First Time Grower, Storytime...!

[GrowNinja]

First of all, I want to thank Nebula and the site / forum team. I've gathered all my research or most of it from the site and forum. Reading and absorbing all that information has allowed me to have the best growing experience as a first time grower.

I would like to share my story, so bare with me and my wall of text

I live in a country where cannabis law is a bit tricky. We have very strict laws regarding use and transportation of "Controlled Substances" as we call it here. The country is just starting to improve on laws regarding personal medicinal grows, allowing a person or household to have a maximum of 3-4 plants per "patient". Nevertheless it is very hard or I'd say, nearly impossible to get a medical diagnostic and a cannabis use prescription. Hoops to jump, bureaucracy to stop you, and prices to make you desist.

So I'm stuck in the underground with the most important set of rules that I have learned in my years of cannabis use, saw them mentioned in the site haha, and now apply them to growing

No Tell
No Sell
No Smell

I'm constantly biting my tongue to avoid talking about it with the wrong people and having issues, I'm pretty sure I have bored my family with the plants long enough, and the only place that I feel safe enough to share is here. So thank you again for allowing me to participate.

With that being said, let's get back to the fun part.

This is my first cannabis grow, lot's of ingenuity and instinct. I've planted and cultivated other things before ( Beans, lettuce, onions, garlic, vegetables mostly ), so I'm not COMPLETELY new to the plant world. I like science and keeping track of progress, but I also like the spiritual side of things so... I talk to the plants as well hehehe.

I started my experiment around the 15th of November 2024 ( Summer started ) with Bagseed, in order to have a clear conscience to experiment, play and learn without regretting wasting good seeds.
What can i say. I got lucky with 1 Sativa looking strain and 2 Indica's from what i can deduce.
I tried the paper towel method to germinate 4 seeds, 3 of them passed with flying colors, 1 of them drowned
Sadly I was too focused on having fun being surprised by the whole process that I didn't captured the first stages of veg, so sorry for incomplete " journal "
I had no grow tent or space in the beginning so I used a window space for the first 2 to 3 weeks of seedling and veg state, using only tap water.
I checked the tap water PH with Paper PH strips, not very precise I know, but good enough.

While I waited for my light to arrive, I noticed the plants getting very tall and thin, So i knew the window wasn't enough.

Flashforward to Dec 22nd, Got my light, I'm using a LED setup with veg / full spectum / bloom modes.
Apollo Evolution 4 by Delight

I had some reflective insulation laying around, so I scrapped together a makeshift tent with 30mm PVC tubing and cardboard plus the mentioned insulation. It all started to take shape and looking like a fine grow space.
Got a hygrometer, temp and humidity, Small fan to move the air and I was on the right path !
The plants were thriving with only the Veg Light setting, 18 / 6 light schedule, and recorded happy 22-26 C° with min 48% to max 65% humidity throughout the veg state.-

Ah yes ! I forgot about the nutes. I'm using Biobizz products. Biogrow, Cal-mag and got some PH up and down just in case.
I started low and kept to my low feeding setting throughout the veg process, just to test how the plants would respond. Some say Less is More.

Biogrow 1ml / 1.5lt
Calmag 0.5ml / 1.5lt
Some PH correction here and there.
I would give 500cc of the mixture to each plant every 2-3 days, supplementing with clean water when the weather got a bit dry.

A this stage the plants were happy, with only the Sativa showing what appeared to be some slight Leaf Septoria, which I managed to control with careful pruning of the affected leaves.
Topped all 3 plants at the 5th or 6th node resulting in new branches and node spots in all plants and a week after I decide that some LST was in order.

I ventured with different strategies with the plants, trying different methods with each one of them. Some tactical pruning, branch bending, tying of branches to the pots. I even tried bending one of the plants sideways, that resulted in an amazing knuckle ball that allowed that plant to outrun the others. LST WORKS !!! I'm so freaking excited and at this point is getting harder to contain my happiness and shutting up about the whole thing.

