Hello fellas....

Well, the description says it all really. At the moment I smoke solid, about a bar a month, sometimes a little more. In a wee while I'm gonna put together my first sensible grow (I've grown plants before, but only on the bathroom window ledge, one at a time, in my yoof) and I wanted to pick your collective brains about the right kinda weed to grow.
....I guess a little about me would help. I have cronic ostiomylituys (spelling ) in my legs. On my very best days I can stand for a few minutes and walk maybe 15 or 20 yards, but after that it's too painful...and very bad for me!!! On my worst days I can't get out of bed without a few DHC, a massive joint & a hell of a lot of care and hugs from the Mrs. It's not that I physically can't walk, or stand, or move...it just hurts SO fucking much. I have been prescribed everything from voltarol (in the early days) to orphine sulphate, temgesic and oramorph. The latter three were particularly nasty, with the sideeffects but also the addiction I felt it was just too much. Maybe 10 years ago I graduated from an occasional smoker to full-time after i noticed the analgesic effects of the solid I was chuffin...and I haven't looked back really. I visit the dam often and usually smoke pollen over there, or something called ( I think) skuff and both of these are goooooooood, but I don't move in the right circles to track anything like that down over here...so I decided to take things into my own hands and grow some DOWN WITH THE DEALER!!

I've had a snuffle through the forums and it seems I'd be looking for a sativa plant, so I was thinking Northern lights, serios cronic, ak47 or blueberry but I don't know how high these babies grow, what the yeald might be or even if they're the very best thing for me. I'm gonna grow in a tent, probably a Darkroom DRS80. As I said, I puff my way through about nine oz a month of reasonably good solid...I'm guessing that a good quality weed would reduce the volume I'd need to smoke for the same effect. ANY advice would be more than welcome, particularly on these few topics...? Many thanks guys, and I'll start a diary when I kick things off...might be a while as I gotta get the dough together...but it'll be soon *evil chuckle*....now....who's turn is it to skin up.........

Please dont smoke cheap solid , especially 9o a month

Welcome though , and yes you follow these people on here and you will get the good stuff,

good luck, go with something simple 1st go, and you will learn and build up good knowledge,
and like most of us it will become a hobby that you love not just the buzz,

you smoke 9 oz a month??
honestly??????
can you give a rundown of a normal toking day in ur life, ie 8am woke up smoked 2, 3g cones, 12pm 1 an 1/2 blunts washed down with coca cola?
do you have any skin left on your index finger and thumb?

Welcome mate, I am no expert on strains but there are plenty of good folk here to help you and plenty of folk to help you come up with the best option for your pain relief (If cannabis will work for your pain relief).

When you say a bar of solid, do you mean a 1oz slice or a 9oz bar? Do you mean soap bar? Honestly stop smoking that stuff, its fucking awful.

Good luck with your quest buddy

Martin

Congrats on taking the first step to getting stoned again
Virtually anything that you grow yourself with guidance from here will be better for ya than bar
2 oz per week

if you need to, wean yourself off it whilst you get some seeds popped and growing , by which time you should be saving cash already.

don't be alarmed if your dreams get really weird for a bit, they should get back to normal soon.

when i was naieve and smoked rocky, the blistrers i used to get where bad, and another good point of smoking bud is no holes in ur clothes no more happy days get ur grow on the go once u do u'l never go back to smoking rocky

Be carefull with all that weed. Try considering it as a medicine (i know it is much more....).
But every so often you really need to stop for a while. And think about vaporizing or prepearing butter with it. It will make it less a problem for the assimilation (you already do little movement...smoking isn't exactly the best thing to do......but i like to smoke too so :/)

As for strains I adore northern light. But i have never grown it in my life.

Good luck!!!

PS: is swimming painful??

Hey Hedgehog.

I don't claim to be an expert or nothing but if you're a fan of hash why not try growing an Indica strain (i.e Hash-Plant, Hindu Kush)?
Take a look inside the Hash & Oil section to see how easily and cheap it is to make excellent hashish!

Wishing you good health

There are no guaranteed Pain-killing strains.
In fact, for a good number of folks cannabis is no good at all as a med for pain control, apart from its ability to lift moods. But even given that, some of us find that it is the last thing we wan when our chronic pains flare up into an acute attack.

The only advise I've ever felt was worth a damn is that if you want to smoke or whatever from dawn to dusk, try a Sativa dominant strain which should not knock you on your arse for the whole day. But look for one with a good Indica in the mix, so to provide body-relaxing properties that may not be found in the Sat dom strain. Beyond that, its all personal experience and varies from individual to individual.

And if you're growing your own, grow an Indica dom alongside that Sativa, to help with getting to sleep at night.

If you grow your own, you won't be needing a bar a month! I use weed every day, usually start with my first spliff at around 10:00 am or before. I average three - four King sized neat spliffs a day, which in my case works out at about a quarter to a half Oz per week.

You're very lucky that dope helps your pain. I envy you that. But don't fear your meds. The addictive properties of Morphine and other Opioids is much less when used for medicinal purps. I've been on Opioids for over ten years now, and have yet to experience any "rattle" or "turkey" if I take a few days off. Most therapeutic use does not end up in addiction. That's more a problem with folks "chasing the hit" and upping their Opioid dose beyond the therapeutic level, or with folks just upping the dose because they want more pain control than is really possible. For me, they (Opiods, and Morphine in particular) have been a life-saver, giving me control over chronic symptoms which can get really very unpleasant if unmanaged, and which do not respond at all to cannabis.

You say your pain is "Chronic" - are you under a Pain Mangement consultant? They are so much better than GP's at understanding and treating chronic pain I find. If not, badger your GP to refer you; chronic pain is no joke, especially if it is proving unresponsive to treatment.

Hey hedgehog - unless you have plenty of private, glassed space outside or a sizeable grow-room indoors, it's hard to see how you'll get the yield you're after. Sativa would be my recommendation - Kali Mist is robust, co-operative and fairly quick (mine look like peaking at 70 days flowering) plus it has 10% indica for that 'sedative' effect. It's also claimed to be popular with women for its easing of menstrual cramps... can't comment on that really.

Maybe stick with the bar for general purposes, then maybe some home-grown sativa when you need a lift along with the painkilling or just fancy a change. There seems to be a good supply of really fine nederhash around - Dutch-made hash that's very pure and somewhere in between good rocky and red leb (those were the days). It's cheapish, very tasty and soft and easy to use too.

Good luck with your grow anyway - I can see you've already had some great advice. Let us all know how it goes and let's all keep stressing the many positive aspects of our friend Mary Jane.
Love, foxbean

I don't have much choise at the moment but to smoke solid.....but it ain't the run of the mill nasty cheap solid, I can assure you of that much

Not only do I smoke a bar (9 oz) a month, I cruise through that.....if I have an easy (pain-wise) month I smoke AT LEAST that much, if I have a few really bad days with-in that month I can smoke much more. I don't smoke solid out of choice, I smoke it 'cos anything else is just unobtainable for me!!!! Given free choice I'd smoke zero zero all day and pollen in the evening, and maybe for getting to sleep a lovely green joint. I used to be quite a naughty boy when younger, but I just don't move in the right circles to meet my need....that's why I thought of growing it. I find with super-heavy grass it's like sofa-weld )0:


So....my days goes thusly;

Wake-up whenever I'm not asleep anymore. On an easy day when I can move immediately I drag myself to my sofa with a pint & a half mug of tea and have two loaded, donkey-stopper joints (king skins, not a big fan of cones) with my delicious tea. Not only do they relax me, they take the edge right off my pain. If it's a bad day my Mrs drings me whichever of the pills I ask for from my mini fucking pharmacy under the vivarium and my skinnin'-up box. Whilst in bed I take my pills, roll a fat one and prey the pain eases soon.

Good days I smoke about a joint an hour it works out....on a bad bad I'm chain-smoking. Pals of mine who pop round simply can not smoke at my rate, turning white rather quickly or mereely falling asleep, so I'm assured of the quality of the thing I DO buy, and yet my tollerance is hard-won over a long period of time and a right fucking bind too!! I also can compaire the solid I buy to my frequent smokings in the dam....no, it isn't as good....but it isn't jank-snide-shit either. Nope, I can't take a break - I tried that a wee while ago when there was a severe drought on and I was in the kind of agoines that are indescribable and saw me weeping in bed. No thank you very much...I'll heave into my pethadine long before that happens again!!!! Anyways....that's me for the day. My smoking in no way interfers with anything I want to do - I'm totally wasted all day but it's almost impossible to tell (I dunno if that's good or bad or what ). I smoke all day, skinning up when I feel that hot, raw eade of pain trickling up my legs. In the evening I go for the full stone of course


Thanks for ALL the words of advice and help.....I'll keep you updated on how things go and what I decide to do. One final note on the tent I've chosen.....I'm rather hoping to be able to squeeze 10 plants into it, is that unrealistic...?

Hugs

Hiya Hedgehog

Welcome to 420 mate Sorry to hear about your pain, sounds real nasty

For opiates and weed as 'meds', see what Arnold said

Welcome to the wonderful world of growing too It's such an engrossing hobby that it's therapeutic in itself. The sense of achievement making something for yourself is really something All the best Hedgehog, see you round the boards

from what Ive read here over the years, I would say it's a wise move to give up the tobacco once you've got your first grow harvested. In all honesty I'd say do it now and smoke your hash in a pipe, but that may not be feasible for you right now.

