Silky T's PPP and AK-48 Grow Journal

Flowers? Buds? So in pic three, all that space is going to fill in?

Better photos. Day 48, 21 in flower.

*Beautiful plant was in my folder. I couldn't resist- isn't that awsome?

Do I see "little trichomes?" This early?

Looking good girl, yes that is trichs and also I'm seeing them starting to form on some fan leaves. If ya look closely you will see on the edges of the fans the surface looks a little bumpy, thats trichs starting to form. Congrats! Don't know many females like yourself, very rare breed. Lol!

neonknight420 said:

Looking good girl, yes that is trichs and also I'm seeing them starting to form on some fan leaves. If ya look closely you will see on the edges of the fans the surface looks a little bumpy, thats trichs starting to form. Congrats! Don't know many females like yourself, very rare breed. Lol!

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I always look for posts from you because you're not only a nice person but you seem to "get" me. I've caused some folks on here to misunderstand me because sometimes my posts come across, "strickly business" and don't always stroke some of the egos on here. Jeez, and I thought women were bad.

Sounds like I'm on track except for the fact that they seem to have stopped growing. I mean they seem the same today as they did a month ago. You said you're seeing trichs and seeing them on the fan leaves? I wasn't even looking there and did't know trich grew on fan leaves. Cool! "victory dance"! Is this called budding? I mean, am I starting to bulk up and create colas and such?


Someone on here said I needed to hit them with some P and K to increase budding but I'm using those products, albeit diluted as hell because I'm afraid of burning them. I fear burning them more than anything so I only water with the diluted nutes and then actually add a splash of plain ph'd water afterwards. I may be washing my nutes right out the bottom and probably need to quit with the splash of water, huh? Also, my nutes have N in them along with the bat guano, worm castings, kelp, bio marine squid, and other nasty smelling stuff, which the N is probably cancelling out the good stuff, do you think?

Silky T said:

I always look for posts from you because you're not only a nice person but you seem to "get" me. I've caused some folks on here to misunderstand me because sometimes my posts come across, "strickly business" and don't always stroke some of the egos on here. Jeez, and I thought women were bad.

Sounds like I'm on track except for the fact that they seem to have stopped growing. I mean they seem the same today as they did a month ago. You said you're seeing trichs and seeing them on the fan leaves? Cool! "victory dance"! Is this called budding? I mean, am I starting to bulk up and create colas and such?


Someone on here said I needed to hit them with some P and K to increase budding but I'm using those products, albeit diluted as hell because I'm afraid of burning them. I fear burning them more than anything so I only water with the diluted nutes and then actually add a splash of plain ph'd water afterwards. I may be washing my nutes right out the bottom and probably need to quit with the splash of water, huh? Also, my nutes have N in them along with the bat guano, worm castings, kelp, bio marine squid, and other nasty smelling stuff, which the N is probably cancelling out the good stuff, do you think?

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As for as watering goes, what I do is I'll water them with just plain water till I see just a little run off. Then I'll wait about 30mins or so then come back and give them their nutes. As far as you not noticing much growth going on, they will usually stop growing upwards and put all their energy into bud formation. You should be seeing the flowers getting larger, hence that's where all growth and energy should be focused on by the plants now.

neonknight420 said:

As for as watering goes, what I do is I'll water them with just plain water till I see just a little run off. Then I'll wait about 30mins or so then come back and give them their nutes. As far as you not noticing much growth going on, they will usually stop growing upwards and put all their energy into bud formation. You should be seeing the flowers getting larger, hence that's where all growth and energy should be focused on by the plants now.

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It seems like I'm still gaining height and I don't want that! I've adjusted the top light a few times but it doesn't seem to make a difference. I actually almost burned the top bud because the light was too close. So I moved that plant to the front and the other one to the back, (the light is hitting there more) and moved the light up some. I don't know which makes it quit stretching, light closer or further away.
The buds seem the same size but that's probably because I see them all day long. I can't completely close the front door so I can see inside from where my computer is. Also, part of my problem with growth too is I realize this morning when the lights came on before I opened it up, that I can see thru part of the blackout curtain. I don't know if they ambient light from the room is getting in as much as I can see in when the light comes on. I need to come up with a better plan.
Mom just asked me to go cut the grass.(gives me the perfect op to water the plant I hid in the yard bc my niece is constantly, constantly, snitching on me. I put some by the house, the males, and she found them and ran in to tell mom. The niece is out of town right now but when she gets back, I'm making it a point to throw them away where she can see them. She needs to get a life. I always know when she's spying because my Page of Swords will come up in my cards and it says I'm being spied on. Dang! The one I hid in the yard is big but it hasn't given me any clues on whether it's male or female.
Thanks sooooooooooooooo much for your help! Later!

