phones camera options! Most androids its an opt in, but from what i hear iphones you have to turn it off! :welcome:
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Good Advice! :thumb:

Let it be known that the 420 upload routine strips it as well. But I will preach always CYA ...
 
What do you mean by strip your pictures? And why would I need to do that? I'm confused, but what else is new?
I have another issue now as well. I cant seem to keep my ph down. I leave my water out for 24 hrs, then I still hafta add a significant amout of distilled white vinegar to it to get it down around 6.4, I then add my nutrients which doesnt change it much and it is then ready to be added to the system, or so I thought.... I checked my ph bout an hr ago approx 24 hrs after I added it to the system and it was back to 7.7. I nearly shat myself! I was so upset because ever since I transplanted that test plant into the new unit that I preped and made sure I kept the water added at an optimal level, just to find it back at 7.7. I'm absolutely livid about all this bs... I spent a lot of time trying to fix that for f'n nothing it seems. Where do I go from here??? More I talk about it the more upset I get so I had better stop here for now before i put a hole in something. Need to smoke, bout to go postal. If I cant stop this water catasrophy (sp) I'm up shits creek...
 
Most new phones(any Iphone ore andriod or win7) puts were the picture was taken by adding its GPS position within the picture so if its turned on when you take a picture and upload to your computer the GPS coordinates are in the JPG file. About your water you can either buy RO water from your local supermarket should be about $1 if you use their jugs or you can bring your own and it should be cheaper or you can buy an RO filter off amazon in the range of $150-300 which would be around 50-100 gallons water a day with a ph of about 6.8-7.2(please correct me if im wrong this is just what i have read).
 
first-tymer said:
I cant seem to keep my ph down. I leave my water out for 24 hrs, then I still hafta add a significant amout of distilled white vinegar to it to get it down around 6.4, I then add my nutrients which doesnt change it much and it is then ready to be added to the system, or so I thought.... I checked my ph bout an hr ago approx 24 hrs after I added it to the system and it was back to 7.7. I nearly shat myself! I was so upset because ever since I transplanted that test plant into the new unit that I preped and made sure I kept the water added at an optimal level, just to find it back at 7.7. I'm absolutely livid about all this bs... I spent a lot of time trying to fix that for f'n nothing it seems. Where do I go from here??? More I talk about it the more upset I get so I had better stop here for now before i put a hole in something. Need to smoke, bout to go postal. If I cant stop this water catasrophy (sp) I'm up shits creek...
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Let me see if I can straighten it out for you.

You take your water and add the nutes, then you ph it. Give it a little time to settle and check again. Adjust if needed and wait again. It will fluctuate daily.
 
okay guys, I guess I am just going to hafta buy some distilled water from the grocery store for the time being. It is gonna be a little expensive in the long run though... I will also add nutrients first although they didnt appear to change the ph much when I added them after and checked again like I was before. I'm just pissed cause now I have to prep a whole nother f'n waterfarm unit, rinse the f'n clay pellets again which is a mess, get my water to a good level again after I go buy water and I should probably even put it in another rapid rooter since the ph in that one is off now as well... DAMNIT
 
As for my pictures go, I'm not worried one bit. Like I mentioned before I am completely legal. They can watch me all day long and unless its the feds, would just be wasting their time. I don't think anything I plan on doing will ever make me a target on a federal level. If they come to my neck of the woods their are far bigger fish to fry even in the medicinal community. Although I find it interesting that they can do that with a picture, very interesting. Guess I don't watch enough new episodes of law n order. Thank you all for the advise both about the pictures and the plants, I hope to have pics up soon. Hope to get my new little girls under the light and into the systems about a week from now, but I have seen three of them pop their heads out from the top of the rapid rooters now and I expect to see the rest of them do the same shortly. Fingers crossed.
 
first-tymer said:
Yeah, he doesn't really know too many people (nerdy neighbor) has a small group of little nerdy friends that could probably care less, and as for the band he is in, it is the University band, not like rock n roll band. I just figured it would be better that he know to keep the noise to a minimum, I help him locate bags from time to time so we are on each others good side til he messes up and I will not hesitate to let him know if that were to happen. He looks up to me a bit and should do as told if he knows whats good for him. Besides it is legal here and I am legit, just dont want anyone to get any stupid ideas. Although this is my first grow, due to my back problems I have been around the block a time or two in this business and am pretty good at reading people. If i wasn't I wouldn't be here today. Hope you find that two bedroom apt you are looking for, I would live there for a couple months if I were you so you get to know the neighbors and their paterns as well as your own. This will help you when you are determining when you would like to run light cycles and do routine mainetence like water changes, etc because sometimes it can be noisey and time consuming. I even lived in a one bedroom in this complex for about 4 months before deciding on a quite spot and changing to this two bedroom on the top floor, then lived here for another three months before deciding it was safe and the time was right... I hope you have a similar experience. Oh almost forgot QueenTokelove, what part of the country are you from?
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Loose lips sink ships! be careful man! and good luck!
 
