My friend and I have been growing several Alaskan Ice's and Himalaya Gold's from greenhouse seeds in his grow box for the past month or 2. I took one of his Alaskan Ice's and have transplanted it outside in my garden. Ill be updating this grow frequently if it catches peoples attention. She is now on her 3rd day of being outside, weather has been quite good (around 26 degrees with full sun), and she seems to be liking the transplant. I have been constantly trimming her throughout the grow to promote new growth and since she has been outside I have also started to stretch her. Here she is on her second day outside, tell me what u think!
Looks good and please do keep us here at grass city updated on your progress as I have five seedlings of alaskan ice growing right now. Though I must confess I'm no outdoor expert having only grown twice before indoors. Would be cool to see what I'm in for seeing yours grow first. Nice plant there and a lovely sea view to boot, can't fault your style. That plant should be a monster by the time it has finished flowering Good luck. Keep it green.
lookin good i hope you and your friend matched your lighting times going from indoors to outdoors... otherwise the plant will start to flower in the next week...
Thanks for the positive feed back! There has been alot of commotion about greenhouses new Alaskan Ice. A lot of peoples grows have reportedly taken a turn for the worse, but my friend and I were unaware of this when we bought the seeds a while back. Oh and thats not the sea, its lake geneva, im growing in Switzerland
I heard of the issues some people are having with the aslaskan ice too, a shame really as WW cross Haze sounds like a very nice smoke, I like yourself bought the seed before I was aware of the problems. So we will just have to do our best to ensure we prove em wrong!! How long did you veg that plant and under what size light was it vegged, mine are under a small 70watt sodium right now as I started a little late for the UK climate and need to (hopefully) speed them up a little under the light. Keep it green.
I dont know of the exact time she has been vegging for but I'm pretty sure she has been growing for roughly just under 2 months now. She did however encouter some problems during the grow which SLIGHTLY stunted her growth, due to using old nutrients that had gone off! She was under a 400w HPS lamp when she was indoors. Starting them off under a light is always the way to go when I grow outdoors, although I have never used a 70w sodium light before P.s. Im going to pop over to my friends house sometime today to get some pictures of his plants (which are also now outside). They are truely stunning. The largest of them, being an alaskan ice aswell, is at roughly 1.30 meters, so imagine how much she could potentially yield!!
I'm jealous, and hope my little babies look somewhat like yours come the beginning of flowering time. Got my fingers crossed for your bud there. I dont think mine will catch yours up but still cant wait for harvest and all those loverly buds. As for the 70watt light it is small but does the job perfectly for small indoor grows and uses very little energy. I grew a few plants in recent years indoors with just a couple of 70's and had some ok results, no huge yields but a nice quality smoke that beats anything on the street. Like I said keep us updated so me can learn a few tips which will be much appreciated as this is my first outdoor grow.
I'm just hoping that the weather stays good throughout the summer . Usually gets into the lower 30's which is always nice! I'm heading over to my friends now to get some pics of his plants, you will then be truly amazed hehe
I wasn't able to get the same camera i have used before but I have taken some pictures of my friends plant using my laptop, so bare with the quality and angle of pictures hah: The first two pictures are of the Himalaya Gold. The 3 after that are of the Alaskan Ice, which was vegging for 4 months indoor. There is another alaskan ice and himaylaya gold growing along side, but since the pics on this laptop are so crap i decided not to upload them. Let me know what you think!
So my alaskan ice has been outside for about a week now, and she is already running into problems I have noticed on some of the leaves a strange discolouration occuring. I have a feeling it may be an Mg deficiency, either that or something to do with the PH (which i dont actualy know the level at the moment). I have attached some pics of some of the affected leaves, but all in all the plant seems to be growing well and loving the outdoors! Let me know what you think, any help would be MUCH appreciated!
That does look like a trace element deficiency having checked the following link The Complete guide to Sick Plants,pH, and Pest troubles! - International Cannagraphic Magazine Forums (good symptom pics). In which case a complete trace element solution would hit the spot though I wouldnt overlook the obvious like not enough water or too many ferts. The browning of leaves could also be a too low or high ph so testing the surrounding soil would also be a good idea this would also lock out trace elements, parasite infesestations should not be ruled out imho. The ground/surrounding your plant does look very dry/sandy (sand drains quickly) and the soil surrounding your plant stem looks lighter than your first photo indicating some dryness. I would give lots of regular waterings for 3-5 days to ensure water or too many ferts is not the problem. Should moisture retention be a real issue try digging in vermiculite or coir pete bricks both of which will retain moisture if you have a prolonged dry spell. I also noticed your friends nice plants also have much larger areas of turned over/quality soil which would hold more moisture and allow the roots to spread easier. The dry looking soil surrounding your plants may well soak up any waterings you give. Should the problem persist try the trace element additive, seaweed or kelp based liquid additives would be one organic source, ask your local hydro or garden store. This type of liquid should fix this problem quickly. Adding this regularly during veg will be beneficial regardless but could make an overfertilised plant worse. Parasite infestations can be real tricky as different problems require different treatments and is something I dont know enough about to recommend a proper solution. I do know that just because you cant see a problem it doesnt mean that a nasty little bug isnt eating the roots of your plant. I'm no expert but the above are logical reasonable steps to identify/remedy a possible problem and are just my thoughts, a ph kit can be bought from most garden/hydro stores for as little as a few euros and should be in the above list somewhere. I really do wanna see how this Alaskan ice turns out as my five seedlings are now coming along nicely after 2 weeks and should be ready for the outdoors in another couple. I just ordered a 150w metal halide lamp to bring them on a little faster as my 70w hps is really lacking the UV content for real nice veg growth, though it has done 20 seedlings in 2sq ft nicely up to now. Your grow will give me a nice idea of things to come, good luck Keep it green.
