Newbie - All I need to know

[awbwizard97]

Hello cannabis users/growers everywhere. I'm determined to start on my first grow operation. I understand fully about the ventilation. And a basic rough understanding of the process (Seedling-Vegitative-Flowering) stages. What I really need from a kind soul is to please tell me about the nutrients. I am not stupid just not skilled in this area and I will catch on quickly. I need to know when to feed and water them. And what to feed them, that is what I am quite unaware of. I have been up all night (literally) researching and I'm still not to happy with what I know. So if someone could tell me what to feed my soil based plant and when to feed it would be appreciated . Thanks in advance!!

 

[TanR]

Hi awbwizard97.

Let me start by welcoming you 420 Magazine and community of members that gathers here.

Your planning ahead and putting the effort into developing as thorough an understanding as possible PRIOR to beginning your grow will pay big dividends down the line, so kudos to you!

Before any recommendations, I'm wondering if you have explored whether you want to grow organically or use chemical nutrients. Each has it pro's and con's with chemical nutrients being a little more common (thus easier to locate) and organic being....well, all natural. Some people feel pretty strongly one way or another so I thought I would inquire as to your thoughts on the matter.

It would also be helpful to know what country your in so we aren't recommending products requiring overseas shipping fees.

You might find some information in here that proves beneficial. How to Grow Marijuana Everything You Need to Know

 

[mzxsdi600]

Yeah , Welcome awbwizard97,
I'm on my 3 rd grow and the help here is the best u'll ever find The folks here are here for 1 reason -to grow the best
I grow with soil medium and use good soil that has enough nute's for 6 months ( save me burning them by over feeding ). The only thing I use is BAT GUANO.
It's only my 2 cents , sure there will be more folks coming soon ( some real pro's ). Keep it simple I've been told
But here a picture to what i use. Hope think work out great for u
Cheer's
J

 

[awbwizard97]

Thank both of you very much!! And as for TanR I'm all about what works being chemical or organic I'm fond of either. I'm located in the USA and have a local florist shop close by. And if I use the nutrient rich soil as shown above, will I have to put nutes in its water supply? Or just water the plant. And stay away from adding anything else? And I had actually scoured that very same forum for info last night!

 

[mzxsdi600]

Just water , it should last u the hole process .
The only thing I add is Blood meal or Bat guano ( all for Nitrogen to make them grow faster, but can over do it. )I watch the plants and some strains need a little help.
I would try first without and see how they grow. Most of the folks that help me said keep it simple and my first grow produced 3 1/2 oz dried each plant .
The african stuff is great for seedlings and it really give gives them a head start.
Best of luck
J

 

[awbwizard97]

OK thank you. All ever closer to my grow! Thank you so much for the help mzxs. Now I'm wondering about the light. I hear about these CFL lights and potassium something bulbs for the flowering stage. 1. At what height should I keep the light in both stages (Veg-Flowering). 2. What light should I use for one plant in each stage? 3 1/2 OZ off your FIRST single plant? Wow I hope I get that much

 

[awbwizard97]

And 3. If I want to grow small. Can I use the Circle LST method and keep my plant under 3ft from seedling to harvest?

 

[mzxsdi600]

I do not know much about potassium bulbs and rarely use cfl's for seedlings ( I'm a L.E.D guy), but I have some friends here that would be more than glad to pipe up ( let me give them a shout -out )
1)height can range from 6" (led) to 36" (hps), but hopefully ur neighbors here @ can help ?
2) I use cfl (sometimes) for first 2 weeks , but ran for 4 weeks ( as long as u have no shadows , u should be fine ( they only suck up light / photosyn from the top of leaves, but there many option's of this though ). I found that , I can grow 1-2 larger plants with better yields than 3-6 plants ( NotoriousBob is a great addition here @ & Graytail ,Dennise, B.I.D, just to name a few.
These folk's all have great journals on what ur looking to do .
3) let me shout out tonight , but check out their journal's , They will be more than happy to help
If L.E.D 's come ur way , i can give u some insight.

U have come to the right place
Cheer's J

 

[mzxsdi600]

Ok , I drop the bomb, and these folks do not miss . I'll check later and see what up

Cheer's
J

 

[awbwizard97]

Only if I could attach photos to show you . I am making a grow box for my first grow op. From the base of the pot to 2in from the bulbs is 26in. Is that enough room if I CIRCLE LST my plant? I plan on winding it up and getting max yield. The dimension are 13.5inW 13.5L and 26inH. Is it enough room for what I have planned? So say around 20-22 in in HEIGHT. Again. Is that plently for what I have planned?

 

[awbwizard97]

And how do I keep my computer fans silent? as the fans will be the only thing making a sound in my grow box

 

[AmpleGrower]

Carefull with that Miracle Grow it already contains Nutes as well as the Perlite, you dont wanna give your first grow nute burn like i did, but you learn from your mistakes and my plant is doing fine now after i flushed it. its been in flower for about 3 days now.