Not my ship, I'm legal. Just dont want to get my door kicked in by someone trying to make a quick buck... If that happens they are gonnd end up on the business end of my 12 gauge semi-automatic and then no one wins... Well, guess I do cause we have the right to defend ourselves in our own homes by any means necessary in this state and I won't hesitate to do it. That and I have a concealed weapons permit for a reason n don't go anywhere without it. lol Got it two months ago for this reason. I have a gun collection I have been working on for the last 15 years, it's my second passion/hobby!
I need to know when to move my seedlings from the rapid rooters into the waterfarms and what point they need to start going under the light... Should I give them light before I place the rapid rooters in the waterfarm and they are still in the jiffy pots, or should I wait until they go into the waterfarm, and what point do I do that? Anyone have any ideas/experiences to share? Smokesalot, I would like your input here? How do you do it?
 
first-tymer said:
Not my ship, I'm legal. Just dont want to get my door kicked in by someone trying to make a quick buck... If that happens they are gonnd end up on the business end of my 12 gauge semi-automatic and then no one wins... Well, guess I do cause we have the right to defend ourselves in our own homes by any means necessary in this state and I won't hesitate to do it. That and I have a concealed weapons permit for a reason n don't go anywhere without it. lol Got it two months ago for this reason. I have a gun collection I have been working on for the last 15 years, it's my second passion/hobby!
I need to know when to move my seedlings from the rapid rooters into the waterfarms and what point they need to start going under the light... Should I give them light before I place the rapid rooters in the waterfarm and they are still in the jiffy pots, or should I wait until they go into the waterfarm, and what point do I do that? Anyone have any ideas/experiences to share? Smokesalot, I would like your input here? How do you do it?
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I am curious as to how being legal works with owning firearms and having a carry permit. I thought you had to sign the app saying certain substances weren't used? How is the legal end of that in your location? I have wondered about being a MMJ legal state and firearms ownership. I think one risks it all doing both. Federal offense...

As for those little ones, you do mean place the rooter in the waterfarm? As soon as they show vigorous new growth, like about 2 set of leaves of true leaves they should be ready. Watch for stretch and heat stress. Light is close enough to feed but not so as to burn. Because you are drip feed it should be fine. Not sure about nutes yet.. perhaps 1/4 strength. My call is an educated guess as I have not run a waterfarm. I believe you could actually grow much earlier than plain old DWC can without a drip feed. Else one is hand watering it. Which would be perfectly acceptable as well. I have considered waterfarm and coco for its cradle to grave ability so to speak.
 
Okay think I know what you are saying with the plants smokezalot... But do I wait to put them under light until i put them in the waterfarms as well, or can I give them a little CFL before that point?
 
first-tymer said:
Okay think I know what you are saying with the plants smokezalot... But do I wait to put them under light until i put them in the waterfarms as well, or can I give them a little CFL before that point?
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Once the seed is in the medium I turn on the light, regular schedule. Nothing fancy there needed. I bring the light close for warmth till it pops, but not to dry out the medium close. Gentle ventilation (fan) as well as soon as they pop. Want to grow strong stout stems.

Did I answer the question this time?
 
