PsyCLown

I wouldn't even waste my time or money with the CFL's That LED light isn't the best but would be way better than the CFL's, I wouldn't suggest growing more than 1 plant at a time under that light. GT Hydro, their pricing often is a bit higher than other places but for the most part pricing is much of a muchness and right now during the lockdown you are not spoilt for choice either. With autoflowers, anything which negatively affects the plants growth early on will negatively affect your yield and can do so in a drastic way. Lighting on an auto can be the difference between 20g dry and 80g dry for an autoflower, or even a delay in getting good lighting onto a plant.... Autoflowers really are not a good way for beginners to learn how to grow as it does not offer any room for error. Any errors will e felt in the overall plants size and yield.

Hmm, 5 grows is quite a substantial amount of time. An average grow would take around 4 to 5 months from seed to harvest, perhaps even a little longer depending on the strains. That is someone who has been growing for around 2 years back to back, provided they only have a single grow going on at a time. If you have multiple grows going on at one, it does reduce the amount of time quite a bit though. If you're thinking of having the grow off as a way to show case some of the best growers, this is a good way to ensure that is the case however majority of people who have been growing since it has been "legal" are most likely not going to have 5 grows just yet. Depending on when the grow off is meant to start and how many people end up legible for it - perhaps consider reducing the number of grows for the first grow off or two? If there are only 5 people in the comp for instance, not as much fun if there were a few more competitors. Also as you said not as much appeal for companies to sponsor the grow off.

I didn't quite realize at first, very cool Not much longer to go now

Firstly I would not recommend you use an autoflower, although if you have to grow outdoors since we're going into winter perhaps it does not make much of a difference as a photoperiod would start to flower early on too. I do not know that soil, although it's possible that the soil is too hot (too many nutes in the soil) for the seedlings if they're dieing or the PH could be an issue. Such problems are not uncommon when it comes to soil. The cold in winter will slow down the plan'ts growth, another reason an autoflower isn't ideal as regardless of size it will start to flower somewhere between 3 and 5 weeks so yield may be reduced heavily. I personally like to use nutes, the one you have is not something I would use but I am sure it will work alright during the veg part of the grow - as others have mentioned you will need a different nute when the plant is in flower. With watering, do not over water and do not underwater. Basically water the plant but give it time to dry out a bit - do not keep the soil wet all the time, in 20L fabric pots in flower I tend to water every 3 to 4 days. When the plants are smaller they drink less and therefore you will probably water less often. You'll have to guage it, I like the top layer to dry out a bit before I water again and this worked well for me. Get started and keep us posted on your progress, if you are unsure of anything ask and we can guide you through the process of your first successful grow.

I don't see why not. Depending on how far along into flower she is, you can try and remove the pollen sacs as you find them until she is ready or just leave it and accept the fact there may be some seeds in the bud. Regardless not the end of the world and I'd certainly keep the bud and smoke it still. I think it's safe to assume most of us have smoked a fair bit of outdoor with seeds, this will just be indoor with seeds. No issue really, maybe a bit of an inconvenience to grind but that is about it.

My concern with this would be heat in summer, I think it would get too hot then. Regardless in summer I think it will probably get too hot and therefore you'd need an AC running in there. That is quite a large space, you will require quite a few LED lights to get decent output, with that being said you will be able to fit way more than 12 plants inside there. I do not agree with needing 4000+ true watts, I reckon you could get away with around 18 to 20 LED QB's, which equates to around 2000W in power and they're dimmable so during veg dim them down. This will give you more than your desired 12 plants, in fact 9 QB's will easily cover 12 plants but not the entire space. Your electricity bill will increase a lot with 2KW of lighting if you are running the full 2KW during flower that equates to an additional 744 units per month and at a rate of R1.70 per unit works out to R1 264.80 on a 12 hour cycle. Then also take into consideration a heater in winter, an Aircon in summer, other electrical stuff such as fans. Probably an extra R1500 to R2k per month in electricity alone. The initial equipment is going to cost you a small fortune, if you can get QB's for R5k for 2 that is R45k for 18 QB's or R50k for 20. If you only want to do 12 plants then 8 or 10 QB's will suffice and at R5k local price for this many would be R20k or R25k and you may only find the lights at a higher price too. Unfortunately the exchange rate has gone to shit so importing lights at the moment is a bit steep too, the R5k for 2 QB's is based on local pricing with the current stock. If these suppliers had to order new stock the price would increase quite a bit. To help lower costs do some research into importing your own QB's maybe, you could probably still save despite the higher exchange rate... Regardless the initial setup is going to cost you. If you plan to go hydro, once again heat in summer could be an issue. Do not want your res temp too high so an AC would be even more important I reckon. With that many plants watering by hand is going to be a bitch so I highly recommend an automatic watering system. I wouldn't recommend soil, I feel coco would be a better choice as you can get 5KG bricks and buffer it yourself, mix it with perlite and you have a lot of medium for a very low price. Waaay cheaper than soil.