Silky T said:

On the contrary, it seems like I am still gaining height and I don't want that. I've adjusted the top light a few times but it doesn't seem to make a difference. I actually almost burned the top bud because the light was too close. So I moved that plant to the front and the other one to the back, (the light is hitting there more) and moved the light up some. I don't know which makes it quit stretching, light closer or further away.
The buds seem the same size but that's probably because I see them all day long. I can't completely close the front door so I can see inside from where my computer is. Also, part of my problem with growth too is I realize this morning when the lights came on before I opened it up, that I can see thru part of the blackout curtain. I don't know if they ambient light from the room is getting in as much as I can see in when the light comes on. I need to come up with a better plan.
Mom just asked me to go cut the grass.(gives me the perfect op to water the plant I hid in the yard bc my niece is constantly, constantly, snitching on me. I put some by the house, the males, and she found them and ran in to tell mom. The niece is out of town right now but when she gets back, I'm making it a point to throw them away where she can see them. She needs to get a life. I always know when she's spying because my Page of Swords will come up in my cards and it says I'm being spied on. Dang! The one I hid in the yard is big but it hasn't given me any clues on whether it's male or female.
Thanks sooooooooooooooo much for your help! Later!

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Okay, 2.3 acres and several hours later, I'm back. Man, my neck hurts. You would think it would be my arms from constantly turning around all the damned oak trees in the yard(s)(front and back). Then there's the freaking "toys" of my nieces. Jeez. She's got it all in the yard--all in my way.

And I put the Page of Swords tarot card with the definition on the table in the kitchen and put a sticky note that says, "Hmm, I keep getting this "spying" card. I wonder who's spying on me? It's weird out of 72 cards that i shuffle before I spread them, i keep getting this card, strange." I hope she gets the clue and quits spying on me! And it's true I do keep getting this card!

While I was cutting the grass, I creeped back to my outside plant that still hasn't shown me (after almost two months) what sex it is, and took half the soil out and replaced it with soil that I mixed with the diaper hydra crystals (that absorbs like you wouldn't believe!!) and replaced the soil with the soil/compost/hydra crystals mixture, then added some nutes and water til it was good and moist. It shouldn't need watering again for probably 2-3 weeks because of the diaper crystals. It makes “super-absorbent hydro-soil” and it works!! Good thing because I can't water the plant when I need to. It's stashed really good and I put some blood meal around it to keep the squirrels and yard critters away from it.

I just took a closer look at my inside plants and YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY RIGHT! My buds ARE getting bigger. It's like they are reaching for the bud above it. I took pics. Thanks for coaching me so well! Mom asked today if I was going to harvest (she didn't use that term) today because I promised her two weeks. I blamed it on the rain all week even tho I don't put them outside but she doesn't know that. It would be a shame at this point to have to trash them. WAHHHH! I gotta rush them somehow before I find them in the trash and that would really make me cry.

Hey Silky T so sorry, should've been answering your questions in here!!
Your buds are growing and you've got trichs WOO HOO, congrats
To save me going back, can you please tell me what/how many lights you have? I reckon if you get to grow more (hope your Mum lets you keep her!!) we'll help you top and lst them. I've found growing with fluros that the buds have to be super close (2") above the canopy. I've learnt to top and tie out my girls so they stay even and the buds end up a lot thicker, that and they take more nutruents so they just end up bigger
Are you feeding them at full strength?
You're doing a great job mate and you sound keen as a bean to learn so I'm happy to help where I can.
I'm currently 'cooking' a batch of soil for my first organic run this year, can't wait to see how it goes, I've always been a hydro or potting mix grower so looking forward to using nothing but water

About that plant you have outside, you said it's been 2 months and no pre-flowers. It could very well be a female, I would definitely keep a close eye on it. The ones I currently have now took a good six weeks to show.

eastcoastmo said:

