Hi, folks. I've been lurking here since I started my first grow on Sept 7. I didn't originally plan on doing a grow log (paranoid I guess). But I've learned so much from this forum that I feel compelled to share my experiences. I hope that someone can learn from my mistakes

I'm gonna list my worst mistakes right here so that everyone will see them:

1: I didn't use sterilized soil. I used some Jungle Growth stuff that I got from Lowe's. It grows great tomatoes. It also grows great fungus gnats. I've been fighting them bastards for a month. Save yourself some heartache and get good soil.

2: I underestimated the cannibis plants' ability to stink. About the time the plants were producing their third set of leaves I discovered that they could stink up my entire 3600 square foot house. After I ran around opening windows and turning on the attic fan I had to install a high CFM exhaust fan in my closet. It would have been easier to do that before everything was set up. If odor would cause problems for you then plan for it in advance. And choose your strain wisely. Don't choose anything with skunk in it's name

3: This space reserved for the next stupid thing I do.

My (slightly ghetto) grow setup:

A closet measuring 2x5 with 6 ft of usable height.
A homemade light consisting of 9 CFLs and 2 48" T8 fluorescent tubes.
White Widow X Skunk feminized seeds
Jungle Growth soil (see mistake #1) mixed with perlite and vermiculite
Miracle Growth veg nutes (has a tomato on the box)
Green Light Super Bloom nutes 12-55-6
Reflective mylar glued to cardboard for quick removal.
Ph test strips
HotShot No-Pest strip (thanks to the damn fungus gnats)

I'll add pics when I figure out how to do it

This picture was taken on Sept 14.

Six days later. Remember the plant in the second picture. It auto-topped itself by producing a 4 leaf clover pattern with no center growth shoot.

More pics. One plant died so there are only three now. The third pic shows the plant that autotopped itself

More pics. Had a slight Ph problem that I corrected with a small amount of hydrated lime added to the nute mix.

Here's my babies now. I switched the lights to 12/12 on Oct 15. The largest plant had a few hairs the next day. The other two haven't yet.

Does anyone know how long it takes Hotshot no-pest strips to begin killing adult fungus gnats? I've had it hung in the closet for a day and the bastards are still flying around.

So far I've used Permethrin, Bifenthrin, and glue paper. I've kept the plants a little dry and I covered the soil with perlite and vermiculite. Nothing seems to work

Any suggestions?

wow they R looken great. egen wow I say.

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You have to take the good with the bad, smile with the sad, love what you've got and remember what you had.Always forgive, but never forget, learn from your mistakes, but never regret. PEOPLE CHANGE, THINGS GO WRONG, but just remember life goes on.

Nice dillhole, i cant wait to see some bud pics

wow, your grow looks EXACTLY like mine. First thing to remember, unless you keep a daily log of your plants, numbering them has no use whatsoever. I started to number mine, but after I transplanted, I just forgot about them. And with the plant splitting early like yours did, well, you really don't have to try and seperate them with wires, I tried that but found it was just better to let them grow. I swear though, I have the EXACT same setup, except that mine only has two heat lamp lights. And because of my shortage on lighting, I only use my box for cloning, my other plants are outside.

Thanks guys!

DrSeuss, do you got pics of your grow? I would love to see them! I numbered the plants because I did things slightly different with each plant. This is my first grow so I wanted to try a variety of things to see what works and what don't. I'm treating them all the same now but I used different sources of water and additives during the veg stage. Not much difference in the plants though. As for the wires, I LST'd all of them, even the self-topper, for greater light penetration. I probably just use the wires to keep the canopy even throughout the rest of the grow.

your plant sure seem to like what your doing! They look great.

yepp, I have SOME pics, Dr.Seuss' Grow Log

but anyway, that's accually a great idea (experimenting like that)
your plants look great btw

I've just noticed that the self-topper is producing growth shoots that top themselves. Makes me wonder if this is a genetic trait that can be bred for. At the very least it's pretty cool, two colas for the price of one. And no stress for the plant.