Looking good! Curious to see the Brix readings as your grow continues. Regarding the height differences, I assume no scrog net? I'd open those plants up a bit more and consider pulling down the GDP plant a bit more to try and keep it shorter for a bit longer to allow the RG to catch up a bit. You will need to find a way to anchor down the twist ties further away from the plant - at least that is what I'd do if it were my grow... Perhaps to the poles of the tent? Hard to judge size, but I'd personally leave those plants to veg and get a bit larger before flipping to flower unless you want to try harvest sooner than later. In the bigger scheme of things, an extra week or two of veg can make a fair difference to overall yield, and its not a long period of time considering the entire duration of a grow from seed to smoke. EDIT: BTW how do you find the LED in veg compared to the HID?

I feel the issue with people receiving seeds and not participating happened more with the newer members. So perhaps have a minimum post count required in order to participate and/or they have to have been a member for x amount of weeks / months. Regarding sponsors and prizes, may be best that they send it to you and then it gets distributed from there - that way the prize is confirmed and secured.... Although this does create a slight issue with shipping as someone would need to cover shipping from you to the winner. Rules were pretty straight forward I felt, easy to understand. People are easily able to ask questions and refer back to the rules if need be... Maybe try and do a single consolidated thread with all rules and start dates etc. I recall something being split the last time and there were like 2 or 3 threads depending on what info you wanted - I think it was the prizes and rules were separate.

So in terms of LED lights, the exchange rate is shit at the moment so importing lights yourself is probably not worth it and suppliers are likely to increase their prices now or will be forced to with their next shipment so best advice I can give you is to get lights now while people still have some local stock available. I would recommend the chinese Quantum Boards, I think @Ill_Evan may be able to help you out once the lockdown is over. You will need a few to cover that space though. It won't be cheap and you need to realize that the largest the space you want to grow in, the more equipment you need and the higher the initial costs will be - you can always start with lights to cover half the tent and then later on purchase more lights to make use of the full tent. Alternatively purchase two tents, have one for veg and one for flower - initially start with just one and while that grow is going it gives you time to save up for more equipment and a 2nd tent. You need to decide what medium you want to grow in as well - soil, coco or hydro (water). Soil the costs will be high on a recurring basis if you are purchasing good quality soil. Coco and hydro will be cheaper to maintain as hydro is just water from your tap as the medium (Or RO if you really want to) and coco you can purchase 5KG bricks pretty cheaply as well as the CalMag required to buffer it and Perlite in larger quantities is not expensive either. When I worked it out the difference for me was like R1600 vs R300 (soil vs coco). You will need a good quality PH pen, do not skimp on a PH pen. I can recommend the HM Digital PH pens, I love mine! Get the storage fluid and obviously some of the correct calibration fluid. An EC / PPM pen is a good idea as well, I would suggest getting a pen which gives you the EC and not just PPM. You can go for a cheaper pen as these typically seem to be a lot more accurate and do not require calibration as often as the PH pens do. Also the accuracy is not as vital as a PH pen. I do not feel there is a need to spend a lot of money on a EC pen for growing cannabis. You will want to get a bottle of PH up and PH down as well, good to have both on hand. In terms of nutrients, once again there is lots of choice. A lot of them are very similar but pricing can differ drastically. GHE Flora series and Hortimix are both good to start with, Hortimix being far cheap. Biobizz is also decent but not cheap and more aimed at people wanting to do an "organic" soil grow. Extraction fans, I quite like AC Infinity, they are a bit pricier but IMO well worth the extra money spend for the additional functionality, the excellent quality and warranty as well as the quietness and the fact that there are 10 speed levels available to you. You will want to consider a carbon filter which will help prevent the smell from the plants seeping into the room / area you grow in. If you do not care about the smell then it is not needed. Futurama have decent carbon filters at a reasonable price. I personally prefer these over the Quantum filters sold at many other places. If you are filling that tent up with plants, you may want to consider an automatic watering system if you decide to not go the hydro route as watering the plants by hand gets tiring very quickly! Once you have your grow going, you will want to look at training your plants and the various training methods available. LST is a good method and works well, everyone has their own personal preference as to how to train a plant with LST. Making use of twist ties and clamps works well if you are using fabric pots. Another good option is to look at mainlining your plants or if you find yourself in a situation where your plants are too big then LST and/or topping work well too. I would also advise against using auto flower plants while you are starting out. WIthout the proper knowledge and therefore the proper care, your results with auto flowers will most likely be disappointing as they do not allow any room for error to achieve a decent yield from an autoflower. Also to make your life easier, get some feminized seeds to start with, no need to worry about identifying what is a male and female or having males take up unnecessary space in your tent. I am sure you have many more questions, or will have as your journey continues. Feel free to ask!