Hey Silky T so sorry, should've been answering your questions in here!!
Your buds are growing and you've got trichs WOO HOO, congrats
To save me going back, can you please tell me what/how many lights you have? I reckon if you get to grow more (hope your Mum lets you keep her!!) we'll help you top and lst them. I've found growing with fluros that the buds have to be super close (2") above the canopy. I've learnt to top and tie out my girls so they stay even and the buds end up a lot thicker, that and they take more nutruents so they just end up bigger
Are you feeding them at full strength?
You're doing a great job mate and you sound keen as a bean to learn so I'm happy to help where I can.
I'm currently 'cooking' a batch of soil for my first organic run this year, can't wait to see how it goes, I've always been a hydro or potting mix grower so looking forward to using nothing but water

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Answer to No. 1- I'm growing with one 150 watt cfl and one 42 watt cfl down lo. It's causing some small flowers to grow straight off my stems but very, very small. I did prune the bottom, smaller branches, or rather, mostly thin fan leaves from the bottom in order to give the top buds more nutes and attention. I finally stopped moving the blasted light to about 1.5 to 2" above canopy and they stopped growing up and now are growing out. I'm almost in too tight of a spot for this, but my outer branches are barely touching the sides of my grow box. 2. Yes, now feeding with full strength nutes but did notice one of my fan leaves near the top with a little yellow and it freaked me out so I added a little ph'd water. I still haven't clipped that leafe because the outer part of the leaf is still green, it's just a little on the inner part that's yellow. I still want to leave enough fan leaf on there to help with the upper bud growth. I was cutting them at will at one time and I was reprimanded by a fellow grower that told me to stop. I'm glad I listened because I saw the affect of what I had done.
I am also growing with a combination of organic soil and some home made composting that I had been working on since I had planted the first seed. I made sure it wasn't hot before I mixed it with my soil and some perlite. They seem to like it.
I'm still confused on how a plant grows colas. I inspect my plants each time the lights come on and try to imagine a cola somewhere. I've even watched time-lapsed vids on it and it like jumps from the stage I'm at now (buds at the tips of a branch here and there) to full-growon plant ready to harvest. It's like some big secret on what happens next. Each morning that I open the door to look at them, I think that they magically grew colas overnight. I don't think I'm going to get any colas out of this grow because I just can't see where. I have new pics. Having problems, will upload pics in a mintue.

Ok cool, so I'm assuming you have 2700k bulbs for the cfls yeah? They tend to stretch the plants out a fair bit, i like to mix mine up. I use 3 x 45w (2700k) and 2 x 45w (5-6000k) in my little box and they dont seem to stretch anywhere near as much as when i only had the 2700k. 190w in total should be enough for a plant, I just think the plant may be a bit too tall so the light isnt reaching down into the canopy far enough, which in turn doesn't thicken the buds up enough.
Nutrient wise sounds right, as does your soil mix so I don't think that's it.
Colas are just another word for buds really, dont get too caught up with the names hey, you've got colas growing now, they just aren't massive which is when a lot of people start calling them 'colas'. Most cannabis plants will grow straight up and look like a christmas tree with one main central bud, that bud is generally called a cola. When a plant is topped (main growth tips cut or pinched off) it forces the hormones to go down and push out the new tops, all new tops want to reach for the light in what is called apical dominance so the main stem now stops growing. The scrog (screen of green) method is where all tops are fed through a screen to keep the canopy as even as possible, making all those tops now 'colas'. So don't stress mate, you've got buds, thats all that matters, as for getting them to thicken, my opinion is that they need more useable light, in other words as close as possible to the buds. Sorry for the long winded reply, had way too much coffee lol.

eastcoastmo said:

Ok cool, so I'm assuming you have 2700k bulbs for the cfls yeah? They tend to stretch the plants out a fair bit, i like to mix mine up. I use 3 x 45w (2700k) and 2 x 45w (5-6000k) in my little box and they dont seem to stretch anywhere near as much as when i only had the 2700k. 190w in total should be enough for a plant, I just think the plant may be a bit too tall so the light isnt reaching down into the canopy far enough, which in turn doesn't thicken the buds up enough.
Nutrient wise sounds right, as does your soil mix so I don't think that's it.
Colas are just another word for buds really, dont get too caught up with the names hey, you've got colas growing now, they just aren't massive which is when a lot of people start calling them 'colas'. Most cannabis plants will grow straight up and look like a christmas tree with one main central bud, that bud is generally called a cola. When a plant is topped (main growth tips cut or pinched off) it forces the hormones to go down and push out the new tops, all new tops want to reach for the light in what is called apical dominance so the main stem now stops growing. The scrog (screen of green) method is where all tops are fed through a screen to keep the canopy as even as possible, making all those tops now 'colas'. So don't stress mate, you've got buds, thats all that matters, as for getting them to thicken, my opinion is that they need more useable light, in other words as close as possible to the buds. Sorry for the long winded reply, had way too much coffee lol.

