Hi, Nice to meet you all! I’ll try to tell you as much as I can about myself but us humans are never very good at that. Lol. I’m 42 and I’ve been gardening since 2014. Flowers and vegetables only, I’m new to growing cannabis. Although, I’ve been smoking since I was sixteen when my mother suggested I try it for my glaucoma. This was the mid 90’s before it was widely known to be medicinal so it still had that nasty stigma. Admittedly, it’s so strange to talk about it publicly. I’d like to consider myself a novice gardener, I’m really just an amateur. I’m in New Mexico, so since they made it legal at the end of June, I planted my first seeds on July first. I chose to grow the first time outdoors in my greenhouse so I could observe more and learn. I have a tendency to s-Mother too much. It seems that no matter how much I read or watch videos, the experience is always varied to some degree. I’ve been researching how to grow cannabis since I was a teen and it’s only somewhat as I had imagined. My plants started flowering and half of them were male, I’m hoping I moved them out of my greenhouse fast enough, although I’m still not sure if I moved them far enough. That’s really what I came here for. I’m not sure I have much to offer an established community but I guess time will tell. I’ve just started my first indoor grow and I’m nervous. I was hoping a community would help keep me from freaking out man. Lol. It’s nice to have people to bounce stuff off of. Anyway, I’ll stop here cause I’m sure this is too long already.
Welcome to the Growers Network. We are glad to help. You have and pics or info on your grows?
Welcome! There’s some very knowledgeable people here and we are happy to help u along your way to success. One thing I think would help you is learning how to identify preflowers on a plant 4-6 weeks of age instead of waiting till they flower and sometimes create a seeded disaster, here’s a great example of what to look for and where on a plant still in veg, this is off one of my females and can clearly see the 2 pistols, males u would see a single or several balls similar to what u seen when they flowered
Honestly my pics are not as good as I’d like them to be. I realize now that I’ve probably underfed them. Over the years I’ve heard that most new growers overfeed so I’m just trying to get a feel for how hungry they are. I topped these, I believe a tad late, but was a learning experience. I also suspect they’re suffering nitrogen deficiency. I’ve been giving them a seaweed foliage spray along with weekly feeding. I had to fend off some leaf hoppers and I chased a grasshopper out. I’m not doing too bad but I can see where massive improvements can be made. I’m hoping to make those improvements on my new grow inside.
(Taken 8/10/21)
(Taken 8/23/21 - Maui Mango Haze)
(Taken 8/23/21 - GG4)
(Taken 8/23/21 - Ancestral Skunk)
Speaking of the indoor grow. I have a light but I’m not planning on using a tent, at least for now due to expense. Do I need to cover the windows (block the sunlight) in the room I’m growing in?
Yeah. Black out the windows. Turn light off and make sure completely covered.
I run a room grow. I like it. Controlling weather is a bit tougher but it’s doable.
Hi @SweetNatsu
Welcome to GN and glad to have you here. Thanks for sharing your story with us. You are right most growers do overfeed and overwater. Your male plants should be removed entirely, their pollen can travel miles so it will cause seeds in your plants. Your leaves are a little yellow, so maybe dose up on the nitrogen a little — but I see they are in flower already! What soil and nutrients are you using?
SweetNatsu you have come to the right place.
You will see quickly how much experience and knowledge that these people have and love to share.
Im a novice. Be these guys are Pros !
My friend gave me a bag of pro-mix along with most of my seeds. It wasn’t enough dirt so I mixed it with some sta-green, it’s what I use in my garden. I’ve also added worm castings a couple times. I tend to prefer Alaska products, Fish fertilizer, Morbloom, Micronutrients and Neptune’s harvest seaweed plant food. This pic includes everything I use in my garden but the stuff on the right is what I’m using on my girls.
We have several ladies here that are fabulous growers. @bobette is one… man anyone seen her?
Anyways welcome to the forum! 
Your soil is a perfect. Seems like you have more than enough nitrogen in your plants and probably a good idea to start checking the soil pH and moving to bloom nutrients.
I’ve never considered myself a low tech kinda person. But, when it comes to gardening I’m completely old school. I follow you on the bloom nutrients and I’ll adjust that. I’m open to all the suggestions so keep them coming. I’m gonna be honest with you. I haven’t been worrying too much about pH, but I’ll start doing a bit more research on it. I’ve had fish so I know how important it can be. I know it’ll greatly improve my indoor grow. Btw, I chose GMO for my first indoor strain and I got it all set up.
This is the light I was given.
Damn! That light is a power hog, my viparled 1500 consumes 330watts, 260w is high for a 600w led
Ok, what I’m interpreting is this light will work for now. I’ll look into better lights down the road. Thanks for the info.
Oh it will do great for what your doing, just gonna notice a bump on your power bill is all! I’ve got 600-1000 watt led lights that only consume about 100-120 watt each so for the same amount of power at the wall u will be pulling I could run two of those units and get a bigger canopy and more light penetration. Viparspectra makes quality lighting though so don’t get me wrong. Just learned a lot in my purchases and own 10 units. I’ve got a philzon 1200 watt that pulls 240watt and 2 of the 600 watt philzon that each pull 100, knowing what I know now I’d be better with the pair of 600, less overall power by 40 watts and wider canopy, u live and learn and just sharing my experience
There’s some killer deals on bloomspect lighting on Amazon right now, their 600watt(132w at the wall) full spectrum units for around 40 and their 1000 watt(100 at the wall) white light units for about the same too. Ive got a few of em in my mix and their have been wonderful
I appreciate the info. As I said before I’m completely open to suggestions. It’s probably why it was given to me free because they were upgrading their lights. Lol.
Not to burst anyones bubbles but those lights are junk! I build my own lights. And i also have bought cheap junk also i have a few in the basement and i have the most expensive led made to date wasted money there but its cool and does awesome lighting settings. I have also used cheap lights. I have 5000k T5, Led T5, Hps,MH, 5000k quantum boards, 8x hlg v2 elite mini quantum boards, 4x full spec quantum boards, and 2x 250 watt red spec quantum boards. Real lights cost money please do not buy that amazon junk anymore. I myself would possibly buy spider farmer lights. but thats a low end light for me. I prefer to build things. My favorite light cost me $880 to build its 990 watt -10% so about 864-860 at the wall and i can melt plants. At 75% power i can change the temp inside to almost 100 degrees. And i run huge fans.
I would encourage a little led research on lights and or parts to make your own stuff. Its not hard. There is 3 wires! Not hard to try something you’ve never done. I mean thats how you learn!
So you can buy a fluence ray 44" light for less than $300. I bought one and have had better results than any other chepo light that I’ve ever seen or used. Just might be something to look in if you want a cheaper priced but high quality light. You can choose spectrums and so on. This company is legit. And a very good price for any of the ray series! They have even come out with a vyper series that is 24" long now that is only $800 probably my next investment in supplemental lighting!