Quick Introduction

Grow Cycle Preparations
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Hello everyone.

   I'm new here obviously and I just wanted to take a few minutes to dive into this new (to me) community. A little about myself and how I got here. Again. 
   
  
     I'm from the east coast, I'm old enough to remember how severe being caught with a joint was in the 80's, my hobby is leather working with exotics and because my 'give-a-damn' is busted I'm fresh out of given. 

    I haven't smoked reefer since high school, in fact I've grown to hate it. The smell, the culture the stigma etc etc. Fast forward 30 years, I find myself with a medical issue that I can't afford so I was left scratching my head and my thumb up my ass. By sheer luck, (usually the only luck I have is bad) I find a no-frills fold top baggie with 3 bright green nuggets inside. Thinking back on that find I must admit it was choice bud. 

   So me with my thumb up my ass sat on the edge of my bed one afternoon, appetite shot again because of the stomach churning pain. Keep in mind this was a few days later. I opened my dresser drawer and caught a wiff of the weed I found. I put 2 and 2 together in my head and grabbed the baggie. I smoked a pea sized amount because I really didn't enjoy my last reefer session. Then again who would smoke up WHILE I in a facility of "forced confinement"? This idiot, that's who. I let the high roll on slowly. Grabbed another pea sized amount. And another. Munchies would all me to eat, Finally!

  Where I live isn't so nice. Not joking, I've seen a half dozen dead bodies in the last two weeks alone. Most are OD's but two gun deaths and a stabbing death isn't any better. I have to walk thru this area every time I need new green. I'm not built for fighting any more. Hell, I don't even like verbal arguments. 

 Went shopping online for a grinder. Stumbled upon the Kind Cannabis vape, then found an entire industry I never knew existed. Fast forward 30+ hours, my eyes are bulging, I have a twitch in my neck, I'm in a pool of urine, with 273th cup of coffee in one hand and my credit card in the other I'm ready to spend everything I have!

I crash off the coffee and get some sleep. Once Iā€™m recovered and alert, I start making a list in my head of everything Iā€™ll need to make my first grow a success. Lights, timers, space to grow, loafy soil, PH testers, CO2 meter, etc etc. Ebay, Amazon, Newegg, I start checking everywhere for the best prices.
My list starts with one check mark, then two, then six. I ordered the seeds, hit the button my various internet shopping carts to complete the sales and here I am.

(I sincerely hope everyone reads this with a bit of humor. Obviously I didnā€™t piss myself or stay up for 30 hours, all just over-exaggeration. Laughs are how I break the ice and I hope this gave everyone a good chuckle. Believe it or not this is 100% what lead me to here).

I do have one question if anyone is willing to grace me with an answer.

If you cant get Bergmans, what other fertilizer is recommended for the DEA pack?

If I violated a rule or if this isnā€™t supposed to be posted here I sincerely apologize.

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Welcome to our forum! Dropping the f bomb is a no no, not a major infraction but preferably not a good thing.
Other than that, I guess the best place to start is to tell everyone your level of growing experience, the type of grow you would like to achieve, the amount if cannabis you need to get through the year, and what kind of gear you have or would like? Perhaps you have no equipment and need advice on where to start? You may use the @ sign in front of the person you wish to summon. Example @PhillyRock will bring you here.

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Welcome to the community. Like @Cannabian said. There are a lot of great growers on here ready to help with any questions you have.

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Apparently most people here are switching to Jackā€™s (which I understand their bloom is 10-30-20 PERFECT for MJ) ,Fox farms trio is a good second but you have to ph it really well. Dyna grow is the budget option and its reliably ph balanced. Or you can go the organic route and get a natural mix or mix your own blood meal is excellent for nitrogen seabird guano is great for phosphorous and theres a handful of decent options for potassium. Oh and youā€™ll wanna always have cal mag around for deficiencies.I personally recommend starting with autos for your first 2 grows to get a feel for growing.

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Thank you for the warm welcome and I promise to never use the F word in my posts, again.

Well, I have less than zero (zero is at least a numerical digit) experience in growing.
My most successful grow was a hand full of seeds I found in a quarter oz of street green 25 years ago. One seed grew to about 6 inches and then my cat ate it. Little did I know how similar Catnip and marijuana are. Even back then my knowledge of growing green was limited to articles in High-times magazine.

If I exceed a gram in a 24 hour period, it was a long day. Actually, the green itself is the catalyst in my daily consumption. Good stuff goes further, but its getting harder and harder to find decent smoke. Especially here where Iā€™m at. Everyone has graduated to the life crushing, family destroying, death in a bag kind of stuff. No one wants to sell green because the profit margins are lower. That in combination with what I have to walk thru to actually buy my smoke is why I decided to grow my own.

I have a very limited growing space so I probably wont grow more than 3 plants at a time. I want to keep a 12 inch space between each fully grown plant.

I donā€™t have much gear yet, bought some full spectrum grow lights (using LED stuff to keep electric down). Bought myself a pair of white LED lights for sight, and as mentioned I have two 12X5 Full spec and a 12X12 full spec. Digital timer, going to order the CO2 meter today, still have to look into fertilizers. Canā€™t get my hands on Bergmans but Iā€™m reading some interesting stuff on this forum about good alternatives.

There is a lot of information here to absorb so its time to hit the start button on my coffee pot and get to learning. I taught myself leather-working off YouTube and forums, learning to grow couldnā€™t be harder than that. Could it?

Iā€™m a very good listener, I can follow directions, I donā€™t have a ā€˜Prideā€™ chip on my shoulder so Iā€™m not afraid to ask for advice. I would like to think that Iā€™m slightly smarter than the average guy (by no means is this a brag or bravado) so following the directions of seasoned growers and true professionals should be a fun new adventure and relatively straight forward if you listen to community.

