Well, we had a beautiful, sunny day here and Big Girl and 4Way spent the day soaking in rays and, hopefully, drying out a bit. Is 4Way a Male? After I brought the plants back inside, I went looking for preflowers on 4Way. I can't say that I was pleased with what I found. I see balls without little hairs growing out of the top, but as always, I do not see them clearly. So I guess I will wait to see if the situation clarifies. And I don't know if it will. If this plant was in 12/12 then it would either sprout balls everywhere or it wouldn't. But in veg, what I currently cannot quite see may be all that I'm going to get. Opinions are welcome. Opinions are requested. Flowering, Day 18+ Meanwhile, back in the shower stall, things are pretty placid. I did see a couple of small flies in there today, so I cranked up the fan for a few hours. Little flies do not like strong breezes. But I may have to apply some more neem oil solution. Anyway, the buds are doing their thing.
Well, it's been three weeks since the last update. A lot has happened during that time. My super lush vegging female, Big Girl, died a not so slow and lingering death over a two week period. She basically just rotted away. If you want the skinny on that then there's a thread for you over in the Sick Plants and Problems forum. I took 4 cuttings at the end of the ordeal. Since I was unable to save the mother, you may wonder why it is that I bothered to take cuttings. Surely they will face the same fate. But I may know now what I didn't know then and therefore it is possible that I can heal these cuttings, should they become plants. That's if they manage to root. They have endured for a full six days so far. It remains to be seen whether any of them will make it into pots of their own. It appears that the pH test kit that I was using to test and correct the pH of my water was giving me bogus readings all along. I've ordered a Hanna pH meter and I'm awaiting its arrival. For now, the cuttings and the flowering girl are getting distilled water. The second vegger, sporting the 4Way list, proved to be a male, so he is gone as well. Pity, that. He looked so good. Hermione, our flowering bagseed princess, is hanging in there, but it isn't a pretty sight. So, we're pulling for poor Hermione to endure for another three weeks or so. I've actually seem a few cloudy trichomes already, and one amber one. Since Hermione is from a seed from a bag, we have no idea what the normal flowering time is. But since it is almost surely from some cheap commercial shwag, it probably flowers fast, so 8 weeks (56 days) is the guess. That is eighteen days hence. Drink the distilled water, Hermione, and work on those buds.
Best of luck. Im a first time grower of durban poison using miracle gro moisture control indoors...i thought i was doing awesome by buying LOTS of GE Plant Light 65 incandescent bulbs...now I find out, they suck...oh well, i gotta go with what I got... =/ I also have a 150 watt hps that I'm waiting to fire up...I got in over my head and have 10 plants...I jumped in, and now im finding, i should have planned better, but ima do the best I can with what I got. Good luck my friend
Fictional Grower, thanks for stopping by and thanks for the kind wishes. I haven't heard anything bad about GE bulbs, but a lot goes on that I don't hear about, I've found. Still, if their color temperature is 6500K then they should be good for vegging plants. Ten plants vs. one 150 watt HPS bulb sounds like an unfair matchup. You need more light or fewer plants, and that by quite a bit. 150 watts is good for one or two plants. That's what my reading and my severely limited experience tells me. But first grows are often rocky affairs. My reading and my severely limited experience tells me that as well. Good luck.
