Hello everyone. I tried posting last night, but the thread never appeared in here, so lets try it again. I have been lurking the forums for the past month or so after stumbling across it one night. Anyway I starting reading all the write ups this site had, and looked at everyones grow journals, and all the tips. And... it got me wanting to grow one of my own.....lol. This is my first attempt so I just used some old bag seeds from some schwag that I bought a while ago and kept. Since this is my first time, and I am really just experimenting, and learning about what does and does not work, and just gain experience in the whole procedure. So if they do not make it... I got tons more seeds and hopefully I learned from that mistake and start over. Well I germinated 6, but only 3 spouted out of them. I learned from one big mistake right away. I left them in the little party cups that I used to plant them in and they got rootbound. So they were stunted in growth for a while until I realized that something was wrong and their leaves were turning yellow and brown. They are all doing better now, but I almost gave up on two of them, My current lighting sucks, but I just recieved my 125W 6500K CFL in this morning, now just waiting on that mogul socket to come in....lol. Currently I only have 7 27w 5500K CFL Lights abut 2 inches above the plants. I grew them in some soil, as I really dont feel like i have the time nor experience to learn a hydro system at the moment. And I plan on buying the 2700K light in the next week or so to use later. My next purchases also include maybe the GL80 and the carbon filter. So far it has been a real fun experience and I am learning tons from this website and from personal screw ups, but all in all, its fun. Here are some pics of them. If anyone has any suggestions based on what you see they look like, or something I have done or doing wrong. Still learning, so always welcome to suggestions. This is the first one that spouted. After it got rootbound all its leaves and stems were browning and I basically just put it off to the side expecting it not to make it. It supprised me a couple of days later after transplanting it when I saw some green leaves looking for light. This is the second one. I never saw any issues with it, as in changing in leaves colors or anything. It just stopped growing once it got rootbound. It is doing a lot beter since transplanting. This third one was starting to turn yellow when it was bound up. After transplanting it starting to do much better. I was worried, but not to the extent of giving up on it.
Thanks.... Some of their first leaves at the bottem are wilted from when it got root bound, I am just waiting for them to fall off. Should I clip them or just let it happen naturally.
Always let them fall off naturally until they are flowering and you would remove only large fan leaves that are blocking the light from hitting bud sites
Did that red coloration just start up when you transplanted it or was that part of early veg? Mine are reddish brown at the base of the stem on day 2 of veg, is that normal or should I be concerned?
Honestly... I wish I knew man. I would like to say they were like that before I transplanted, but dont know. I just thought that was normal, so it never made me take notice. I think the stem was like that at the beginning and same with the branches. The stem slowly turned green and I am assumin the same will help with each branch. But honestly I would let someone that knows way more than me comment correctly. As this is my first time doing it and I can say I know nothing when it comes to growing. I am learning something everyday.
Well.... its been a little over a week now and I decided to start flowering them. I will update with pictures later. They are in their dark cycle right now, and don't want to open the door to let any light in. So tonight when its time for the lights to come on I will get some pictures of them. I decided to go ahead and flower them, as it seems that they were starting to grow pretty quick. I had just tied down the top of the plant and a couple days later it seemed like it was almost needing it again. So before they got to big, I wanted to flower since space is an issue. They are looking pretty bushy as of now.... well that is according to me anyway. I am not a good judge on what they are supposed to look like and what is bushy and what is not, so I will leave that up to you guys when I post those pictures tonight. I am pretty happy with the progress so far. I am hoping to get atleast 1 female out of the 3. Anyway, just thought I would post an update since it has been just about a week or so since my first post here. I have put them under 6 2700K 26w CFL bulbs. Next week I will be picking up a 200w 2700K CFL to put in there. But for now figured this would get me by. Would it hurt to have the 125w 6500K bulb that I have in there with them while they are flowering and have both lights on them at the same time, or is it better to stay only with 2700K in flowering? I have read some people have done it, but never read up on how it all turned out.
Alright. Well, sorry for the delay in the pictures, been busy and never got that chance to take the plants out and take pictures. So I just took these pics a few minutes ago. I know they may not be too big, but again space is limited and this is just a trial run for me, so yield isn't as valuable to me as this experience is. I just wanted to try it out so that i could learn more. So once I complete this grow, I will be spending more money into it and plan on getting better lights and a grow tent and get out of this little cabinet and use what I have learned on the next ones. So here they are as of now. I switched them to 12/12 on Friday morning. Only have the 6 26w 2700k CFLs on them now, but will be picking up the 200w CFL on Friday. Also, the damage on the lower leaves. They were the ones that formed a little after I transplanted and their color is what led me to think they wouldn't survive. They have started looking better here within the last few weeks. 1st Plant 2nd Plant 3rd Plant
Well just checked on them again tonight. I think 1 of them is for sure a female. Going to give it a few more days before I say 100%. The other 2, still can't tell. 1 kinda looks like a pistil is about to show, we will see. Other than that.... I think this is the worst part of the process for me. I was used to being able to check them all day and anytime I got bored. Now I am restricted during the 12 hours of darkness, and can't bother them since I dont want any light in.
You'll get used to the 12/12 and not seeing them very much, but I have to admit that it's really tough the first 2 weeks that they go 12/12.
Just checked on them.... looks like out of the three plants.... three of them are female. I was expecting maybe 1 or 2 but not all 3 to be female. Guess I better start making arrangements to keep all three plants.
Update.... In 4 more hours it will have been exactly 1 week since I have turned the lights out on them and started them on the 12/12. I have noticed some bit of stretching by the branches. I assume its due to the dark period with no light, but not sure on that. I read its normal in flowering, so for now its no big deal unless I hear different.....lol. I have noticed that the soil is getting dry within 1 day after watering. I have been trying to stay on a water every other day and feed it every other watering period. Is that normal it drying out that quick, or is that a sign for something? Would I need to transplant and give them more room, or are my pots fine? The pots are about 8 inches high and about 8 inches in diameter. Its not straight up and town it tapers in quite a bit, so the bottom isn't 8 inches round. I was wondering if the roots are sucking the soil dry that quick and need more room or am I fine? I worry about them getting root bound again, and want to make sure I don't upset them in this period. Here are some pics as of a few min ago. I am about to add a 105w 2700k tomorrow and maybe a few more 26w bulbs too. I tied them down one more time last night to make a little room again. I can move the shelf down a couple more times, so I wanted to make sure I had room incase I can not tie them down in the next couple of weeks.
They will stretch a bit because they will now get about 2 times bigger than when you switched them to 12/12. Smaller pots will dry out quickly. Are you going to transplant them into anything bigger? At that size, I would really consider going up to at least a 3 gallon pot and ride it out. 5 gallon if you have the room. Looking healthy though.
Just walked in the closet... and its starting to smell a little in there. Guess its time to finish the rest of my box. I got lazy and figured I would wait until I had the first smell of her, and then add my carbon filter and everything...lol. Its that time. So I should have the box finished by next Friday I guess. And while I am at it, I will probably put them in some 3 gallon pots while I am at it. I am getting excited about these plants, and can't wait to test out the final product.
Do yourself a favor and get some good seeds for your next grow. Or some clones. The better strains make a big difference and you put just as much work into bringin up a mutt than a pedigreed babe. Lookin good!
Thanks for the tip. I think that was where I was leaning when I started this whole project, and after seeing how this one is going..... I think that is exactly what I will do. I just did not want to buy some good seeds just to screw them up on my first grow on a stupid mistake....lol. I figured I would use some crap seeds, and practice. Even though this whole attempt is just a trial run to see how I do...... it all works out in the end..... I get to test them out without paying for it.