I tried a hydroponic grow back in 1974. It was the first time I ever grew pot, and there was no information, no lights, no nutrients, no seed companies, and cops just itching to send you away for decades.
I used an old waterbed frame with a plastic liner and filled it with river sand. I rigged up some fluorescent tubes and light-proofed my garage so no light leaked out. I looked up hydroponic solutions and brewed my own with chemicals you could then buy from scientific suppliers. A fountain pump with a timer. Another timer for the lights, and I was ready to go.
I am amazed how well it worked. My Mexican bag seeds pretty much all germinated right in the sand. They vegged fine, but of course the stems were quite long because of the poor light. I think I was running 12/12 so they would have flowered but they really didn’t have enough light.
I had to move before they flowered, so I had to take it down. Smoked the leaf anyway and it was about as good as the pot we bought back then.
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@1BigFella
I love this story.
When I was a young fella, I dated a girl who had a line on “fish head weed”. She told us it was home grown where they put fish heads on top of the soil and let them decompose during the grow. It was supposed to increase potency and was “2 hit sh*t”. Well the 2 hit part was right because it tasted so bad that’s all you could stand! I think the only effect I got from it was a headache and it smelled as bad as it tasted!
I’m curious what the “old timers” think of the new growing technology. I’d love to hear more stories!
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I started smoking when I graduated from High School: 1968, so “old timer” is right! Hard to believe that was 49 years ago. All the weed we got back then was Mexican and full of seeds. I remember the one time I got some sinsemilla we thought it must be laced with opium or something, it was so strong. The usual stuff was so bad you had to smoke a joint, then smoke another, etc. Of course, it was only $10 an ounce.
My friend used to bring it across from TJ inside the tires of his car. He never once got caught but guys with guns kept coming to his ranch to rip him off, so he had to get out of the business. It was all kilogram bricks and compressed very tightly. You really had to work at breaking them up into ounces. And even then you wound up with a bunch of stems and seeds. Nobody ever bought less than an ounce at a time probably because you had to smoke so much. My friends and I would sit in one of our rooms, listen to Jimi, and pass around joints all evening.
I’m just starting to get back into now that I have retired, and it is amazing. Everything you need to know, everything you need to grow, it’s all out there. The science is incredible: The info about lights and photoperiod, the nutrients, the seed breeders, plant training, and the dispenseries here in California. I got my medical card and joined one just to get some clones before January 2018, and they even gave me an 1/8th for free just for joining!
And now it’s mainstream. I bought some DynaGrow on Amazon and now they keep sending me solicitations for grow lights! Big Brother IS watching, and he really wants to sell you stuff for your grow.
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