I may try to clone it using one of these topped shoots. I just dont know if I have the time to baby a clone.

Today I started them on 1/2 strength bloom nutes and gave them another round of LST. And after drooling over HPS lights for the last week, I decided to add 4 more CFL's instead. I'll consider HPS when I have more experience

I now have 13 CFL's and 2 48in T8 tubes. Three of the cfl's are 150watt equivalent (2700K). Ther remainder are all 100watt equiv. And four of those are 6500K. Confusing enough?

The plants had a 3 day growth spurt after switching them to 12/12. Had to raise the lights everyday. Since then they haven't grown very much but they've filled out some. All of the plants are showing their sex now

I'm still fighting the fungus gnats. I'm about to give up and spray gasoline If anyone has a solution for these bastards please tell me. I'll give you my first born (plant, not kid).

Okay, enough blabbing. Here's a few pics

The good news: Got some buds forming!!!
The bad news: Still fighting gnats.

The plants went nearly a week without needing water. Don't know if it's normal or if it's because of the slightly low ph problem I've got. They seem to be healthy though, just growing a little slower than I expected.

I gave them a good drenching with ph'd water today. The pics are before I watered them. Next watering I'll start full strength bloom nutes

I'm excited that I'm seeing some progress. I would have never thought that I could grow my own weed. This is cool as hell. I hope I dont do something to goob it up now!

Oh, I've been sizing the pics as 800 by 600. Is this too large for images in a post? It occurred to me today that most people dont use a screen resolution of 1600 by 1200 like I do, so the pics may be huge on their screen. Lemme know what yall think, I'll be happy to resize them

Before getting watered!


Future bud!!!


I cant wait!!

Would it be a good idea to do a little pruning down low? Not much light makes it there anyway. I'm just scared it'll hurt em. Ha, I'm so protective of these plants that I may not be able to smoke them.

I'd prune the leaves that don't seem to be getting any light at all (personally), unless you can get a few CFLs aimed at the side/underside of the leaves.

I really like those close up photos.

Beautiful plants bro! Good work

Thanks guys! I'm learning how to use my camera to take macros. It's not as easy as I thought. Hopefully I'll be good at it by the time the buds get nice.

If they ever do...

The plants aren't very happy right now. Leaves are pointing down at the tips. The color is still ok but the lower leaves seem to be getting a little pale. Some of the newer growth on two of the plants is slightly shriveled. It looks like a nitrogen problem but I don't know if it's too much or too little.

I gave them 1/2 strength bloom nutes at the start of flowering. Then they went 8 days without needing water. The tips started pointing down then but I attributed it to being dry. Yesterday I gave them a drenching of plain water (ph about 7, runoff in the low 6's) and they haven't gotten much better. If they're not happy by tomorrow I'll put a post in the plant problems area.

Plants look a little better today. I think they have a minor N lockout caused by low pH. I haven't decided how I'm gonna fix it yet. I've only got hydrated lime to raise the pH and it's very, very strong stuff. I'll have to be careful if I use it since I don't have a meter, just pH paper.

Since I'm here anyway, I'll post some bud pics

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I've decided to wait until they need water again to correct the low pH. Apparently the last watering was enough to correct the N lockout but the pH remains too low. The soil is still damp so I'll wait till it's drier. Since the soil has been damp for a long time I may add some H2O2 to the mix for oxygenation. Is this a wise thing to do? Or am I asking for more trouble? Comments? Please

I took a few more closeups today for your viewing pleasure I think my camera will rock when I learn how to use it. It's a Canon S5-IS. Some of these buds are smaller than my little fingernail and you can see much more detail in the pic than with the naked eye. It makes me geek out a little bit!

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I placed a post in the problems area. Ya'll come help me out. Thanks.

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My first grow!!

Most of the time...the gnat eggs was in the soil you bought. Happens to me all the time....

I have read that, covering the top of the soil with sand or a paper plate/foil or something will stop more eggs from hatching. (not advice, just something I read)

Me?..I just kill them...(amono~amono)...hand to hand combat... ..I don't think they hurt the plants; but not sure.

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