You answered it last time as well it was kinda a two part question. Thanks for the advice.
I dont have anything too great setup for my germination or my seedlings. In fact right now since I have gotten this info, I am using the hood from my stove with the single CFL. I have a small clip on 5" fan clipped to the side of the hood aiming directly at the light bulb so it is cool enough for me to get them about 6" from the light, but I am leaving the dome over them until they are completely upright with atleast one true set of leaves, then I plan on removing the dome and giving direct exposure to the light and fan...
Once they have a good looking second set of true leaves and a coupe nice roots coming off of the tap root I will remove them from the jiffy pots, place them in the grow lab tent and in their individual waterfarm units which will have been running atleast 24 hrs straight with previously and continuously ph balanced water. I will start the plants on the floor for the first 6 hrs then bring them half way to the 600watt HPS light, 6 hrs later I will bring them a little closer, and then 4 hrs later they will be about 12 in away. I will leave the light on for another four hrs like that and start them on a 20 hrs on and 4 hrs off light schedule for the first week, week two will be 19 on and 5 off, week 3 will be 18/6, week 4 17/7, week 5 16/8, and may leave it there until harvest when i intend on starting over. Since these are Autoflowering seeds and should flower reguardless of light cycle I'm not sure it is necessary to turn the lights off for more than 8 hrs each day, but I'm not sure if my theory holds any water... Could use some professional insight here...
Also, does anyone have any experience with a hydroponic drip system? I've gotten conflicting reports from people concerning how often I should run the drippers/pumps... Some say continuously and that it is basically impossible for me to overwater my plants in a hydroponic drip system such as the water farm units I am using with a clay medium wrapped around the rapid rooters and that watering every few hours for 15-30 min like someone using a drip system in soil would simply deprive the roots of nutrients because the clay pellets would dry out much faster than the dirt will. They state that the space between each of the clay pellets will provide enough air for the roots and that the water slowly running down the surface of the pellets will provide enough water directly to the roots to promote optimal growth yet also little enough to make them want to continue reaching down for the pool of water/nutrients brewing below. How does that sound guys??? Other people tell me to water once ever couple hours and that it is still easy to overwater in the waterfarm units therefore continuous watering may be hazardous to my plants and that I need to let the surface of the pellets to dry a few times each day to keep happy plants... I'm torn here and since this is soon going to be my next step I am trying to stay a bit ahead of the game so I'm not making last minute decisions and can carfully plan each step avoiding stupid last minute mistakes. Can anyone shed a light on this one? If I could get some confirmation here it would be great!
 
Another question I have for anyone familiar with the hydroponic drip units is... How should I add my nutrients to the systems if I have them each setup individually instead of as a network so to speak... Some say to put the nutrients you wish to add into an amount of water so that the ratio of nutrients to water is the same you would like to maintain inside the unit and to then pour it over the medium rather than taking the top off temporarily to add the new water directly to the exsisting water... Not sure what the difference would be?
It would also be nice if someone could take me step by step through a water change in one of these systems. I see the spot that is designed for emptying the unit and I figure that part looks easy enough, but am curious ass to how I need to add the new water to the system in this senario as well... Do I pour the new water with nutrients over the exsisting medium as I described before after I have emptied the unit, or do I simply empty the unit and place the new water with nutes directly into the reserviour instead of over the pellets... What ya got for me people?
 
first-tymer said:
I dont have anything too great setup for my germination or my seedlings. In fact right now since I have gotten this info, I am using the hood from my stove with the single CFL. I have a small clip on 5" fan clipped to the side of the hood aiming directly at the light bulb so it is cool enough for me to get them about 6" from the light, but I am leaving the dome over them until they are completely upright with atleast one true set of leaves, then I plan on removing the dome and giving direct exposure to the light and fan...
Once they have a good looking second set of true leaves and a coupe nice roots coming off of the tap root I will remove them from the jiffy pots, place them in the grow lab tent and in their individual waterfarm units which will have been running atleast 24 hrs straight with previously and continuously ph balanced water. I will start the plants on the floor for the first 6 hrs then bring them half way to the 600watt HPS light, 6 hrs later I will bring them a little closer, and then 4 hrs later they will be about 12 in away. I will leave the light on for another four hrs like that and start them on a 20 hrs on and 4 hrs off light schedule for the first week, week two will be 19 on and 5 off, week 3 will be 18/6, week 4 17/7, week 5 16/8, and may leave it there until harvest when i intend on starting over. Since these are Autoflowering seeds and should flower reguardless of light cycle I'm not sure it is necessary to turn the lights off for more than 8 hrs each day, but I'm not sure if my theory holds any water... Could use some professional insight here...
Also, does anyone have any experience with a hydroponic drip system? I've gotten conflicting reports from people concerning how often I should run the drippers/pumps... Some say continuously and that it is basically impossible for me to overwater my plants in a hydroponic drip system such as the water farm units I am using with a clay medium wrapped around the rapid rooters and that watering every few hours for 15-30 min like someone using a drip system in soil would simply deprive the roots of nutrients because the clay pellets would dry out much faster than the dirt will. They state that the space between each of the clay pellets will provide enough air for the roots and that the water slowly running down the surface of the pellets will provide enough water directly to the roots to promote optimal growth yet also little enough to make them want to continue reaching down for the pool of water/nutrients brewing below. How does that sound guys??? Other people tell me to water once ever couple hours and that it is still easy to overwater in the waterfarm units therefore continuous watering may be hazardous to my plants and that I need to let the surface of the pellets to dry a few times each day to keep happy plants... I'm torn here and since this is soon going to be my next step I am trying to stay a bit ahead of the game so I'm not making last minute decisions and can carfully plan each step avoiding stupid last minute mistakes. Can anyone shed a light on this one? If I could get some confirmation here it would be great!
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Great questions.. I will help where I can.

