Hey guys, This is my first public post regarding my grow, been stalking for a while, trying to soak up the wise wisdom that experience has bestowed upon the more seasoned growers on the forum and hope you guys can help clear up a few things for me. Let me start with giving you all the facts of my grow so far, Here goes, I'm growing outdoors in the subcontinent (close to India) situated in both the northern and eastern hemispheres and have a tropical climate (N 31.5 , E 74.3). I decided on growing out doors to take advantage of the natural sunlight and cause electricity costs are tooo damn high (tbf) Decided to germinate a Master Kush seed from the Humboldt Seed Organization since I share a similar climate to that of California and because the strain is indica dominant which is native to my area. I germinated the seed (wet paper towel method) and around 22nd September, moved the germinated seed into a plastic cup filled with coco noir and a bit of local soil (90 / 10 %). Once the first set of leaves came out I attempted to move it outside but it was so hot at the time that it almost dried out the leafs (15 hours daylight 40+ degrees C(104F)). Luckily I caught it in time and moved it back inside and put it under LEDS (0.1v x 40) and kept it in until the roots developed properly to transplant. I transplanted it around 12-14 Oct into a 5 gallon pot with a 70-30 mix of peat substrate + perlite and moved it outside. Little did i know that the peat I bought was 4.5 PH. Long story short, after working out problems with over watering, over feeding, bad drainage and low ph the plant has now (Nov 5) finally started growing 5 blade leafs, the weather is changing (around 23-30 C during the day and 12-17 at night with around 11 Hours of daylight) I've been using water soluble nutes 18-18-18 and garden lime to get the Ph under control. The plant has reacted well and is continuously growing although the amount of leaves this far up the grow hasn't made the plant very bushy. I pinched the top about a week ago and that has spawned around 8 new sets of leafs. The pictures attached would clear everything up to this point. NOW for the questions. Like I've mentioned, the weather and day light hours are now changing and I'm looking at under 12 hours of day light (9-11) and pretty low temperatures over the next 2-3 months (as low as 5-10 degrees C (40F) at night), However, I live in a residential area and there are street lights which, although not in close to the plant; run all night long.... Would this stop the plant from going into flowering? Is it ok if I give it high N K nutes and try to induce the flowering? Reading on the forum , members have commented that the plant needs at least 12 hours of COMPLETE darkness to induce flowering. Others say it depends on the strain, etc. I want the plant to flower asap and need to know whether i need to arrange for a little shed to give it the complete dark hours it needs or whether i should just let nature do its thing. Also is there any indication of sex of the plant in my pix or would that only show once the plant starts going into flowering? Appreciate any info that you can provide to help me out to make my first grow a great one. I plan on taking clones before harvesting and keep this strain going. I've grown ever so fond of its broad leafs. Thx in advance.
Oh forgot one thing regarding defoliation, would it be a good idea to remove the damaged leafs that i had pinched?
Shit.....Don't defoliate, you stated that the days are getting shorter, sounds like as soon that bitch matures she will flower. If you defoliate you will stress the plant and she may not flower. Don't worry about soil PH and shit, I have never checked it personally on any of my grows and it has never caused myself to lose a plant. The light from your street lights shouldn't be too much of an issue, I have the same situation and it doesn't hurt mine. Remember what a full moon looks like ? How much it lights up your yard at night ? Well as long as your plant is not receiving any more light than a full moon offers, you have nothing to worry about, it won't hurt your plants.
Cool. I hear ya, but, how will i know that it's reached it's maturity point? signs to look out for? I have another 5 gallon empty pot that i can use to cover over the plant to give it the shade if needed since it's not very tall at the moment.
If the days are getting shorter,(going into autumn) you shouldn't have to wait long. It should start to show sex, and then go into flower. You won't need to help it along.
I examined the plant closely today and i can see the white hairs coming out showing the sex as female. Do you concur? \nI'm going to move it to my roof so it can utilize the the 10 + hours of sun light since the light is a bit restricted on my balcony and there is no chance of any light on the roof throwing it off the 12 hour dark period. \nLet's say everything goes well for the next 4-6 weeks on the roof and i feed it correctly, how much could this plant potentially yield? I know it's a hard one to answer for most since it all depends on how well I handle things from now till harvest. \nWhen would it be a good time to start taking clones? And if the plant has shown sex, should i consider this day 1 of the flowering stage? My research suggests that the best time to take clones is around day 21 into flowering... would like you opinion on that. Thx
Congratulations.....it's a girl !!! I couldn't really tell you, what you can harvest. I don't know how big the plant is, but if your talking about moving it to the roof than I can assume it is small and you may be lucky to get an ounce or two. I don't know much about cloning or taking cuttings as it is referred to in horticulture circles, but I was of the impression that you would need to clone the plant prior to it flowering. I think if you were to cut branches off of your plant at day 21 of flower you would find yourself in a bit of trouble.
I read a guide on the cloning of a flowering plant, basically you revert it back to veg state by giving it 20-24 hours of light (for a month), the plant shrivels up and almost dies then BOOM! you can google " A Complete Guide to Topping, Training and Pruning" by Kodiak. Interesting read, gives you the science as well as pictures. My plant's about a foot long so far, I'd be happy with a couple of ounces at harvest. Breeder says it'll take 9 weeks of flowering to finish Oh well, at least we're half way there. Have a another plant going but in a way smaller pot (3L) 707 head bang if i remember correctly. Think it's time I started paying more attention to it and get it going too. Cheers for answering the 100 questions
No worries mate, hope it helped a little. Didn't know all of that about cuttings with dope.....thanks for the heads up. I don't grow indoors, never tried, might give it a whirl this year.