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I like long-winded replies because for one I learn things and another is because I seem to write them myself and don't feel so bad about it. I finally was able to get new photos, wanna see? Maybe you can tell me how far along I am. In another words, am I almost half way, halfway or nearly there? You be the judge. When the bud hairs start to turn brown or when there's a mix of white and brown, does that mean they are trying to mature?

Good stuff Silky I'd say you are close to half way. Time to get a potassium and phosphorus booster to get those buds fattening up. Best way to do this is with a compost tea, mix up some kelp meal and banana peels (potassium), rock phosphate or fish meal (phosphorus), worm castings and some compost and brew for 24-48 hours. Give it to your plants once a week, diluted to a ratio of 1:5 so 1 part tea and 5 parts water. If they really respond to it, you can feed twice a week

eastcoastmo said:

Good stuff Silky I'd say you are close to half way. Time to get a potassium and phosphorus booster to get those buds fattening up. Best way to do this is with a compost tea, mix up some kelp meal and banana peels (potassium), rock phosphate or fish meal (phosphorus), worm castings and some compost and brew for 24-48 hours. Give it to your plants once a week, diluted to a ratio of 1:5 so 1 part tea and 5 parts water. If they really respond to it, you can feed twice a week

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Big up @eastcoastmo! I agree, the best thing you can do for plants is a compost/wormpoo tea, but I like to add the nutrients (fish, kelp etc) after 24hrs or near the end of the brew - supposed to help the microbes build up numbers faster. I find a cup of simple sugars and lots of bubbles also help.

@SilkyT - nice going, haven't been around to see it, but the girls are looking lovely! I think you'll get a bag full of one cone wonder buds, but u just dun have enough light to build up colas...

Chester da Horse said:

Big up @eastcoastmo! I agree, the best thing you can do for plants is a compost/wormpoo tea, but I like to add the nutrients (fish, kelp etc) after 24hrs or near the end of the brew - supposed to help the microbes build up numbers faster. I find a cup of simple sugars and lots of bubbles also help.

@SilkyT - nice going, haven't been around to see it, but the girls are looking lovely! I think you'll get a bag full of one cone wonder buds, but u just dun have enough light to build up colas...

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Yes, spot on sorry Silky, as @Chester da Horse says above, add the kelp, rock phosphate, fish meal etc after 24hrs of brewing and you'll be good to go!

eastcoastmo said:

Good stuff Silky I'd say you are close to half way. Time to get a potassium and phosphorus booster to get those buds fattening up. Best way to do this is with a compost tea, mix up some kelp meal and banana peels (potassium), rock phosphate or fish meal (phosphorus), worm castings and some compost and brew for 24-48 hours. Give it to your plants once a week, diluted to a ratio of 1:5 so 1 part tea and 5 parts water. If they really respond to it, you can feed twice a week

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Okay, cool, exactly what I need to know because I feel like I'm at a stagnet stage where I'm just sharing space with two plants and they don't change much. They're really boring room mates, mate.

So, without going to the hydroponic store 32 miles from here (close to downtown), I have on hand the following: bananas, bone meal, liquid Peruvian seabird guano, Bio Marine cold processed squid, Fox Farm earthworm castings and bat guano. Can I work with these? And they are all in liguid form, except, of course, the bananas. Just put 1/5 each per gallon and let it stand (brew?) for 24-48 hours? Why do you do this anyway?

This is nearly the recipe I feed the girls every other feeding. I'm wondering how this is gonna work. I give them the bio marine squid, bat guano and worm castings and the seabird guano measured out to full strength. Kelp meal... do I have anything with that in it? I just added some grass cuttings to my compost and it's rained on it for two days in a row. Well, I didn't JUST add the grass cuttings, it was a week or so ago when I cut the grass. It's just now breaking down. I checked it today. How do I break down the bananas? Just take the peels and put them in the tea or pulverize them in my Nutribullet? Thanks for the help!