Thanks for your detailed response! I took a look at that link and to me the two closest deficiency's are Mg and calcium. I have managed to badly sprain my ankle yesterday so I wont be able to make it to the grow shop in these next coming days, however I will be going as soon as I can because I need to get some basic grow materials. So I went to check on her this morning, and she seems to be doing alright. Although there are still some leaves infected, the good thing is she doesn't seem to be getting any worse in these past 3 days. I took your advice and gave her a watering. I haven't actually watered her once since she has been outside, but i rarely water my outdoor plants because the soil usually always retains enough moisture. Then again, it has been very dry here recently. I suppose whilst I rest my ankle I will keep a close eye on her in these next couple of days to see if the waterings will help at all, if the problem persists then I'm going to get some Epsom salts and/or lime (or something equivalent) from my local grow shop in case of an Mg or calcium deficiency.
Sorry to hear of your strained ankle, at least a smoke will take the edge off (any excuse to blaze one up) Good to hear no fresh symptoms have appeared as those plants are very nice and it would be a real shame to lose any of em. I would also confer with your grow buddy to see if he has any advice as if he has planted his in similiar soil nearby he may have come across the same symptoms and may know of a remedy. I would also ask him how often he watered during your recent dry spell you had. Good luck. Keep it green.
wow your plant looks great. if you read the description about the AI on attitude it has the same characteristics of your plant. wich is great. awsome looking sativa
Well I'm pretty much at my friends house everyday haha. His plants have been outdoors for a longer period of time, and have not yet encountered any problems. He hasn't even been feeding them until very recently (due to lack of money). I would say he is watering once a week type of thing, but not BIG waterings, just enough so the plants feel refreshed . Thanks alot! Yea the AI is a beautiful plant, has a real christmas tree look about it hehe.
I hope your AI is looking a little better lately. I have just purchased a seaweed based additive that has many and various trace elements in it, particularly calcium and magnesium which will hopefully fix your problem permanently. :: BioBizz That should do the trick if your problems persist. NPK value 0.1-0.1-0.1 with calcium and magnesium at 0.1 and 0.2 respectively. All natural and organic as well, not as cheap as some as I payed about £9 for a 500ml bottle, though you only need to use 3-5ml per litre. As to where you would purchase this I just wouldnt know in your part of the world. Keep it green.
I went down to my local grow shop a couple days ago and bought a ph meter for water, a litre bottle of ATAMI Growth and ATAMI bloom nutrients. They are bio nutes and have been very successful in previous grows. My friend has a bottle of the alga mix aswell so i may have to borrow some of that from him. I am now thinking that the browning of the leaves could possibly be due to the ph being too high. It is only now that i have realised that the ph of the water is between 7 and 8. Ideally I would like to bring this down to 5.8 or somewhere around there. If anyone could suggest any techniques (aimed for outdoor growing) to bring the ph down which have worked successfully I would be greatly appreciative. On the other hand I dont know the ph level of the soil itself, which could be completely different, but I might as well work on changing that of the water. Apart from all of that the weather has been great (high 20's with full sun and a nice breeze). There has just been a nice heavy rain, which is what the ground needed. I have been continueing with the trimming and I am watering her with roughly 3ml of nutes per litre to start off with, and the plant is now starting to really take to the outside and is coming along nicely! Here are some recent pics I took today:
Nice to see your plant looking better established in its new home. Rainwater is slightly acid without any ammendments, you can also buy phosphoric acid that will bring down your ph, Canna also do a dedicated ph balance additive. Will you be topping that plant at all as sativas can be very single cola dominant, the lst will help but It it will be interesting to see if your plant develops the dominant main cola and wether the other branches yield some phatt buds. I certainly didnt expect the AI to be quiet so sativa dominant, but am pleased that it is as I like the up high most of the time. I myself will certainly be topping and fimming mine at around 3-4 ft to ensure bushiness. A friend also recommended stressing the plant by snapping the main stem just below the central grow tip but leaving it attached so the plant bushes out more yet still retains the larger central cola once recovered from the damage. I have not tried this and have no idea if it works or not but will certainly give it a try on one or two of my plants. Keep it green.
I think I am not going to bother with any topping of the plant or anything. I don't mind if she only has one main cola (as long as it gets nice and fat). I'm really just going to keep on with the stretching and trimming and let her dictate her own grow in that sense. Do you by any chance have any pics of yours? Would be nice to see how some other AI's are doing!