I have a little experience growing outdoors. We basically used large numbers to guarantee success and were at the mercy of the seasons. Long story short, the land we grew on is no longer available to us and I am not the type that would even consider guerrilla growing.

I have ready many, many, posts on this board and am very excited. At the same time, the more I read, the more differing views I get. So I have decided to just jump in, splash around and hope If I am not able to swim a lifeguard will come to my rescue.

This log will be for tracking my mistakes and, hopefully, getting advice as I am sure to make many of the same mistakes I have read about here. American eagerness sometimes triumphs over ingenuity.

My goal is to produce only for personal use and to be able to dictate my high. In my outdoor grows this was accomplish be timing the harvest alone. We would harvest in three phases, each phase producing a different high from the same crop. I know understand why, before I was just told that was how you did it.

I have purchased 2 large rubbermaid storage containers for making a portable grower, but have not begun the construction.

I have three 6500k CFLs, 26W = 100W variety.
1 oscillating fam, 1 box fan and 3 pc fans
JiffyStrips jiffy pots (although I am accustomed to nursing sprouts in egg cartons prior to translanting to buckets with handles for outdoor, but time to learn new tricks)
Seed starter mix consisting of a sphagnum peat moss, vermiculite, perlite and "other" ingredients - lightweight, free of weeds.

I have a large collection of seeds from 5 different strains. I do not know their names or anything scientific about them. One was chosen because it has been my favorite and I was fortunate enough to be given 10, presumed to be female seeds. I will wait until I have a well defined and successful process before I risk these seeds.

The other 4 types were chosen in hopes that one will prove to be hearty.

For my initial germination I attempted to chose 3 female seeds (based upon chart found here) from each of the 4 strains.

I thoroughly wet a wash cloth, placed the 15 seeds on top and placed in a large zipper lock bag.

April 6 -
checked on seeds, 7 have cracked with a sprout, with tweezers I placed the cracked sprouts in the soil attempting to have tap facing down. I barley placed below soil line and covered. Then placed under 24 hr light.

FYI - because I have not completed my rubber maid grower, I cannot assure total darkness so I am going to go with 24hr light until complete darkness is available to me.
They are simple on a table in an extra room with the light a couple of inches above.

April 7 -
The remaining 8 seeds have cracked and I followed the same process as above.

I know have all 15 germinated and in soil, but there has not been any separation of the seed shell.

Please wish me luck!

For those of you that use seeds, when do you move to dirt? After separation from the seed shell?

Thanks!

I moved mine into the dirt as soon as the taproot showed itself. In all honesty though, geminating in the soil is just as effective. Main reason for germinating in paper towels is to satisfy curiosity IMO

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My first grow - Bubblelicious and Blueberry

Hey Cede, I use the paper towel method, as soon as the taproot pops out I put them in the soil. The seed then gets pushed through the soil as the stem grows, the seed usually drops off when the stem is 1-2"s.

Good luck!

Thanks, Bomb and Hudson. Came home at lunch to check on them. The jiffy pots and seed starter soil does not retain much moisture. They were very dry. But the sprouts are poking through. About half have the seed stickin out a 1/4".

I will begin posting pix tonight.

As soon as the little sprouts show above the dirt, get a BUNCH of light on them. And yeah, you will have to watch the moisture very carefully at this stage, since they do not have a good root system yet, and those small pots dry out fast. It gets easier after the first transplant, which you will do in about 2 weeks, into a 4-6" pot.

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http://boards.cannabis.com/basic-gro...e-harvest.html<-It's a grow guide! Enjoy!
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http://boards.cannabis.com/grow-log/...ml#post1837597 <-how to make canna caramels
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Contacting Her Dankness: stinkyattic at hushm4il-please use the same discretion you do on the boards, thanks.
I don't claim to know the first thing about growing anything; hell, I can't make a Chia pet sprout.

Thanks, Stinky.

I had 3 6500k/26w/1600L CFL's on them but turned one off to see if that will help slow the drying of the soil.

I am able to come home for lunch most days to add water, but not always... And when I wake up in the morning they are arid.

Is this acceptable or should I go back to 3 and work on a method to keep moisture in the soil?

Thanks, again!

Keep the 3 on them, they shouldn't be producing too much heat, you're gonna need to add more of them soon anyway. What's the temps like?

Thanks, Hudson.

Prior to reading this post I made a few changes, pix to follow.

I am leaning towards going hydro, but I really am on a $50/week budget as per the wife. This is due to other ill fated projects and just happens to be my alloted medicine budget....

With hydro and eventual cloning in mind, I created a small box approx 12"w x 18"l x 24"h with 2 cfl's and 2 opening, one for intake the other for a small pc fan outtake. My third cfl is idle right now.

I also germed another 18 bag seeds although I placed them in regular potting soil in a recycled egg carton.

My room is approx 4' x 8' x 8' and I have no problem using all of the space, except of course my budget.

Cannot figure out how to attach pictures...

Temps:

Do not have the proper thermometer. But... it was 82c after 8 hours under the box. I haven't installed the fan yet but hope to do so tonight or tomorrow night.

