Need Your Grow Questions Answered? Come On In!

[Grow Thread]

Need some input. Received a 3' mother, have no idea what times of day the 18 hr light cycle ran. Don't have a light but have a secure greenhouse. Opinions of what will happen if I switch to daylight schedule now? Plan on taking clones in a day or two.

 

the actual times of the day (i.e. noon-8am or whatever) for the light cycles don't matter. 18 hours is 18 hours. as far as your situation, it sounds PERFECT

get her in the greenhouse and she'll be just fine to finish with nature.

[0ldschoolgame]

Hi there!

 

I'm a fairly new caregiver and was looking for some start-up tips and a quick run down of what all of the items I'll need to purchase to get started. The rooms I'll be using are 4X15 in a basement and can be easily be vented. To start off I'm considering getting 12 clones, but would be open to all options.

 

Any tips and a quick guide for my start up purchases would be greatly appreciated. Also, I'd appreciate any helpful links to guides and/or stores to purchase equipment and seeds.

 

Thanks!

[Grow Thread]

Hi there!

 

I'm a fairly new caregiver and was looking for some start-up tips and a quick run down of what all of the items I'll need to purchase to get started. The rooms I'll be using are 4X15 in a basement and can be easily be vented. To start off I'm considering getting 12 clones, but would be open to all options.

 

Any tips and a quick guide for my start up purchases would be greatly appreciated. Also, I'd appreciate any helpful links to guides and/or stores to purchase equipment and seeds.

 

Thanks!

 

haha....... well, you have some decisions to make for sure but we are here to help!!

 

soil?

hydro?

perpetual?

scrog?

7' trees?

 

WELCOME TO THE SITE!!

[0ldschoolgame]

haha....... well, you have some decisions to make for sure but we are here to help!!

 

soil?

hydro?

perpetual?

scrog?

7' trees?

 

WELCOME TO THE SITE!!

 

Thanks!

 

I was thinking soil, but if there is something that would be easier for a beginner I'd be open to it. Does a 4X15 room sound sufficient?

[Grow Thread]

Thanks!

 

I was thinking soil, but if there is something that would be easier for a beginner I'd be open to it. Does a 4X15 room sound sufficient?

 

oh sure 4x15 is plenty big enough.

 

i have tried to make this as a "complete" guide as i could for a beginner. just start at page one and have a fun day!!

 

http://www.michiganmedicalmarijuana.org/index.php?/topic/18150-need-your-grow-questions-answered-come-on-in/

 

as far as soil/hydro .......... seriously.... there are millions of pages around the net on pros/cons. its all about preference. i like hydro/bubbles. some like soil. some mix the two.

 

i would say soil or a bubblebucket for your first grow. seriously, hydroponics is NOT that complicated. the hardest part is staying interested long enough for that lightbulb to come on over your head

 

i like hydro because i know EXACTLY what my roots are in at ALL TIMES. and i can correct it INSTANTLY. the same cannot be truly said for soil. but honestly, a dirt grower could come along and give viable argument as well.

 

as i said, whatever you choose, we are here to help i am sitting in the chat room right now if you are going to be up for awhile and have more questions.

[resingland98]

Well BG I decided to go to Bubble after I seen your thread . I have been a dirt grower but I think it's time to try something new. Now I read you said that smaller airstones like 6 inch is better because it makes bigger bubbles. Well I had a Spur of the moment trip to town and went to walmart to pick up most things. Ok well here are a few questions , I purchased 5 inch bubble stones . Will these work ? and also I seen you post that some times 10 gallons aren;t enough for 1 plant sometime . So I picked up 16 gallon totes. Will I be okay with my decision on totes and the bubble stones? I would of went for 6 inch but they didn't have any . Basically today I picked up

6-16 gallon totes

6-25 ft air hose

12-5 inch bubble stones

6-20-60 gallon dual air pumps

Tomorrow I'll pick up all new nutes and pellets and net pots.

I will be doing 3 totes in veg and 3 totes in flower . 2 plants per tote.

[Grow Thread]

right on. i'm with you all the way. you will be just fine with the 16gallon totes. you will probably end up using a bit more water/nutes than necessary, but not enough to make a huge difference. im not sure if i am confused, or you are but sometimes a 10 gallon tote isnt big enough for 2 plants. 10 gallons is ALWAYS big enough for one plant. it just depends on strain and how long you veg for obviously as to if you can fit 2 in a 10 gallon. the 16 gallon has a bigger lid, and you will be able to fit 2 of just about anything in there just fine.

