Hello, please bear with me, I've never grown before, I'm 17, and I am going to start growing when I turn 18. I've been an avid smoker for about 3 years, but just recently pondered the idea of growing my own stash when I turn 18(in march). I dont like to pay so much for quality bud.. it's getting expensive around here! Anyway, I have read several tutorials on growing, outlining the techniques and signs to watch for. I have a couple of ?'s... 1) None of the bud around here is too spectacular, so I was thinking of ordering White Widow seeds, I read they're good for outdoor and indoor growing, and good for beginners. How reliable are these websites? any good ones to refer me too? 2) 1 more question...I'm not sure how the process works in terms of yielding male or female plants, I know the pH of the soil needs to be higher in order to get a female, but is all hope ruinedif you get a male? can you stil smoke it and get quality bud, or a lot for that matter? Thanks alot, I'm just starting out and this will help me a ton. Peace.
OK, SJ17, as a fellow newb working his first grow, I can tell you some of what I've learned, but unfortunately I don't think you'll like all of it...And since I AM new at this myself, don't for a second think I'm trying to spout some kinda gospel about how it should be done. Sounds like you started the same as me, and did all your digging around on the web at first. Sure, there is a ton of info out there, a lot good, some bad, some TERRIBLE. But from personal experience, I can tell you NOTHING will help you out more than a couple of good grow books. (I know you'll hear it a million times in forums like these--that's because it's true. There is a thread buried somewhere in this forum about good grow books to get...take a peek) A lotta info you'll find on the web is simply lifted out of many of these books, but typically it is incomplete, and also leaves out a lot of the good graphs, charts and pics that are of IMMENSE benefit. And web info NEVER has the answer you need to your last minute panic questions that you WILL have. (Personal experience, again...) Plus, it's very convenient to have the info at your fingertips, anywhere you happen to be growing. In spite of the fact that your local weed may not be quite up to your standards, I'd really recommend that you start with some regular old bag seed from your last batch of smoke. Reason: commercial seeds can be very expensive, and as a new grower you'll make plenty of mistakes, and may inadvertantly kill all or some of your plants. And there goes your hard earned money down the toilet. BUT...do a good job and give the suckers a lotta TLC, and even a poor bag of weed seed can supposedly give surprisingly good results. (I need more personal experience to verify that for myself--any other growers out there who know for a fact?) Now, it just so happens I'm growing some WW myself (leftover bag seed), but I was very surprised to see in my Grow Bible that the author Greg Green DID NOT suggest WW for beginners. (I'm not really sure why, though, and so far my girls are doin' just fine...) As far as males and females go...from what I've read so far, it is possible to tweak things like growing temps, humidity and pH to increase the possibilities of getting more females. But unless you're growing indoors, I'm not sure you can really juggle that many variables, and since you're new at this I'd recommend you don't even try. At least not until you've gotten some hands-on growing experience. Technically this IS a science (botany/horticulture/agroculture), but it's not so cut and dried like math. There is a good deal of 'art' to growing, I've found. For every grower you'll find, you'll also find a different method of doing it. As for males, they seem to generally be pretty useless unless you want to breed for seeds for the future. I have heard, though, that there are some strains of MJ where the male can actually be quite potent. A more experienced grower could probably tell you which ones, specifically. Another thing to keep in mind...this will be a long term project for you, 3 or 4 months at LEAST(depending on strain and grow conditions), so don't expect to have anything to smoke (assuming you're successful) for a while. With experience and the right set up you can eventually get a perpetual growing type of system going, and have weed all the time, but it's a long row to hoe getting there at first.
