Whoo! I'm one-third of the way done with my first grow and things are looking good! I've got two plants approaching flowering, one trained by LST'ing at the fifth node and FIM'ing the lower growth stems around the 3rd week of veg. The other received the same thing but in reverse order(FIM'd at 5th node, LST'd 3rd week veg). So far, I'm convinced that FIM'ing/Topping/cutting any part of the main growth stem is a big no-no. With all that said, I have a few more questions for you guys: 1) Is okay to LST(very loosely) until the plant goes through its initial growth spurt? I'll stop LST'ing altogether eventually, but I can't afford for stems to get taller than 7". 2) Asked this in another topic, but it won't hurt for someone to answer it twice. Is there still a risk of mold if you spray with homemade/Guru's insectide which contains anti-bacterial soap during flowering? 3) Should I buy Schultz Bloom Plus fert or stick with the All-Purpose Plus(10-15-10)? DierWolf said to combine the two, but I just wanted some second opinions. Anyone? 4) Would it be okay to leave one or two Cool White CFLs in during flowering for a dual spectrum effect, or would purely Warm White and Daylight(only two for lower lighting) CFLs work better? 5) Oh, and is Superthrive worth the $10? >_> Thanks in advance. I'll probably post some blurry pics on day 1 of 12/12.
Well I can't answer all your questions but 1) You can LST as long as you want. I'll LST till the last day of flower if it helps more budsites get better light. 5) And yes, Superthrive is a tad expensive but on the other hand it will last you a good while. I use it especially during the first of veg and when I transplant. Can't say for sure whether it helps much or not but I use it anyway .
1) It depends what you mean by LST. To continue just tieing branches and fans lightly to maximize light coverage is OK. Don't go snapping any main stems during flower, though. 2) Probably not, but if you have a bug problem you have to get rid of it even at the risk of mold. 3) I like the Shultz. I suggest alternating feedings, one with Schultz, one with half-and-half. Don't over-do the amounts in each feeding. 4) Debatable to add warm vs. cool lights, arguments on both sides. Either way you are adding lumens. I would say go the full-spectrum cool white approach. 5) Never done a side-by-side, but I think it's worth it.
So I have a boy and a girl. It's a bittersweet moment because my LST'd plant, which is the healthiest of the two, turned out to be the boy. I suspected it was a boy when I started seeing preflowers as early as five days in 12/12. My suspicions were confirmed when I turned the lights on today. My FIM'd plant, which has always been smaller, showed me her first hairs this morning. Two whispy white hairs poke out from a prefolwer on her most developed stem. Her preflowers also look different from the LST'd plant's preflowers which are a two days older. She is now being pampered and is basking under close to 10,000 lumens of flourescent light. The male is off to her right under about 4,000 lumens...I need to keep him alive a little while longer. Whew, almost done now, just have to wait for her to grow up. In the meantime, I need some answers, so help me out. 1) First off, is 4,000 lumens enough to keep a plant alive? Will it atleast keep the main cola alive? 2) How long before that male blows his load? I noticed preflowers as early as Sunday, meaning it's been officially flowering for going on four days now. 3) Using the information from the above question, if I were to chop the male plant's main stem a couple days prioring to the pollen sacs bursting and hang it somewhere, would they(sacs) still open? Would I need to maintain absolute darkness as if it were still flowering? 4) I just put the pollen on the pistils right? Would a q-tip work? 5) What's a discreet way to get rid of my male afterwards? Is cannabutter/hash/oil/etc. worth it? Thanks in advance. --Edit-- So I got paranoid and took my boy out of the growroom and put him near a window. I'm seeing more whispy hairs on the girl.
It's been two days since I took my male out of the growroom and I can already see him beginning to wither. I hope he doesn't die too soon...I need pollen. The female is doing fine. Now that she's the focus of all the CFLs she has really perked up and began to grow. Looks like she's got 8-9 budsites and preflowers have sprouted pistils on every stem. So how about those questions? I need #2 answered ASAP please. 1) Took male out. 2) How long before that male blows his load? I noticed preflowers as early as Sunday, meaning it's been officially flowering for going on six days now. 3) Using the information from the above question, if I were to chop the male plant's main stem a couple days prioring to the pollen sacs bursting and hang it somewhere, would they(sacs) still open? Would I need to maintain absolute darkness as if it were still flowering? 4) I just put the pollen on the pistils right? Would a q-tip work? 5) What's a discreet way to get rid of my male afterwards? Is cannabutter/hash/oil/etc. worth it? Thanks.
