Total Noob - First Grow

Hello! Complete and total noob here making my first attempt at a grow. I'm in an illegal state, although with the slight hope that by the time I'm harvesting it will be legal, but haven't had an issue with getting weed . But being illegal I have to take what I get and in doing that I noticed that not all weed is the same. From how it smells, looks and most importantly how it effected me. With it becoming legal in some states I started to hear about different strain names and it peaked my interest. So I started looking into it and it was fascinating! Didn't want to wait for the slow people to catch up so I could buy it legally so I decided to grow it myself. So I went to sites like this to get me to the point I am at now. I bought a Vivosun 48x48x80" tent, 600w HID, 6in. exhaust fan with carbon filter, couple fans and some 5 gal. grow bags. Then what I thought was going to be the hard part, the seeds. From seeing a lot of good reviews, grows and the fact Fast Buds is the #1 breeder in number of diaries and I believe harvests on this site I decided to go with them. Found out they don't ship to the US, so I tried Seedsman and wanted to take advantage of their Black Friday special and get a good variety of strains. But just couldn't get pay with credit card to work due to website issues. Tried to resolve it with them but got tired of the delay due to the time zone difference. So looked at the US distributors on the FastBud's website and found Hella Dank Seed Co. The only concern was that I had to order in 5 packs and that was going to limit my variety so I decided on Blackberry, Green Crack and Blue Dream. Ordered them on Monday and had them in my hand on the other side of the country on Wednesday. They mistakenly sent me Grapefruit, let them know and they said keep 'em and resent the Green Crack. Had to wait a couple days until they were back in stock, but again had them in two days once they shipped. Definitely use them again. I decided to grow all four for the variety and be able to compare them but to keep this diary to one strain I picked Blackberry. I pretty much spoke weed recreationally, although I guess you could make a case that the relaxation and joy of life achieved makes it a medicine, with the exception that it very much helps me sleep. Seeing as how Blackberry is good for insomnia I decided to pick that strain to focus my first diary on. Sneaking a pic or two in of the other strains here and there. :-) On to the grow... I germinated the seeds in a glass of tap water per the FastBud's site, had them in there for three days and they all cracked but some just barely. Didn't want to leave them in the water any longer so I placed them into the soil. I think next time I will try the paper towel method after an overnight soak. For soil I used Fox Farm's Happy Frog cut with 30-40% black gold perlite. I started them under a T8 shop light but quickly found out I needed to turn the big light on to keep the temps up. Tent is in my basement and it is in the low 60s to mid-50s during winter. I even had to disconnect the air cooled hood on my light. I started out just misting them with 6.5 pH'ed water but I think I was underwatering them, probably needed to presoak my soil a little bit more. Got the soil moist and slowly the growing started. I don't know if I stunted them with underwatering or it is too cool in the tent at times but they didn't seem to grow much this first week compared to others I've seen. I have been strictly watering them with pH'ed water but I do plan on using Advanced Nutrients Grow-Micro-Bloom for this grow including a couple other of their nutrients, starting with Voodoo Juice during the second week. I also am considering some LST but that scares me a little so we will have to see how things go. So far they are still alive and even though it is a little nerve racking I am still having fun. It's my new obsession that helps fill a void until I can get back to my summer obsession of chasing bass. Couple pictures but not much to see yet. Will keep it focused on the Blackberry from this point. Hope things turn out well but it is the challenge that makes it fun!

