Saucerful's First Grow

So while my grow started with a small problem, it was quickly resolved thanks to GC. Now the plants are doing beautifully. They sprouted last Monday so this is day 10. However, I had them in bad soil and under 18/6 for the first 6 days, and so now they've been in good soil and 24/0 for 4 days.

As you can see in the pics below, I have 2 plants (bagseed), in a mylar covered box with CFL lighting. They are currently under 4x26=104 watts of daylight bulbs. I would really appreciate it if you guys could make some comments on my grow. Do the plants look healthy? Anything need to be done?

I know that I have the following steps ahead of me:
1. revert to 18/6 light cycle
2. increse wattage to 6x26=156 watts daylight CFL (Let There Be More Light!)
3. transplant into bigger pots
4. start flowering (and nutes?)

If someone could help me understand when/how I know how to do these first three steps that would be great. I am thinking I should probably do the first two steps together sometime in the next couple of days.

Also, I need to cut the plants by 3rd week of december, which leaves about 13 weeks. My current box (which I will most likely rebuild for improved ventilation come flowering, though dimensions wont change much) is a little over 3 feet tall, and the lights and bigger pots will take up a good 8 inches of that. I have heard that plants "can double in size after flowering."

Does that mean I should just wait until the plants are about a foot tall to start flowering (assuming this occurs at least 8 weeks before my deadline)? I wouldn't mind knowing the sex as soon as possible; what is the impact of flowering sooner?

Thanks a lot, and sorry for so many questions
Saucerful.

 

Thanks for the response Ganja Guerrilla. If this grow is successful, I owe it to you.

I increased the lights to 6x26 watt daylight CFL. Should I try to get even more lights in there? I have 6 more 26 watt soft whites in preparation for flowering, and I could probably stick two of them in there with the equipment I have.

I am not going to LST just because I want to first get the basics down, and I am not too concerned about yield. So I will do what you said and flower in 5 weeks (or sooner).

Quick question: now that the plants are more mature, can I make use of that old miracle gro organic soil I had, or is it still too harsh? I have a big bag of it that will probably be enough for the two big pots, otherwise I need to buy more soil. Cost of new soil isnt an issue, I just want to know if I should just throw this miracle gro stuff out or if I have any use for it?

Thanks again,
Saucerful

 

Dryer sheets, huh? Havent heard that one yet, will have to try it. Thanks for the suggestions.

 

(Actually Day 15, but from now on I will count from after I transplanted from the bad soil. I will also call them Plant 1, Plant 2 from left to right in the pictures)

I transplanted into big pots on Day 6.

They are coming along great. Slight problem today when I came back from being away for a two days, I had left the fan on a little too strong and plant 1 fell over, but i straightened it up and in the past few hours its recovered.

Here are some pics (turned off the lights for a sec to take them, otherwise they are on 24/0). ps notice the ladybug on plant 1. is this good luck or is it eating the plant?? im leaving it there for now...

 

One thing I am slightly worried about is that the pots I bought intending to use as the final grow medium are only 2 gallon capacity, and about 10" tall and 10" diameter at the top. However, when I transplanted from the cups I didnt plant them as high as they could be, so from the surface of the soil to the bottom of the pot is more like only 8-9". Should I dig them out and fill the pots with soil so that they are closer to 10" from surface to bottom? Or is this 2" not important as the roots have lots of room to grow sideways. It will be messy operation but probably worth it if the space is important.


Also, back to the question of to LST or not to LST: I am now considering attempting this method...


I appreciate any comments.
-Saucerful

 

Day 13

The plants are growing completely differently. Plant 1 is taller, and its leaves are shooting up , often growing up towards the light (even though I leave the light < 2" from the plant). Plant 2 on the other hand is really short and bushy with lots of big leaves. It doesnt seem to be growing vertically at all. Also this plant is starting to smell like pot, while the other one if it smells at all, just smells like a regular plant.

Obviously I prefer the second due to my space restrictions. So if I do LST (I got the twine and screws, but I dont think the stem is strong enough yet), it will be on plant 1. Here are some pics. Could they be different strains (this is bagseed)?

Also is it okay to not open the windows at night when I am sleeping in the same room as the plants. I mean once they really start doing whatever produces the smell of pot?

-Saucerful

 

Its been two weeks since Ganja Guerrilla's reccomendation, so I went to the store to get some fertilizer. I picked up what seemed like the most basic one, but I can return it. Here is a list of the options:

Miracle Gro:

1. Water Soluble all purpose plant food (24-8-16)
2. Water Soluble Bloom booster flower food (15-30-15)
3. Liquid all purpose plant food (8-7-6)

Schultz

1. Bloom Plus plant food (10-54-10)
2. Orchid Food (19-31-17)
3. Plant Food Plus Liquid (10-15-10)

FTD

1. All purpose (15-30-15)
2. Tropical (20-6-16)
3. African Violet (7-7-7)
4. Super Bloom (forgot to write this one down)

I picked up the FTD all purpose stuff...

Anyone have any reccomendations? Also, I will probably start flowering in 2 weeks. Would I need to get a different fertilizer then? or should I get one now to use the whole way?

 

so i ended up just using a bit of the 15-30-15 on the plants and they seem to have started growing faster, though the bottom leaves are now slightly yellow. I also noticed that the roots were visible in the drain holes at the bottom of the pots (i checked today, but they have probably been there for a while). So I tookt he plants out and put another 3 inches of soil in down there and put them back in. (I think I may have lost some of the roots during the move...)

I guess my concern is that if I am only three weeks in and they are outgrowing their containers, I might need bigger containers. As I mentioned before, the current ones are about a 10" tall, 11"
wide at the top, and 7 inches wide at the bottom. I am guessing they are about 2 gallon capacity.

What do you guys think: will the roots continue to grow a lot once I start flowering (which I plan on doing in about 2 weeks) or do they now have enough room for the rest of the grow? The thing is I want to keep the plants relatively low (3 feet max including the pots themselves). So perhaps the smaller pots will "tell" the plants not to grow too tall?

I also rebuilt the my grow box using an old wooden cabinet, and it is much nicer now (the cardboard box was basically falling over). I also have enough room in there for 4 plants for my next grow.

-Saucerful

 

But of course...

 

So the yellowing has only gotten worse. I am really unsure of the cause. Reading around, it seems to be similar to the symptoms of a nitrogen deficiency, but I am also worried that I have given the plants too much of the fertilizer too early (and a non-organic one at that). So should I use fertilizer on these or not?? The tops of the plants are looking very healthy and growing quite nicely so I am really confused.

Any suggestions?
Saucerful

 

Week 6!

Started flowering: switched bulbs over to cool white (still 6x26 watt CFL's). and put the timer in at 12/12. Crossing my fingers.

Also the yellowing seems to have stopped, so I will continue using the ferts and gradually increase the strength (using about 1/4 right now).

pics soon.

 

Flowering Day 2.

Havent updated in a while since I thought my grow was over. A week into flowering the smaller and bushier plant ended up being male. Then I thought the other plant was male too, but what I thought were balls ended up just being leaves, and it just exploded with growth. Then yesterday I found two hairs that are definitely female pistils!!

This plant is really growing fast, and its doing great. Hopefully it doesnt grow too much more as my lights are almost at the ceiling of the box... Pics below.

If the plant grows another 2 or 3 inches, it will be touching the lights... should I try to LST it? Top it? Or is it too late now that its started flowering? I have a ton of horizontal room in the box since its only 1 plant now... Could I lean the pot over so it is at a 60 degree angle or so? this would give it a lot of vertical space...

I would appreciate any comments. I still can't believe this thing is female... I was ready to give up!