Hey, blades! It's Alatar the Blue with an update. No plants have died in the past few days , which is generally a good thing, though now it's proving to be a bit awkward. More on that in a bit. Flowering Day 44+ Hermione, our flowering bagseed princess, continues to soldier on. For such a tiny plant, and she is tiny, she is really stinking up the place. It's a nice smell. I like it. It smells a bit like sex. But it's stinking up the whole house. The place smells like a bordello, which makes those weekly bible readings awkward affairs, let me tell you. I looked at the trichomes today utilizing my handy-dandy twelve dollar Radio Shack microscope. We're at mostly cloudy with some clear and some amber. Hey, we're there! If we cut her down today, we get smokeable weed! Not very much smokeable weed, but still that's very cool. So we're probably going to chop in a week, on Saturday. She's been on pure distilled water for the last two weeks already. I guess we're going to make it after all. Here's Hermione: 4 Cuttings Day 13 Here's the awkward part. These cuttings refuse to die! Or, rather, they are dying but they are taking their own good time to do it. Here are the four cuttings that we took from our diseased plant almost two weeks ago: As you can see, we're just about out of green on the last cutting and there isn't much left of the second to last one either, but the first two look like they may hang in there for a while. But here's the thing. I have some seeds that I bought and I'd like to get on with it. Actual name brand marijuana strains, and some good ones. Barney's Farm LSD. Big Buddha Blue Cheese. Chiesel. Plus freebies. Go Attitude! But I had a short list of things I had to accomplish before I would be ready to move on: Get the T5 lighting fully up to snuff. Determine the disposition of the cuttings, all that remains of my sick plant. Thoroughly clean out the vegetation area. With bleach. Obtain a digital pH meter When I received my T5 light fixture, I discovered that they shipped me the wrong bulbs. Rather than two grow bulbs and two bloom bulbs, I got one grow bulb and three bloom bulbs. I wanted some red light in my veg space, but not a preponderance of red light. So that was a problem. But the problem is now resolved and I now have three grow tubes and one bloom tube. Perfect. The Hanna pH meter and the four required solutions have arrived. The dead batteries have been replaced. I'm ready to go on that count. The cuttings. What about the cuttings? The cuttings endure, but they do not thrive. Over the last 13 days, much of the vegetation has withered, but some remains. I even have a small amount of what looks to be new growth on one of them. But no roots have forced they way out of those jiffy plugs yet. A couple of days ago, I started to spray them with half strength Grow Big. The green in all the leaves had been slowly draining away and then the leaves would brown and wither. I always knew it would be a race against time to get these sickly little girls to root. So I started using the Grow Big. And dammit, it may be working. I may get a couple of plants out of this exercise. So that has me in a hold state with my fancy new seeds. Still on the list of things to do first are the ritual cleaning of my grow space and the final disposition of my diseased and possibly contagious cuttings, not in that order. So that is where we are today in the house of Alatar the Blue. Thanks for checking in. Don't be afraid to say hello.
Two of the cuttings died. Two of the clones are showing roots poking out of their jiffy peat pellets. For the past five days, I have been feeding and spraying half strength Grow Big. That may be retarding the loss of chlorophyll on the survivors. If they show me some more roots, I'll put them in soil. The two cuttings: The roots:
They showed me more roots. That's Fox Farm Ocean Forest with about 30% perlite they're sitting in. No more Miracle-Gro for me. They're about 9 inches below the T5s. We'll have them licking those fluorescent tubes in a few days.
Now that the pH in her water supply is no longer fubared, Hermione is actually making a modest comeback. It's pretty late in the game though. 2 Clones Vegetation Day 3 We have new growth! These plants are really going to make it. Amazing! They are so tiny. I'm still spraying them with half strength Grow Big. They are very hungry. The gnats showed up again today. Little bastards.
Checked trichomes. A confused picture. Lots of mutilated trichomes, but my sample taking methodology is deficient. I see clear, cloudy and amber. Not sure what to do. A close examination of the plant reveals a recent swelling of her meager buds. Perhaps, I should give that swelling a decent chance to subside before cutting. Obligatory photo: 2 Clones Vegetation Day 5 Watered clones with pH corrected tap water that sat out for several days and had to be corrected a second time. Lowered the T5 lighting to 5 inches above the plants. Cutover from 24/0 to 18/6. Turned on the fan. Let's see if we can kick these clones into gear.
nice grow man just read it ur doing really well ,ur plants buds look funy colours lol is tripin me out ha. ye ur plants have bucked up and about 10-15 days left of flowering? u gonna flush now? thanks
Hey, toke much, thanks for stopping by. I think this little girl is pretty much ready to cut any time now. I'm just giving it a few extra days on principle. I've seen plenty of people say they cut too early. Very few claim they cut too late. I've been flushing with water for the past two weeks. So I think Saturday is cut down day.