Haha, nice man. I love the short story of the ladybug and spider. lol

Advice you have gotten is spot on. Generally when the pistils are out everywhere and white, it's still got a while to go and some fattening up to do. Once it has fattened up and the pistils are not sticking out as much then I start to check with a microscope, once you have gone through the process of checking the trichomes and seeing how the bud fattens up and what happens with the pistils it's easier to gauge on the next grow with your eyes as to when you need to actually whip out the microscope / loupe. The picture above is also a great reference as to what you need to look for in terms of colouring, it can be difficult with a loupe and therefore I use a microscope but I understand not everyone has access to one. Yours still appear to have a while to go, to me it does not look as if you will be harvesting in April so no need to worry about the lockdown affecting your harvest currently.

I don't think anyone can make a proper call without the details. I'd take a container of the latest and greatest for R1k a month, but for R40k nope - I'd rather invest in my own equipment. I'd also not want to use a name brand lights, would rather go for some quality QB's which are generally sourced from China and offer way better value compared to Fluence lights for example. I think what I am trying to get at is that it really needs to offer value for money but at the same time may be a bit tricky to get people to buy in as I assume the monthly rental price is not all that cheap and when compared to buying your own equipment outright multiplied over 6 months for your first grow - how much are you saving? Is it not worth just buying equipment as opposed to hiring? Also everyone is different and has a different idea as to what would work best for them and the type of equipment and setup they would like. A big concern of mine regarding the container is heat - if you were to provide us with more detail then we could give you a bit more feedback.

So how is everyone finding the lockdown so far? I feel as time goes on, it's going to be more difficult for people to stay couped up inside and there is always the possibility that the lockdown may be extended as well. Right now for some it is a paid holiday, they're scoring some time off. Others are having their leave days deducted and some are not being paid whilst for other it is business as usual, or perhaps just working from home. Regardless it is a bit of an iffy and delicate situation and if it continues it can start affecting more and more people in a negative manner. This is not something which will just blow over once after the lockdown is lifted - although given the amount of time people are spending at home I suspect the forum activity will increase over this period and certainly the amount of cannabis being consumed! On the plus side, I am at least able to continue with my current grow and I think most of us will be able to continue with our grow and perhaps even offer us the opportunity to spend a bit more time with our ladies.

