New Grower First build / first grow / medical

[Biskit]

Hi again, all! My intro is in that thread so I figured I’d start one for my attempt to grow on my own. I’m a medical patient whose doctor talked him into trying medical cannabis early last year. I’ve found it to be helpful once I worked out dosing. My main concern is cost ... I’m currently going through about $125/month for medicine and I need to travel around 500 miles round trip to get the best prices. Locally is about 5 times more than driving...so $600-ish/month. I also usually use concentrates because there is more bang for the buck there.

I have read everything I could, joined a bunch of sites and I’m thinking AFN is the place I want to settle into right now. My main goal is to put in the minimum amount necessary to have some decent success with the grow. I’ve ran vegetable gardens for years and years and used to have some apple trees so I’m familiar with growing items, this is just a new species Since I have an entire 1100ft^2 unfinished basement (that is heated/cooled with the rest of the house) for the grow I didn’t think I needed to spend the $60-ish for a tent. I love the DWC systems and should this work out and I decide I like it, I will probably start moving that way, but until then .....

I searched and searched to find the least expensive auto seeds I have 3 Big Bud Auto seeds and 2 Short Stuff. That was $17 shipped to me ... dunno if there will be any free beans in there; hasn’t arrived yet. In addition, it seems the lighting is very important so I have been spending time in the local ads for used stuff. I first found 6 48” T8 Fluorescent fixtures with 4-40w bulbs each. They wanted $25 for those so I bot them. Then I found a SunPower 200W grow light with 9 total grow bulbs (4 installed). I was looking for other items when I found, about a week later, some person selling off all his gear so I picked up a Philzon 1000W LED board and a quart of all 3 main GH nutes for $125. Then I ended up winning an eBay auction for a 400W HPS/MH fixture/ballast/bulb combo for $50.
That puts me $200 into lighting but it’s too much to start with.

As far as soil goes, we have a large community that gardens fanatically so topsoil and compost is everywhere. I went to my local home improvement store for a couple 5 gallon pots that I placed the soil in.

There have been a lot of folk saying ph meters are very important and I know when I test stripped my water upon moving here, it was around a 9 so I’ll need to adjust prior to watering to give my plant the best chance she has, correct?

So that’s where I’m at. I have a couple pieces of 4’x8’ insulating foam that I could use to enclose the area further if that becomes necessary to control the environment better? Currently it’s 76 F and 20% RH Since it is very dry here year-round. The current plan is to pop a couple beans, get them in the pots and only have the 200W T5 grow lamps on for a bit to get started. Then I just don’t know ... LED only? MH only? All of the above? Thoughts?

I appreciate all of you not only willing to put all this great information out here for us newbies to learn and utilize but also to come by and take a peek now and then to see if I’m messing something important up!

 

[automan2]

Hey man, most of us have been there...at least you have a community here who will help...I started growing because of a med need 15 yrs ago and just couldn't find anything consistantly. Primo street dope was high too. My first "grow" was slipping some seeds into my gf's winter flower storage area and she actually grew'em ….thought it funny when I smoked her "flowers". So if she grew weed, you sure can cause all she did was water once a week.
The T5 will actually grow your weed from start to finish. I start all my plants under a 100w t5 where they stay the first month.
Appears your humidity may be a challenge.

 

[Biskit]

Hey man, most of us have been there...at least you have a community here who will help...I started growing because of a med need 15 yrs ago and just couldn't find anything consistantly. Primo street dope was high too. My first "grow" was slipping some seeds into my gf's winter flower storage area and she actually grew'em ….thought it funny when I smoked her "flowers". So if she grew weed, you sure can cause all she did was water once a week.
The T5 will actually grow your weed from start to finish. I start all my plants under a 100w t5 where they stay the first month.
Appears your humidity may be a challenge.

Thats fantastic! Smelly flowers.
Wont my autos be happier if I move them to Philzon after a month or so? It’s 300w at the wall and should penetrate the canopy,better, right? Although humidity is the one item that has me thinking I may need to put some ‘walls’ up now that we are talking lights, I bet the reflection off the walls is important as well. Hmm.......

 

[fauxnacho]

Definitely cover the basics of humidity and circulation as a priority, pick up a simple humidifier to take care of that 20%RH! Your young plants especially will want minimum 50%.
Going straight in with nutes may not be necessary if you have great soil, maybe just let them veg in soil and give them a boost when they reach flower. As newbie it's easy to get nutes wrong and wreck your crop, so I say run one or two times with just soil to learn more about the plant. Read through whole journals so you know what to expect. Happy growing dude people here will always help you out

 

[420Forever]

Hi again, all! My intro is in that thread so I figured I’d start one for my attempt to grow on my own. I’m a medical patient whose doctor talked him into trying medical cannabis early last year. I’ve found it to be helpful once I worked out dosing. My main concern is cost ... I’m currently going through about $125/month for medicine and I need to travel around 500 miles round trip to get the best prices. Locally is about 5 times more than driving...so $600-ish/month. I also usually use concentrates because there is more bang for the buck there.