Patience... That's what I read I should have, but it is tough. Through the second week the growth still seems slow to me, but I haven't anything really to use as a comparison. I do have some basil and parsley that I am also trying to grow in the tent, to appease the wife :-), that compared to how I know it grows outside in my garden during the summer it also seems very slow. I can only guess it is the cold even though at my seedling I am registering temps between 70-75 degrees. Or it could just be something I'm not comprehending based on my very limited knowledge and zero practical experience. But in the spirit of reinforcing that patience with positive thoughts, my baby is still alive and there is nothing visually that I can discern as being wrong with it. I am watering about every two days and giving her a little less than a liter of 6.5 ph'ed tap water that I let sit out for at least 24hrs. About mid-week of this second week I started adding 2ml/l of Voodoo Juice to the water. I did lower my light just a little bit during the week to help keep her warm. Other than that didn't do much other than wait and stress out (in a good way). From the flurry activity of getting the tent setup, the seeds germinated and then planted to just waiting and watching is tough, but I will keep on with the patience..... Hope everyone had a nice Christmas!

I am embarrassed to post these photos of my Blackberry plant... I went from worrying about my Blue Dream baby, which had a stem issue but has now seemed to rebound and started to take off to now this Blackberry plant with it's weird growth. Even though the weird growth was happening from the moment it popped out of the soil the overall look of the plant has become worse over the last few days. :-( I was told that I am over watering the plant so I have been letting it dry even more than I had been. I was watering about 750ml every two days and letting it dry out about an inch to two inches deep, which would take about 2-3 days. Currently the soil seems to be dry down as far as my finger can go as close as I feel comfortable to get near the plant. I have attached a photo that I am attempting to show how dry it currently is down a couple inches for sure. I am trusting in the advice I received on this site and continuing to let her dry, but I am also curious if it could be anything else??? I have attached pictures of my other 3 plants that I am also currently growing, all Fastbuds, and they are under the exact same conditions as the Blackberry and receiving the same amount of water but I'm not seeing any signs of like what is happening to the Blackberry. Could the strains be that different?? As I said I will continue to let her dry out but if anybody else has some ideas I could try to save her I am all ears. Hopefully I will still have enough of a plant to continue this diary next week!

The good news is she's alive, but that's about the extent of it. I think my Blackberry had a stroke. As each pair of leaves come out the one side looks "ok" and the other is yellow and kind of shriveled. I think I am going to go with MUDBUG's diagnosis (us Bugs have to stick together) that it is something genetic, especially since it was showing from the very first set of true leaves shortly after popping out of the ground. But I am not going to take his advice of getting rid of her. I have a deadline when I need to be done with this grow, a vacation, and to start over with a new seed will cut it too close. Not to mention I don't think I have it in me to do her in at this point, call me a softy. Will have to try Blackberry again on my second grow post vacation. For now I'll just keep pulling for my little Frankenberry and see what she can amount to. She's a little odd, but aren't we all. It's kind of interesting how many different answers you get when you ask a question or have a problem. It's a tribute to the complexity of growing these plants, well maybe the complexity we make of it, there are just so many variables. It really just comes down to practical experience and being there to make the judgement. I am grateful for all the answers. Some I tried, some made sense, some were just not practical.. But I think in the end you have to kind of go with your gut and succeed or fail it will just be another piece in the puzzle. Thanks again to everyone that provided their advice. But I ramble... As for the grow there wasn't much to report. She kept growing and after thoroughly, 100% for sure, without a doubt, made sure the pot was dry I watered her to run-off figuring that should do it for close to a week. I also fed her for the first time all at 1/4 strength. I did read some stuff about variegation, which this seems it may be an extreme case of, and there is the possibility of her growing out of it but I'm doubting it. Each new leaf node that is showing seems to definitely have the tell-tale signs. But there is always hope and if I'm lucky the news next week will be better than she's just alive.