Hey GrandPewpil, It is hard to know how long the male will take to blow his load because each strain is different. I assume you want to dust the pollen for seeds? If so check out this explanation on how to do this: General breeding and hybridization Raise the males in a separate area free of wind and drafts. When many flowers start to open, move some of the females close to the males, and shack the males a few times over a period of days. Wait two days to allow pollen time to fertilize. Now spray the females thoroughly with water. Shake them dry, and bring them back to the female garden. This procedure keeps other females free of contamination from stray pollen carried in by the fertilized females Seeding selected buds Most growers don't want to completely seed their crop. Also, you may want to use several varieties to pollinate different branches on one female. No problem. Just carefully hand pollinate selected buds. A single bud will give you anywhere from 30 to 100 or more seeds (one good branch can give you 500) so you don't need to pollinate much of the plant. You must though be methodical. Before you pollinate any bud, label each branch that you intend to seed. Avoid top branches, since there is more chance of pollen falling onto other branches. The buds should be well-formed, and stigmas must be white and fresh. Withered stigmas mean that the flower is no longer receptive to pollen. Use string tied labels or masking tape to label the bud with your cross. Write in dark pencil (most inks fade or wash away). Write the date variety, and the number of both the male and female, and affix the label to the branch. The simplest procedure is to take a clean finger or an artists brush, dip it into the pollen, and gently brush the female flowers (stigmas). A little contamination from stray pollen occurs but, there will be few random seeds if you are careful and gentle. You can, of course, remove the plant during pollination into another room with males, or simply perform the pollinating away from other females, and there will be no contamination. Each time you use a different male's pollen, rinse your hands first and wipe them thoroughly before applying new pollen. [Let me know if you are doing this outdoors and I will suggest an outdoor method]. A healthy female forms viable seeds in from 10 days to 6 weeks. Four or 5 weeks is usual. Wait until you see dark plump seeds splitting their bracts before harvesting. In most cases, you can't wait too long but, you can harvest too early. If seeds are still green or white they are still to immature. Hope this helps. Frank p. 300 As for your question on the cannabutter and hash, I have never done any of those things. If you want to try them there are many good threads here explaining how. I just chop my males down and throw them in the trash.
Hmm, this appears to be a very tedious process. I really wanted to try breeding my plants and getting some free seeds, but you need a seperate growroom. Each day I notice more droppy leaves--obvious signs that the plant is slowly dying. I think I'll pass on pollinating this grow and wait until next time...when I have an HPS. Thanks, SmknVTEC.
So far, so good. The CFLs appear to be doing their job and my lady is growing like a weed. It finally looks like the initial stretching has halted for now(thank goodness!) but I'm worried she's going to go through another growth spurt soon. I'm running out of growing space even with LST because the plant's width is becoming an issue along with it's height. I thought that plants only doubled in size during flowering? My lady nearly doubled her size within the first week and a half and she's still putting on a 1/4"-1/2" daily. ; How much more she will grow, I do not know...I just hope I don't have to prune anything prior to harvesting. So yeah, she's starting to drink lots of water lately. I don't mind, but I can see that it's going to get costly(another hidden cost of growing). I used to be able to get away with watering once every four to five days, but now it's down to three days...four days if I want her to wilt a bit. I expected this would happen, but not so soon. Buying distilled water is slowly starting to add up and she's consuming a good gallon+ every watering. How frequently do you guys water your ladies by the sixth week of flowering and how much water do they consume? If it gets to the point where she needs water every other day, I think I'm going to have to resort to tapwater. You just let it sit out in an open container for 24 hours, correct? Well, yeah, that's it for now. --edit-- Watered her moments ago. She wilted a little because I was trying to see if she could make it through the day without water. u
My pleasure buddy. I just love to help and glad I was able to in your case (not always the case with others LoL). Sometimes a plant can triple its size during flower. In your case, I see you have a nice large pot so this is probably not out of the realm of possibilities. It will slow down soon though I think, as the plant diverts its attention to making the buds. Your frequent watering is also normal. If you can leave your tap water out for 24 hours, the quality of the water is not total crap and the ph is ok, I would say just go with that. Buying that much is a pain in the ass and must be quite expensive. Otherwise, the plant looks awesome.
I did this last year - shake a male into a plastic bag, then put that bag round one branch of a lady, shake again, keep it there for a day with a rubber band. Result - masses of seeds on just that branch, the others remain sin semilla. Oh, and I kept that male well away from the ladies, and binned him after he had done his stuff.