 

yeah, those stones from wal-mart are ok.... are the the light blue ones that have the flat plastic platform on the bottom? they are ok, but they seem to clog quicker than others, and are much harder to clean. but for now, they are 100% fine.

 

what ya gonna use for nutes??

[resingland98]

Well I havn't had a chance to read first part of your posts yet . Was just about to do more research . Basically on whatever you reccomend is what I will prolly end up with since I see it works for you

[Grow Thread]

another thing i just thought of as well..... is noise an issue for you?? a commercial air pump will cost half as much as 6 wal-mart pumps and produce twice the bubbles. they are a bit louder, not like a chainsaw, but they are a little noisy.

[Grow Thread]

or..... and i'm not repping the website, just the pump.....

 

http://www.hydrofarm.com/pb_detail.php?itemid=7644

 

thats gonna end up costing you just about the exact same amount of money as 6 wal-mart pumps, but give you about 4 times more bubbles. truly heaven for the roots. and then later on down the road, if you ever needed to, you could tap a couple/few more lines into it. trust me, it has the power. i have one of these running for each group of 6-10 gallons and its way more than enough.

[resingland98]

noise is not an issue here. I think I will do that. I will also bring back the airstones and get better ones .

[Grow Thread]

noise is not an issue here. I think I will do that. I will also bring back the airstones also and get better ones .

 

i really really like the ones from meijer. the dark blue ones. i'm not a big fan of washing air stones. for what they cost, and the time it takes to prepare bleach water and let them set and then rinse them ever-so-thouroughly, i would just rather spend another $2 and buy new. the dark blue ones at meijer last me an entire grow with no problems. they do not seem to clog up nearly as much.

 

also, if you do decide to go with the commercial air pump, i would go with the 12" stones, and only get 6 of them (its a 6 outlet pump). this is one of those cases where you have more water than normal in your tote, and more than normal air pressure and a 10" or 12" stone would be better.

[resingland98]

Ok then I will Go with Commercial Pump and 12 inch air stones. Where I live we don't have a meijer. Basically just a walmart. But we do have a few pet stores and a hydro store so i'm sure getting the stones won't be that hard to find. But as in the commercial pump , where would I get one of these?

Also ty for the help

[resingland98]

Well just went to our hydro store's website and they sell pump and the stones i need . I don't know why i never looked at this before lol.

[Grow Thread]

ok, now i will rep both the website and the pump for ya

 

http://www.plantlightinghydroponics.com/35-watt-commercial-grade-air-pump-p-1586.html

 

 

and, if you do make an order from plantlighting hydro, you may as well pick these up as well:

 

http://www.plantlightinghydroponics.com/eco-plus-inch-air-stone-p-1524.html

 

they are the exact same kind meijer has, and the 8" stones will work just as well. not much call for the 10" or 12" i guess because i see they dont sell them. totally understandable.

 

anyways, just a reminder, when you go to cut holes in your tote lids, make sure you get them as far apart as possible, but still giving the net pot space to slide all the way down inside. sounds stupid i know, but believe me, one out of every 3 people medicate and then center 2 holes nice and perfect in the lid and realize in 2 weeks when their plants are knocking each other around, that they could have spread the holes apart another 6 or 7 inches.

 

just here to help

[resingland98]

Will put the pots apart as far as I can. now that I have the pump and stones figured out. Only thing I have to figure out is the nutes. Thanks for all the info and tips man

[Grow Thread]

well, i don't know how experienced in dirt you are, so i dont know how experienced with nutes you are

 

the lucas formula is fool proof. especially if you are starting with r.o. water. then you really cannot go wrong.

 

THE LUCAS METHOD

 

the "Lucas Method" is very simple, cheap, and it obviously works as is evident in the pics in this thread. we only need 2 kinds of nutes. General Hydroponic Flora Micro and General Hydroponic Flora Bloom.

 

 

here is the formula:

 

VEG: 5ml of Micro and 10ml of Bloom per gallon of water. (5-10) IF VEGGING UNDER CFL LIGHTS

VEG: 8ml of Micro and 16ml of Bloom per gallon of water. (8-16) IF VEGGING UNDER HID LAMPS

FLOWER: 8ml Micro and 16ml of bloom per gallon of water. (8-16)

 

 

there are a couple different methods on backfilling whatever the plants drink/what evaporates. i recommend backfilling with full strength nutes/water as needed to maintain the proper water level in the bucket/tote, and then doing two rez changes throughout the cycle. once at the switch to flower, and once after about 3-4 weeks of flower.