Ha ha ha nothing worse than boring house mates hey

Yep you can definitely use what you have.
Put 1 cup of worm castings, 1 cup of compost in a bucket with some water (say 2 litres) and add an air stone (with air pump of course) and aerate the mix for 24 hours, then add 1/2 capful of kelp liquid and 1/2 capful of cold pressed squid and bubble for another 24hrs until all frothy. To get the most out of the banana skins and bone meal, put the skins and about 75-100g of bone meal in 1-2L of water and boil for 7-10 mins. Let cool and add 500mL of this to your bubbling mix. Store the rest in the fridge for later
I wouldn't use too much of the guanos in flower, while they do contain some phosphorus, they also contain a fair amount of nitrogen which your girls dont need a lot of in flowering. The above is a similar recipe to what I use. Once your tea is done, use that at a ratio of 5 to 1 so 5 parts water to 1 part tea.

eastcoastmo said:

Ha ha ha nothing worse than boring house mates hey

Yep you can definitely use what you have.
Put 1 cup of worm castings, 1 cup of compost in a bucket with some water (say 2 litres) and add an air stone (with air pump of course) and aerate the mix for 24 hours, then add 1/2 capful of kelp liquid and 1/2 capful of cold pressed squid and bubble for another 24hrs until all frothy. To get the most out of the banana skins and bone meal, put the skins and about 75-100g of bone meal in 1-2L of water and boil for 7-10 mins. Let cool and add 500mL of this to your bubbling mix. Store the rest in the fridge for later
I wouldn't use too much of the guanos in flower, while they do contain some phosphorus, they also contain a fair amount of nitrogen which your girls dont need a lot of in flowering. The above is a similar recipe to what I use. Once your tea is done, use that at a ratio of 5 to 1 so 5 parts water to 1 part tea.

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I didn't know tea was actually "cooked" I mean heated and bubbled and all that. So, it's different than just adding it all together and letting it stand. Hmm, air stone. Kind of like you use in an aquarium? I'm not sure they're going to do much more. Here are some recent pics. Are they going to grow much more? I stressed these plants too much and they, compared to photos I've seen of other plants, are slim and don't have as many branches. I guess I did that, huh?

Yeah mate, it's not 'cooked' as such, more so fed oxygen so the beneficial microbes activate and start breaking down carbohydrates into sugars and amino acids, thats also why you add the 'ferts' after its been bubbling for 24hrs otherwise they can be overfed and perish. Definitely just an aquarium air pump too, one with 2 outlets is perfect
Mate, I actually think your issue may be strain related, they are definitely getting bigger and thicker, i think you've just been looking at those buds and not seeing the change. If you give them some 'flower' tea as above, that will help those buds fatten up nicely. The strain looks to be on the branchy sativa side so thats why they aren't growing big colas!! Chin up mate, you're doing a great job and will have some good smoke soon!!

eastcoastmo said:

Yeah mate, it's not 'cooked' as such, more so fed oxygen so the beneficial microbes activate and start breaking down carbohydrates into sugars and amino acids, thats also why you add the 'ferts' after its been bubbling for 24hrs otherwise they can be overfed and perish. Definitely just an aquarium air pump too, one with 2 outlets is perfect
Mate, I actually think your issue may be strain related, they are definitely getting bigger and thicker, i think you've just been looking at those buds and not seeing the change. If you give them some 'flower' tea as above, that will help those buds fatten up nicely. The strain looks to be on the branchy sativa side so thats why they aren't growing big colas!! Chin up mate, you're doing a great job and will have some good smoke soon!!

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Okay, I finally went out and got the goods. I picked up BioBizz Alg-A-Mic Liquid Seaweed concentrate, Great White Premium Mycorrhizae and 15 pounds of earth worm castings. I also bought some bananas (again, I ate the first bunch). Now I need to find that recipe again. Oh, and I bought a fountain with pump from a friend. Just those three things were over $100 so after paying bills and putting a new laptop on layaway, it kinda hurt but I know that in the long run, it's worth it.

I wish I automatically knew how to convert grams and litres and milileters, etc.