I let the plants grow happy for a while after that, focusing on an Air Intake project for the grow space, using some 120mm Corsair PC fans that I had laying around. Aliexpress saved me the hassle of having to build a voltage step-up for the fans. I found a simple ac/dc transfo with a PWM /Voltage fan control hub, that connected to a simple male/female jack. Success!

January 16th flipped the plants to 12/12

Now this is the part that gets magical for me, because I was afraid that using bagseed would result in some or all plants being male, but I was happy with the learning process up to this point anyways
Learning about flowering, preflowers and the expectation of having a box full of Girls ! Just about 4 days later, The Sativa and one of the Indica, showed PISTOLSSS I was like a little kid that found a pretty bug man, so freaking happy.

The second Indica took her time, I was hanging on a thread, boy or girl ??

And last Friday, looking carefully at one of the nodes, BAM!!! More pistolssssss!! Lucky me, 3 Females from random bagseeds I saved. I haven't harvested a single bud yet and I'm already happy that i got up to this stage.

Growspace is working good, no issues with temp or ventilation whatsoever, and Plants started to stretch a little bit, so all good signs that things are working as expected.
Things are looking bright for this being my first experience.

I'll share some photos of the stage I'm at right now, and I swear to write less and show more in the future. I had a lot to get off of my chest !

Thank you for reading and thank you all for sharing your experiences and let us newbies learn from it.

GrowNinja

 

[GrowNinja]

Bump ! Question : Does anyone have any suggestions on how to change from BioGrow to BioBloom ? ( Biobizz )
I've googled for a while and I can't seem to find the answers I'm looking for.

Jan 29th would be 2 weeks into flower. I'm still using only BioGrow (Plus Calmag ), Figured it was the way to go to support the flowering stretch.
Not having issues with dosage, just questioning the general use of the nutrients.
I'm growing in homemade mix of organic compost / garden soil.

I've seen the feeding charts on the website and recommended by the manufacturer but I'm a bit confused.

Do I mix both of them together through flower ?
Gradual transition from BioGrow to only BioBloom ?
Use both of the nutrients in different feeds ? Like 1 feed only Grow and then the next one Bloom ?

Appreciate any insight

Thanks !

 

[Cougar672]

I have not used Biobizz nutes, but you give both grow and bloom in whatever amount the manufacturer schedule tells you for whatever week of growth your plant is in. Example: week 2 of flower for All Mix growing medium, you give 1ml/l grow and 2ml/l bloom.

 

[Bluey]

What I do is I mix the flower and veg nutes, so transition from veg to bloom over about 8 to 14 days and when I start them depends pretty much on how much N I assume is in the plant based on leaf color, not so much when I see flowers appearing, but mine are normally really packed with N at the flip.

So just reduce veg by a 3rd say a week or so after flip and replace that 3rd with bloom.say 7 days later reduce veg nutes by another 3rd and replace with bloom and say 7 days later just give all bloom. About now you'll be stopping cslmag..wait a week and introduce PK to your feeds. That's a rough schedule that should work pretty well

 

[GrowNinja]

Hit the nail ! Thanks Bluey. I'll apply your suggestion and see how the plants respond. By the way, the darker the leaf color, the more N in the system ?

 

[Bluey]

Typically yes but be careful. Indica are typically dark green naturally to capture most light and sativa normally a lighter green to tolerate higher levels of light and heat.

 

[GrowNinja]

I'll be careful, usually I don't take everything by heart, all change must be gradual. I've learn that drastic changes is what stress plants in general, be it a lemon tree, green beans or as im learning now, cannabis . I did not know that sativas were a lighter shade of green because of light and heat, makes sense, specially being that sativas are also skinnier as well, i'm thinking is because of the same heat and light, more air circulation, etc. Thanks for the info !

 

[Bluey]

Yes that's right. Sativas grow larger and more open for airflow, so do their buds. The lighter color of the leaves allows the leaf to handle high levels of sunlight without heating up as much, perfect for hotter environments.

 

[GrowNinja]

Update !! I'm at 2 weeks flower now.

Sativa is doing amazing things, budlets galore, budlets everywhere with tons of branches and nodes growing steady !

Indicas are showing organized growing, long stems with enough space to let those buds grow. Nodes are showing promise.

