Questions About Growing

[some stoner cunt]

I just recently got my hands on some seeds and I am planning to grow a few plants and I'm not sure about a few things -

1. How often should I water the plants and how much water should I use?

 

2. How much fertiliser should I use?

 

3. How much light do the plants need?

 

Any help on this would be greatly appreciated

[Tom]

Are they indoor or outdoor plants and are they soil or hydro?

[Luke Skywalker]

1. How often should I water the plants and how much water should I use?

 

2. How much fertiliser should I use?

 

3. How much light do the plants need?

 

These are all good questions, and ones which cannot be answered without more specific information about your growing methods, like if it's soil or hydro, or if it's either just what exact type of soil is it, what kind of hydroponics system, etc. You can grow plants outdoors and grow in hydroponics or soil, and likewise if you're growing indoors, but there are specific advantages and disadvantages to a whole range of substrates or media which are used in both hydroponic and conventional soil growing.... There are generalities tho, and over time these become a sort of set of guidelines for watering or not watering, ferting when and how often... etc...

 

It's mostly in how the plant reacts. They produce many different signals to you, indicating with their parts from leaf to roots which will inform you a great deal about what this specific plant needs.

 

In general, a close, less airy and not well draining media like pure peat, clay sand or excessively fine potting mix will not need as much watering to maintain a healthy plant because the plant has an ample supply in the media itself. If there is a very free draining media like expanded clay as the basis for the plants to grow in then you'll get much better aeration of the roots, but you need to water very often to keep the plants happy. Then you come across other kinds of media, like perlite, which, depending on particle size, can be very close and moist and still drain reasonably well, or very large and excellent drainage, but not so good at keeping moisture in it for long periods...

 

So you can see, just with a very few different media I've just mentioned, you can get a whole range of requirements for the plants. Their position in the growroom or outdoors will have a significant effect on the water retention of the media, as will the pot it's sitting in itself, the wind and so on, so forth... all of nature really.

 

For germination, you want to keep the media, whatever it is, at least moderately moist at a fairly consistent rate. If your seedlings are starved of water during this period, they'll very quickly wilt once they start out. So make sure you can keep it moist over a period of time. That said, don't overwater the media so much that it's sopping everyday. You want it to be a nice, steady, moist media which the seedlings can readily reach out into and take water and nutrients to start growing. They have a fair amount of stored energy, and can take a bit of abuse, but the less stress you place on them now, the happier that they'll be.

 

You'll also want to be careful to keep hot, or drying winds from getting to the media for at least the early stages of germination. You can do this by germinating under a plastic propogation dome, or humidicrib. Spraying the inside of the lid keeps it humid in there, but once the seedlings appear from the soil, you should start opening vents on the sides and top of the humidicrib, and then remove it all together once they're out. Unless you have a very hot, very dry environment, in which case you could consider keeping it on for a few days longer.

 

A digital Humidity/thermometer is a great investment. For germinating seeds a temp of around 22-27 is good, with 25 degrees being my personal favourite temp. But of course, different strains, types and environments will require different amounts, and in reality, mj seeds will germinate at quite low temps indeed. Just try and produce above 20 degrees or so, not too warm, and you'll be laughing.

 

As to the nutrients, this too depends on the media chosen. If an inert hydroponic media, you could choose to germinate using a very small concentration of nutrients added to the water, but some start off seedlings without nutes for the first week, or even two, and then add them at a low concentration from there, building up slowly over time.

 

But if the seeds are planted in an organic or soil mix, particularly one with added nutrients to the mixture, as many potting mixes will do, then the seedlings are able to draw upon these nutrients for their early life, and can go for two or even more weeks without further fertilisation.

 

To be safe tho, you should just water them with fresh, ph adjusted water if that's necessary, and if you don't have a fine rose on a small watering can, a spray bottle will do the job on mist quite well too. But once it's germed, and the seed-leaves have opened, I wouldn't spray the plant, as this could cause problems with nutrients being leached out by the regular spraying, as well as the excessive moisture which can cause probs with moulds and wilts...

 

Aaaanyway, in short, the seedlings should be okay for the first week without it, but if you do add it to the water or get a mix with added nutrients, don't let it be strong. weakly, weekly...

 

Light. Well, this ones fairly simple. The plants don't need light to germinate.

 

Heh heh, but they do once they sprout. And good, strong, steady supplies of it.

 

If you have an outdoor plot, just make sure it gets as many full sunny hours as it can get in the position it's in. Seedlings will appreciate a bit of protection from the heat of the early afternoon sun, and you can plant then so that they are fully lit in the morning and through to almost midday, then shaded by another tree in the arfternoon to protect them...

 

If you were growing indoors, or sowing seedlings under lights to plant outdoors, just sprout them under a 20w or so compact fluoro, in an area with good ventilation for the heat and moisture, and you can get them germed and going for a few weeks well this way. They'll need to be "hardened off" to go live outside, which may mean shading the plants for a few days and not exposing them to the full harshness of the environment, and then slowly allowing them more and more light and warmth till they are ready to rock.

 

So in short, marijuana will grow more flowering tops, and more potent ones, in a full, sunny position with unimpeded light, than one grown in a very shady or entirely shaded area. Keeping them indoors and starting before the last frosts in your area are over is a good idea, as it gives you a head start on spring. You end up having a longer growing season. If you grow entirely indoors tho, you'll have to simulate the light and dark of spring and summer, (18/6 or sometimes 24/0 day/night) to grow them from seedlings through the vegetative growth phase, and once they're mature and ready to flower, switch the lighting over to 12/12 and this photoperiod will trigger a flowering response in the plants. This is how MJ knows when to flower. When it grows outdoors, it starts life in spring, grows through the spring, summer and then sometime after the summer solstice, anywhere from then to later into autumn, will start flowering and finish this process before the winter cold can set in. The daylight hours lengthen in spring, reach a peak in summer and decline through autumn to a low in winter. We just "recreate" this photoperiod in a much more stable method by taking 18/6 or more to veg the plants, and theoretically you could do so for a very, very long time indeed, but in practice it's usually done for a few months... You can flower indoors at any time of the year, provided that there is no light to disturb the dark period.

 

If the dark period of the flowering cycle is interrupted, by even a small source of light, it can reduce the flowering response, and in bad cases, where little darkening of the growroom is done, can completely reverse it, or never have it happen. So make sure that the 12 dark hours of the flowering day are completely dark if growing indoors.

 

Whew... my fingers are fucked now.

 

You're probably thinking... geeezus, why did he have to type all that shit? And quite frankly, I'm not sure. But I do honestly hope that it helps ya, and if you look through the boards you'll find many different germination and growing threads around in the various forums, and these are a wealth of information to a grower. Check out the search function too, it can turn up some interesting topics which are great for information on practical growing problems.

 

Good luck to you ssc.

[some stoner cunt]

Cheers, that helped me quite a lot. The only safe place that I can really think of to grow it in is my roof but put it out in the sun during the day when nobody is home but I will most likely put a light up there as well, would that work alright? There bushies as well by the way.

[Luke Skywalker]

Cheers, that helped me quite a lot.

 

No worries mate.

 

The only safe place that I can really think of to grow it in is my roof but put it out in the sun during the day when nobody is home but I will most likely put a light up there as well, would that work alright? There bushies as well by the way.

 

You should be exceptionally carefull growing where other people live with you.

 

As to putting it out into the sun and then returning it to the roof space for the night.. yeah, sure, can't see why it wouldn't grow very well that way. Mind you, you'll likely have a big arse plant to hide from anything going overhead, and you'll also have to make sure that you take it in at the same time each day to flower it well out of season. But if you're just going to plant and grow in the normal outdoor season, then the prevailing light conditions of spring, summer and autumn should manage to flower it ok without any specific timing from yourself... well, aside from making sure you take it out at dawn and wait until after dark to replace it inside.

 

Anyway, you'd probably be better off just growing it in a plot which is outdoors and secure, and where it won't require you pissfarting around and bringing what could be a bloody huge plant potentially every day and night.

 

Or just grow entirely indoors, if you did that you'd be well advised to insulate your roofspace exceptionally well, so as to avoid the problems of heat build up and moisture which could be there in a roofspace in oz. If you're growing all indoors tho, you'll need a few more things, and it'll cost a bit more to do than an outdoor grow. You'll need powerpoints and want to make sure it doesn't drain everywhere through the roof if you water it... There are a lot of things to consider, but I think you understand. Check out the various forums here, lots of threads and discussions on the boards about growing indoors and how it's done in various ways. There are some organic outdoor growers here too, and they'll be able to give you great advice on setting up an oudoor potted pot plant for your own growing.

 

Hope that helps, and keep us updated as you go along mate. A digicam makes advice really easy too, you could show us what you're planning to do or where you plan to plant out and grow, etc, and show us pics of problems or whatever when, (not if) they occur, and then get much more specific advice to the situation. Just a thought.

 

Anyway, good luck mate. Grow, and ye shall be set free....

[Tom]

The only safe place that I can really think of to grow it in is my roof but put it out in the sun during the day when nobody is home but I will most likely put a light up there as well, would that work alright?

Many roofs leak light like a sieve, check this one night before growing, it may be a good idea to build a little room out of panda film or similar up there.

 

[F420]

Hmm a ceiling grow?

Mine would be perfect as its lined with sarking,

 

Only problems that I was thinking about were-

 

a/ Heat- Where would you exhaust too? if its a low set you wouldnt want to exhaust it outside if the neighbours are close, as the smell is heavier than air and sinks. so you would smell a nearly ready plant?

 

b/ Light? HPS lights are pretty powerful, even the smallest crack or gap would be seen from outside? even through Whirly birds.

 

c/ the weight? would the roofing hold the extra weight? not the ceiling I mean the joists or whatever they are called?

 

Shit im full of questions tonight