 

[mzxsdi600]

Do ur self a favour and stay away from any timed released fert's. Its very common (Newbi)that we will over-water and over nut. And it most likely because it seem to take some time to start growing , I think the word is -- PATIENCE (something I had to learn, hahah).
but when in doubt , flush with water. These are weeds , give them help and they will grow !
Cheers
J

 

[Dennise]

Howdy awb... Let me see what we can do here. I myself started with MG and my closet girls are coming to the end of flower now with only a week maybe 2 left. I will not spank you for the MG but I will tell ya if you want the best plants you can get don't use it. I have gotten what I think are awesome results out of the MG but I am now seeing the difference as my cabinet girls are in Fox Farms 1/2 Happy Frog and 1/2 Ocean forest and I am using Fox Farms trio nutes and those girls are beautiful. You can and most likely will get results from the MG but when you start adding nutes at flower the trouble begins. There is no way to control the release of the nutes already in the soil. If you cannot get anything else make no mistake you can make it work but you will have nute burn issues and there is no way to flush MG at the end of the grow so you can't get all the nutes out of your buds. Again if this is all you can get you can make it work but if you haven't bought soil and what not yet I highly advise going with something along the lines of Promix. I couldn't find it here where I am anywhere and have purchased Berger BM1 which is basically the same thing and on this next bean pop I am going to try this medium with Growology nutes. They are much easier to use and you can get them off of this site for something like $20 for a sample package that will get you through your first grow and from journals I have seen on here using them they work wonderfully and the owner is also a member on this site and is awesome about giving advice. So my advice is to make sure you have your grow room ready and pick out your lights... I have gone from CFL's and LED light bulbs to Top Led Led panels but I started with light from Loews. Then you need to decide on medium and nutes that you want to use. Once you have gotten to there we can just go with it and any questions you have at that point many peeps on here are more than happy to help. You also need to put your journal in your signature so we can find you easier. I am now sub'd so I will be checking in and please pop over to my journal any time if you need some help...

 

[Dennise]

Just water , it should last u the hole process .
The only thing I add is Blood meal or Bat guano ( all for Nitrogen to make them grow faster, but can over do it. )I watch the plants and some strains need a little help.
I would try first without and see how they grow. Most of the folks that help me said keep it simple and my first grow produced 3 1/2 oz dried each plant .
The african stuff is great for seedlings and it really give gives them a head start.
Best of luck
J

Be very careful. The N is great for veg but sucks for flower and will cause nute burn.......

OK thank you. All ever closer to my grow! Thank you so much for the help mzxs. Now I'm wondering about the light. I hear about these CFL lights and potassium something bulbs for the flowering stage. 1. At what height should I keep the light in both stages (Veg-Flowering). 2. What light should I use for one plant in each stage? 3 1/2 OZ off your FIRST single plant? Wow I hope I get that much

I'm not much help with the potassium light as I have never used them. I too am an LED gal.....

And 3. If I want to grow small. Can I use the Circle LST method and keep my plant under 3ft from seedling to harvest?

Only if I could attach photos to show you . I am making a grow box for my first grow op. From the base of the pot to 2in from the bulbs is 26in. Is that enough room if I CIRCLE LST my plant? I plan on winding it up and getting max yield. The dimension are 13.5inW 13.5L and 26inH. Is it enough room for what I have planned? So say around 20-22 in in HEIGHT. Again. Is that plently for what I have planned?

Yes... check out my girls in the box. They are clones of the closet girls so you can see how tall they would be without LST but I have bent and twisted them because I have no where else to put them until the girls in the closet are done. Without LST they would be over 3' tall by now.....

Do ur self a favour and stay away from any timed released fert's. Its very common (Newbi)that we will over-water and over nut. And it most likely because it seem to take some time to start growing , I think the word is -- PATIENCE (something I had to learn, hahah).
but when in doubt , flush with water. These are weeds , give them help and they will grow !
Cheers
J

I agree even though it is exactly what I did and again if you look at my closet girls... it can be done but I wonder how much better they would be if I had used the FF or Growology without MG soil.....

 

[Dennise]

One more thing I did not address... The K.I.S.S. system I have found is the way to go.. They are all correct when they tell you the most common newbie mistake is over-watering and toooo much nutes. It is a weed and by nature wants to live so if you give it the optimal conditions to do what it does naturally then watch it's needs and give them that they will grow and produce for you. Happy growing.....

 

[Dennise]

Only if I could attach photos to show you . I am making a grow box for my first grow op. From the base of the pot to 2in from the bulbs is 26in. Is that enough room if I CIRCLE LST my plant? I plan on winding it up and getting max yield. The dimension are 13.5inW 13.5L and 26inH. Is it enough room for what I have planned? So say around 20-22 in in HEIGHT. Again. Is that plently for what I have planned?

What is the reason you can't upload pics? No camera or you just need to know how to do it?....

 

[Graytail]

I can help you with a couple things:

As far as height of your plants and clearance, hmmm ... 24 inches from the bottom of the pot? I don't think that'll work. 24 inches from the soil will let you grow a pretty nice plant. I do quite well with plants that are 20-25 inches tall. But you don't have enough space for more than flourescent bulbs. I'd recommend CFLs, about 60-100 watts per sq ft.

 

[awbwizard97]

Thanks for the help all! So for my grow box I made it like this. Computer fan + carbon filter + computer fan sandwhich on top for exhaust. Double computer fan for intake directly on the plant. A CFL 50watt bulb for one plant. Approx 3in from plant. A thermometer and humidity guage. The light is also connected to a TIMER. The inside is lined with the DULL side of aluminum foil. Am I missing anything crucial? I try to keep my room (actual bedroom) an average room temp not hot not cold. How do I keep my humidity and temperature from jumping around and destroying my grow?

 

[Dennise]

Why did you put the dull side out? You want it to reflect light as much as possible. As far as keeping temps and humidity the way I did it was to let it run as I had it to see what it was going to run and my temps have been fine but my humidity was off the charts so I put in a couple of ridx dehumidifiers that you can get at the dollar store or Walmart type places and that still was not enough so I got an inexpensive electric dehumidifier and that did the trick. So I would say the same with the temp. If it is not stable enough on it's own you can add a small heater if it is to cool or another personal type fan if it is to hot and that should do it for ya......