Finally read the rules..........

here are links to pix

The Room
http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/n...0080407066.jpg

The small box
http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/n...0080407067.jpg

Side View for intake/outtake
http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/n...0080407070.jpg

Germed seeds waiting
http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/n...0080407069.jpg

Sprouts of some bag seeds in regular potting soil
http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/n...0080407068.jpg

Made a few changes and temps have gone way up.

I re-connected the third CFL and went about light-proofing the closet with black plastic (like is used in gardening).

This took about 20 minutes. By chance I had left the thermometer out and noticed the temperature in the closet had risen to 78c. It had been in the high 60's a few hours earlier. The outside temp had dropped to the low 60s. I then took a reading in the box and it was 96c.

I still do not have fan connected to the box and do not want to cut the third cfl off so I cut 2 holes in the top of the box to allow heat to rise out. 15 minutes later this had lowered the temp inside to 91c.

Because I am in 24 hr light now, and I have the entire closet light proof I desiced to raise the entire box 3 inches to allow for additional airflow/circulation or heat exhaust, whatever...

After 10 minutes this brought the temp down to 87c in the box.

Will these 3 day old seedlings survive this? I saturated the soil a bit, but do not want to get them too wet and they are going to have to go about 7 hrs max between waterings.

I guess my question is what is the better short term plan, allow them to sit in this heat, or cut back to 2 CFLs?

I am now thinking I am going to need more than a little pc fan if I am going to run 3 lights in this little box, or have to move to a larger box sooner than later.

All advice is greatly appreciated

Since you already have the rubbermaids, I would go ahead and start building one. Check out my grow in my sig. I just started like 2 and a 1/2 weeks ago with rubbermaids and germinating in soil and all. You can look through the pics and see how it all progressed. I'm just using 1 of the tubs right now for the seedlings.

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IMO you want to keep your temps no higher than 80F, they will survive short periods of around 90F, but if you keep your temps to 80F you've got a bit of room for normal temp fluctuations, like when there's a really hot week. You need to sort out your fan and see what the temps are like then, you might be surprised at how effective your fan will be at cooling your box, until then just use the two lights. You need to start thinking about the next phase of your grow now tho and ideally get it set up and tested before the plants need to go in. Soon you're gonna have to move your plants to bigger pots, they're not all gonna fit in that tiny box and you're gonna need more lights.

Good luck!

Thanks Bijnas and Hudson.

I placed a box fan next to it and it has brought the temps down. I will get the exhaust fan in today and hope to pick up a couple of thermometers that will log temp ranges.


I hope to have rubbermaid ready in the next 2 days. I just have to find a light vanity that will handle 80wx3 that is within my budget. so I may use y-connectors to expand to 6 cfls.

My current set up has a max of 40wx3.

Day 3 pix

http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/n...0080409008.jpg

http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/n...0080409007.jpg

http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/n...0080409006.jpg

http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/n...0080409005.jpg

http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/n...0080409004.jpg

http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/n...0080409003.jpg

http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/n...0080409002.jpg

installed fan last night and temps are way down. This morning i got a reading of 69 after a fairly cool night outside. This afternoon temp was a nice 74 with a nice 77 outside. This will be but to the test when summer temps arise.

I am concerned about over/underwatering. I am fighting the urge to water every time I check on them, which my wife says is way too often.
The top layer of soil gets dry fairly quickly but I can see the discoloration in the bottom of the peat pots and know there is moisture there. I am also handling pots in order to get a good feel for the weight which has been noticeable the one time I think they were overly dry.

I moved the lights back up to about 4" away from tallest seedlings. Half of them are 2 days older and about three times taller. Will post new pix tonight.

Glad to hear you sorted your heat problem. How often are you watering them? As they're so young and you say they seem to be drying out quickly i'd probably water once a day. Try and get that light closer in the next couple of days, the closer the better with cfl's, try for around 2".

Thanks, Hudson,

For now, I think I have the heat solved, but when I add the flower room and outside temps get into the high 90's I am probably going to be challenged again.

I have been watering multiple times a day. The plants appear to me to be looking great. But I really do not know what warning signs I need to be watching for. I have read that the plants like to go through wet and dry periods but am assuming that is for mature plants. Rot, mold and stunted growth I assume are the dangers I need be on guard for with over watering.

I will post pix in a few hours.

So far so good?

http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/n...0080410010.jpg

http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/n...0080410007.jpg

http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/n...0080410005.jpg

http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/n...0080410004.jpg

http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/n...0080410002.jpg

great looking seedlings. During the numerous seedling deaths I've been responsible for I learned that if you can get your seedlings past 3 weeks of age then they will generally be able to survive anything else you throw at them within reason.

I vegged in CFL and am flowering with an HPS. I'm sure you can see how my grow is looking. If you can save some of that allowance money I would suggest you buy an hps. $50 a week is plenty of cash to buy some new grow gear if you consider that most plants will take at least 3-4 months from seed until harvest.

If you veg for 8 weeks that's $400. Plenty of cash for an HPS, cool tube and maybe a pair of inline centrifugal fans .

There are many others on here way more experienced than me but I'll be happy to help with any problems that come along the way for you.

Good luck

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