"The active ingredient in Serenade is a bacterium, Bacillus subtilis" May be easier to find the active ingredient locally as opposed to importing Serenade... well, probably cheaper but not easier. @greenkush heard of it or know where to possibly source it locally? B.subtilis that is

Umm, honestly I have never bothered looking into such a kit as what I want has always been quite specific. That Apollo light is not something I personally would purchase, however I can understand the appeal behind a kit as it is convenient and I expect a discount over purchasing the equipment separately. Perhaps share with us what you have in mind and a budget and the members can advise whether there are better options out there or not and help make suggestions.

Well done guys, some great entries! Keep it up! Sent from my Redmi Note 7 Pro using Tapatalk

They're both flowering, I suspect they are outside and due to the seasons changing they have gone into flower. The outdoor season is coming to an end now.

Here are our SOTM February nominees in order of submission: @SAgrower @Valhalllafarms @Bospatrollie2 @Dimitri_JK @Peter Green @Dagga Home Grower Entry #1 @Mr_Nice_Guy @Dagga Home Grower Entry #2 @Dagga Home Grower Entry #3 @Dagga Home Grower Entry #4

A slight change, the poll will be up later today and winners will be announced on Saturday.

He should be able to see the larvae then if he looks closely. I guess if he waits long enough they'll turn into those annoying flies.

Hmm, not too sure.. Unless its just the eggs. "Fungus gnat females lay small, yellowish-white eggs on the surface of moist soil. The larvae that hatch are legless, with white or transparent bodies and shiny black heads. Fully grown, larvae measure approximately 1/4 inch in length. They live within soil and eventually develop into pupae. Pupae are initially white, although they darken as they mature. Some fungus gnat larvae are known for their propensity to feed on the roots and lower stem tissues of plants. These feeding habits stunt and might kill affected plants." Source: https://www.orkin.com/flies/gnats/fungus-gnat-larvae I agree with some Hydrogen Peroxide, I'd even consider putting some into the rest and then starting with teas again afterwards (if you want). Maybe be a bit more selective of what you put into the teas. If you are using soil / compost, I'd consider getting a new batch.

If you want one of those devices which test THC / CBD, do a looot of research first. Majority of them are not very accurate.

Charlottes Angel is what I grew and have tried so far in terms of low THC. I also grew a 1:1 high CBD strain. Once the Charlottes Angel is ready, perhaps you'd be willing to try smoking some Charlottes Angel then 30 min later take a larger than your usual hit of a high THC strain which you know normally makes you anxious or paranoid and let us know whether the CBD strain helps prevent the negative sides?

Preferably not during flower though. I have never tried it myself, although when I researched sulfur many stated they were able to taste it on the bud and it left a residue on the bud too. Not sure whether a bud wash would help here or not.

Did not read all the posts, although I find this quite interesting. I have had friends who have struggled with paranoia and cannabis, not panic attacks though. I have had a friend of mine pass out after smoking and seen another person pass out after vaping some decent indoor weed I had... The latter was directly after eating some food I cooked so I thought he perhaps was having an allergic reaction or something - got me worried actually. I have experienced some paranoia although I know that it stems from the weed and I am able to manage it, never had a panic attack from weed though. The worst experience was probably eating edible when I was sick and at a party and had flu, I felt bad and ended up throwing up. I read an article about weed being mature vs immature and the affects one with regards to REM sleep and anxiety & paranoia etc. Dabbled with it slightly and from what I was able to tell it did seem to increase (paranoia, anxiety, feeling groggy the next morning) with weed which had not matured. I will also be curious as to how someone experiencing some paranoia or anxiety would feel after smoking a good high CBD strain or a CBD strain with less than 1% THC as I find this does calm one down quite heavily and relax someone. I have some high CBD, low THC bud but don't really suffer from this issue so been hard for me to test it properly however I know that @CreX also found that smoking a high CBD, low THC strain first and then moving onto the high THC stuff helped him avoid paranoia / anxiety. Perhaps he can share more of his experience and what it did for him etc. I do believe that cannabis, like other psychoactive substances, is affected by mindset and your setting. It may be more inclined to push you more into one direction (positive), however can certainly push you in the other even without you noticing or by having some stuff sitting in your sub-conscious.