I have read everything I could, joined a bunch of sites and I’m thinking AFN is the place I want to settle into right now. My main goal is to put in the minimum amount necessary to have some decent success with the grow. I’ve ran vegetable gardens for years and years and used to have some apple trees so I’m familiar with growing items, this is just a new species Since I have an entire 1100ft^2 unfinished basement (that is heated/cooled with the rest of the house) for the grow I didn’t think I needed to spend the $60-ish for a tent. I love the DWC systems and should this work out and I decide I like it, I will probably start moving that way, but until then .....

I searched and searched to find the least expensive auto seeds I have 3 Big Bud Auto seeds and 2 Short Stuff. That was $17 shipped to me ... dunno if there will be any free beans in there; hasn’t arrived yet. In addition, it seems the lighting is very important so I have been spending time in the local ads for used stuff. I first found 6 48” T8 Fluorescent fixtures with 4-40w bulbs each. They wanted $25 for those so I bot them. Then I found a SunPower 200W grow light with 9 total grow bulbs (4 installed). I was looking for other items when I found, about a week later, some person selling off all his gear so I picked up a Philzon 1000W LED board and a quart of all 3 main GH nutes for $125. Then I ended up winning an eBay auction for a 400W HPS/MH fixture/ballast/bulb combo for $50.
That puts me $200 into lighting but it’s too much to start with.

As far as soil goes, we have a large community that gardens fanatically so topsoil and compost is everywhere. I went to my local home improvement store for a couple 5 gallon pots that I placed the soil in.

There have been a lot of folk saying ph meters are very important and I know when I test stripped my water upon moving here, it was around a 9 so I’ll need to adjust prior to watering to give my plant the best chance she has, correct?

So that’s where I’m at. I have a couple pieces of 4’x8’ insulating foam that I could use to enclose the area further if that becomes necessary to control the environment better? Currently it’s 76 F and 20% RH Since it is very dry here year-round. The current plan is to pop a couple beans, get them in the pots and only have the 200W T5 grow lamps on for a bit to get started. Then I just don’t know ... LED only? MH only? All of the above? Thoughts?

I appreciate all of you not only willing to put all this great information out here for us newbies to learn and utilize but also to come by and take a peek now and then to see if I’m messing something important up!

ok, s l o w down there biskit, lol when it comez to autoz, u simply don't need a million dollar setup to grow decent weed for urself they'll get started & veg like crazy under the t5'z jus fine, trust me...i veg mine under cfl'z for the first month or so & they luv it (jus make sure they're 6500k light temp, or at least 5000k) so let'z get to that point first, then worry bout other lighting concernz, eh-? baby stepz u will indeed wanna get a decent ph pen & some ph up/down, and in ur case, i'd say a humidifier as well...seedlingz need at least 75-80% rh, which can be accomplished with domez ez enuff, but once they outgrow the domez, they still need 60-70% or so til they start goin into flower...basic rule of thumb is the older they get, the less humidity they need oh, and ya, u'll def wanna get fanz for gen air circ...that'z all me got for now ppp

 

[Biskit]

ok, s l o w down there biskit, lol when it comez to autoz, u simply don't need a million dollar setup to grow decent weed for urself they'll get started & veg like crazy under the t5'z jus fine, trust me...i veg mine under cfl'z for the first month or so & they luv it (jus make sure they're 6500k light temp, or at least 5000k) so let'z get to that point first, then worry bout other lighting concernz, eh-? baby stepz u will indeed wanna get a decent ph pen & some ph up/down, and in ur case, i'd say a humidifier as well...seedlingz need at least 75-80% rh, which can be accomplished with domez ez enuff, but once they outgrow the domez, they still need 60-70% or so til they start goin into flower...basic rule of thumb is the older they get, the less humidity they need oh, and ya, u'll def wanna get fanz for gen air circ...that'z all me got for now ppp

LOL! Yes too many lights and not much else. Thankfully the HPS is in great shape and only $48 shipped so I’m selling it locally. I also found a 2x4 tent local for only $50 NIB which I’m hoping will be similar to the $70 version on Amazon
Amazon product
Seeds have not arrived yet and in the meantime I have been searching for humidifiers...I’m thinking it’s so dry and a bit chilly in the A/C basement that the heated humidifier would work best at giving both needed humidity but also adding some heat to the tent......unless that is somehow bad?

 

[Biskit]

They popped! Hot diggity! My seeds arrived so I setup the tent with red Solo cups on a TV tray with a humidifier and heating pad. 3 days later all 3 beans have popped and are beginning to grow. I’ve been making sure the ph in the humidifier and in the spray bottle that wets the soil is 6.5. Now to stop myself from running down to the basement every hour to see if she grew.....

 

[Biskit]

Almost a week old. I’m planning on moving these to their forever pots this week.

 

[Biskit]

Aw snap! I transplanted two to big pots.....and the roots and soil just crumbled. Both dry and wet. I quickly put whatever was left in to the new dirt, buried the stem a bit and put everyone under the big 400w LED array. I just hope these two girls can come back okay. Their sister will spend another few days in the Solo cup to have a better root ball.

 

[Biskit]

Okay, as of this morning they still look okay but that was right when the lights came on at 0600. I’ll try to get photos tonight and see if they survive my failure!