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WWE GROW #1 24 January 2019 One LONG ASS POST for so little of a start... Today is a fresh start on a grow by a very novice grower near DC- the District of Cannabis. I would be very grateful for any assistance I find here since I tend to overthink things with severe OCD and PTSD. I have a history of being a terrible husbandman to plant life. I am far more successful with animals thank God! Best assume that I know absolutely nothing other than what i have read on Google but did fumble my way through one successful outdoor grow from purchased seed that I intentionally harvested seed from so I could practice- cause I evidently am going to need a lot of it! Can someone recommend a resource for learning how to have a perpetual grow that I describe below? Otherwise, with OCD I will be forever reading every source I can find trying to determine which is best when all I really want is to be able to trust someone else's opinion if possible. LOCATION: INDOOR (large DARKENED bonus room over garage) I have the entire room to use which is good but my tent is small. So I am prepared to go "beyond the tent" if necessary. In fact, I want to eventually have a perpetual grow established, keeping some mothers in the tent to take clones from that I can then plant outdoors. But I also want to be able to do full indoor grows too if needed- like now. I am in the DC area and think all this means that I would take clones and plant them outside no later than July for a harvest in November. When I had my grow that produced the seed I'm growing now, I started them from seed in April and harvested in November or December if I remember correctly... TENT: Agromax Original Short Stack 39.25"x39.25"x30.50" . I actually love this tent, but it does not fit my 4' T5 Lamp Fixture which sucks. I am making due now by stuffing the fixture into the tent as well as I can so I can close the top with the 1000 watt Lamp hanging above it. I obviously should have gone with the 2' T5 Lamp option as in the picture below... Let this be a lesson fella's... Bigger is not always better if you're a lamp. But in the case of this tent, I sure wish I wouldn't have had to throw my purchases together the way I did in hindsight... AgroMax Original Short Stack LIGHTING: IPower 1000 Watt HPS MH Digital Lamp with adjustable power settings to 50%. I have this Lamp hanging above the tent but Ipower 1000w HPS MH Lamp GrowBright 4 Foot 6 Lamp High Output T5 with Grow and Bloom lamps. Now hanging inside my tent and helping to keep the seeds warm. 4' HO T5 6-Lamp HEAT EXHAUST for the HPS MH Lamp: Someone had asked me about my setup so here is a closer picture. The exhaust fan at the top of this image is pulling the heated air from the lamp from the cold air supply vent tube at the bottom. I have not tested this particular setup yet, but it should do fine. I initially had the 1000 watt HPS rigged up INSIDE THE TENT in this fashion and it ran at 81F without the need for the fan as long as the tent was open. If I buttoned the tent up though, the fan would run continuously and the temp was steady at 91F. So in this current setup, where the Lamp is now hanging from the ceiling, I do not think it will add much heat at all to the room itself or the tent- should I need to open the top of the tent and change out the T5 Lamps with the HPS or MH. Good plan? Heat exhausted at top; Cold air supply at bottom. IRRIGATION SYSTEM: Autopot 4-Pot System with 12.4 gallon resevoir and 3.9 gallon pots. I have never used this system and hope it saves me some frustration. I will need to learn how to incorporate this system into my overall grow plan. Which, at the moment, seems to be that I now have the ability to maintain 4 mothers in my tent with the potential to expand if necessary :-) AutoPot GROW MEDIUM: SEED STARTER: BURBEE XL 16-cell Seed starter kit [8 seeds from each strain germing now on a heat pad!] Burpee XL Seed Starter VEG GROWTH: CocoTek will be used with the AutoPot System CocoTek My SOIL MIX: This soil recipe was posted in a thread here some years ago. All I know about "the Dude" who posted it is that he was eager to share his knowledge with others and was always posting pictures of some absolutely beautiful grows with the sweetest looking plants. I made a batch of this 2-3 years ago and saved what I didn't use of it in a garbage can in my barn ever since. Don't know if it's good to use, needs amending of some kind, or what. Thought I would mix it with the CocoTEK above for this grow? What do you think? It had some good stuff in it I am told. And that guy grew some magical weed from it. 3 cu/ft (21 gallons) potting soil mix (Promix) Epsom Organic Mix, 1 cu/ft (7 gallons) Aeration (Perlite/Rice Hulls), 1-1.5 cu/ft Organic Compost (Hummus Source), 6-8 cups Rock Dust (Glacial Rock, Basalt, Granite), 30lb Earthworm Castings, 3-4 cups per cu/ft nutrient mix (Alfalfa, Organic Fish, Bone, Kelp, Neem Seed and Crustacean Meal. NOTE: the image below doesn't reveal much but it is REALLY DRY after sitting all that time and it seems that no matter how much water I give it soon dries out to this state again. The soil below has not had any water in a VERY LONG TIME. But in my rush to get a grow started, I tried to use some of it to START MY SEEDS with and believe that a combination of this soil being "hot" and/or the fact that it dries out so quick and is difficult to determine for me when to water, I killed all 16 of the last attempt. I would WELCOME suggestions on ways to incorporate this soil into my grow if possible. However, if I should ditch it into my garden outside instead, I'm happy to do that too! I also have a continual supply of horse manure that I compost with bedding, etc. "The Dude's" Soil Mix Current View as of 24 January 2019: Not much to see... Please help me to make it look more better! Thank you from a veteran in need. Tent as of 24 January 2019 Why are some of my images not scaling right???