Three quick questions:
1). What is the most over looked detail when growing?
2). What is better: organic fertilizer or engineered fertilizer?
3). Hypothetical scenario: Youā€™re in a pinch, you need fertilizer and PH control. Youā€™re only option is the local Home-Depot. What do you buy?

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Iā€™m still a little new but I suppose light leaks and inner room circulation can be overlooked by newbies. Engineered fertilizers are generally liquid salt based and will need to be flushed every 3-4 weeks(to break salt buildup) but theyā€™re easier to use and faster absorbed by the plant. Organic ferts are generally dry that mix with soil and to add more you have to give your pots a fresh inch of soil mixed in or massage it into the top and water will slowly push it down. And in a absolute pinch if I had no meter Iā€™d give your pots a mini flush with distilled water since its ph is 5.8-6 If their showing nute lockout (I generally water 50/50 distilled tap water) and home depot will have a few organic options but their liquid options are pretty terrible

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Welcome to the forum!

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I think the most common newbie mistake is over-watering. Especially the first couple weeks. They need very little water early on, seriously, very little. Iā€™m new also, month or so into my first grow. Any newbie questions, chances are Iā€™ve dealt with it in the last month, fire away. These guys/gals here are great. my advice would be to read every post you can find where it sounds like the poster has an issue. Not only does seeing where they went wrong act as a preventive measure, you will know what to do when you inevitably screw something up.

You live in Philly? If so, go birds!

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Thank you for the welcome and free advice.

I really donā€™t want to disclose my exact location for obvious reasons but Iā€™ll leave it at this: I can get anywhere in the city within 1 hour and I donā€™t own a car.
My daily ball cap is the screamingā€™ Eagle Kelly green 80ā€™s colors.However, when the whole ā€œtake a kneeā€ thing started I quit watching all together. Iā€™ve got no time for politics in my entertainment.

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Thank you sir. Very much appreciated.

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At this point I wouldnā€™t waste tine or money on anything co2 related. Learn the basics first. Co2 is for Increasing yield for dialed in and perfect grows.

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Things going well. Read so much my eyes started to sweat.
Iā€™m happy to report my first (successful) seedling.
1 GCK poked through the dirt on the 3rd. Tested dirt and water for pH level,
everything checked out good. Itā€™s about 3 inches tall, starting to see some center
stalk action. Still too small to sex. Gave it a spray today for the first time.
Keeping RH around 40-55% and temp between 84F and 90F.

Thanks to everyone that gave me tips in the beginning, Iā€™m sure Iā€™ll need to pick
your heads again later.

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Best of luck 1st grow is always the hardest so just roll with the punches and donā€™t get disheartened, god knows I made a mistake at every turn not enough light, underwatering, to much fertilizer. Yet im super happy cause I know my next grow will be 10x better

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Good luck on your grow soon that little girl will be growing into a monster if everything goes at least a little right

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Update!!

Things are going VERY well. I had a few things to correct and as of this AM things were looking
great.

First: I bought the wrong soil. I only had Natures Care MG organic potting soil available to me at my local
Loweā€™s/Home Depot. I bought some Perlite and temporarily fixed the problem. I already had made a list of things to get and Fox farms (ocean something) will be delivered this coming week. Until then I have to let it completely dry out before I re-water.

Second: My temps were WAY off. I was averaging 85-91 day time and 75 night. I fixed this with some home made ventilation and a few Computer electronic brush-less fans. Now things are staying 74-81 day and 70 at night.

Third: I had some really CRAPPY lights. I bought some of those $15 and $25 dollar Amazon LED grow lights and thought it would be enough. NOPE! I decided to buy 1000W Giixer LED grow light in combination with the cheap lights I bought. Turns out, it was a great move. Giixer in the middle and the cheap lights on the side. At least Iā€™ll have more than enough Red and Blue light when bloom happens.
The price is really good too.

The information provided here on this forum was priceless when trying to correct my mistakes. No matter what step youā€™re in or where you find yourself, the knowledge here is enough to make anyone a pro with enough time. Iā€™m gonna stick around for a while and get comfy. Iā€™m gonna like it here!!

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HOLY CRAP! I just caught myself from making a HUGE mistake.
Plants are healthy (Or so they look) but Iā€™ve been treating these seedlings as if
they were Autoā€™s. Instead they are Feminized and Iā€™ve been giving them 24hrs of light.

Lucky I caught it in time and they are sleeping soundly. Iā€™ll update if things go south.

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I doubt you hurt them even photos can be grown 24/0 for veggy itā€™s just unnecessary and youā€™ll run into deficiencies faster

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You think 18/6 is OK until bloom?
Just going by some of the stuff I read, 18/6
seems to be a favorite, then 12/12 for blooming.
am I understanding that right?

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Yup sounds great and good luck growing , canā€™t wait to see your big girls

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Itā€™s been a while hasnā€™t it?
I started this adventure almost 4 months ago and I really didnā€™t know what I was doing.
I do however know how to read, and you magnificent b@5t@rd5 laided down enough
wisdom for even a noob like me to follow and get results.(even though I screwed up
in more ways than one).

Here I am roughly 2-3 weeks from harvest (judging based solely on calendar estimations) and
Iā€™m over the moon ecstatic that I was able to get the seeds to germinate. So as I creep closer to
the deadline any improvement or signs that I was doing something right is just adding to the encouragement I have for the next round of greenies.

At least I now have an entire list of what NOT to do again.

Here is what Iā€™m looking forward too and I still have 2-3 weeks of development left on
the table.

Pic 1
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Pic 3
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Pic 4
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Pick 5
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