Well FrankenBerry made some serious vertical growth this week. Due to the leaf issues it makes her look pretty lanky. But I'll take it, two weeks ago I wasn't sure if she was gonna make it. Her newer leaves are looking much better than the previous too. I watered her to run-off again during the week and this time I doubled the nutes compared to last week, although still 1/4 of the recommended but I think it was still too much. Didn't see it as much on FrankenBerry but I had some claw leaves and nute burn especially on my other plants. Need to be careful with that. Probably stick with plain pH'ed water for a little bit. But other than her apparent defects she seems to be pretty healthy. I am still running the MH bulb in my light but I think I am going to probably switch to the HPS bulb sometime during this upcoming week. I am waiting for her (and her sisters) to stop stretching before I call it flowering and time to switch bulbs and possibly start adding bud boosters. I saw many opinions on when to switch to HPS bulbs and I went with about two weeks into when an auto starts "flowering" and it stops stretching and begins to bulk up the flowers. Not sure if that is right but gonna go with it and see what happens. I hope I get a little decent weed from this grow. Gonna need it this growing is stressing me out :-)

She seems to be doing ok for another week. I switched to the HPS bulb in my light about mid-week, at this point still maintaining the 24/0 light cycle due to the cold temperatures. I upped the feed, but still sticking with the 1/4 of suggested amount and I also added the Voodoo juice back in for the start of flower and started with the Bud Candy. I got to admit though I am completely lost with this whole feed and water part of the grow. I think overall, in hindsight, I am using too much nutes due to some clawing I am seeing. It is the watering that has me stumped. With this plant it seems to be fine to go by the book, finger method, light pot and then water to run-off. But each one of my other plants are different. One the morning after my first feed and watering to run-off was very droopy. I thought maybe it was the nutes so I flushed her a little with straight water, still droopy. I let her dry till the soil feels dry to the depth of my finger, water again and still droopy. Reading online everything is pointing to over-watered so I let her dry and dry till the pot is feather lite, still droopy. Since the pot was definitely dry I gave her a little water this morning and I think maybe she looked a little perked up. But I am afraid to really water her because the symptoms look very much like over-watering. I'm just stuck not knowing what to do. Up until I fed her two weeks ago she was my most vibrant, healthy plant. I know this is not relevant to this plant but I'm just frustrated and had to vent. I know it is the need to learn to read the rhythm of the plant but it is hard to learn for me, especially since each plant seems totally different. Well for my overall grow that includes this Frankenberry, I'm down to one plant that I think I can say isn't messed up by either myself or the weed gods. :-(

Frankenberry is an odd shaped girl and some of the bud sites seem to be effected by her birth defect, but she is putting on some decent buds in a couple spots. Well at least decent enough that I'll get a sample and that was all I was hoping for with this grow and the added plus that they are coming out purple! Her vertical growth seemed to have stopped, hopefully just because she is putting energy into flowering. I believe I am getting a better feel, using the weight of the pot, for when to water and I am also getting a feel for the effects of the nutes and seeing the plants respond positively and negatively. It is all very interesting and even with the frustrations it is a fun learning process. Speaking of learning I mentioned last week I was having a problem with another of my plants, Green Crack. Leaves were all droopy and I was certain she wasn't overwatered. Turns out the water temperature I was using to water the plants was too cold. I had it out in my basement to get rid of the chlorine and it picked up the ambient temperature, probably around 55 degrees. Was the only plant visibly effected and as soon as I started warming my water to 75-80 when watering she perked right back up and took off. The unfortunate thing is the way it seems that it goes with my first grow is that as soon as I resolve an issue with one plant another starts doing something squirrelly. For right know gonna just let her keep her doing her thing and start planning for the next stage... Hopefully without any more issues.