I noticed 3 or 4 slightly twisted fan leaves, figured it was some PH fluctuation at some point, because they are old leaves. I haven't seen new growth replicating the issue
"Nothing to worry about" Department for now.

25- 28 C° Day / 18-22 C° Night
43% to 58% Humidity.

Following Bluey's advice. Reduced Veg Nutes at this point and Replaced that for Bloom Nutes.
Sativa really really liked that change. I think Indicas as well, just too soon to see. Sativa was already a little bit ahead on flowering stage I think, let's say a week ahead.
Stopped CalMag.

Happy times

Images attached !

 

[Bluey]

They are looking healthy but they are a very unusual shapes. Did you top the plant or trim any branches or defoliate?

 

[Gingerbeard]

How did you take those pictures so the leaves are not blurple?

 

[GrowNinja]

Bluey Yes sir ! Topped the Sativa mmmm about the 6th node, and both of the Indicas when they reached the 5th node.
Haven't trimmed any branch as in cutting down branch, did defoliate 1 or 2 times during veg and one last time, a week before the flip to 12/12.
My LST was not really LST. As I didn't really trained them horizontal wise, just tied some branches to extend them or position them so the lower ones could receive
more light. Did some... supercropping? Squeezed some stems here and there, one of them I twisted pretty hard, just to prove the point that if you break the inners, the wound would fatten up. It's all a good experiment / practice run really. PLUS, bagseed, not much going on genetics wise

 

[GrowNinja]

Gingerbeard I don't know, didn't do it on purpose... What I did notice is some vertical/horizontal shades or lines... from the light frequency affecting the camera I think. Photos were taken with Xiaomi Redmi 8

 

[Gingerbeard]

Some lights do the line thing. Did you use a flash?

 

[GrowNinja]

No flash. It may be that is a result of how my led is built.

https://imgur.com/a/CAY33XM

The 4 big ones are white/yellow leds and the small ones are divided between red and blue/violets

 

[Gingerbeard]

Ooh... COB lights. I got curious about those but thought they would be too hot for my tent.
HPS lights are infamous for that sort of light stripe. I also think it was HPS that screwed with people's TV reception. I recall people using a flash to help wash out all that light strangeness.

 

[Bluey]

Cheap ballasts sent out a heap of RFI.

 

[GrowNinja]

UPDATE !! --- 3 - 2 -2025

Today is a sad day. A day of sacrifice and hard decision making.

Looking at the plants, the Indicas are going steady, with bud sites growing without a problem.

BUT surprise.. the Sativa, the one who showed promise with the huge amount of bud sites, showed bananas. At first I was in denial, thinking about what could have triggered that. I have no light leaks
Temp and RH are steady, Nutes have been gradually changed. So I said " let's remove them, could be just a few ". And I started plucking... soon I realized it was not a few, but most of the budsites had between 1 and 3 heavy bananas. Bummer.

It was bagseed anyway, and If I search in my memory, the buds that I saved that seed from, were... well, very seedy. So It makes sense that It can be a genetic thing.

I'll mark the issue to genetics for now, the other plants are not showing any signs of hermaprhoditism, i'll keep a close look.

Sadly the sativa has to go, I found some pollen smeared leaves. The decision is final.

I'm sad, but confident that it was for the better.

Some photos of proof attached.


Growninja.

EDIT:I feel sentimental, I will not kill the plant, but I will move it outside, near other plants ( some berry bushes, oak seedlings and other stuff ). Let her/him do its thing. The light schedule outdoors it's slightly off, but it will have about 13 hrs of light and 11 of darkness, and towards the middle of february will get closer to 12/12. Let's see what happens

 

[Bluey]

Don't panic, most those balls in the petri dish have pistols coming out of them, which would mean female calyx.

Someone correct me if I am seeing things.

Can't see any pollen but do see an empty open one there.

 

[Gingerbeard]

The good news is there are not as many bananas as you think. Huzzah!
The bad news is the bananas in picture 3 are straight up pollen producing balls. Nanners tend to grow in singles among the flowers. What I see is a cluster growing where a flower should be.