SOIL First Time Grower - New to this Site

[GrowBabiesGrow]

Hi Everyone! I´ve learned so much from this site in just a couple weeks & thanks to the solid information I´ve received, my first attempt is going well so far. Feel free to let me know if you see any glaring mistakes. I'm totally new to this, but am loving it !!!!!!

Newbie Grower on a Temporarily Tight Budget
So far, I´ve invested a whopping 10.29 € (A small bag of Nitrates & 10 6” tall cloth seedling bags that will arrive in a couple days). For everything else, I made due with what was already to hand.

My Four Babies:
#1 & #2 Very Dark Bag Seeds - Left Top to Bottom
#3 & #4 Very Blond Bag Seeds – Right Top to Bottom

These are from either/both of my only 2 sources. No idea beyond that, but have a reasonably solid theory.
#1 Source was super strong, sometimes too strong for my taste, and rarely had any seeds (surprise, surprise).
#2 Source was slightly milder & more enjoyable. Seeds were a little more common, but not much. I saved around 15 seeds over a year’s time & kept them in the fridge.

Soil:
pH 6.4
NPK 2.5 - 3.5 - 10 (Yeah, I know, but it´s what I had to start)

For the short term, I have some Nitrates to (carefully) mix into a new batch of soil for the repotting into the seedling bags. I’ll order the Botanicare “Grow” & “Bloom” when I hopefully confirm at least one female.

Water:
pH 6.81
50/50 mixture of my local tap water 7.83 pH & bottled still water 5.8 pH

Light:
For the moment, I´m using a stand lamp with a lower-watt CFL on a flexible neck. Plus, the Babies get moved in their tray to follow the sun from two different window sills for around 6-8 hours when it´s a clear day.

Ultimately, I´m thinking my set-up will be 1-2 approx. 2 gallon grow bags in an old 50 liter aquarium with a horizontal CFL Grow Light that has a reflector hood. I´ll get creative with the ventilation & monitor the temperature carefully.

I´m going for “low & bushy”.

May 10[SUP]th[/SUP] Planted Seeds
May 17[SUP]th[/SUP] All 4 Seedlings Sprouted (#2 on 14[SUP]th[/SUP], # 1 & # 4 on 15[SUP]th[/SUP], #3 on 16[SUP]th[/SUP])
May 24[SUP]th[/SUP] All 4 Seedlings happily working toward their 1[SUP]st[/SUP] full number of blades
°For a sense of scale, the clock on the right is 3” (8cm) tall.

 

[vostok]

IMO keep ya temp gauge and light tip along with leaf tip very close

use the target 25c/77f as a guide

good luck

ps add the above to your grow journal

 

[GrowBabiesGrow]

GROW UPDATE:
So, I carefully (in a very weird, roundabout way) measured out 2 grams of Nitrate soil supplement (26%), dissolved it in water & then added it to a liter of soil with the original
NPK 250 mg/l - 350 mg/l - 1000 mg/l . With my math theory, this should bump the NPK up to 770 mg/l - 350 mg/l - 1000 mg/l.

#3 of my four plants has been the slowest to grow, so I repotted it into a taller seedling bag using my mad scientist soil mixture. #3 is officially named Sierra Sam
since it´s the crash test dummy. I´ll splurge on a better soil for the final repotting into 2 gallon grow bag(s) once I´ve confirmed at least one female.

If, hopefully Sierra Samantha, does well with the new soil, I´ll repot the other 3 with the new soil mixture. Either way, they´ll be going into the taller seedling bags until I can
determine each plant's gender. BTW, #3 & #4 (blond bag seeds on the right, top & bottom) have much more rounded tips than #1 & #2 (dark bag seeds on the left, top & bottom)
AND they also have a sort of dip mid-way through the largest leaves.

ANY SUGGESTIONS? I thought it might be a strain thing, but #2 also has a dip in one of its largest leaves, but it´s much, much for subtle. Sorry for the crappy pictures, I haven´t read the GWE section on taking better pictures yet.:smile: