Most disorganised, last minute grow ever!

Abucks

Well-Known Member
Girls are looking good, upped their feed a little today, only by about 100ml. I've seen a lot about them needing a litre a day but mine don't need anywhere near that much, am I underwatering? I've been very careful not to over water, now I'm worried I've gone the other way, but then surely the girls would've let me know? They've just had 400ml each of canna A&B at 4ml a litre, and they're nice and wet. Now I've got people saying they need feeding everyday now and others saying don't give them anything else until they dry out, which is how I've done it so far but they're not babies anymore and I really need a major growth spurt from them over the next few weeks! My partner is sure we should switch to 12/12 when they've done 4 weeks at veg but I don't think they'll be ready by next Tuesday, especially since they're only just getting over the stress from the transplant and new light, I know we've lost a good few days growth there because I can see it.
Also, the colour of the leaves is starting to come back in, which is great but now I'm concerned that my leaves look a little like a picture I've just seen of nitrogen deficient plants, so I'm going to give them another day and then see how they're looking. I really don't think they're deficient in anything, I'm sure it's just that they're returning to their proper colour but it can't hurt to be extra vigilant.:peace:[/QUOT
Girls are looking good, upped their feed a little today, only by about 100ml. I've seen a lot about them needing a litre a day but mine don't need anywhere near that much, am I underwatering? I've been very careful not to over water, now I'm worried I've gone the other way, but then surely the girls would've let me know? They've just had 400ml each of canna A&B at 4ml a litre, and they're nice and wet. Now I've got people saying they need feeding everyday now and others saying don't give them anything else until they dry out, which is how I've done it so far but they're not babies anymore and I really need a major growth spurt from them over the next few weeks! My partner is sure we should switch to 12/12 when they've done 4 weeks at veg but I don't think they'll be ready by next Tuesday, especially since they're only just getting over the stress from the transplant and new light, I know we've lost a good few days growth there because I can see it.
Also, the colour of the leaves is starting to come back in, which is great but now I'm concerned that my leaves look a little like a picture I've just seen of nitrogen deficient plants, so I'm going to give them another day and then see how they're looking. I really don't think they're deficient in anything, I'm sure it's just that they're returning to their proper colour but it can't hurt to be extra vigilant.:peace:
http://www.cannagardening.com/videos/watering_plants_how_and_how_often
 

Cannacat

Well-Known Member
We had a major emergency today, the electric went off! I'm on a prepay metre and underestimated how much extra I was gonna need to keep the hps going 18 hours a day, and the electric going off made the light go off over an hour early. I was going to turn the light back on an hour early to make up for it but that's proving difficult to arrange with the stupid socket timer so they'll be going back on the same light routine as before and hope they don't miss out too much for losing an hour's light, I definitely need to upgrade to a digital timer! At least I know now exactly how much money I'm going to need to put on the electric every week, which will then double when we get the new light, so we'll be cutting waaaaay back on luxuries (unfortunately we only really have the one luxury buy :weed:) for a while! I just hope the girls aren't too upset by the change. We're gonna have to keep proper on top of this because I can't have that happening once we get into the flowering stage.
My partner is a bit concerned cos he was sure this was going to be a straight up 12 week cash crop and now we're reading the forums about 17 week flower times and how sativas can take twice as long to flower. He's only ever heard of doing 4 week veg, 8 weeks flower, harvest, cash in hand! I didn't have that information starting out, I've never had people around me doing this, so I've researched it for myself like I have everything else about this whole thing, and the way I see it, the plants know when they're ready to flower and tell you so when they finish developing preflowers? My attitude is, it takes as long as it takes and we just work with them and nurture them through doing what nature dictates they have to do. He's more into a set schedule. I don't know, I suppose we'll figure it out as we go along like we have everything else. :peace:
 

Gregor Eisenhorn

Well-Known Member
Awww mate your grow journal is even more detailed than mine! You did great with the setup and your girls look absolutely happy and healthy, which in turn makes you happy as well. :D

Like all the others said experience is the only teacher really, I thought I had it all figured out from the constant reading and memorising key figures. Then my first grow came up and suddenly I was making mistakes everywhere. :D

And that HPS is a beast, what are the temperatures at the top of the canopy like? Do you have any air movement going on in there? There are a few charts somewhere on the internet that show the optimum canopy light distance.

Our girls look more or less the same age, mine a bit younger.

Good luck man, I'll be pulling a seat up. :bigjoint:
 

Cannacat

Well-Known Member
Awww mate your grow journal is even more detailed than mine! You did great with the setup and your girls look absolutely happy and healthy, which in turn makes you happy as well. :D

Like all the others said experience is the only teacher really, I thought I had it all figured out from the constant reading and memorising key figures. Then my first grow came up and suddenly I was making mistakes everywhere. :D

And that HPS is a beast, what are the temperatures at the top of the canopy like? Do you have any air movement going on in there? There are a few charts somewhere on the internet that show the optimum canopy light distance.

Our girls look more or less the same age, mine a bit younger.

Good luck man, I'll be pulling a seat up. :bigjoint:
We actually got really lucky when we decided to do it in the spare room because it has an air vent in there that keeps the air moving, there's no breeze blowing through or anything but it seems to be doing enough to keep the temps down as it really doesn't get that warm. I don't have a thermometer in there but it's comfortable and I can put my hand over the girls for ages without ever getting too hot. My house is generally quite cold what with all the drafty windows that don't fit right, so that's something to thank the council for cos it's worked out great for my girls! Also, they're sectioned off but there are gaps between the tarps and ceiling which allows for plenty of air flow. We are definitely getting a couple of fans set up before we get another light in and hopefully a couple of CO2 fungus bag things as well, but for right now it all seems to be working out alright, fingers crossed it stays that way! :bigjoint:

As for details lol, I always did like keeping diaries so I've just carried it on here, literally every thought I have on the subject is noted down! But as you said, it's all useful for looking back on later and maybe something I deal with will come in handy later for somebody else, like this with the lights. Nearly everyone I talked to insisted the girls must be overwatered and when I mentioned the shock from the hugely intense new light a lot of people said they'd never heard of it. Like, neither had I until I dealt with it! Yet I know that's what it was and it was very hard to find any info about it, although I did find it mentioned a couple of times, and now I've documented it that's more info out there for somebody else to find if they do come across the same problem.

And there's the fact I just tend to ramble.... :hump:

Thanks for stopping by :peace:
 

Cannacat

Well-Known Member
We're looking good I think. A couple of droopy girls this morning but I'm hoping that's just cos I let them get thirsty before feeding them again, maybe I let a few get a bit too thirsty? Anyway they've had a feed and the light goes off soon and, so far, all is good in my little horticultural world :bigjoint: Fingers crossed it stays that way! :peace:
 

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Kswisss

Well-Known Member
We're looking good I think. A couple of droopy girls this morning but I'm hoping that's just cos I let them get thirsty before feeding them again, maybe I let a few get a bit too thirsty? Anyway they've had a feed and the light goes off soon and, so far, all is good in my little horticultural world :bigjoint: Fingers crossed it stays that way! :peace:
Yes canna happens all the time to me when I let them get thirsty then water. They'll perk up by tomorrow.
 

Cannacat

Well-Known Member
I've been looking into taking clones. I'm gonna pose the question in one of the other forums but thought I'd ask here too. What method would you most recommend?

I've done it quite successfully with other plants before a few times and the way I've always done it is to place the cut stem into a glass of water on the kitchen windowsill until it forms roots and then planted it out. Obviously I want to take a bit more care with my girls, so I was wondering what root hormone and cubes and things you guys would recommend? What's been most effective for you? Cheers in advance :peace:
 

Gregor Eisenhorn

Well-Known Member
I'd love to start with clones one day, 3 weeks shaven off the whole growth, amazing. Problem is I have no one to ask for clones... I have to keep a mother plant one day, that'll really make things faster.
 

Cannacat

Well-Known Member
I'd love to start with clones one day, 3 weeks shaven off the whole growth, amazing. Problem is I have no one to ask for clones... I have to keep a mother plant one day, that'll really make things faster.
Yeah I thought I might just take a sneaky couple before we flip them, see if I can make it work cos for our next run we're thinking of getting some lemon haze cuttings for £20 each and if I'm paying that much for them then I want to try and make them go as far as I can.

And tomorrow we're getting another baby too, a little cheese clone. I'm so excited I'm going to have something new to play with already, it'll be good to be able to compare what I've learnt from the girls with what this one likes, and then next run I'll be able to apply it all and just keep learning :peace:
 

Cannacat

Well-Known Member
Got some crispy looking leaves going today on a few of the girls. I'm not sure if it's a tad overfed from yesterday or if it's cos they've grown up too close to the light. They didn't look "too" close but then they have grown a good few inches since it was last moved so we've taken it up a bit while I hit google and check it out to make sure I'm dealing with the right issue! I'm not too concerned, I'm sure we're on it in plenty of time and they look fucking brilliant aside from a couple of crispy edges here and there :peace:
 

Cannacat

Well-Known Member
Ok, I think it's a touch of nute burn, which is a pisser cos I've been so careful, but that's the pics it most looks like. Still not too worried, they just obviously weren't ready for the mix of A & B that Canna recommends so I'm taking them back down to 3ml for the next feed, which won't be for a few days, they're on a water only diet for now!
 

Cannacat

Well-Known Member
I've sprayed them with water a few times this morning to dilute any nutes that they're still working through, hope this will be ok as they seem quite sensitive to stress so far and I don't want to be doing any major flushes on them if I don't have to. There doesn't seem to be too much damage anyway, they mainly look happy enough. Lights off now and I'll check back on them at lights on.