Make sure you water flush within 24 hours of chopping your plant for the best possible smooth taste... Flushing weeks days prior to harvest is good but especially with those miracle grow soils, you need to flush within 24 hours. I'll explain why- miracle grow soil contains slow release nutrients. Nutrients make your smoke taste like crap. Since miracle grow soil contains "slow release" nutrients, they are designed to keep leeching back into the soil from all those pellets you see laced through the soil mix. If you flush within 24 hours of chopping down, your plants will at least have "sipped" lots of fresh water in to all the stems just prior to the cut. A good way to sample how harsh or smooth the final product will be, is to snap off a small stem somewhere and taste the liquid that beads up at the break. Mostly watery taste- you did a good job with your flush. Any kind of a harsh taste- flush more and try harder. Also try different flush techniques too- many people run water from a faucet and let t drip from the bottom. This si good, but a better way is to fill the pots with water and let them sit for 5-10 minutes before pouring off the water, and then repeat. Think of it like tea- you have to let it sit for a few minutes to soak up lots of the teabag right? Same thing here- the soil is like your teabag, and you want to soak maximum nutrients out of it. on a side note, how do you like your ufo from HTG? I was thinking of one of their UFO's specifically because they make so many clams about how the technology inside is radically different, but you never know if these people tell the truth. Would you say your results wth the HTG ufo are at least on par with what you may have seen from competitors product? This thread may have gotten me sold on theirs... Great thread and keep up the good work!
CFLweasel, Thanks for the input. Yeah, this MG soil has the time release ferts. A beginner's mistake. I seem to make my share of them. But it's all good. I'm assuming that the taste of the MJ will be adversely effected. I am hesitant to take your suggestion, however, because it would mean cutting down a plant that's saturated with water rather than one at the tale end of a watering cycle. But I will give it serious consideration, cuz who wants foul tasting weed? As for the UFO, my review is mixed. I think 90 watts is not enough. A 180 watt unit would be a whole lot better. We have some active grow journals right now where 180s are being used and they seem to be rocking and rolling. 90 watt UFO grows are CFL assisted affairs involving heavily LSTed indica dominant plants. Growing a stretchy sativa with this unit is probably not practical, though I may try some hazes at some point anyway. I think the performance of the HTG UFO would be better if the 120 degree lenses on the LEDs were 60 degree lenses. The 120 degree lenses allow the vendor to claim one square meter of coverage, but that's bunk. More sharply focused light would result in better penetration and more realistic claims. I'm not planning to run out and upgrade right now. If I were, I'd be taking a close look at the 126W Hydro Grow LED Penetrator. The Penetrator uses 60 or 30 degree LED lenses, customer's choice. The vendor's claims do not appear exaggerated. The ProSource 180 watt UFO is getting a lot of play lately and it seems to be performing. Very expensive, though, and I think the orange light is probably a waste. Also, ProSource is not forthcoming with real specifications on their units. There is a little too much snake oil salesmanship in that company for my taste. Having said all that, I have not yet given my UFO adequate testing to draw firm conclusions. I've only done one grow, my first grow. The plant is tiny, so small that I cannot say that I have approached the limits of this light yet. And this has been very much a classic first grow, with lots of mistakes and fumbling about. Not a fair test of the light. Successive grows will tell me more, though my emphasis will of course be on successful grows rather than thorough testing of the light. In other words, I'll probably muscle up with additional CFLs, and if I flower multiple plants simultaneously then my CFL assisted LED grow will probably end up being an LED assisted CFL grow. I have had good experiences with HTG Supply. In addition to the UFO, I purchased their house brand 4-ft, 4 bulb T5 lighting fixture at a very steep discount to what the name brands cost, and I am happy with the unit. I've also made other purchases from HTG. Their customer service is good. If I did not have strong domestic resistance to ducting in the grow space, I'd be using a 400 watt HPS and dreaming and scheming about a 600.