I like to keep things simple..

No dome required for the babies once they pop. They need to breathe. All systems are on line at that point and they are searching for light and air. Unlike a clone that appreciates the humid environment so it can concentrate on roots, then all systems are online in that case.

Too much labor moving plants. Start them on the floor as you stated, leave them there for about 2 days then give them all they can handle with respect to heat. No need to make some many stops along the way. Basically the same routine for hardening for the outdoors. Set them in non direct light outdoors for a couple of days, them let them fly. Or give them a few hours a day of direct light, then let them go. Always more than one way...

Continuous drip systems. The name indicates the answer. As before many ways to do things. You are keeping nutes available and oxygen as well. No worries. Want to be more conservative? Sure you can put it on a timer and search for a cycles that fits. The true answer is in your medium selection. Coco Coir would not be advised to run 24x7. Hydroton, RW, perlite, and perhaps coco chips are doable I believe.
 
Sweet, thats what I needed to know brotha!

I made the mistake of handling my seedlings a bit because I had way too much water in my jiffy pots and they started to drown.... they had just poped and were looking good but I had been told by someone that the rapid rooters should always be saturated....(not true as they will hold an adequate amount of moisture for root growth as long as the top of the rapid rooter is not completely dry) After learning of my mistake I attempted to take the rr's out of the jiffy pots ands squezed them lighly repeatedly to get the moisture out replacing them after I had dumped the remaining water out of the jiffy pots...This was a stressful experience on the little gals and many are bent over with slightly mangled tiny stems a couple haven't even shown their leaves yet and just look like little misdeveloped roots slightly sticking above the ground yet not able to support themselves... I fear I may have f'ed them up beyond repair and that this much stress this early in development may kick me in the arse not only right now but down the road as well. I don't want to add direct fan blowing to them until they can atleast support themselves again do I? Or should I just keep with the two I feal I know will survive and thrive expose them too the fan immediately and scrap the rest??? Not sure exactly where to go from here.

Really wish I could get this whole picture thing figured out so I didn't have to go into such written detail although it is helping my typing skills which have begun to deteriorate over the last few years.

Smokezalot until I get the 420 magaizine sight down as far as where to go for info I may keep asking you questions but know I am looking around it just takes me awhile and this is faster from time to time... I get frustrated trying to decifer good info from bad info while I search on my own, and if I do like the info often times they use words and terms I am not familiar with, which leads me to yet another search for that term where I am forced to sift through to bullshit once again... For instance it took me three days to determine what the term 'true leaves' meant, I had damn near givin up when my girlfriend overheard me cussing under my breath... Quietly she looked the term up using her cell phone and sure enough, I don't know if it was because she wasn't as frustrated as me, or used a dif search engine, but she figured it out and told me out of nowhere "it's when the leaves come to a tip at the end and typically begins with the second set of leaves you notice on a a seedling." I couldn't believe it! Granted I didn't spend the entire three days looking for the definition to that term but I had searched numerous times and had founf nothing as clear as that. Guess my point is that I am very impatient without my medicine and lately due to the expenses associated with this venture have not been able to afford the quality product I am accustomed to these days and my patience and anxiety as well as my spine have begun to show the effects of not adequately medicating myself.....
 
Patience is the first thing you need to grow anything, be it muscles, brains, or plants. Turly the best advice I can give is cruise the journals and pick one that interests you. Start at the beginning and read the whole thing. Its like a story of how to grow. You are trying to build a puzzle picture without knowing what the picture looks like. Get in there and read, learn the terms. Ask for explanation if needed. That is how we role here. Not trying to not answer your questions, trying to empower you.

