my guide

[knubs]

hey guys, here is a guide i wrote. i wrote it a while back and have been updating it occasionally. it is oriented toward small grow boxes like pc case grows, but it still has some good info for everyone :)
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FIRST OFF----

if you are looking to grow here are some good resources to check out if you havent already (i suggest looking even if you are experienced =) )

ULTIMATE GROW ONE (full length dvd broken into parts on youtube)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOUtWkRzCfg&feature=&p=577B86C915686353&index=0&playnext=1

ULTIMATE GROW 2 (full length dvd)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUK3mU8oHtI

READY SET GROW (full dvd made by high times)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kq_e0tBM6rE&feature=PlayList&p=F0A1D30D0ECAA3F4&playnext_from=PL&index=0&playnext=1

READY SET GROW 2 (full dvd)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4cVmGCrJ6g

STEP BY STEP STEALTH GROW BOX BUILD
http://www.youtube.com/user/rjcw2#p/u/40/UFictLf-cDM

OTHER GOOD VIDS WITH SOME GREAT INFO

http://www.youtube.com/user/MMJSpots...55/MYqnOWPL1j0


http://www.youtube.com/user/MMJSpots...61/8g6hqMYszwo

----------------------
THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO SICK PLANTS
http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=11688

GOOD GROW INFO (go to blue links at the bottom of the page)
http://www.marijuanahydro.com/the-history-of-cannabis/

GREAT GUIDES TO WEED
http://www.greenmanspage.com/guides/











LIGHTS-------------

in a small grow box such as a pc case you will typically use CFL lights. they can be purchased online or at a local store. they are the normal spiral florescent bulbs. you use ~6500k bulbs for vegetative growth (from seedling to when flowering starts) and ~2700k for flowering. you want to use at least 23watt bulbs. 4 is typically the best for 23w and 26w bulbs. bulbs like 42w put out a lot of lumens but also more heat so they are typically not liked for a small box.
you want to keep the bulbs about 3 to 5 inches from the plant depending on the heat. you want to get close so that the plant can get as much of the useable as possible.
most cfl bulbs use a standard light socket base and you can find them at any hardware store. you can get the kind of female bulb sockets that plug into an outlet and line them up on a power strip or you can just run a wire across all the positives on the bases to a power cord and one across all the negatives on the bases to the power cord.






PLANTS--------

you have two choices on plants. you can use a normal plant, which is dependent on a photo-period change to enter flowering, or you can use the more popular option for small boxes which is an autoflowering plant. dwarf autoflowerings usually max out in height at a foot or 30.5 cm for those of you using metric. they can get bigger but in a small box usually wont. autoflowering means that it doesnt rely on a shortened light cycle to induce flower. instead it will automatically start to flower after a few weeks. (EDIT- there are larger autos on the market as well so make sure the one you pick a dwarf auto for a small box. Look at the advertised height. More info on this later on )

for the vegetative state, you should give your plant 18 hours of light and 6 hours of dark. and for flowering it should be 12/12. This is only for photoperiod plants though. Autoflowerings can be on 18/6 the whole grow or 20/4 or even 24/0. Basically, the light cycle isn’t that crucial for autos. I recommend 20/4 for some of the best results.
for seeds, you can buy individual seeds at the site below. they ship to the U.S. as well. the most trusted seed companies for autoflowering are: joint doctor, lowlife, short stuff, and flash seeds just to name a few off my head.
http://www.worldwide-marijuana-seeds.com/






VENTILATION------

your grow box will need adequate ventilation. this is VITAL. your plants always need fresh air and your box needs to maintain certain temps. both can be done using fans. for grow boxes, 12v pc fans work best. the two most common sizes are 80mm and 120mm. if using 80mm you should have at least two fans. one for intake and one for exhaust. the exhaust always should be towards the top so it can get rid of the warm air that rises up and the intake should be toward the bottom so it can provide cool fresh air for the plants. this gives you max airflow.
to power your 12v fans you will need a 12v power supply. you should use one that looks like a laptop power supply(or any if they have appropriate ratings, the laptop style is just most common). ebay is a good place to look(about $10 shipped usually) you want to make sure it puts out more amps than your fans use. so if your fans need .5 amps (500 mah) each and you have two fans that's 1amp. if your supply puts out anything MORE than that you are good. Most supplies i've seen put out like 3 amps.







POTS/SOIL----------

for pots, you want to find a rectangle one if you can. in a grow box rectangle ones are typically the most space efficient. if you want you can just use a little plastic storage container. just punch some holes in the bottom for water drainage. you dont want to use clear containers though! your roots need darkness. if all you can find is a clear one then paint the outside black or line the inside with black plastic (ie, a thick black trash bag)
for soil, i recommend fox farm ocean forest. it is a good high nutrient soil that is great for marijuana. Although, it has too many nutrients for some strains that like less at the seedling stage (for example, the strain mi5) and they will get bad nutrient burn. i always suggest doing a 50% mix with fox farm light warrior to balance it out. most strains are fine to start in ocean forest but it doesn’t hurt to be safe.