Hello Open Growers! Thank you for allowing me to join the community on behalf of WWE. I am already a member of Open Grow as Zrex- the profile I opened my initial account with when I first began looking into using Cannabis. Since that time, my journey has made it abundantly clear that there is a real need for veterans to find support, not only in helping them to understand Cannabis, but literally everything about it- including the culture, how to select strains, how to use different products, where to find it, how to grow it, who to trust, what are the laws... the list goes on and on. As I was having to figure it out and looking for help wherever I could find it, I kept thinking about all of the days that I was sitting at the VA or veterans services office, all of those veterans filling in the room beyond capacity- with veterans standing in the hallway, wondering how many were going through the same thing? How many of them were also thinking about or were already using Cannabis in an effort to improve their lives? What difficulties were they encountering? I feel fortunate because looking at me you'd likely never know that I was disabled. I can walk, talk and get around easily. Still, my experience has been tough and the situation with our laws has become ridiculous... Let me inform you just how ridiculous I mean. So, I first began by using CBD oil that I purchased from a Vape shop in Fredericksburg, Virginia, two or three years ago (ca. 2017). I purchased a 30 ml bottle of Cross Roads 100% CBD oil for about $150.00 which I understand would be a monthly expense at the recommended dosage of 1 ml per day. At about this same time, the Veterans Administration began treating me and I received a diagnosis of OCD and PTSD and began taking their prescribed drugs which threw my life upside down while we found the right med's and dosages for me. On one of my doctor visits I took my CBD oil with me hoping to talk to him about it, because if I was going to start using it regularly, there was no way I could afford $150.00 per month for it and I don't know how other people manage to be honest... Either they are patients or have some means of getting it on insurance or a lot cheaper than I can... All I know, it's out of my reach. So I wanted to talk to him about it. That's when I learned that simply taking the bottle into the VA facility was a Federal Crime. No shit. You can buy this stuff anywhere these days, but sure enough, it is still viewed as a schedule I drug. Not only was it against Federal Law, but I was also breaking VIRGINIA law as well- and I bought the shit literally across the street from the VA in Fredericksburg! I'd like to use it for my disabilities and I also have a Great Pyrenees that is in surgery (as I write) having his leg amputated to remove bone cancer. I'm pretty sure he would benefit from CBD and Cannabis too. But where I live, CBD while ruin your life just like using full blown Cannabis. So, I said fuck it. I'll do both and become an advocate in the process. I am in the process of submitting paperwork for immediate retirement from my government position so I can focus solely on my health and well-being. I've served my country well longer than I needed to by serving my 20 in the military. It's time that I give something back with this effort. While speaking with our veterinarian about our dog's bone cancer, I asked about CBD oil therapy for him. When she heard "CBD" her eyes sparkled and she straightened up and immediately said, "I have heard nothing but wonderful reports about it from both patients and others, but we don't know where to get it!" We live in a time when laws are rapidly changing though and it just so happens that just last year Virginia law changed to allow 5 Cannabis Pharmaceutical Production Regions in the state with expected products to hit the shelves next year I hear. So it sounds like Virginia may be trying to keep its Cannabis in state like others have- meaning someone is going to have to cultivate, process, and produce it all somewhere. I own a horse farm, so it was only natural for me, facing retirement, to start thinking about growing another kind of grass here. I am seeking those opportunities now to be ready when Virginia decides to fix the situation above and bring sensible and responsible change in our laws. In the meantime, I am at risk. I understand and accept that I am. But I also have faith, not so much in society itself, but in what I believe to be its inherent goodness to do the right thing where it finds wrong and punishing me for using CBD (or Cannabis as the case may be) for simply being caught up in it would be wrong... My choice is to continue to live in misery and without relief or move elsewhere. My family has lived in this area since ca. 1654 when they grew Tobacco. I ain't going nowhere... My story isn't unique. It's just one of thousands. You can see by these pictures that my life has been successful and good at times, despite my disabilities that I am sure now led to my dropping out of high school in my junior year to join the military without a diploma. Most of those I knew in the military had a similar story and background. I was born while my family was living in a Quonset Hut in California where my father was stationed in 1962. Lived in poverty my entire life but never knew it because of a hard working mother that raised three kids while working full-time. Dad was never around and if he was, he was drunk and abusive. Again, not an unusual story as those I know in life have similar ones to tell. But some veterans do have unique experiences in addition to the typical life stories that nobody else can or will understand. They are WARRIORS- not because they served. They are WARRIORS because they survived and succeeded despite it. They are deserving of our respect; our trust; and our help. When I go to the VA or veterans service offices- I am committed to reaching out to those around me to let them know that I am here for them- whatever their need may be. I've been there too. I have your back. You can depend on me and I know I can depend on you. Together we can move mountains and change the world. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise! Can Do! Weed for Warriors just seemed to be a good opportunity for me since I am fighting the battle by myself anyway. Could use some more Warriors!