Got 2 little cheese babies, they are very cute, and already smell like weed, which seems strange cos the girls barely smell at all. I think we'll be keeping them just for us, so I'll be able to play with them a bit more. Not sure how we're gonna manage the lights though. The new 600w HPS arrived today but I'm not putting it in until I get fans set up, doubling the temperature in there now would be asking for trouble! So I'm in the charity shops tomorrow hunting down a couple of fans... Then I thought that I could let the babies have the T5 in the closet but I've just been told that I'll need that as well as the 2x 600w hps in there to bring all 11 white widows to full term. Do we call it full term with plants, or is that just when you're pregnant?? Anyway, I had hoped 1200w between the 11 girls would be enough, so lots more reading to do now so I can figure out what to do next. I'd really rather not have to buy another light if I don't have to, I wanted my next big buy to be a negative ion machine thing, but we'll see what happens, maybe it can wait a while longer. :peace:
 

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Abucks

Well-Known Member
Looking like everything is going great! The hardest part to all this is trying not to panic every time the plants are slightly off! Lol. I swear I've aged a decade in the last three weeks :) I've noticed all kinds of little things, drooping, light colored leaves, slight nute burn, ect... Work themselves out quickly if I keep everything in certain parameters. It seems that during explosive growth my babies show minor signs of deficiencies, but soon correct themselves. My biggest worry was every morning id go check on the girls and all the new growth tips would be light yellow/green, much like an iron deficiency. After three weeks I've learned that if I leave them alone, and let them go, they all turn healthy green within an hour. Still not sure why this is, but it doesn't seem to have slowed anything down. Ill try to get some pics to show what I'm talking about.
 

Cannacat

Well-Known Member
We've had some more issues with the lights today, I've changed the timer now as I just don't trust the other anymore. The girls got an just over an extra 3 hours light.

We couldn't get fans today, nowhere has them in stock, it's the wrong season apparently, so I've ordered a couple online. I'm not putting the extra light in until the fans are in but I think they'll be ok for another 5 days or so, they're nowhere near fighting for light yet.

I have fungus gnats. I killed one in there yesterday and spotted another this morning, so we're hardly overrun with them but I want to deal with it before it becomes an issue so I bought some spray stuff today but I won't be using it until I've had a good look at it and made sure I know it's ok for the girls and how to use it best.
 

Abucks

Well-Known Member
We've had some more issues with the lights today, I've changed the timer now as I just don't trust the other anymore. The girls got an just over an extra 3 hours light.

We couldn't get fans today, nowhere has them in stock, it's the wrong season apparently, so I've ordered a couple online. I'm not putting the extra light in until the fans are in but I think they'll be ok for another 5 days or so, they're nowhere near fighting for light yet.

I have fungus gnats. I killed one in there yesterday and spotted another this morning, so we're hardly overrun with them but I want to deal with it before it becomes an issue so I bought some spray stuff today but I won't be using it until I've had a good look at it and made sure I know it's ok for the girls and how to use it best.
Try the yellow sticky paper. Works great, as they are attracted to yellow, and it allows you to keep a close eye on them. Typically if you got mature adults, there is more then you'd think. Craftly little buggers when it comes to hiding. Soak the surface of the coco with a dillute neem oil solution to kill larva. Just a couple ideas. And be thankful it's not the Borg! Lol
 

Cannacat

Well-Known Member
Bit droopy again today, they went through a phase of drooping towards the end of the light cycle as if they're tired but I thought we were past that now. I guess the light cycle has been a bit confused the last few days after the problem I had with the timer, so they've had quite a bit of extra light and maybe they are just tired and ready for lights off.

The baby cheeses are thriving, absolutely desperate for as much light as they can get, I was trying to keep them shaded from the hps as much as possible because I thought it might be a bit much for them, but they love it! I think these are going to be much less sensitive than the widows by the looks of it.

I've ordered fans, said 3-5 days for delivery. I hope it's quick because I really want to get the other 600w hps up so they're used to the extra light before they're flipped, I don't want them going into flower stressed out.

Also, this arrived today: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Air-Gold-Ionic-Air-Purifier-Freshener-Ionizer-Tabletop-Cleaner-Deodorizer-Silent-/301370269668?hash=item462b115fe4:g:MzoAAOSwEppUToVL
I got the £15 one and it was much smaller than I expected so I figured i'd been had off with cheap tat. However I then plugged it in on the turbo setting in my living room where my 9 rats live and it's a few days past cleanout day cos I ran out of the hemp bedding I use in their litter trays, so it was making my eyes water in there this morning. A few hours with the air purifier on and pretty much all trace of rat and wet dog was gone, it felt really clean and fresh! I'm very impressed! So that has been moved into the grow room. I figure if it's cleaning the air for them that's awesome, and at least it's creating air movement until the fans arrive.

My co2 bag arrived today also, so that's hung up in there. It was a bit awkward getting it hung over the plants without being directly in the light from the hps so I hope it's ok.
I'm hoping that with the improvements I've made in their environment today the girls will be really happy and reward me for it! :bigjoint:I'm also going to feed them tonight at lights on for the first time since they got the nute burn. The 4ml was obviously too much for them so I'm taking it down to 2.5ml rather than the 3ml they were on, just to make sure I don't push them too much. I'm leaving it until tonight because I want that soil to dry out first, I'm trying to make it more difficult for gnats to thrive in there!:cuss:
Oh, I also got my confirmation from the Vault that I've been accepted for the Heisenberg Special comparison grow, so that will give me something to look forward to when the girls are harvested. I don't know what I'd do with myself now if I didn't have the girls on the go!:peace:
 
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