hi uk420 been reading and reading 4 the last month and wot a site this is.Hopinh 2 get myself a nft starter kit soon and will be starting a grow i'm hoping 2 grow about 10 plants i'm supposed 2 be getting sum nl cuttings from a friend and also want to grow sum ak47 will be posting a diary when i get it all.If anyones got any advice or stories from previous grows drop me a reply
happy smoking every 1

Hi and welcome to uk420.

Im on my third grow of 'proper' genetics. I did grow a few plants before under single incandescant lightbulbs and also fed the slugs with guerilla grows, all with bagseed. Never got any results though until I found this place.

Seems this is the place to discuss cannabis and cultivation. Happy growing Makem.

By the way is this your first grow mate?

hi leprechan yes mate this is gonna be my first grow just waiting till i've got the cash together.I do smoke a lot of weed just over an 8th a day but have been getting sum real rubbish latley since finding this site its all i can think about is growing my own weed.

Hi makemhater, welcome to uk420.

My advice is, don't dive straight into hydro for your very first grow, unless you're a lab technician or something and used to measuring out chemicals and so on. You're bound to make a few mistakes on your first attempt, and you'll have quite enough to think about with lights, timers, temperatures airflow etc, without the added complications of hydro. Have a go in compost first, where small mistakes are less likely to kill your plants, then try the hydro when you'know what you're doing. And you won't need to save up as much to get started - a few pots and some compost don't cost much.

Best of luck with it.

Hi Makemhater - welcome to uk420.
I'd definetly agree with Squirrel - DON'T start with hydroponics, much better to do your first few grows in regular (10 litre) flower pots with a compost/perlite mix (say 60% compost & 40% perlite). Perlite is cheap (about £15 for a big sack - enough for a year's gardening). Perlite is to aid drainage (grass roots hate lying in soggy soil).
Soil/compost is far more forgiving than hydro if you make a mistake with temp, watering, nutrients etc. etc. The soil acts as a buffer and reduce shocks to teh plant..
With hydro you have to be really precise with all feeding/watering routines throughout the grow- if you slip up you can fuck a good crop of weed in a matter of hours.
10 plants sounds a lot for a first grow - I know it's hard to refuse good cuttings or to throw them away - but you will be able to give fewer plants more attention (and they'll have more space in which to grow). A lot of people I know will germinate 10 seeds adn hope to get 5 females - which is just about right for a 600w HPS lamp.
A friend has been growing in soil for 16 years (indors & greenhouse) - says he can't be bothered with all the faff of hydro, and the flavour is better in soil.

There are lots of good books on market (Cervantes) is one of the 'bibles' - or just have a good browse through 420 - or ask questions.

Good luck
fatfreddy

heads up makemhater,

aslong as u get a ph and cf meter i can not see any probs in goin straight to hydro.
a good pump and a bit of dedication should help achive a stable enviroment.
could a test run using dirt be a learning curve or could it be lost time ?
pece buster

And i say if hydro is what you want to do,you go ahead mate

Just make sure you have a decent ph and ec pen,makes it so much easier and dont be put off by this scientific rubbish

Its as though you dont have to measure your nutes when in compost

Owd

Hi Makemhater,
Well it's up to you but I still think soil is easier for a first grow. Yield is greater with hydro - but 2 days ago I weighed out 15 1/4 oz of dried buds from four sativas grown in soil with a single 600 hps.
Which ever you choose - the best of luck
fatfreddy

Sorry ff but please if you are give advice to a newbie please try and give advice that isnt far off the mark cos this one



Is way off the mark

Have a read at this

And please stop trying to put folk off growing the way they want,after all its all about choice

Owd

Thanks Owderb - just read the link - I've always done it that way - out of habit I guess. I'll cut out the perlite (or cut it way down) when I pot up the current crop. Not trying to put anyone off doing anything - the important thing is to get everyone growing.
ff

Exactly

Owd

we all do as we see right but i found soil more time consuming and less effective.
get a big res and monitor every day so u can give the right nutes .
if u have the space for ten plants use it and use it to the max. start as u mean to go on.

if in dout just shout out

But you don't have to use nutes at all until at least week 6, by which time hopefully your plants are strong enough to survive your mistakes. And you don't have to pH your water, oh crap added too much, add more water, oh crap now my EC's wrong, add more nutes, oh crap added to much A and not enough B and my pH seems to still be dropping, oh bugger my plants aren't looking well at all....


Fair enough, but it is more complicated Owd. Newbies, including me, often get excited by the potential increased yields of hydro, without really understanding how much it adds to the learning curve. There is such a lot to learn on any first grow, so many things you have to get right to get a result at all, that I think it's best to keep it as simple as you can. At least until you know what the plant is supposed to look like at any given stage.

And hydro startup costs are significantly higher. I absolutely agree that you have to have the pH and EC meters to have any chance at hydro, and that's an extra hundred at least right there before you even buy a system.

Thing is boss, you're so good at this that perhaps you've forgotten how clueless some of us newbies can be

Cost was never mentioned mate and to be honest i get sick of seeing "start with compo cos you get less probs"

You dont see me trying to put folk off doing compo even though i DO believe hydro is more forgiving

I see more probs with compo than with hydro

Weve had the hydro v pots argument too many times and folk should be encouraged whichever they choose

Now if the question was "i'm not sure which way to go" then yes folk put their point of view over

Owd

Mr Pen and I started and remained with Hydro. Only had one failure and that was seedlings before they went anywhere near the tank.

It's dead easy don't let people put you off if you wanna try it.

I advocate organic growing, but completely agree. It's not a competition.

If you're nervous, I would recommend watching your plants carefully

hi all thanks 4 all your advice i was thinking of starting in compost but want as much bud from my plant as i can get i will make sure i've got everything i need before starting will be checking my plants everyday so will be looking out 4 anything dodgy i have also been looking into aeroponics aswell if any ones got any advice about that
cheers all

See post 3, makemhater says "just waiting till i've got the cash together".

My opinion about hydro being more difficult is based on personal experience. All those poor dead seedlings... Now I have plants in 12/12. In compost. First attempt. Still making loads of mistakes, but this time so far they aren't killing the plants (touch wood).

I accept that not everyone finds hydro more difficult. If you are used to mixing precise quantities of things with a small margin of error, eg you're a chemist or something, I'm sure that makes it a lot easier. Or if you're good with plants. But I am neither of these things. I came here, got excited, read loads, got seduced by hydro's "better yields", got stuck in, killed lots of plants. Eventually decided to give compost a bash as many people said it was easier, and so far I have found that to be true. Maybe I won't get quite as much off the plants as I would have if I'd managed to keep them alive in hydro, but hopefully I'll get something. You don't get jack off a plant that dies in veg.



Well, makemhater did ask for "any advice or stories", so I thought I'd chip in. I'll shut up now. Makemhater, sorry to hijack your thread mate. The very best of luck with whatever you decide to do. Oh, and on the aeroponics, there was a thread about that the other week, in which even the hydro experts said that it's really difficult....

Welcome to UK420 makemhater

redgrotto