Less darkness if you turn the lights on and see what lays about

I understand as well your search frustrations... I like to use Google to search the site, gets me what I am after faster.

How can I help with the pics?
 
I use google too, but still find entirely too much bs. I have been doing more reading in the last month or two than I ever did in college and I still find myself with more questions than answers.... I have read a lot of good things about these hydroponic units I am going to be using and I understand how it can increase yield if done properly and can even shorten the length of grow time as well, what I am concerned with is my learning curve associated with them. If when I walked into the hydro store two months ago and knew what I know now, I may have done things a little differently... Hydroponic to the first time grower seems a lot more diffeicult than soil may have been, granted I know once I figure out what works for me and which methods I prefer and in which order I know I will cruise right a long but I think if i would have done my first two grows in soil using smart pots and prelite mixed with nutrients under the same light I may not have made quite as many stupid mistakes the first go around.... I can feel myself slowly getting more accustomed to the system and ultimately more confident in my process, but I hope it's not too late because i am not going to be able to buy anymore seeds until I finish this batch and from the looks of things i may be lucky to pull 4 or 5 plants if that. I was hoping for more like 6 since these are autoflowers and may not produce quite like the cycle on a regular feminized seed. As for my patience, I can explain. I normally have it in spades, but my girlfriends 5 yr old boy has been staying with us all week cause he had his tonsels taken out and she's on spring break so he has been trying to be balls deep in my business the last few days and it has been hindering my efforts drastically. When you include the fact that I have been smoking regs just to get by the last two weeks cause I'm broke and had the boy around, it is really quite astonishing I haven't gone off the deep end yet... Hopefully things turn around here soon and I go back to my normal laid back happy go lucky way of life, but I gotta tell ya the last 2-3 weeks have been rough.... Need some time to go fishing before it gets too hot but don't see that happening anytime soon at the rate I'm going.
 
It sounds like you are driving yourself nuts. My guess is you have set unrealistic goals on yourself. You are setting yourself up for failure. I agree with your hindsight, you would have been better served by keeping it simple. It's always best to have simple goals in the beginning if things so you can stay motivated.

Take fishing as an example, to teach someone to fish I would first take them somewhere I know the fish can be caught easy enough to get their interests. I am not going to start them out tying flies for trout.

Same logic here, backup if you have to. Make it easier to succeed, then set the bar higher each time. Just like in college they feed you a bit, then move on to the next fare. All building on the next level. You sir chose to jump a few levels, which is fine. We all have our ways and skills. I often jump into things, but I accept the water is going to be deep. So it means research research...

Ah don't mind the kids, they are just curious. Feed his mind with something and restrict his access so no harm is done.

Get this straight if you can. The plant and you life don't live and die together. Its not the end of the world if it fails. Just grow another.

I highly suggest bagseed till you feel you wont waste any more investments. As a runner you would know the shoe doesn't make you a runner. Buying the right guitar doesn't make you a player. You have to take your punches, do your time, take your turn at the oars. How ever you want to look at it.

Patience grasshopper - "why is it you can not wait for the stone to fall from my hand?"

In a nutshell... Ease up a bit, relax and just grow a little and enjoy life. Most of the time we only need to step back and watch it grow. A little helping hand once in a while at best. Don't fret little things. It wants to grow and finish for you. We get all caught up in trying to force things now a days. Instant and growing anything don't go together. They don't hand out degrees just because you bought the books. At least not in my experience anyway.
 
My goals may be slightly obscured, but they are adapting now. I see what you mean by letting the plant grow... I haven't doen anything but glance at the struugling seedlings in the last 12 hrs and they seem to be doing a bit better, maybe there is hope.
I have instead been focusing my attention on getting my GH Waterfarm units ready for the seedlings once they get their second set of true leaves and have nice looking roots coming off of the taproot... I have been poking extra holes into the bottom of the medium holding buckets so more air and water can pass through, this also is supposed to provide more spots for the roots to pass through. Have read this is a good idea and in theory makes perfectly good sense to me. I also have one already running bacause as I may or maynot have mentioned earlier one of the seedlings is doing very well and will be ready for transplant much sooner. This unit has already had nutrients added and it is on 24 hrs a day while waiting for it's date. I am checking the ph level from time to time and making adjustments when and if it is necessary so the water is in optimal condition when the transplant occurs. I hope this will prevent the nutrient lockout I am currently experiencing with my test plant.
 

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