Hello world.
Have already stopped by the intro thread and have shown off what’s happening (see
here) in my grow space, which I’m still organising and tweaking to become a perpetual grow space.
But since I have just received some brand new seeds from DCS, I will be documenting those new girls from start to finish.
OK, guess to start at beginning, and give additional info as needed or requested:
As with most of us I’d imagine, choosing to grow some of nature’s finest is about navigating restraints. Budget restraints, space restraints, family, holiday or pet related, it’s all about balancing what can and can’t be achieved. I knew what space I had and the budget was pretty minimal, but a couple months down the line and a couple of lucky breaks have got me what I’ve needed to begin to establish my grow space.
My two grow spaces are:
Grow space 1
Veg = Converted cupboard space about 3ft square by 2 metres tall
Vented shelves for air circulation
WBW wall covering
Upright oscillating fan
A single 600w (true 300w) LED
Natural venting with no filters
RH Balance pack
Enough for 5 vegging plants
Grow space 2
Bloom = PG120 Grow tent (120*120*200)
16” oscillating fan,
Two LED Units: both 1000w (true 325w) LED’s (blurples)
Carbon filter venting through 5” ducting.
RH Balance pack
CO2 pack
Enough space for 8 (squeeze)
Medium:
Have done lots of research and decided to use a soil mix and after some kerfuffle moving 50L bags of (expensive) dirt, I opted for checking information and finding that local supermarket supplied the same thing (barr name & price), complete with same standard make up (worm castings, Nitrogen levels etc ).
So a visit to Wilkos provided me with composted fertilizer and separate bags of Pearlite and Vermiculite: which when mixed together (use a mask folks, pumice not good for the lungs), provide good aeration, drainage and water retention as well as ‘low level’ food for up to 5 weeks, allowing supplemental feeding as and when I feel its required and giving me maximum nutrient control as the veg cycle winds down prior to the bloom phase. Like the idea of dry amendments being used, however am still researching that methodology atm.
So, my ‘simpler’ soil mix ratios for this grow will be 40% soil, 30% Pearlite and 30% Vermiculite.
Seeds:
As my first purchase I’m sure some people will disagree, but when shopping for seeds I was very quickly turned on to all the ‘special offers’, ‘Point systems’ & ‘Free Seed’ options which did kind of get in the way of what I was trying to do, namely select some specific seeds!
Having recently tried Godberry (GB) for the first time, I was smitten: Loved the flavour town she took me too and the high was clean as a whistle. So, on a
mission to find GB I was disappointed to see it discontinued all over ‘town’, but found it while perusing
DCS or DiscountCannabisSeeds.
Their website wasn’t about brash colour call outs and super ‘dank’ imagery, their site was easy to navigate and clear – that simple.
Noticed the contact info (I do this with EVERY online purchase for when shit goes wrong) and called to check stock levels, Johnny answered and confirmed they had it on their list. Perfect. Turns out they act as a seedbank wholesaler offering the seeds from all the usual suspects and (once I checked) usually a little cheaper too!
I Opted for the following feminized seeds (from DCS) because as a new grower I want one less worry (idea of miss sexing gnaws at me.):
1.
Feminized Godberry sourced from Freedom Of Seeds
From the web: "Godberry is a more forgiving and potent indica-dominant hybrid strain that provides strong pain relief effects making it ideal for newbies".
Firstly the GB was simply a personal choice but looking at the data sheet, the Gods of ‘expected yields’ and ‘THC levels’ were kind to me. My wife loved this strain because it helped her function (arthritis) so felt between her usage and my enjoyment of its taste and character, it was a clear choice to be my first seed purchase.
2. Feminized Kripple Shock sourced from Dr Krippling
From the web: "Kripple Shock is a complete package, incredible power, massive yields, distinct chocolate/caramel flavour & Indica-dominant pleasure".
Kripple shock was chosen next, mostly because I hadn’t heard of it before, and getting info from a few places, it appears to be a heavyweight in power and yields, so why not!
3. Feminized BigBudXXL from Ministry of Cannabis
From the web: "This plant is almost a pure Indica strain with a happy effect with big yields".
While the added offer of freebie allowed me to choose Bug Bud XXL (from about ten strain choices!), I selected this one for no other reason than yield and speed.