The pain killing properties work best without the tobacco kick, you'll get far higher and stay high longer, and there's also a very good chance of you'll smoke less weed/hash as it won't be the tobacco calling you every hour. Look at some of the 'quitting tobacco' threads or start your own one, you'll quickly find that everyone who now smokes neat will agree with at least some of the above. It won't seem right for at least a week, but once the baccy is out of your system you'll settle into right nicely

Good luck in your grow, best of luck with your medication

Mate, thanks for the words...I'll follow the thread you left and have a look. Giving up tobacco has never been an issue and I can assure you that it's not the snout calling me every hour or so. I used that just as a measurement to give the question asker some kinda time frame. I only roll another joint when I feel I need to...that might be five minutes later or a couple of hours. Either way, when I feel my pain rising my first recourse isn't to closer joints - no - I triple load them. Usually just the double does for me and when triple stops helping I smoke closer together. As that stops, on an extremely bad day, I read for my trusty water pipe...mmmmmmm I'd be okay with never smoking a joint again, maybe...it requires a little thought. You see, I rather enjoy smoking a joint - there seems to be something about it that I just don't get from bubblin' away on my glass tower of glory

hi im growing n/lights and keeping them small 2 weeks left 2foot tall and yealding about oz each easy to grow and very high high i would try these good ck with it m8

I also enjoy smoking a joint, even with a £100+ RooR bong in a hemp carrier behind the couch. Old skool, innit. But neat spliffs are the way forward as you won't physically be able to smoke that much, they just don't let you, and the buzz will last much longer meaning your pain management lasts longer . For example I've been smoking for over 20 years and growing for 3 and I still can't finish a neat single skinner in one session. Maybe its the good quality weed, or maybe I'm a just a lightweight nowadays

Don't take this the wrong way but maybe that hash isn't as high quality as you've been told . I'll revert back to baccie for a short while when I've made some hash, or when something special pops up. A strong joint of bubble hash or decent afghan should put you on your couchlock setting for at least an hour, usually two, and even attempting to roll one within half hour of the last gives me the sweats .

If you're paying less than a hundred an oz there's a good possibility of it being mixed with something nasty. There's a thread here on the dangers of soapbar, well worth a looksie .

you got that tent yet?

Nope, no tent yet. I'm able to grow 'cos I'm moving...the new place isn't ready to move into yet. As soon as I move I'll save some pennies and get myself away. I feel what you're saying about it maybe isn't the best solid, that surely does happen. It's okay though...not pollen or double zero, but nice enough.(and there HAS been some shite around!). It IS less than a onner an ounce, but I take advantage of the bonus bulk buying brings.

It's good news that a single skinner floors you...that's what I'm looking for As it's for me I guess I'm looking for maximum strength per square inch, as it were. I was gonna help the yeald by folding the little green darlings over and keep my fingers crossed for 3 or 4 ounces per plant with, I hope, half a dozen of them growing together as I don't think I could manage a perpetual grow at the moment.

Also...where do you chaps order from other than Greens...? I've seen tents that are of different dimentions but they're on other sites...I don't wanna order something from somewhere that's not right in some way - a track record of 'security' would be nice, you know....?

Nice hash is, well, niiiiiice...mmmm.....I fully intend to turn all my snippings and bits into as much quality hash as I can - probably 'cos I'm tight

3-4 ounces per plant is pretty wishful thinking, especially in a tent that size. You need to remember that the more plants you cram in there the less light and space each plant has. So 2 plants could yield the same as 12 plants in the same space but grown much smaller. Some strains like a lot of room some don't need so much but theres always going to be a limit on the ammount you can grow in a space. too crammed and you will also encounter high humidity and other nasty environment problems.

My advice would be to pop about 10 seeds. Go with something decent like Serious who have a good female/male ratio. When they start showing sex take the 4 best females and ditch the rest. Take several cuttings from each keeper and label them and root them. Bloom the 4 keepers and when you smoke them you can select a long term mother.
It's quite cheap and simple to keep a single mother plants alive under a cfl and you will then have an endless supply of cuttings.
When you flower cuttings you can much more in the same space by flowering much earlier and keeping them small.

It's actually easier thanit sounds too.

Good luck.

Nice one Danklord...you've given me pause for thought!! I realised that there would be a drop-off in yeald if I had them all too close together, but not how bad it would be. Perhaps a tent isn't the way to go......you see, I've been reading up on here about loft grows and I feel confident I can construct a safe space in my loft. I'd insulate the floor, back wall and some of the roof, then put a fakey wall in......I recon if I were to do this I could end up with space under the eaves for drying, the other side of the eves for my Mummy and the centre square space to grow in...maybe six feet square...? I guess, in the case of a loft build, it's down to me exactly how much space I end up with.

