Hello all! A little back story. So what started out as some bag seed and some curiosity turned into a new hobby. I've had zero luck growing flowers and tomatoes but I think I've found this pursuit more interesting because of the prize at the end of process. I'm also doing this mostly on the cheap. If I succeed in getting anything maybe I'll put some more $$ into the process. So this is where I'm at: I built a 4' cube, and painted the inside white. The paint was semi gloss but I have to move the box to another spot in the house and at that point I'll repaint it flat. There's a case fan pulling air in the bottom and pushing it out the top. So I've been lurking and reading the forums and following the guides. I wasn't sure which seeds would germinate so I did all of them. 2 days later I had 12 sprouts. When I transferred them to MG Org soil I killed off 4 of the wimps. So now I have 8 and I'm not going to have the room to grow all of them. Planning on doing a ScroG. The plan is to stick to flouros for the rest of the way. I have two 4bay tube fixtures that a friend was going to throw out. I'll add those once they get bigger. Right now I have 8 26w cfl 6500k. Used Fox Farm Big Bloom and Grow Big yesterday for the first time. I noticed the effect overnight. Also had a bout with aphids. Used some Ortho Elementals. Seemed to work. Ok so... I don't think I can grow all 8. It's also bagseed so I have 50/50 shot of males and females. Should I keep growing them and wait till I can determine the sex? Kill a few off to maximize my light/nutes/space? I'm attaching some pics (A-F). If you think I should kill off a few, please let me know which. Open to any suggestions. Thanks in advance, and thanks for all the info on the site.
Let them get taller, so you have 2 - 3 inches of extra growth above the 4th set of true leaves. Then top your plants and use that extra couple of inches to make a "sex clone". You stick your labeled cuttings under 12/12 in a box. They "sex out" while your seedlings grow. By the time space becomes a problem, the clones will tell you who's a boy and who's a girl! Also, males tend to have longer spaces between the sets of leaves and are taller. Many beginners are SO disappointed when their favorite (tallest) plant turns out to be male! Granny
Thanks! Great plan! I'm going to try this but I have a few questions. Any guess on how far away time wise I am from the 4th set of leaves? Do the clones need any 18/6 veg time or can they go 12/12 immediately? Will the clones need a lot of space or just enough to keep them alive?
clones will need veg time to root.. and they don't need much room at all. but yeah.. if they aren't feminized seeds, you want to try and wait for them to show sex.. it would suck if you threw the females out. sometimes the males are the biggest ones of the bunch..
Sophie's Choice - always a hard one. I agree with the suggestion to keep them all alive as long as possible, until sexing if you can. (Hate killing the poor girls needlessly.) Storm Crow's suggestion is best so far, I should add. (Just make sure you keep careful track of which plant each cutting came from.)
What should I look for in the clones when deciding when to sex them? Also, after sexing can the female clones be returned to veg so that I can use them going forward? PS - This is the most helpful online community I've been a part of.
august is a very helpful/knowledgeable dude! you can sex them any time, just throw em into a veg cycle. back to veg? yes...