Hi guys and gals,
Im about to order all my equipment including seeds, but am unsure of where to get them? I will be using a 600w HID and compost method.
I really would like to use femmed seeds as its my 1st grow and dont want to waste time sexing plants when i dont really know what im doing...
Can anyone suggest a good seed bank who sell fast finishing strains? I like the idea of a GREEN Xmas... but maybe new year now...
Also, i am using the compost method. Am i right in thinking that i grow the seed in a cube thingy, then pot the cube into JUST compost? Or do i have to mix things into it..?
I understand i need nutrients, and will be doing more research on this now i have internet access more.
Any advice greatly appreciated
Strain47

Greens horticulture link at the top of the page, excellent service!!!! As for seeds have a look around, we can't give links here to commercial sites so you're on your own there, there is a link at the bottom of the page but personally i think they are very overpriced.

I can't see you being done for new year though bud As for fem seeds, i wouldn't bother, they can be more trouble than they are worth and can lead to problems, you pay alot more for them too and you'll never learn about sexing if you just go with fems, plenty of people on here to help you out if you need it

I assume the cube thingy's that you mention are root riot cubes, you can use these to start seeds, or little pots of seedling compost available from garden centres/diy shops. Don't worry about mixing things into the compost, it's fine as it is! Some growers on here mix all kinds of things into their compost, personally i think it's not totally necessary, you can always experiment at a later date.

Get reading some of the diaries and the growroom design forums and you'll soon be away!

Best of luck with it all

Kc

I'm new to this too, but I'm quite sure you ought to simply place the rockwool cube into compost [you can mix it with some perlite - I think you can even use some clean expanded polystyrene, and it helps with water retention and air gaps, but it all depends as everyone has their own school of thought] and you're done.

There is loads of information on here, another useful source of information is our good old friend Jorge Cervantes - lots of useful books and videos

Good Luck


C21H30O3

Hi Strain47, I'd recommend something that's very easy to grow and that can take alot of punishment from a beginner. Northern Lights is well known for being fast finishing and very easy to grow. NL#2 (Oasis) and NL#5 are also known for being very easy to grow, although the're not as fast finishing as NL. NL is a good yielder too.





http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Lights_(strain)

Hindu kush.
Finishes in 7 weeks, but is way better in 9 if you let it go... and a great smoke.

alot of femmed seeds tend to turn hermaphrodite, which are hard and confusing to identify..
just stick with normal seeds because the sex are easy to identify, you should buy about 20 and expect from around 7 - 14 females
you could mix a little bit of perlite into the compost. or bat guano/rockdust.
for nutes, most people use the biobizz range, grow, bloom, and topmax

i use rhizotonic for root stimulation. and nitrozyme during budding to turn plants into mutants

There is no proof that S1 or feminized seeds have a higher rate over F1 female (and if you have some i would love to see it)

smallprint:excluding feminized seeds that were S1 due to genetic hermaphrodite trait over environment.

bad growers who stress plants tend to turn hermaphrodite

Hello there u need whiteberry from paradise seeds i know its a fem strain but its never turned on me I have been growing for 8yrs now and there is only one seedcompany that ive had probblems with and i not nameing names
The whiteberry finish bang on 8weeks and had a very nice fruity taste with a lovely head strong high woop woop here is a picture of one of the whiteberry plants ive grown!!!

Click to view attachment

Thanks for all the input people. After a think iv decided to go with northern lights. I have read before about fem seeds being bad sometimes...so will go for normal seeds i think. Im sure i will tell who the males are, the females wear skirts, yeah??
I know im in the right place if i need help though, so cheers people.
So could anyone advise me on a good seedbank wher i can find NL seeds that are cheap and reccomended...? I will have a look around for what i can see.
Strain47

Cheers for the links m8, i came up with the cheap ones too... seedsman it is. has anyone had any bad expieriences with thier seeds? And how many would you buy? i want to grow 6/8plants under my 600w... Do you guys think that it is safe giving my email with half my name on...? The name being my initial and surname... Or am i just a paranoid c**t??
Cheers for all the help tho people
Strain47

Hey strain,
nl sounds like a great choice. i grewsome on my first grow also my second.You might want to consider growing another easy strain so you dont end up with months of the same smoke!

NL was my first grow, and my second, third.. ive actually got a little nl plant flowering now in with my blueberry

my first grow was NL #1
i don't know if i was unlucky but from 5 seeds (they all germinated, which wasn't unlucky i may add!!!) i had 3 males, of the 2 females 1 hermied and pollainated the other, doh.
i had environmental issues, i think my set-up may not have been entirely light-proof & i wasn't running a fan and didn't have any mould problems at all.
i would like to try them again one day - so from a beginners' point of view i defo would recommend them. they did seem pretty tough.
and correct me if i'm wrong but to get a big yield from NL doesn't the girl need to grow really tall?

e2a - a real beginners question here sorry - i thought NL was a sativa? don't sativas need to grow tall & tend to yield less than indicas or have i got this arse about face?

NL is predominantly indica, it will remain short and is ideal for SOG. Strain47, I'm glad that you went with my recommendation of NL. It is probably the best all rounder strain, in terms of combining yield, potency, speed, disease resistance and ease of growing.

thanks for clarifying that - i might give it another try, still 5 seeds left

Thanks again everyone for all the info/advice. Its good to know theres people out there who have been in my situation, and are out there to help...!
Im sure by next weekend i will be starting the build...
Going to order the seeds now, the 20quid ones.
Will speak to you guys soon...
Strain

Pirineosman, i took your advice mate when ordering...i have on the way:
10 NL seeds
10 Top skunk 44 seeds
I went for the skunk 44 as it is a sativa based plant (different to the NL's indica based seeds..?) and finishes around the same time...hopefully.!
I will have to look out for diaries of other peeps grows using the same seeds...and hopefully will have the lights etc by next week : )
Cheers for all the help

Strain47

Hello there mate I was just looking tho this and noticed u have order top44skunk !!!!! It says it finishes in a very quick time the 2 packs we grew out took so long to finish and never had no bud mass to it just loads of brown hairs ive been growingfor many yrs now and that really is the worst strain ive ever grown out I hope u have some luck all the best BB1

Hmmm, well atleast it's only £15 down the drain, if they turn out to be shit. Perhaps you just had a really shitty batch though. He'll be able to find a decent mother for cloning in his NL, for sure.

Strain47, take cuttings of all of your plants before you put them into flower and label which cuttings came from which plant. Keep all of the cuttings ticking over until the original plants have finished flowering. Then keep the cuttings from the plants that performed the best during flowering. These cuttings can be grown up into mothers, to produce a steady supply of clones for your flowering room.

Hey guys, just opened my mail and the pips have arrived!!
Iv just put them in the fridge for now as i dont have the equipment or a room built yet. I will get onto this ASAP!
I need to have a read of peoples loft build, as this will be where mine is i think...
Yea, i suppose if they do turn out to be crap then i havent lost out too much. Cheers for all your advice tho, id be in a dilema if it wasnt for this site, and would probably have ended up ruining my plans...
Strain47