By the way...I'm definitely gonna follow your advice about keeping a queen/mum, not necessarily from my first grow as I'm not sure WHAT to grow....I might even grow two or three different 'uns and see which suits me. A marvelous thread about bonzai mum's has shown me the light there....now I just need to get some seed purchasing ideas....

Where do you guys buy your seeds...? Or do most of you keep a Mum now...? I followed the links at the bottom of the page for the two seed companies there, but I'm a little worried about ordering from a foreign based company....I read someplace that the customs man regularly and routinely x-rays seed packages so they won't germinate...actually, now that I think about it I read that on an English-based seed shop....hmmmm. Ugorg has sold out of the seeds I was interested in, so any seedy would be much appreciated.

RIGHT....one last thing....you say a cfl....do you mean the energy saver bulbs...? Surely you can't....or is it that I can maintain my Mum under them...? I mean, I don't wanna do my brains on a right expensive grow light and reflector if they're not really necessary...perhaps expensive lighting = higher yeald....?!?

Thanks for all the advice chaps...PLEASE keep it coming, I'm getting there (0:

in a DR80 with one plant in a scrog you should be aiming for a decent return. Dont want to say a figure so as not to get yoru hopes up. I have a Dr80 and am expecting between 6 to 9, but i have made so so many mistakes such as four plants instead of one.

The height of the 80, with a 400w light dictates you canno tgrow plants upwards, they have to be either heavily trained or scrogged

Z

Hi Zaaboot

Nice one for the advice. I don't think the tent I've chosen is gonna be big enough to keep me supplied until the next grow comes off...and if it doesn't then it's all a pointless excercise. I'm looking loftward at the moment...with a deep interest inyour scrog grow...I'll go have a wee read if you don't mind...and research further....hmmmmm

Sorry mate, should have been a bit clearer. Keeping a mum under a CFL (yes, the energy saving ones) is fine. As is vegging. although unless you have a lot of watts your growth rate will be slow. CFL's arent good for flowering tho. You'll end up with light airy buds that arent very potent. A small HPS will only set you back #100m or so and will set you up with some nice buds.

Not sure about getting one in a DR80 tho. I use a DR80 for mothers and cuttings and run either 60w of CFL of a 125w envirolite (CFL) to veg my cuttings out.

your loft idea sound nice too, but i would try a smaller grow first on a meter square or something. a 400w would just about do that and you'll learn a shit load.

Thanks ever so for the lighting advice.....I was gonna (in the event of a loft grow) keep Mummy alive just on the ambient light, but I'll top her up with an energy saver. As for the size of grow.....it was my intention to make a decent sized space, ventilate and light it accordingly then germinate ten seeds...my first grow size being determined by how many seeds kick off and then by how many that are worth growing on. To be honest, it's all a bit much for my nut to figure out I need to focus on one thing at a time....so....hmmmm....where did I leave my lighter

Ultimately your grow size should be determined by how many watts you have. 250 will do about half a square metre, 400w will do about a meter, and 600w about 1.5 sq meters.

Thats really all that will determine your grow size. then you need to extract and cool accordingly.

Just skin one up and have a nice long think about it while you read the growroom design forums.

D

Quality advice Danklord.....I did just that. There's some really cool loft grows going on here (0: Thanks for the words on lighting. I haven't bought anything yet....funding won't be a problem as The Mrs is fully on-board (she can see the financial benefits at least of saying goodbye to the dealer) so I could have as much wattage as I needed for the space. What I NEED to do is skin one up and go and sit in my new loft...when the builders aren't there too I'd guess!!! Sit, have a think, play with my tape measure...then figure out how the fuck I got up there in my wheelchair I need to figure out how much room for a room I'd actually end up with...and thus perhaps a fake wall is a better idea but then I'm left with the 'problem' or controling a larger area's environment........ *puff puff*.....hmmmm

I read bad things about putting a tent into the loft...is it not workable at all...? Say, insulate the roof to with-in an inch of it's life, use passive intakes on the tent but have an air cooler running in the loft space perhaps and the tent venting into a downstairs airing cupboard. Just some thoughts.

Hiya, I had trouble choosing the right size grow tent for my uses.

If you're still thinking of using on, here's an example of mine with some plants in to help you. I'm using a secret jardin 1m x 1m x 1.8m. I've got a 600w lamp and I've got 5 plants in there which are starting to overtake the floorspace already. I've just switched to flowering.


I'm hoping for 1-2oz per plant since it's my first grow.

1-2 0z on little plants in a tent for a first grow would be an achievement .. i wish you luck mate

p.s. your over watering the one in the front