New Grower Hi all, new grower... is all this stuff necessary?

[squeege]

Hi everybody,

I am a new auto grower and I have my first Candy Cane
seed germinating right now. Taproot is a little bit out.
I will probably plant it in the pot tomorrow. I am
planning on growing it inside the house.

My questions:

1. Do I have to have certain lights and everything or
will it basically grow just from the daylight?
(The temperature in the room will be proper.)

2. Do I need all these special chemicals and bloom
stuff and PH stuff and nutes and these other things?

Thanks in advance for your responses.

 

[Gadgetguy]

This all depends on what you want to achieve. The plant will not be happy sitting in the living room absorbing only ambient daylight as it will not be powerful enough to make the plant do what you want it to do, you will end up with small, stringy lifeless buds. If you can put it outside it will flourish.

The nutrients, I believe are a requirement unless you mix your own organic soil, and even then compost teas should be used from time to time imo.

Welcome to the forum!

 

[Trapper]

Depends on what you're willing to accept as an outcome...

There are 4 basic categories of items that we use to make this plant flourish...

Assessment items - those items that give us data about how the plant is doing and what it needs

Maintenance items - those items that allow for a steady baseline of general health

Corrective items - those items that allow for the correction of problems

Enhancement items - those items that make the plant the best it can be

There are risks with both approaches (minimalist and enthusiast) but with the minimalist approach, you get out of it what you put into it and you may never understand why it went south whereas with the enthusiast approach, with a little learning and some tools you can get something VERY rewarding and if something goes south you have a much better shot at identifying it and turning it around.

Tic-Tac-Toe vs. Chess as far as I'm concerned. - my 2 cents.

 

[Gadgetguy]

Depends on what you're willing to accept as an outcome...

There are 4 basic categories of items that we use to make this plant flourish...

Assessment items - those items that give us data about how the plant is doing and what it needs

Maintenance items - those items that allow for a steady baseline of general health

Corrective items - those items that allow for the correction of problems

Enhancement items - those items that make the plant the best it can be

There are risks with both approaches (minimalist and enthusiast) but with the minimalist approach, you get out of it what you put into it and you may never understand why it went south whereas with the enthusiast approach, with a little learning and some tools you can get something VERY rewarding and if something goes south you have a much better shot at identifying it and turning it around.

Tic-Tac-Toe vs. Chess as far as I'm concerned. - my 2 cents.

I couldn't agree more. I don't really mess with the ph thing anymore as my water comes out at 6.8. If yours was out of control I'd say yes, take care of it. You are in good hands here, soak up the info!

 

[squeege]

Thanks you guys for the info.

Another question I thought of is:

What makes it grow better... (sun)light or heat?

Or does it pretty much need both?

 

[Trapper]

Light for photosynthesis is the single most important element, no matter where it comes from. Second is the availability of Carbon Dioxide (air) for the plant to convert. Third is water. But they all work together. So all three are technically of primary importance. The temp and the relative humidity are also very important. As I understand it.

 

[late]

Assuming you are going to grow indoors... you need a light.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001UV6P9I...vptwo=&hvqmt=e&hvdev=c&ref=pd_sl_8whiftnflq_e

You need a pot for your pot
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0053NKHDY/ref=oh_details_o04_s00_i02?ie=UTF8&psc=1

You need nutes.
http://www.plantsthatproduce.com/gm-seagrow-16-16-16-jar.html

http://www.plantsthatproduce.com/gm-hawaiian-5-50-17-jar.html?gclid=CP2k7K-Jz74CFWYV7Aod0EsAYw

You need cal/mag. I am going to let someone else handle that one.
I am suggesting the cheap way to do it, and I am not sure about that one. You could add some dolomite to the soil. Then buy some
epsom salts and add a little each time you water. You can get espom
salts cheap at any drugstore and a lot of grocery stores.

Find a good potting soil, this you don't want to go cheap on. Something organic
and locally made would be good, or perhaps Happy Frog.
You don't want a soil with a lot of inorganic fertiliser which would
make it hot and burn the seedlings.

Perlite or Coco to lighten the soil.

A place to grow. You will need to deal with the smell. I didn't for my first couple grows,
but then I found my fave, the AKR and I absolutely had to. But you want it someplace
where a lot of people won't see it, and be careful who you tell, even in a legal state.

If your local water is crap you may need to find PH test strips, but frankly, I did a few
grows before I bothered. I think that's all you need to start. You can find 250 watt flowering
bulbs for that.
http://www.amazon.com/Apollo-Hortic...1401296273&sr=8-2&keywords=250+watt+cfl+2700k

 

[squeege]

Hello again all,

OK... I have the plant growing but I've come across another question...

I am using daylight and a 205 lumen LED flashlight when not using daylight...

I heard foil is a bad reflective surface but I am figuring
only with very hot, intensive lights... which I am not using.

It seemed to help with the foil as opposed to not.

Should I continue using foil to reflect/create more light?

 

[late]

Hello again all,

OK... I have the plant growing but I've come across another question...

I am using daylight and a 205 lumen LED flashlight when not using daylight...

I heard foil is a bad reflective surface but I am figuring
only with very hot, intensive lights... which I am not using.

It seemed to help with the foil as opposed to not.

Should I continue using foil to reflect/create more light?

Most pot supply stores will sell you reflective material by the foot.
It doesn't cost a lot.

 

[jynxva]

foil will make hot spots where the light will concentrate in one spot,not good for young plants