Hey, I am a first time grower, and I wanted to try to grow some plants as cheaply as possible because I am completely broke. I live in an apartment, and can't afford to have a special room for growing. I just took out a couple bag seeds and put them into two little cups on my window sill to start. Fast forward about 3 months. I transplanted the one female plant (the other was male so i killed it) several times as it grew, and now it is in my closet. I didn't want to buy expensive grow lamps, so I have 3 $4 150 watt, 2850 lumen Crystal Clear lightbulbs shining on the single plant, and am only using miracle grow.It is over 3 feet tall now, and i started it on 12/12 about 3 weeks ago. There are no light leaks, and there are about fifteen 1-2" long buds forming. I don't have any pictures, but the plant is green, healthy looking, but is pretty tall and thin looking. My problem is that the buds seem to have stopped growing. Is it because they need a shit ton more light as the buds get bigger?
You'll get as much out of that plant as you put into it. In other words, next to nothing. Why do you think people construct growrooms and spend hundreds of $$ for lights and ventilation and carbon scrubbers etc.? Because they're stupid and have money to burn? Or do you think it's because special lights & equip. is needed? With what sounds like incadescent lights you're not gonna get any decent bud. If you want to grow weed, first you're gonna have to read a few grow books, then you're gonna have to modify your closet and spend $$ for at least a bank of florescents, quality potting soil and a number of other things (pH tester, etc.). Growing pot can be a very rewarding hobby, but not the way you're doing it.
Yeah, you make a good argument, rangerdanger. If I am only going to be growing 1-3 plants at a time, how much would a small bank of florescent lights cost?
That's a bit harsh don't cha think ranger? Some of us are new and very inexperienced and don't always have much money to put into this hobby. AK- first off, ya really need to get better lights. Compact Flouresents are pretty cheap, and they just screw into normal sockets. Plus they use less watts which saves money on the elecric bill. I got some 42w compacts with like 2600 lumens at home depot for like 5 or 10$, I use them for vegie stage, you'll have to look for ones that give off more of the red spectrum. I wouldn't guess that they would do too much for ya this late in the game, but for future referance. HPS light systems aren't that much I set my 400w HPS for under 100$ granted it's not the perfect setup, but it can be added onto. Also, you want to use a fert that is higher in the last 2 numbers and lower in the first number. Well that's what I know, but then again I'm new to this too. I'd suggest reading through the forums here. Maybe buy a book on MJ growing. Here is a site with some guides that should help you out a bit. http://www.1stmarijuanagrowerspage.com/ Good luck --Dash
What was harsh? AKcharlie stated that he didn't WANT to buy the correct equip. Whether or not someone has the $ to invest in indoor cultivation doesn't change what pot need to grow. -Flourescents don't save $ on elect. Thay emit 75 lumens per watt, while HPS kick out 125 lumens per watt--much cheaper per lumen. -re: N-P-K--you should use one ratio for veg, a different one for flowering. One of my biggest pet peeves is how people, who have an amazing wealth of info literally at their fingertips don't spend even 5 minutes reading up on what they're attempting to do. Let me give you an analogy. Let's say you want to give your car a tune-up. You heard that a tune-up involves new spark plugs. But you don't want to buy new spark plugs so you dig some out of the trash and use them, then complain that your car runs shitty. Another thing people complain about is the cost of equip., even though growing marijuana is one of the most cost effective hobby's around. You'll make your investment back with your very first crop. Everything after that is gravy. There's always something you can do to make a few hundred bux, if you want to bad enough. Mow lawns, rake leaves, shovel snow, baby sit, wax cars, you get the picture. Sometimes it just involves re-directing what you spend $ on. When I decieded to grow indoors the 1st thing I did was read up on the subject (not much info in '89). Then I stopped buying weed for months until I could afford the basic equip. After my first crop I no longer had to spend $ to buy weed; that free'd up the $ to spend on other things, like hookers and beer .(actually I used the $ i used to spend on weed to upgrade my system). Sorry to go off on a rant but it irks me when people use shitty equip/techniques then wonder why they're getting shitty results.
great rant!!! I definantly see your point, and I have pet peeves of my own (hookers with cold hands) When I started to grow almost 2 months ago one of the first things I got after I got my clone was a cultiation book. now looking back I coulda saved that 20$ or spent it on something else, because of the amazing amount of info online. So I read up as much as I could but my equipment was still a window sil with a cheap little "plant flourencet" from home depot set to 16/8. I have gadually gotten more equipment as the grow has continued, as I have learned more in the forums, and as I learned what I actually needed from first hand experience. I still don't have the best set up, but it's getting better all the time. I think the main reason us first timers are hesitant to get the good HPS or MH lights is the initial cost. I mean ya never know if you'll be any good at growing, and why spend a few hundred bucks on something that might end up like those golf clubs in the garage, just sittin there never used. So I guess it takes more of a commitment I guess to pony up the big bucks. So I would say I am with ya for the most part, I do agree about not taking the time to read up on what you need since it is so readily avalible, but I definantly think that beginers should start small rather than jumping in and buying a massive system when they haven't learned anything first hand yet? hmmm... I guess this post got alittle longer than I originally intended it to be, oh well, I'm off to clone in my new dome. -Flourescents: what I ment was it would save on electricity over the incadencets that he was using, and have a low start up cost. -re: N-P-K--I was refering to the fert needed for blooming since he is in 12/12 at the moment. --Dash
The point here is to help and when starting a good book can definately help but doing is also a way of learning. It takes guts to even attempt it and I would commend anyone who tries to grow their own. RangerDanger is correct in all his arguments however. I often stress the importance of at least one good flowering light. People do manage to grow under regular old shop light floro's in veg stage and even in flowering but a small hps light would be far more efficient. Consider investing in a 400 watt hps light. In the mean time the more light without heat will help. Perhaps you dont realize that buds always start out kinda scraggly and then tend to fill out. Another problem may be not enough feed. Your ph could be off. Why not click my banner and spend 18 bucks on my begineers grow book, "Bonanza of Green"? Not because I want to sell books but because it's written for newbie growers. I write this stuff over and over and helping online is fun but its hard to tell it all here. Feel free to ask any question though. BOG