Alatar- Decent! Anyway, I did a couple of my first grows with MG soil, and it definitely did have a taste, but I watered the hell out of them before harvest knowing the situation and hoping it would help. I actually read the tips about the flush in this months (or last?) months high times I bought at newbury comics but the miraqcle grow's I did were a couple years back...... As for your concerns with chopping down a soaked plant... It'll probably just take longer to dry... Although by saying "dry" I'm technically being a bit incorrect, because I should replace the verb "dry" with the verb "cure." Have you read about curing? (being serious not sarcastic although it might sound sarcastic cuz I'm burnt lol) Anyway, the "curing" process for the so called "perfect cure" can take as long as you want it to, from weeks to even months although I bet most home growers don't wanna wait more than like 4-5 days to smoke, which in and of itself isn't exactly considered "proper." Although I'll admit it myself- I too am guilty of wanting it right away and I never keep my sh*t in canning (ball) jars and "burp" them like I should. I guess what I'm trying to say is regardless of whether you're gonna hang the plants upside down for a week and smoke em up, or if you're gonna "cure" them the "right" way for weeks on end, the extra flush will probably only add a couple or 3 days to either process. This should be the least of your concerns compared to fighting back from making the "poop face" (as my wife so affectionately calls it) because you're smoking sh*t that tastes like tomato soup and vinegar... I'm not saying that to put you down either, I'm saying it because I truly believe you can keep that from happening to you I don't have much experience at this, but I HAVE grown plants that weren't flushed good enough and it's a mistake you never forget. Nothing sucks worse than having a couple of beautiful, healthy, frosty plants that you're: A) Proud as hell you grew yourself (and) B) Almost completely unable to smoke due to harshness, such to the point that you can hardly even enjoy the high your plant produces The last time this happened to me was when I tried bat guano awhile back. I had just finished my first/second grow with the MG soil and MG nutes, and they didn't do too bad on the taste because I soaked them badass prior to harvest, like right up to the last day. The next batch grown in bat guano, I even used the "good" soil (not miraclegrow), BUT because I didn't follow my own advice My plants still tasted like sh*t. I had flushed them like 3 or 4 times just prior to harvest, but let them sit unthouched for a few days prior to the "chop." I figured the plants would get a headstart on drying, and maybe I'd see some other bennefit. Instead my plants tasted SO BAD to smoke that even after one bowl I couldn't get the taste out of my mouth, or the bowl for that matter. They seriously tasted 2-3 times WORSE than the ones I grew in MG! According to the high times article, if you let them go a few days without water before cutting them down, they simply start to suck nutrients back out of the soil (whether it's MiracleGrow soil or not) prior to harvest and they RE-acquire the nasty taste to some degree or another. Here's wishing you the best of luck! Sorry if I sounded preachy, didn't mean to- cannabis farming whether indoors our out is a SITUATIONAL approach and I encourage you to develop a system that works for you. If it works your way, than screw what the next guy is doing... The important part to me is that as many people as possible enjoy this God-Given plant to the maximum extent possible! CHEERS!
Hey alatar- Thanks again for sharing your grow with everyone. After a little thought and a lot of impulse, I ended up getting my LED UFO From HTG just like you did. I'm planning on doing things a bit different than you are, incorporating a cabinet and such to try to maximize light useage and so on. You can see my almost complete setup here: http://forum.grasscity.com/general-indoor-growing/495155-building-led-ufo-cabinet.html Please feel free to have a look and share any opinions or advice you may have, I'd love to hear what you think...
bibblegum2, Thanks for the kind words. This has been an interesting learning experience. CFLWeasel, I'll definitely check out your grow box and I look forward to seeing what you do with the new light. I hope you are planning to do a grow journal. I checked out you write-up on the lumens per watt for various types and sizes of lights. Interesting stuff.