Sowing Seeds For My First Grow

[Psychedelic Gecko]

Hi all, I just recieved 10 seeds and now I can finally start my long awaited 1st grow!

 

I have a large seedling tray with a moisture retention lid with some ventilation holes in the top and a heat pad under it.

 

My indoor wardrobe fitted with a 400W HPS lamp is big enough for about 3-4 fully grown canna plants, I have no other rooms or light fixtures to separate males from females. So I'm assuming I'll have to plant double the amount of seeds for the desired amount of female plants I would like to end up with, and maybe a few more just incase?

 

Should I just sow all 10 seeds in the search for 3 healthy females (for my first grow)

 

I'm planning a mixture of potting soil, vermiculite, peat, worm castings and some guano products.

 

Also the wardrobe has a 100mm exhaust fan at the top and currently no intake or ventilation fans - I'm still not quite sure what to get with regards to this.

 

 

Pictures soon to come, I'll keep updating my progress ! (I hope this is the right forum?)

 

CYa.

Edited April 14, 2004 by Psychedelic Gecko

[Luke Skywalker]

So I'm assuming I'll have to plant double the amount of seeds for the desired amount of female plants I would like to end up with, and maybe a few more just incase?

 

Should I just sow all 10 seeds in the search for 3 healthy females (for my first grow)

 

Yeah, sounds like a good idea. You should usually plant 4 times as many seeds as you expect to harvest good, healthy females. So plant the lot, perhaps keeping some for the future should all heck break loose, and you should get at least one or two which are very nice.

 

I'm planning a mixture of potting soil, vermiculite, peat, worm castings and some guano products.

 

Growing soil indoors is very difficult to manage pests and diseases, and most of these media you've mentioned are also very moisture retentive. If growing indoors, you can't get much easier than a perlite/vermiculite 50/50 or even 70/30 mix, handwatered with good drainage and a catch tray for the excess water which drains out... (dump the drained water once it's finished draining, don't leave it in there...)

 

Simpler is usually better, and MJ likes a good, well aerated media.

 

Also the wardrobe has a 100mm exhaust fan at the top and currently no intake or ventilation fans - I'm still not quite sure what to get with regards to this.

 

You should be okay with just passive inlets. You'll need ventilation which will take the entire rooms air volume out in 5 mins or preferably less. The fan should have a rating in cubic feet a min or meters cubed a min. You intake should be at the base of the GR, covered in some sort of insect screen, and be light proof... (this can be acheived with a small length of duct which is bent at least 90 degrees.) You want to ensure that there are no gaps where light will penetrate into the plants whilst flowering, or you'll get lesser yeild, depending on how strong the light leak is.

 

Have a good read through the various forums and check out some of the members GR's, you should be able to get a good idea of what's used for media, venting and other things with success, and what causes probs. There aremany growers on the boards who've got threads describing setups in here, and they're very useful for setting up your own GR. It's better to set up things right before you start than to have to chop and change a GR with plants in there and problems occuring.

 

Hope that helps mate, will look forward to seeing your pics.

[Psychedelic Gecko]

Thanks for the advice!

 

I'm assuming you mean a coarse rather than fine grade perlite mixed with some medium sized verm.

 

I was planning to put things like worm castings and guano in the soil to give the plant nutrients i might neglect to feed it because I don't really have a fertilizing scheme planned. I have some

 

Earth Juice Bloom

Earth juice catalyst

nitrozyme

some worm castings liquid concentrate

 

I think that covers all the required nutrients.

 

I've read quite a lot of information but as you're probably aware most answers are specific to each growing environment and mediums. So far the best resource I have is Todd McCormick's How to grow Medicinal Marijuana.

 

I'm going to go soak the seeds in some bottled mineral water and put it in the heatpad chamber overnight somewhere dark, then tomorrow put them into some potting mix.