GERMINATING YOUR SEEDS-----

ok, there are tons of ways to do this. basically a seed needs warmth and moisture to germinate. i have tried a few different ways, but in the end i always go back to my original favorite because i can have the seeds germinated between a few hours and 2 days(24hours average). i soak a paper towel in water and fold it up and place the seed in it. then i set it on a plate and put a bowl over it upside down (no paper towel should stick out). then i take the whole thing and put it in a warm place. my best results are from putting it under my blankets on my bed and turning on my heated mattress pad. my seeds usually germinate in less than a day like this... you can also put the paper towel in a bag and put it on a warm window ledge as well
after it sprouts you will see a little root coming out. at this point go to your pot with soil and dig a little hole about 1 inch down in the very center. carefully place the seed root down in the hole and gently cover it... you can put the lights on the pot 18/6 and once it pokes through the top you are on your way!!!









REFLECTIVITY---------

inside your box you want your plants to get as much of the light as they can and waste as little as possible. to do this you can add things to your walls in the box that will reflect light back to your plants. to do this you want a reflective material that reflects the max amount of light but doesnt create hot spots. the best thing you can do is add mylar to the walls. you can get it at any grow/hydro shop or online. (get at least 2 mil). if you cant get or afford mylar then just get some flat white paint and paint your walls with it in the box..... despite popular belief, foil sucks and just shouldnt be used. it literally can do more harm than good. it has low reflectivity and creates a lot of hot spots. Panda poly is another great reflective material. It is thick and white on one side and black on the other. It is sturdy stuff and is light proof.





WATERING----------------

after you put a seed in the soil, you want to keep it moist but not drenched. and once the seed is in the soil you can start an 18/6 light schedule on it.
two of the biggest mistakes new growers make is that they either over water or under water. when over watered the roots get starved of oxygen, and a seedling can develop a nitrogen deficiency (common sign is yellowing). when under watered they dont get the water they need to live. some ways to avoid these two things are: make sure you have good drainage on your pots, if you cant drain water it can also be a cause of root rot. also to check when to water stick you finger in the soil an inch or two down. you should feel the first 1-2 inches being totally dry. plants dont need to be watered every single day. depending on how dry your area is and many other factors, it can be once every other day or sometimes go 5 or 7 days without being watered. you need to let the soil dry out a little between waterings. this allows your roots to get sufficient oxygen. however, your soil should never become so dry that it gets crunchy (except the top inch or two of the soil)...in the end, listen to your plants and watch how they react. if they are drooping a bit and the soil is pretty wet, let it dry out, if the leaves droop a lot and get close to or touch the stock and actually look dry, they probably are. over watering is more common for new growers because they feel that a little extra cant hurt and keep watering just to be safe.

[knubs]

SEEDS/STRAINS 101 including where to buy seeds


ok, i hear a lot of talk on where to buy seeds and what seeds to buy for what. so now i'm going to tell you the basics about buying seeds, ie, what seeds to buy for what and what the differences between them are....i am baked off some home grown white widow so bare with me =)

to start you need to know what to look for in buying a seed. each seed is a certain strain and that strain has specific genetics that give it every little trait that plant has. so basically you want to find one that lines up on all the traits you need/want.
first you need to consider your box size and lighting. are you doing a micro grow? will your box and lights sustain more than one plant?
then consider which you want to grow, sativa or indica. chances are that if you are doing a grow box under a 400w hps you will probably want indica. indicas are typically shorter and have short fat leaves. they usually flower fast at between 6-10 weeks usually depending on the strain. the high is a down couch lock stone do to the heavy cbn's produced from the degrading thc in the amber trichomes... sativas are tall and have long thin leaves. the flowering time is usually longer. these arent good for a lot of indoor growers because they are big plants and need a lot of light, time, and room. the high from a sativa is a more uplifting day time high than an indica, and it is better if you are going to be doing things.
so, if you are looking into indicas or indica dominant (a hybrid of indica and sativa that has mostly indica) strains then you may want to think about autoflowering plants. they are plants that don't require a light cycle to flower, they do it automatically after a few weeks. they grow short and produce fairly well and can be used in small spaces. there are dwarf autos, medium sized, and super autos. dwarf autos stay short, usually about a foot high and produce between .4-1.5 oz's in about 8-15 weeks from seed. these are what work best for pc case grows. you can fit about one plant per pc case. a few examples of dwarf autos are: low ryder, diesel ryder, easy ryder, etc...
medium autos average 1-3 feet and produce about 1-4 oz of bud. they take about 12 weeks from a seed to harvest. these work great for bigger grow boxes. they can be grown on 20/4 light cycle from start to finish (all autos can) this increases bud production. some medium autos are: mi5, onyx, jet 47, etc... Super autos are like full sized sativas, but have the autoflowering trait. These are great for multiple outdoor harvests in one season. They go about 120 days from seed usually and get to be the size of a normal photoperiod plant (so they can get pretty big). They produce 4-10oz. of bud and are sativas, which before very recently wasn’t really seen in the autoflowering world. The breeder named “Stitch” is the one to really thank for those. One example of a super auto is Super cali-haze


after you find the strains that fit you in those categories, think about the type of high you want. you wanna get knocked on your ass after one hit? or do you want to just be able to smoke and have a decent high?