Not much to report this week. It's hard to tell but I like to hope she is filing out her buds, although the only real bud is the main cola. She has some more pronounced yellowing of her leaves especially the leaves that surround the main cola, but the new growth leaves seem to be green. Not sure if it is a deficiency, her getting old or still just a side effect of her Frankenberriness?? I got a small handheld Carson microscope in anticipation of checking trichomes near harvest and gave it a try this week. It is difficult to stay focused on the plant unless I was to cut a piece of and take a look it under the microscope. I looked at some trichomes and it seemed the mushroom head was a bit cloudy, but I'm not sure. Looking at her with though I'm sure I still have a ways to go, my uneducated guess would be another 4 weeks. Her pistils are still white and growing, there is new leaf growth around the side bud sites and she is definitely. Seeing some of the leaves changing color and thinking I am seeing cloudy trichomes, I'm not gonna lie I'm pulling the newbie mistake and second guessing myself and wondering if I am closer to harvest than I think. But I am staying the course until I see more signs that she is finishing out her life cycle. Then I will go back to checking trichomes. Shooting for this strain to help with sleeping so a bit of amber trichomes from what I read should be a good thing even if I go a little bit past. I'm also hoping there is more time so she can possibly fill her buds out since there is so little due to her genetic issues along with mistakes I am sure I am making. Thanks by the way for the answers to my questions regarding how to tell when I am two weeks out from harvest. Using some of that info is what has me thinking I still have at least another four weeks to go. I am going to start adding Overdrive to her feeds on the next upcoming feed in a couple days and see if that helps. For now just gonna keep plugging alone and gather in what experience I can.

Not much to report... Still just letting her keep flowering. Still feeding her since I think she still has a little bit to go. She just started showing some orange pistils that are starting to curl back in. I have been clipping a small bit of sugar leaf off close to the main bud and using a Carson pocket microscope I have been watching the trichomes. Pretty much all of them seem to still be clear. I think I see a couple cloudy ones but I'm not exactly sure what a cloudy one looks like! The ones I think are cloudy look like they have a bunch of small bubbles in the bulbous head portion. Definitely no amber ones. I will be shooting for a bit of amber since the intent of this strain for me was to see if will help with sleeping/relaxing and intend it as a night smoke. I'm not sure what percentage of amber is good for insomnia, I will have to look that up. But I am open to any suggestions to anybody reading out there. Thanks! Gonna keep watching her for a sign to switch to just water and flawless finish.

Well..another week went by (in a blink of an eye it seems these days) and I still don't think Frankenberry is finished. She looks like the walking dead but she is still putting out straight up white pistols and drinking the same. Been keeping a close eye on the trichomes they started turning cloudy throughout the week, but not at a fast pace. It looks that over 50% are still clear. Calyxes seem to be swelling, I think. I'm not exactly sure I know what I'm looking for being the first time. That second grow, even though I'm 100% sure I will make some mistakes, has got to be easier on the mind knowing kinda what the whole process looks like. But back on topic, I think I am going to feed her again. I'm seeing plenty of clear trichomes, the pace to cloudy doesn't seem real fast, the white pistils... What do you think? Do I feed another time, which would happen in a day or 2? I'm I still not within that 2 weeks before 30% amber. I don't think I am and have over two weeks, but I'm really guessing hear and would love any advice that people are willing to share. I know I'm gonna get a small yield across all my plants, being a noobie, but I do want to max out what I can and don't want to stop feeding her if she is still producing. But I don't also want mess up quality along with quantity but waiting to long to switch to plain water. I don't even know if that all even matters but ya got to start somewhere. I'm getting pretty excited about the harvest. It means a couple things, the obvious is that I get to smoke buds I grew myself in a few weeks. The other is I'll be smoking it about the time Spring rolls in, the real Spring not the equinox Spring. Weather will be better, I hope, the lakes thawing, life coming back and the best of all I can go fishing. There is another health benefit to cannabis and it is growing it. I don't do so well in winter and focusing on it helped me get through the dark cold days. It was fun and I learned a lot, keep ya from just sitting there wishing winter would end.

