beautiful_loser

I harvested my plant several days ago, and it just finished drying. I manicured it some, but am still unsure on the weight cuz I dont have a scale. Im guessing about 1/4-1/2 oz. counting the buds Ive already sampled.

Lemme tell y'all my story:

I have been an avid reader of HC.com for a long long long time. Assuming that growing was expensive and time consuming the thought of growing my own never seriously occurred to me.
Then one day I came across a thread, an inquiry on how to grow on the cheap. All replies were pretty much the same: "you'll fail if you dont do it our way, THE EXPENSIVE WAY!" Seriously, not all were that harsh, but none of the replies gave any reason of hope for those of us who would like to have a small grow on a budget.

So, being the stubborn hard-headed gal I am I decided to attempt a small grow under $100 and see how I'd do. I figured the worst that could happen would be I would just have a learning experience, something to prepare me in the future if I ever did want to shell out the bucks for an all out grow. The best outcome, however, being that you can grow on a budget, and I'll be the one to prove it.

So, 1st thing I did was go to KMart and buy 3 Sunbeam M3 lite compact floros. The claim on the box was "get over 150 W of fluorescent light from a 38 w bulb." I paid about $14 a piece for them. I bought 2 bags of Miracle Grow potting soil (most growers here advise against MG from what Ive read) which was probably around $5. And I bought Jobe's fertilizer spikes (oh yes, I said "fertilizer spikes!" Big no no here on HC.com ) for about $1.50 and 6 small pots, for about $2 a piece. Where we at now? $60.50 I still got $40 left to spare.

I created about a 3'x5' grow space in my closet. I have one white wire shelf built into one side of my closet so the lights were placed face down side by side on the shelf to shine on the space unerneath the shelf, which would be my grow area. A white sheet would be the only thing used to enclose the space.

I germinated around 30 or so bag seeds from my seed collection Ive had for many years, I planted 6, one for each of my pots. Only 4 popped. Not long after one whithered and died and I was left with 3.
The three lasted for a while, but eventually 3 became 1. I made some mistakes on how much light was needed and I had the light too close and so I lost 2. I almost lost my remaining one, she was very very sick, but she was a survivor and made it back to her lushy green self almost immedietly once correcting my error. This error I believe is why my plant showed no signs of maturity until after 4 months of veg! I thought maybe it was the cheap set up was why it took so long, and it could have been, but flowering made me believe it was my newbie grower errors rather than the set up.

I stuck my plant only once with 1 fertilizer spike during veg, it didnt seem to be negatively effected by it. Though upon the spike entering the dirt there was a loud thunderclap, and some dude in Ohio got struck by lightning...coincidence though Im sure. Upon flower I gave my plant 2 more fertilizer spikes and my plant seemed to love it, not once did I have yellowing problems, nute burn, nothing. And it was easy, just water the plant when it looked droopy, then leave it alone and let it grow.

At 60 days flower I asked about harvest time in the growth forum where I was told to buy a microscope from radio shack to check the trichomes. I did, and it cost me $10.50. Lo and behold the trichomes were cloudy and it was time to chop. I chopped at 61 day flower. Hung the plant upside down and dried for about 4 days (dry climate). It could probably use another day or 2, but I manicured anyway and put the trimmed buds in a paper bag to speed things up. Curing will be next.

So, this grow cost me roughly $71. I figure the other $29 could be counted for electricity costs. So, there we go, a $100 grow. I did nearly everything that is repeated here not to do and I grew, and I harvested, and I was able to do so for about $100.

However....


The time I put into this, the $100, it really wasn't worth it for the bud I got. The smoke is pretty good, though it is more like a sedative than a good high, but still I know this smoke wont last me long. But everything I learned from this grow, from HC.com, is worth far more than the $100 I put into this, that is where I benefitted the most, I reaped the most rewards was from what all I learned, not how much I harvested. The fact that I did get some bud out of it was a nice bonus. Thank you all.

Im attatching a few pics of the harvest all from different angles and stuff, feel free to make guesses on weight.

