Hi. Long time lurker, first time poster. I took the dive and threw some seeds down on a drunken whim, and have slowly been budget building an area and keeping them alive until I can get a tent delivered. This is my purple trainwreck. She was sprouted about a month ago. Let's say she is about thirty days. She is about six inches tall and you can see how wide. She has growth inside along the stem as well. She is in a coco perlite mix. I'm using 26w cfls in a homemade tent for now. Ghetto fan rigged for flow for now. Alternating water and fox farms nutes every two or three days, depending on if she is thirsty or not, I check by finger touching and lifting the pot checking it's weight. She got a little nute burn way in the beginning, I noticed on some of her tips. I lowered the nutes. Then she got nitrogen hungry. So I upped the nutes. These pics are of her this morning, after waking and getting her nutes last night. She seems fine. I'm hoping I'm doing OK. I would like to know where to go from here. She will be transplanted sometime this week into a five g smart pot. I will let her adjust for a day or two before anything else. I was thinking of fim or top, but I'm scared to mess up. Should I attempt to fim her before the transplant or after? I have a tent arriving this week. I was thinking of a transplant in a day or two and setting up the new tent and let it acclimate while she recovers before putting her in and fimming....or Should I fim her now, then transplant into the new tent? Should I even fim her? Or just leave her as is? I'd love to switch her over soon to 12/12(she's 18/6 now,) ideally when the new tent arrives, she can go into 12/12 by herself away from the others. So I guess I'm asking what should I do in order with fimming/topping , transplant and new tent/ light cycle. I know it's subjective, but it's also situational. Thanks!!!
You're right on track as far as I'm concerned. As far as transplanting, I would go ahead with that, but also consider LST. It would benefit all that side growth you have going on and wouldn't put too much stress on the plant after the transplant. You already got hella nodes and this being your first grow, I'd just bend her over. Good luck man! http://forum.grasscity.com/index.php?/topic/1383387-2-Bagseed-Northern-Lights-Auto-250w-CFL
I would top, lolipop and supercrop it, switch to a 24 on light cycle for three weeks then flip to a 13 on 11 off light cycle after leaving it in the dark for 48 hours before the flip.
plant looks healthy nice green color to it! if youre going to top it id wait a couple days after you do it to transplant, let the plant recover. you would make more use of the light by topping it but it isn't absolutely necessary. I would let it get a bit bigger before switching to flower, taking into account average 2-3x stretch.
Thanks! I've read your notes in your journal and seems you are doing well as a beginner also. I thought her side nodes seemed heavy and wasn't sure if it was the strain or my lighting, which was why I was curious when I should lst, they seem nice enough to pop up when I bend her down, I'm just worried her stalk is getting too thick to start without breaking. I should've started it two weeks ago. Maybe some minor work with side cfls. I'm going to transplant today and just take it from there. My tent should be here by Wednesday or Thursday, so she should be recovered by then and I'll make a more informed decision. At this stage, since I'm so new, I'll be happy to make it two more months to harvest without her dying. I'm going to take your lead Tony and start a journal, even if it's just for notes. Thanks!
Hi and thanks for stopping by! I would agree with you, except this is my first baby, and I'm more worried about her surviving. I think I'll do that with one of my secondary girls. I have one that almost died and fimmed herself, I'll do it to that one, she is already sideways a little... Plus all that to one plant as a noob, scary, lol. I'll start a thread for her in a day or two. Thanks!
Thank you! She is green, the pictures don't do her justice. I'm so surprised since this is my first official plant. I am going to transplant her today and let her recover until my tent arrives. I think I will top her a day after she spends the night in her new tent, probably Thursday or Friday then. Since I'm new I just want her to survive. I think simplicity on this one. Basic pulling on the stalk to expose my side nodes to an extra cfl or two, but no serious stress other than the topping, which I'll be doing for height reasons only. Thanks!!
I don't think you have to worry too much about the survival of the plant at this point. It's obviously pretty healthy and you've done a good job with this being your first. I wouldn't do anything to it other than finish growing it out and flowering it. However, I would keep it in veg longer. Transplant into the larger container and then give it some more time to veg. It's going to grow 2 to 3 times as large when you put it into flower, so the more growth you get on it in veg, the better the harvest at the end. Something else...the CFL's will be fine to veg with, but when you switch over to flower, you're going to need a better light. CFL's stink for flowering off a plant. For the money, hps is your best value for flower. The plants love them and grow like crazy and you can pick one up pretty cheap that will flower a couple of plants. Good luck! TWW
Thanks for your input! It's good to know that I'm on track. I'm 90% transplanting today. Give her a day or two rest, then into her own tent. I was thinking I'll top her for height only and a gentle pulling lst this weekend to get the sides a little. Most likely pick a few distinct nodes and clean the rest of her lower level to allow energy diversion to desired areas of growth. I was going to switch her around next Friday, gives her another 10 days of veg. Does ten days seem OK? Or should I go longer?obviously, we'll need to see her then...lol She busted almost a whole inch last night!!
Its definitely a scary prospect and runs counter to every instinct you have initially. If you wanted to dip your toes, I would suggest topping which will produce visible results in a week. Remember, you are literally dealing with a weed and it is more resilient than you think.
I just wanted to say thanks again. I've transplanted her and she is doing great this morning! I'll start very minor lst on her later today, hopefully new tent soon!
i dont know if its been mentioned but you want a lot of runoff in coco, a lot more than soil. If you dont in a few months you'll get bad salt buildup. At least 30 percent runoff weather you're feeding or just watering. I was putting 3 gallons of water into a 5 gallon bucket in soilless. Honestly it looks good though bud. Id top amd supercrop for maximum yield. It only gets better each grow.
i will agree 1000% with Supaa. i'm in coco. have 13 plus and auto going (14 total) from the start i wasnt watering with runoff. my previous grow i did, a bunch. but now, since i stopped the runoff, the runoff ph is in the 4's. put in at 5.9-6.1 always. last grow, with runoff, the ph barely moved. now, i make sure there is runoff every time. since using runoff, my runoff ph is back to normal. so from here on out, i'll be doing runoff. however, even though my runoff ph was super low, no plant has showed any signs of deficiency. some do runoff, some dont. i for one will.