HD Thoreau's 1st CFL grow (Philippines)

Discussion in 'Growing Organic Marijuana' started by jAhquaponics, Dec 10, 2012.

  1. #1 jAhquaponics, Dec 10, 2012
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 10, 2012
    Hi(gh) everyone!

    First and foremost, here's a little background/history to my thread:
    I'm from the Philippines and I've been enjoying the herb for about 8 years now. I have an Obsessive compulsive disorder (I think) and am very introverted so weed really is the best 'drug' for me. Self-prescribed btw.

    Anyhoo, I've tried chronic when I was in Denver a few years back and I really enjoyed the quality bud. My goal is to reproduce the same quality but with local Philippine strains/genetics. I'm more than skeptical about my experiment because as far as I can tell(& experienced,) the genetics here isn't near the quality compared to the West. It might be schwag quality or it might just be poor growing practices (seedy: hermie plants or pollinated females: minimal THC)

    I'm by no means an expert when it comes to cannabis but I do take pride at being a decent organic farmer (I have a 3 hectare organic farm.) I know a few things about plants to say the least and I've had experience with Natural Farming Techniques, Aquaponics, Permaculture, & Conventional/Commercial Farming. The reaon why I said I have OCD is because I think it helps with growing quality farm produce. I constantly search for better and sometimes controversial ways of growing better crops.

    I have had experience with outdoor growing and it was over 8ft tall before being chopped down by my furious father (long story but point is I got caught)
    Here's a picture a few weeks before being murder-ized. :(

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    So yeah, about 2 weeks after that picture was taken, It got chopped. It was what it was just as everything is what it is. :)

    Because of that little incident, I decided to give indoor 'closet' growing a try. Unfortunately, with minimal funds. I spend most my money on surf/climb expeditions and have little regard for material posessions. (Over sharing? Im a bit stoned and thus friendlier/more trusting/open I guess.) No money and living in the country=no access to HPS and not being able to afford MH bulbs. With that in mind, I started to lurk around forums and searching for 100% CFL grows and always find abandoned journals. So here I am making my own finally and promise not to abandon it whether it's successful or not. Wish me luck guys! *smoke* :)

    Grow op specs:
    Nursery/Veg Box: 2'x2'x3' - 70W(total) 6700k CFLs, 1 4" computer fan(intake), 1 2" fan(exhaust)
    Flower room: 4'x4'x6' - 4 65W 2700k CFLs, 2 2' T5s, 4 26W 6700k supplemental CFLs (flower room under construction but that's what I have as of the moment)


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    Nursery

    Genetics: 2 sativa dominant plants from the mountain province of Cebu, 1 sativa dominant strain from Sagada (baguio gold)
    ALL BAGSEED btw. Like I said, genetics is a problem here. I refuse to get a credit card and so cannot order seeds from outside the Philippines
     
  2. #2 jAhquaponics, Dec 10, 2012
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 10, 2012
    October 31, 2012

    Grow Space: H16"xW16"xL36"(Nursery) Lights: (2) 26w CFL + (3) 13w T5 Light Schedule: 18/6 Ventilation: 2 CPU fans (Intake and Exhaust) Temperature: 80-90 F

    Medium: Coco Coir + Coco Green grow and bloom organic foliar products, coco green organic fertilizer
    Seedlings were sprouted in coco coir:

    The only reason I used cococoir instead of straight up soil/organic mix was because Of the whole sterilization issue that is brought up on these forums quite a bit. I should have just trusted mother nature in hindsight.

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    Things looked good for its first few days:


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    Then at around day 6 it was obvious I did something wrong:


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    Realized it was probably pH problems and something related to using coco coir without any nutes, I foliar sprayed too early but transplanted into a mix or my garden soil and vermicasting plus some compost as well. Not surprisingly, it got nute burned by my foliar spraying but I think the transplant helped her recover from the shock:

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    November 22, 2012
    How she looked a few days after transplant into my organic mix:


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    Her leaves curled a bit and I attributed it to the high temp(90-95) with lights on so I put in a sponge with water to increase humidity and hoping to decrease temps by a few degrees. It didnt by the way but the increased humidity helps with the leaf curl problem.



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    Decided to transplant both the girls into larger pots for vegging. Same organic mixture but I watered with a compost tea I made filled full with IMOs and beneficial micro organisms. I also put in earthworms in their pots. I believe that a gardener's job is to 'grow' good soil because the soil grows good plants.


    December 6, 2012

    I think the soil mix really saved them from all the abuse I put them through during their seedling stage. I just hope they dont hermie because of the stress I put them through.


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    Mary and Jane (Cebu sativas)



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    Mary

    December 7

    Read up on LST and decided to give it a go. IMO it makes the whole growing process more involved and enjoyable as well as (supposedly) increasing yeild


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    Day 38 from seed (LST)

    December 9

    Read up on frequency(music) therapy and will be playing mellow/classical music to my girls an hour a day. Hey, even if it doesnt work ill still enjoy the music and just looking at the plants for an hour when im stoned. Haha! :)



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    Recovering from LST + music therapy



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    @ day 40 from seed. Showing horizontal branching. Maybe I'll be able to tell whether these are male/female.