Attached Thumbnails

     

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Im happy and angry! --Ralph Wiggum

davepotdave

I'm glad you got some bud.
I did it pretty much that way 20yrs ago. That was all I could afford.
I grew some real nice, healthy plants. problem was the "friends" I had.
they liked to do some snip-snip, anytime I wasn't looking.
didn't wind up with much to show for my efforts.
That way works for sure. no doubt about it. I agree 100%

but I'm at a stage in my life where if I'm going to do this it better be worth my while, I need 10 oz, not 10grams.
nobody said you can't do it cheap but you also have a lot of time involved, so to get the most 'bang' for your buck HID's are the most efficient.

you gotta consider that the more you put in the more you get out.


I'm real happy it worked out for ya.
good growing

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"EX-TERM-A-NATE THE DOC-TOR"

Outlaw Grower

glad to see it worked out. i tried many cheap grows and they would have worked great if i knew i had to switch the light cycle to flower them so yea lets jus say i had a 7 moth old plant that never saw the 12/12 light cycle lol

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"All i want to do is develop my HΞRBAL in a real lab... and get some he^d while im doin it" -=MethodMan in how high=-

aka Outlaw Grower aka Outlaw Genetics

Blue Hawaiian

Some people are just snobs, then there are others like myself that can appreciate where we once were (with cheap gear and sh!tty yields) and in turn appreciate our current blessings of HPS and/or MH bulbs, fancy nutes, exotic mediums etc. (well exotic to me anyhow because I'm new to the whole hydro thing)

Anyway, my point is: most people (probably myself included) have difficulty staying "grounded" once they get really good at growing. 'Course I guess it makes it even more difficult to stay grounded when you have just pulled in 5.5oz of primo sativa

All the best for the future and I hope you come into some money so that you can ditch that ghetto gear

Grow on Bro!

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mellowbifta

We all have to start somewhere I`m sure most of the super grower on here started small & I think starting small is the key.

There is a certain amount of learning curve involved in anything you do so why should growing mj be any different from any other endevour.

After all who wants to be running around trying to do 101 things & in the end you mess it up.

In my opinion as long as your first havest covers the cost of your investment
& treat the friends who have helped you to get to harvest,Then the next harvest will be so much better.

Just my opinion.

MB

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Cant keep my eyes from the circling skys,Tongue tied & twisted just an earthbound misfit I

Grow guide~6 plants=20 ounces~What is hydroponics-By Hydrosan


A must for scrog growers-Crazy Diamonds 600watt journal.

Firsttimer

Quote:

The time I put into this, the $100, it really wasn't worth it for the bud I got. The smoke is pretty good, though it is more like a sedative than a good high, but still I know this smoke wont last me long. But everything I learned from this grow, from HC.com, is worth far more than the $100 I put into this, that is where I benefitted the most, I reaped the most rewards was from what all I learned, not how much I harvested. The fact that I did get some bud out of it was a nice bonus. Thank you all.

That's what its all about my friend. All about learning. I can't believe you used Spikes. LOL. I was cracking up when I read this. But it takes stubbornness to learn for yourself. To get up and do it. I know I have contest many of things people say on here and I have proven them wrong. But in this case you probably learned that Miracle Grow isn't the best thing for Marijuana but will work! Congratulation on your First Harvest and Welcome to your new Hobby. The funniest damn Hobby you can ever have. Smoke on...

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Don't let my name fool you Take care and grow hard!

IonAccel

Nice effort you put into your hobby.!

I admire your perseverance. You learned alot.

I would guesssssss............hmm..........19 grams?

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elitesama

Care to share any more info on this, such as lumen output from a single bulb? A pic perhaps of the bulb? just curious because i am currently using 7 25w spiral compacts at 1700 Lumens a piece plus 4 20w tubes for mine, and they are doing awesome. Anyways glad to see that you got some ganj from it and you proved that using the worst of things will still get you somewhere. to your (more efficient) future grows.

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PaoniaPurple

Good on ya, mate! This hobby is about a thousand times more addictive than the product we grow! Get some fresh seeds from a good bag and see what ya get!

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noobgrower2

its impossible to tell but i reckon about 15 -20 grams of bud its well worth the 100 bux u payed for it!

hope to see some more grows from you
K+

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