Hi everyone, I would like to start by thanking all of the good people here in the cultivation section that take the time to help out those of us that so obviously need the help. I am brand new to growing, went the lazy mans route and bought a super closet locker for my setup. Done! Thanks to what I figure must be a fantastic nutrient system (technaflora) but more importantly all of your advice that I have been sucking up while I lurk away here- I have what seems to be an OK go at it for my first try. So....I have 3 plants, all super lemon haze. I decided with the limited space that I have that should make an attempt at Uncle Ben's(bow-down) topping technique to grow 4 colas for more production.....and kinda-sorta got it to work for me. Was this a good decision or no? I now have 4 of what I have been calling "My Lollipops" growing out of one plant, and 2 growing out of each of the other 2 plants. Not sure what happened but you can see from the pics why they remind me of lollipops. Early on, these things stretched on me fiercely. I have issues regulating temp inside my locker. Temps range from 65F to 82F. I wonder if this is the only reason that I could not get the tight node spacing that I was hoping for? Overall, I am happy with those chunky monkeys on the top of my bean-poles! So now I am 8 weeks into the 12/12 cycle....and I think I just made a mistake. My nutrient program that i have been following tells me to use a high carb formula for the first 3 days of my last week of flowering, then to flush with just water for the last 4 days of the week. I started that regimen yesterday when I thought I was about a week out.....today with some closer examination ( and more reading here ) I think I am more than 1 week from being ready. I would love to hear thoughts on this =) This has been a fun learning experience so far. Now its off to the harvesting and curing threads!! I have attached a couple of pics for some much needed and welcome advice/criticism. Thanks again everyone, hopefully I can give back here in the future. JB
We should start a whole new section on advice how to get good pics under hps light! The pics from the first post were taken through the lens of a pair of growgles. I have tried all different camera settings none are great, some are unusable. Couple more pics without the glasses and using different flash settings....maybe an actual nice camera is what i would need
T5s would help out I almost want to say do cfl for veg cycle to keep them short with tight nodes and then boom flower hps and watch them pack on the pounds but t5 would worj in place of cfl and sry bout spelling errprs I on mobile app
if you make it to harvest on your first grow (which you have/will) then it should be considered an awesome success IMO. To boost your confidence a little.... It's taken me a few weeks shy of an entire year to get my first successful grow lol. As for "how to take pics under HPS lighting" the trick is, don't do it. I don't have a top of the line camera but the only time it's ever let me down is Macro pics and while the HPS is on. If the flash screwing up photoperiod plants is a concern then do it right after lights go out or minutes before they come back on.
Wow...so it sounds like I got pretty lucky with my seeds. They were bag seeds that I found. Thanks for the comments. I am going to try to get a pic or two today before the light comes on.
OK....getting some great feedback so far, as I kinda though I would from you guys here! I would like to talk about the high carb diet that the girls are on. Do you guys think it is too early to start the final week program? If so, can I flush the reservoir with just water, then go back to my normal flowering formula? OR should I just let the week play out and hope that they will be ready by the end of the 7 day routine that I am on? Not sure if I can go back to the regular diet after 1.5 days on this high carb stuff. Again....ima rookie so if I am not making sense, please tell me so I can try again! Thanks everyone =)
U either need a micro scope or good magnifying glass to look at tricomes abd when they are 60-75% all amber,not clear its time to chop or go by the method I did my fiest grow 75% orange hairs
Forgot to upload these yesterday. I was able to get a couple of shots through the lens of my loupe. Thanks for the reminder =)
Hey man that's some pretty good pics with the hps on post #4. So your running 150w Hps total? That's some nice results for your first go.
Thank you! My flowering chamber is 15 inches wide, 22 inches deep and almost 36 inches of usable height. Yup, there is just a single 150w hps bulb lighting it.
I was not quick enough this morning....did not get a pic with the lights off, but now that they are on again I have examined the buds once more. My trichomes are pretty cloudy, but none are amber yet. My bigger concern is the lack of orange pistils. Mine are still significantly white, and do not appear to be drawing back inward yet (am I correct to be looking for this?) What do you guys use as a deciding factor? Pistils or trichomes? I prefer a more 'heady' high if it helps to know =) Thanks everyone!
I go by both I like the orange hairs but I like the trichomes too for hash lol its all on how patient u are I feel
From my experiance man let it go alittle longer then the point you think it's done espcecially on your foirst grow. I made the mistake the first couple of grows and cut early and trust me u don't wanna do that. I didn't have a decent scope just a jewelers loupes and i cut when they were clowdy with some amber. Another way to be sure they are ready is to let all the hairs recede back into your buds, The buds will start to look antiqued from the sugar coverage.
Gotcha....patience is getting harder to come by these days! Do you think it is ok to switch back out of the high carb feed that I am giving them now and go back to the normal flowering feed? I don't want to rush them at this point and I am starting to think that maybe just one more week is not going to be enough.
Yeah you should be good just don't do to much of a drop in strengnt, you don't wanna cause any undue stress. What are you plans as to flushing? You say you like a heady high so you should cut when the trichs are about 60% clowdy and 40% amber. That's the foolproof way to go by without ruining you work. But anyway i'd sugjest atleast a 2 week pure water flush, You'll have to try to time when you think the plant will have the ratio of color you want and then time that with your 2 week flush, so that at the end of the 2 weeks the trichs will be 60/40%.
If the trichs are 100% clowdy now then id wait till you have atleast 20% to 30% amber then start the 2 week flush. But to be accurate at judging trichs you need a pretty good lighted micro scope cause using a jewelers loupe is hard on the eyes. Also make sure to check the trichs in different bud sights cause the lower branches mature slower then the topps. When you get that 80/20 ratio average start flush.
That is good news, I am going to revert back to the 1450ppm solution that I have been using. Will wait at least another week before I begin the final feed, then I had planned on at least a 4 day flush. Guess I was wrong in that timing, so I will stretch that time out a little bit too. Thanks for the answers guys...appreciate the feedback greatly! I will try to keep updating here to let you guys know how it goes from here out.