    Hoping for girls obviously so I'll update with pics next time. Off to the farm so I wont be back for 5 days or so. Enjoy life everyone!!
     

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  3. Awesome time lapse! post the results when they do start to show
     
  4. That thing is HUGE!
    Shame you had to chop it down! Did you get to find out if it was male or female?
     
  5. dude, ur from cebu right? ask ko lang bro. alam mo ba yung dagkot na tapol? prang indica ang buds eh.
     
  6. Decided to go back a day early from the farm just to check on my plants. Separation anxiety? Haha!

    I must say I'm impressed with LST so far, You can start to see how its shape is gonna turn out and I can keep both plants in my small nursery box because LSTing made them so much shorter (and bushier.)



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    Down to about 3inches from soil (would be over 7inches without LST)



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    Mary and Jane. Looking very pretty. Especially the latter.



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    Group pic. So far, I cant tell whether theyre male or female.
    Also, they both come from the same plant but look a bit different. Possible phenotype or just naturally different?


    Question, how much longer til I NEED to transplant them into bigger containers? Was thinking of just putting the pots on top of bigger pots but I can't do that now because of lack of vertical space.

    Around DAY 45 from seed btw.
     

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  7. Thanks! Ill be posting around once or twice a week for easier visual comparison.

    WAS huge. :(
    Yep. Itwas a female. Started to flower a week before getting chopped actually.
    As for the ones I have growing now, I think it's too early to tell their sex? I might be wrong... Maybe you can better judge based on the pictures?


    Near cebu 'bai!' Never heard of tapol but dont you distinguish indicas and sativas based on leaf structure/size and plant height?
     
  8. #8 jAhquaponics, Dec 13, 2012
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 13, 2012
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    Male/Female or too early to tell?

    Also, a friend gave me a few seeds: white widow (feminized), vash (sour deiselxmississippi mud), and russian diesel (NYCDxAK47)
    The thing is, theyre over 4 years old. I sowed all of them today. Any hope in them sprouting? Send some positive vibes their way puhlease! Even if just one of them sprouts and turns out to be female, I'd be a very happy guy. Heck, even if only one sprouts and turns out to be a male, Ill cross it with the local strains and see what I get. I just want them to live. Liiiiiiive! Haha
     

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  9. No. but when i got the weed, they are big buds, they call it "tapol" bcoz of its reddish color and the effect is like indica.
     
  10. Hey man nice grow idk if i shud lst as it is already like 2ft 3in tall :p
     
  11. I think I've heard of it. Maybe even tried it. Nobody really has one consistent strain where I'm from... it's just random weed here so you we don't really have much of a choice when scoring. Have you started your grow yet bai? Start with bagseed if you havent yet cause you'll be making mistakes for sure! You don't want to mess up good quality seeds because of inexperience. Just my opinion. :)

    Yeah, I check your journal quite a bit. My plants are probably over a 14 inches tall if I didnt LST them. I tie both of them down to around 3-4inches and keep em there. BTW, how can you tell if it's male or female without them flowering yet?
     
  12. I've been checking out other Grow journals and have been comparing growth/progress rates and have concluded the following:

    My 2 sativas are growing at a much slower rate than most(maybe because of lighting?)
    Could be because of the containers Im using(1gal) and should probably transplant soon?
    Too much nitrogen in soil causing clawing(what do I do about that?)

    Question, can I keep them in their containers if I'm not going to put them on 12/12 yet? Im planning on keeping one or both as moms if they turn out to be female so I can skip the seedling stage.

    Both come from the same plant(seed) but have big differences. For example, one is much more dense, has numerous but very short branches and has narrower leaves while the other isnt as dense but has longer branches and wider leaves. Are any of these signs that one could be male/female?



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    Dense, narrow leaves, short branching


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    Longer branching, wide leaves, much less dense in terms of leaf count


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    Group shot
     

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  13. hey, those plants are beautiful! wowowow lol!

    I would guess the bigger one is your male and the smaller one is your female, you can always root some cuttings and set them to 12/12 to find out... they should show preflower's under 18/6 from 5-8 weeks
     
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    Close up shots. Can anybody help me tell their sex? Im guessing females but Im hoping for girls so I might be biased. Haha!
     
  15. Thanks Hope! Branches from the smaller one are too short so I cant take cuttings yet. I took a cut from the bigger one though and I'll put it on 12/12 after a week. Your grow looks awesome btw! Enjoy the smoke, Hope!
     
  16. Hey man slap some pics :p i will be once i get home :p lst pics
     
  17. Update in the link above. Both plants look like theyre girls as they have hairs but they have numerous differences also which has me stumped. ???
     

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