 

 

---and here is a "normal" schedule for a plant:

 

seedling/clone/veg for 4 weeks. 8-16 nutes (5-10 nutes under flourescent lights)

flip the lights to 12/12

flush (just plain ph'd water for 24-48 hours)

rez change and continue with 8-16 nutes

after a month i try to flush once again

then back to 8-16 nutes

 

 

after 6 weeks of flower, depending on the strain and how much longer it will need to finish, i have to make a decision. i "final flush" for a week minimum so if i am growing a 7-8 week strain i will go into final flush now. if it is a 8-12 week strain i will go back to 8-16 nutes for as long as needed and then into final flush for the last week or so.

 

 

also, another couple freebie tips. when adding the nutes, add the micro to the water first, and then the bloom. NEVER mix the 2 nutes together and then add the combination to water. this WILL promote lock-out.

 

after adding both nutes (separately of course) STIR/SHAKE WELL!! can't say it enough. make sure you have it all mixed up real good. don't rely on your bubbles to do the mixing for you.

 

the flora micro will stain carpet/clothes if not tended to right away

 

assuming you are starting with r.o. water (ph7) the nutes will drop the ph to a perfect 5.5-6.0. i RARELY have to add ph down to maintain proper levels. at any rate, do whatever needs to be done to maintain a 5.5-6.0ph level. and i keep my water temps at 68-70 degrees.

 

also, for 99 cents ANYWHERE in the kitchen department. (target-walmart) this is my best friend. the turkey baster. perfect for measuring nutes out.

 

 

 

here are another couple ways to work with this formula:

 

1. Top off the reservoir daily using a pH corrected water solution as required to maintain full reservoir level. After adding back an amount of water equal to the amount of your reservoir capacity you should change the reservoir and put in fresh solution.

 

2. Top off the reservoir daily using a pH corrected 100% strength nutrient solution as required to maintain full reservoir level. Continue to use this nutrient solution without dumping the tank unless the PPM rises above acceptable levels.

 

Between vegetative and flowering cycles you should dump your nutrients, then flush (possibly with Clearex) to remove salt buildups, then change to the other feeding program. Always shake your GH nutrient bottles before using them!

 

For young plants, just transplanted into the hydro setup, give them 50% strength nutrient mix to prevent overfeeding them while their young. Gradually bring up the mix to full strength as they grow over the next few weeks or so.

 

The lucas formula is normally intended for use with RO or near 0 PPM water.

 

NOTE: The Lucas formula eliminates the need for Epsom salts to correct (Magnesium) Mg deficiencies in most normal feeding programs recommended by manufacturers. Cannabis needs a lot of Magnesium to thrive.

[resingland98]

All I can say is Wow lol . Nice amount of info . Yes I understand the nute lockout . I started off growing with gh 3 pack but with soil . Tomorrow I will go buy rest of the items I need . Gonna Load a pic of my purple wreck and white berry. 1 sec

[resingland98]

One Pic is my purple wreck , She is almost done any day now, Other pic is 2 White Berries about 3 weeks in and Other pic is White berries from last grow few weeks into flower . Sorry my camera is a pile so Everytime I use it I have to put batteries in it and it don't keep date so I don't bother fixin the date. Wish I had more pics of my Harvests but I think the wife used my sd card for mp3's for her car stereo lol . Wen I get it from the car 1 of these days Ill post em up .

[resingland98]

and yes wen ya look at the purple wreck you see black behind it , I have mylar starting at about a foot off the ground 4 foot up. Tomorrow Ill have mylar another 4 foot higher so its 8 feet tall . Gonna redo the rooms for the new bubble systems tomorrow I can't wait

[Grow Thread]

lookin' good!! nice grow.

 

well, i'm always here if ya need some tips. i'm gonna crawl in bed for a couple hours before the sun comes up.

yup, you gonna need all 8 feet

[Grow Thread]

 

 

good morning

[Jipo]

I'm bored, medicated and haven't posted here yet so, first Good morning. Second, I made the most epic medical meal ever the other day.

 

I got a nice chunk of hash butter and started thinking of how I could use it without baking food and decided to try and cook a hash butter dinner I started by seasoning my Wok with a little hash butter, garlic, and thai peppers. I added Broccoli, Cauliflower, Carrots, Onions, Bell Peppers, Jalapeno's and Asparagus, began to saute that for a few minutes to tender it up just a bit. Added some seasoned Chicken to the mix, stir fried everything until it was done. Boiled some white rice up, and made a Garlic butter sauce to top everything off with. The sauce consisted of hash butter, minced garlic, worcestershire sauce and a few drops of hot sauce, simmered to 15 minutes to thicken a little bit and drizzled over the stir fry and rice. It was fantastic to say the least.

[Grow Thread]

my mouth is watering..... and i am not just saying that

[Grow Thread]