Well we're in the final stretch now. Been seeing a good number of cloudy trichomes and a couple amber but still a good amount of clear ones. I've just switched to just plain pH'ed water with Flawless Finish and hopefully I have timed it right for about a two week flush and 30% amber at then end of it. Other than that still not much to report again this week. Seems like some of the calyxes are swelling even bigger, but I don't think she will fill out much more than she has. But the focus from here will be quality. I'll take the low yield without a complaint but I'll be pissed if I mess up the harvest time, so I'm keeping a good eye on those trichomes. I just received a jeweler's loupe to help spot check multiple locations. I have a carson pocket microscope and I get a much better view of the trichomes but I have to cut a little piece off each time I want to check so I was hoping to reduce the frequency of that by using the loupe. Been reading up on drying and curing to get ready for the harvest since I know that is another place to mess up the quality. Still debating in my head whether to go with wet trim or dry trim this first time. I know they recommend wet trim for beginners but it is low humidity here in the winter and I was wondering if I should go with dry trim so the leaves can help with the moisture. Got a little bit of time to make a decision but know I need to decide soon. Spring is almost here! I say as is it is 15°F as I type this. :-(

This week was all about trichome confusion. My other plants are all doing a close to uniform change from clear to cloudy with healthy trichomes. Looks textbook, gonna harvest at 100% cloudy. This plant though has me very confused. I am shooting for 30% amber on this one, specifically wanting that couch lock. But there is nothing uniform about her trichome maturation. I still have a good amount of clear, mixed with a good amount of cloudy. The amber ones are very limited, but sometimes when I see them they will occur in a good group. But mostly just a single one here or there, maybe over all 5%?? I am ok with waiting if I really knew they were going to go to amber, but I am getting concerned because some of them are starting to look..."old". Little bent over and shriveled, no offense. I'm just concerned that waiting for the amber that may not come, I am actually going past the point I want to be. With the amber being a bad indicator. Since I really am shooting for the couch look I'm gonna let her keep going, see what happens. The buds seem to still look ok. So I'll just keep watching those trichomes, hopefully the amber switch comes soon and it is uniform. So I can stop worrying about if I am going too far!

Well I decided to chop her, kinda glad and sad at the same time. Starting seeing a good number of amber trichomes, I still had a good mix of clear and cloudy but the solid number of amber ones made me decide it was time. From the start she was a bit handicapped and I worried about her making it, but in the end she grew really well and was very easy. I loved the purple results, I hope to be able to share with some friends in the near future just so they can see the color. I decided to wet trim, even though it is low humidity here now, just because I was afraid of making a mess of dry trimming. Got them drying in a cardboard wardrobe box on coat hangars. Once dried I will remove the stems, get a real weight, and place them in amber quart mason jars with Boveda 62 packs. After the cure I will definitely return with a proper smoke report and final results. Had a little preview via "scissor hash" and I am hopeful for some good results. Was a really cool experience and definitely a new hobby of mine. Just looking through all the Grow Diaries on this site the different strains, the different methods, approaches, mediums, etc... there just seems to be an endless amount of things to try and experience with. It could never get boring, not to mention you get to smoke the results! I really enjoyed keeping this diary and the help I received along the way, thank you. I also got to enjoy another hobby I am trying to learn, photography and then be able to share them on this site. Helped me be proud of my baby, since I couldn't share with anyone here. Not the best pics and I learned from a few mistakes, being rushed since there never seems to be any time these days doesn't help, that I hope to improve upon in future diaries. I am really looking forward to my second grow. Gonna finish out the drying a curing, still got two other plants to go, and then after a vacation (can't grow, someone coming to check on cats) I will get my second grow going. That will also get me out of these freaking single digit temperatures and hopefully be a bit warmer in the grow tent. Definitely gonna stick with Fast Buds, could be years before I get through all the strains of theirs that I want to try! And they haven't given me one reason not to. 100% Germination, all plants survived my utter noobiness, considering the cold they were fast. Definitely recommend them to someone starting out. Would say to anyone, but I'm way wet behind the ears to put that out there. :-) Will definitely follow-up throughout the drying/curing and then especially with a real smoke report. Getting my first vaporizer, Arizer Extreme Q, just for sampling my very own grown weed! Looking forward to sampling those gorgeous sangria buds. Thanks again to everyone that offered help or advice, I very much appreciate it and also thanks to anyone that stopped in and took a look, hopefully to enjoy the pics.