do you want a feminized seed (a seed that produces females every time) or a regular? feminized are more expensive but are good for small grows because you can know you have all girls and not waste space with males. you should never breed or even clone feminized plants though. just by the process used to feminize seeds it messes with the genetics and you will get a bunch of hermaphrodites.
regular seeds produce about 50-75% girls on average.

so what seeds should you buy and what breeders? well, there are a bunch of phony seed banks and shitty breeders so make sure you read up on them and their seeds before buying.
never buy seeds that are shipped from the U.S.A. or canada. these are usually the fake ones that rip you off or bust you. the ones in the U.K. are much better and you get them shipped safely and in a week usually. even if they do get stopped in customs (not a very common thing in the U.S.) it’s no big deal and unless you fight it, you most likely wont get in trouble for buying them. a lot of seed banks will even resend your order free if you paid for the good shipping.
so, to save you from having to do a ton of research, here are the 3 trusted, proven over and over sites to order seeds.

this is my favorite because i'm a small grower and i like to buy single seeds of different strains rather than 10 seed packs of one strain. got my last order in 6 days.
http://www.worldwide-marijuana-seeds.com/

this is attitude. it is the biggest seed bank with the best selection and stock of seeds. they are a very good seed bank.
http://www.cannabis-seeds-bank.co.uk/

never dealt with these guys much but i know many people who have and they were all very happy. I’ve heard great things about the service and friendliness of this site.
http://www.dope-seeds.com/index.htm


now for breeding companies. this is important because you dont want shitty seeds that don't sprout or that do not grow the strain that you ordered.
do some research, there are MANY more good breeding companies than these, but these are just the ones that i can name off the top of my head that i know have good seeds.

for autos-
joint doctor seeds
lowlife seeds
flash seeds
short stuff seeds (my favorite)

for normal strains-
nirvana
serious seeds
DNA genetics
greenhouse seeds
big buddha seeds
sensi seeds
soma seeds
TH seeds

like i said, there are tons more...





Water PH and soil PH----

well i know a lot of new growers want to get going for very cheap and may just over look some things that they think arent very important. PH is one of those things i see over looked a lot by new growers, and it's the biggest cause of failure and problems that i've seen I think.
PH is a measure of acidity on a number scale from 0-14. the lower the number the more acidic, the higher, the more alkiline. 7 is neutral. marijuana likes a slightly acidic environment. this means you need to monitor and adjust it. for soil it's best to keep the ph between 6.0-6.7. in hydro it's better to have it a little lower, about 5.8.
to check your ph you will need something to check the water ph and soil ph. for the water you can buy cheap ph drops that you put in your water and it changes color and you match it to a chart to determine the ph. you can also get a digital meter (ph pen). i like to keep my water at about 6.5
to adjust the water ph, you can buy PH up and down, or you can use baking soda for ph up and vinegar for ph down.
for soil, the meter has a probe that goes into the soil. i almost cant recommend a soil meter. i've gone through a lot of the cheap ones and they are never accurate. I now have a Kelway PHD meter and love it! It was a pricey meter but well worth it for accuracy.

LST---
I get a lot of messages from new growers around here saying that training their plants confuses them. they see guides or pictures of it being done in certain ways, well i will tell you this, marijuana LOVES to be manipulated (most strains anyway). it will do whatever you want basically.
long story short, there is no 'correct' way to lst. the point isn't to get the plant to look a certain way, it's to train it to optimize it. if this means putting up a scrog shelf, net, or whatever, go for it. but if you want to tie branches out of the way then do it. the goals of lst are to make the plant fit better in the grow space (in small boxes) or to just get better light to certain spots.
personally i lst each plant individually to get best results for THAT plant. dont go off a guide or someone else, go off what will work for your plant and your situation. physically feel your plant. you will feel its limits very quickly. young plants bend everywhere and harden as they get bigger so they can support themselves. lst'ing a plant will also make the trained stems stronger, thicker, and more rigid .
so think before training, be strategic. you can bend young plants main stalks so if you are going to train the whole plant do it early, but during the grow, if a branch is in a bad spot, tie it out of the way.

so, you want to know when to start lst in a grow box? don't just be a book worm and look at all these things saying when to start lst, they are a good base to go off of, but in the end it depends on your strain and plant. when you feel that the plant can be trained without breaking or damaging it, do it. each plant is different. Your whole growing situation determines a lot to. Sometimes you don’t need to lst really early and sometimes you do. It all depends on what your goals are with lst.


also, there is no set time of when to stop lst. do it as needed unless the stems wont budge. in that case dont break your plant! Just as a side note though, marijuana is a very resilient plant. If it is broken it will repair itself. So if you snap a branch, tape it back into place and let it do its thing. This won’t work on branches that broke off all the way though.

so, go out and train your plant however you want!!!!! =)

oh, and you dont have to lst (except maybe in pc cases where you have height restrictions) it just helps sometimes.