Just wanted to mention DCS (DiscountCannibisSeeds) because of the damn fine service of Johnny and the proof is in the pudding (at the time of writing this all three are born): What more do you want!?
Fine, cheap and they put this newbie’s mind at ease! Johnny, if I ever meet you I owe YOU a pint.
I digress.
Seeds arrived in their respective seed bank packs in short order via tracking mail.
GB Medium size seed
KS Small Seed
BBXXL Large seed
Decided on Monday 17th (last Monday) to get the ball rolling using the paper towel method, seeds placed in towels doubled up and covered over with PH tested ( kept to 6 to 6.8 range) tap water that has been left exposed to air for 24 hours to allow dissipation of the chlorine that is present in our UK tap water. My understanding is it can have a negative effect on root systems, so why start them off with problems!
NO PIC - I hadn’t found this place till later this week so didn’t know I’d be needing more data but you’ve all seen paper towels right? Imagine I have a 3 names written and seeds are enveloped in a little ceramic dish.
Tadaa.
Left them sitting in an area which was consistently 22 degrees and out of direct sunlight to make sure they didn’t dry out too quickly.
Topped them off a little with the CL free water only when paper towels where drying (twice a day appeared to be enough) to ensure their continued awakening.
Wednesday was the birthday of KS, he was the first to crack followed on the Thursday by GB.
Sure enough on Friday morning (yesterday) BBXXL cracked so all three tap roots were looking to stretch out.
Friday lunchtime, after a little LST on my other plants, I decided to put them right into soil, so using those degradable seedling pots, I've prepped my soil mix as above, and used tweezers to gently place the seed about 3/4 inch below the surface. Aadditionally I have added a root nutrient called Forulex recommended to me, it is providing all the required minerals and other stuff (zinc, calcium, copper etc etc) for seedlings to get the ball rolling on its development.
Then placed approximately 30 inches away from LED in Grow space 2
(boring bit)
Ok for reference, anyone reading this may not have checked me out but I need to mention I am new to this. I started growing 6 weeks ago. And then decided 4 weeks ago to set up as a perpetual grow (of sorts) looking for a harvest every 4 weeks or so.
Had already spent last 6 moths doing a WHOLE lot of research, listened to a whole lot of opinions, read a whole lot of theories on every part/section/phase of the plants lifecycle and beyond, seen a whole lot of stoners getting off their tits on youtube and been sucked in by whole lot of marketing bollocks.
So while my plan for setting up my growing space was organically changing, my goal hasn’t, “I want to be self-reliant for what is in my life: medicine”. And for that, it meant not relying on others in order to get the fruits we all desire. So I needed to heed advice, to take care and pay attention to ensure the pitfalls are navigated and the hurdles are minimized within the confines of my decisions for my lifestyle: This had to be a serious ‘hobby’.
Leads me nicely to 6 weeks ago, having what I’m led to believe are 3 amnesia seeds and 1 ak47 , I start them off in the paper towels, all good, flash forward 2 weeks and I found a bag of old seeds, that are at least 2 years old, and decided to see if any of them would crack, my little lapse in how damn resilient this plant can be meant that 4 days later 21 out of 23 seeds all had cracked and pointing their wiggly little root at me.
Extremely long story short,
I have
Grow 1: with my original 4 seeds (presumed to be 3 x Amnesia 1 x AK47 - Green pots).
Grow 2: consisting of the finest seven (5 here 2 in Grow 1) of the 21 surviving and unknown strains . Since my original 4 are vegging, I am squeezing all plants into the two grow spaces atm.
And
Grow 3: with my newly born (Friday 21st) girls as you can see have entered the cycle.
BTW anyone who can see I am going to have issues when bloom time comes is not wrong, but moving forward in 3’s (as opposed to 23’s) I will ensure that I grow to the space.
Update #1:
Now since today is the first entry I am providing the following as the first update:
Saturday 22nd, 30 hours after going into soil, they are up and away.
I am so chuffed...
So that's us all up to date on my first grow journal.
Sorry I’ve gone on here, but the bulk of understanding is done, so thank you for dropping in (Damn, you made it this far!) - think that’s all for now but any comments, feedback always welcome and I’ll provide updates as and when something of note happens.
Oh and apologies for blurple pics, will minimize where practical for all future posts
Cheers for now
W
I think that's mainly because she's pregnant and can't enjoy the fruits for a while longer though. Ha ha
