questionare

[boxhot]

heyy

i am going to be starting 6 plants (decent bagseed) in a 1.25' x 1.25' x 1.7' draw. i am going to be putting these in jiffy pots and then transplanting them to the ground in the bush. what would be the minimum amount of cfl wattage for this room to get them to a sufficient growth on 14/10? i am on a bit of a budget. also bought 135 litres of a tomato potting mix soil and another 30 litres of another potting soil and about 50 litres of chicken manure. my mate is starting 6 off indoors aswell then going to be putting them in the bush togethor, adding to 12, so will this be enough for 2'x2'x2' holes. will these show sex before they go out or will we have to wait then rip them out of the ground. i hear it is a good idea to add perlite aswell, is there any cheaper alternatives? if not how much would be adequate for this amount of soil? the grow site has quite a bit of sand in it so maybe it isnt even needed.

further, what would be a good time to start these babies off inside in sydney and for how long should they be kept inside for?

haha i know theres plenty of questions, sorry about that, but im trying to get a clear picture in my head of what will be done.

thanks in advance

[WantDaChronic]

first off growing with friends only leads to problems. my advice would be to have a grow off using the same genetics, but each person has their own grow spot in the bush that the other has no idea of the location. if you do that you'll more than likely prevent the eventual ripping that will happen a few days before you intend on harvesting. it sucks, but when it comes to friends who grow together one usually goes greedy and thinks they put more work in than the other and as such they believe they are entitled to the entire crop i have seen it happen a hundred times to other people and it has also happened to me with people who i thought would be life long friends, so take my advice and keep your friends and growing seperate if you want to keep both...

 

i would start growing the seeds asap and once they are big enough to take a cutting or 2 from do so and either root the cuttings under 12/12 and continue to vege the original plants or root the cuttings under 24/0 and flower the originals. either way should provide you with the sex of the plants and you can remove the males before you even consider putting a single plant outdoors. once you know which are the females its just a matter of vegging them up, taking heaps of cuttings and you should drastically reduce the chances of getting any seeds in your outdoor crop

 

as for lighting i was told that you only want minimal amounts before they go outdoors. i was extremely stoned at the time so you should wait for someone with experience to give you better information, but anyways i was told that if you use fluros to vege the crop before it goes out the plants will freak out with how much more intense the sun is and grow hard. if you use HIDs to vege the crop and have the light fairly close like you'd expect to do indoors the light can be more intense than the outdoor light (especially if it is cloudy all the time) and once they are put out they want to flower. i havent put that into practice yet so again i recommend waiting for someone with experience to reply before doing anything i have said, but it sounds logical enough to me so on that note i would probably aim for about 10w per foot using CFLs.

 

as for a perlite it is only added to give better drainage and to prevent the soil from clumping up too much. if you live in an area where there is heaps of little pebbles around you could use them to get the same sort of effect, but you will have to wash them throughly before using them. you could probably also get away with adding a little bit of sand into the soil mix as it also adds a little drainage, but it will do nothing to prevent the soil from clumping up....personally i recommend using perlite because while it is a little expensive, you will certainly notice the difference using it over anything i have mentioned and when it comes to growing you only get what you put in. oh and if you do decide to use perlite i wouldnt go above a 25% mix outdoors unless you are also using water crystals because while it helps with drainage it also helps with evapouration which will mean you'll have to water the plants more often.

 

while water crystals are in my train of thought, i highly recommend using them for outdoor growing. they are a little pricey, but when you consider the fact they'll save your plants during the times you cant water them and will also drastically reduce how often you need to water them, they are worth their weight in gold.

 

when it comes to how long you should vege for, that really depends on the plants. you'll want them atleast 15cm tall, but the bigger the better as there are heaps of mull eating bastards in the bush and you'll want the plants to out grow them. but as that will be next to impossible to do, you'll need chicken wire or something wrapped around the plants to prevent access to them. a 2m diameter circle around the plants should keep them safe and sound for the entire grow.

 

well i hope that helps and that i didnt leave anything out

[brick]

And if you can't or don't want to use chicken wire a dirty smelly sweaty old tee shirt dragged around your grow area will help keep the critters away or an old dogs blanket or a lot of human piss.

[boxhot]

cheers for the replys heaps of help

might hold on to that idea of trimmings not to crash hot on what to do but can always research it.

haha hopefully that is true im thinking of getting then just a 50 Watt cfl light for the box and grow them for 3 or 4 weeks.

yeah already got my hands on osme water crystals so that should be good will probably get some perlite aswell.

i can see deer and roos and all that shit being a big problem in the local bush dedinately going to have to ste up some sort of protection thnks for the suggestions