I've Smoked Weed for over 4 Decades; this is my First Attempt at Growing Anything.

[shrigpiece]

That runt ain't so bad. You sould see mine. It grows taller shedding the lower leaves not growing bigger than a seedling. Now thats what you call a runt. Its a keeper for comedy values. if i get round to it i will post a pic of it next to its sister. PEACE

 

[shotrocker]

6 days after transplant and everything seems OK. I moved the plants around a little and added an extra circulation fan. They seem to dig dancing in the breeze - stems are thickening. I drenched them with nearly a gallon of water each, 6 days ago, when I transplanted them into the 3 gallon pots. I haven't watered since then and the soil is still damp beneath the surface, so I guess I'll keep waiting to water again. Have not given any nutes.

 

[shotrocker]

Can't say I blame her; it's been nearly 6 weeks from seed. it's the only auto flower. (was a freebie)

 

[ottawaliquid]

Congratulations on the baby girl! I'm pretty sure I see lots of pistils

 

[Green Revolution]

Pistils for sure. Lookin' good Shotrocker.

Smithdav is right about that runt, I have had runts that turned out to be the monsters of the garden. I would keep her for sure.

 

[scrapdizle]

looking good, but as i mentioned before you should really consider veggin your plants under CFL's next round. These sprouted on Dec 26, just transplanted them into 5gal buckets and moved them to the 400w hps lastnight to start flowering. (shitty camera on my phone, my digi is at work)


The back two are a week younger then the top pic, still under the cfl's veggin.


Simple Veg light for cheap, but it works better then a hps for seedlings/veg

 

[shotrocker]

looking good, but as i mentioned before you should really consider veggin your plants under CFL's next round.

I have a 2 x 2 x 3 propagation tent that I'm going to use with T5's next time I propagate. I'm not overly concerned with the investment as I know, in the long run, I will save money since I go through about 2.5 z's a month. As I'm semi-retired I'm also looking to the future where, when I have enough experience, I would like to be a caregiver. It costs a lot to keep electrical heat going in the basement; it will work out better when I am able to defray the costs by growing for 3-6 patients. I also believe, the way the legal landscape is changing and things will continue to liberalize, with more opportunities for a cottage industry. It seems like one of the rare areas where you know the business will grow. I'm also waiting for delivery of 4' x 8' x 7' tent which I will use with 2 600 w lights for flowering. I am jumping into this with both feet!

 

[smithdav]

looking good shockrocker and I'm pretty sure you have a girll there.
keep up the good work and just let them grow now!

 

[shotrocker]

First off, I'm much more chill than I was a few weeks ago when next to nothing was happening. The plants have been growing like weeds! After waiting 12 days from the initial watering after transplant into 3 gallon containers, I watered a couple of days ago. I gave them each about a quart of water. Does that sound about right for a 3 gallon pot? Or is there some other magic formula I need to know about? I still have added NO nutrients to the Happy Frog soil. I think, next watering i may throw a little in. What do you think? The plants are now about 7 weeks old. Due to early problems, I figured I'd go at least another 10 days before going 12/12 with them. Even though these are all from feminized seeds, I know I still have to carefully sex them and look for hermaphrodites. So far, I've noted girl parts on a few of them. Could someone direct me to a good photo of the earliest signs of male sexing for reference? What else do you think I should be thinking about now? Thanks.

 

[shotrocker]

From what I've read about diminished strength, I'm not really interested in auto flowering strains. This freebee Auto AK, however, is quite happening now. It's about 13" high and I counted 10 buds this morning. I guess I'll keep her 18/6 even after I move the rest to 12/12 (?) When I add nutes, should I skip the vegging formulas and go right to the flowering ones for this. Clearly, this 7 week old plant will finish faster than the others which is probably a good thing. If I'm to turn up another mistake, I'd rather do it with one plant than 10. Any thoughts about this girl?

 

[scrapdizle]

there is no set water schedule because of factors like plant pheno's, soil water retention, heat, humidity ect. the best method to check if your plants need water is to stick your finger in the soil about 3inches and feel for moisture. It's best to insert your finger about 1/2inch from the pot edge to minimize root damage.

as for the auto, not a fan of them but it was a freebie so wth. just go easy on the nutes as they are picky and if you are going to transplant later do it now.

 

[shotrocker]

The plants seem to be doing well after a week and a half of feeding at 40-50% recommended dosing. Now I see why people do it. Now that I'm ready to induce flowering, I'm wondering a few things. 6 of my 9 are sativa dominant, 3 Chocolope and 3 Tangerine Dream. Some are showing their lankiness. I probably need to train them in some way, right? And it looks like, I may max out in space in the 4 x 4 tent with 6 plants in 3 gallon pots. I am considering with just going with half of the sativas and store the other 3 in a mother tent under T5's 18/6. Or maybe I should cull. Even though it's growing more, I would not clone the Chocolope runt and am concerned in general with the Chocolopes and any showing stress in particular after reading how common it was for this strain to hermaphrodite. I'm eager for some feedback. Thanks! The Chocolopes:

And the Tangerine Dreams:

I want to be sure I have space for these other 3:

Could I go right from taking clones to 12/12 or would they need to recover in veg? Or, should I skip trying to clone on this first grow with it's rocky start?

 

[shotrocker]

I have neither pruned nor cloned at all yet, but i imagine, based on these pictures, that I should prune damaged, overly shaded and or useless leaves. Do I cut them like clones? Should the clone taking be part of the pruning?

 

[ottawaliquid]

I have neither pruned nor cloned at all yet, but i imagine, based on these pictures, that I should prune damaged, overly shaded and or useless leaves. Do I cut them like clones? Should the clone taking be part of the pruning?
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I know that you will probably get other opinions on doing a ScrOG (Screen of Green) or doing some training etc... I did a little bit of everything but nothing well

The best and easiest thing that I think you can do (and it might be a bit late to do it now) is topping my plants early on in veg

So I guess I would say pick one or two and play around with them.


If your chocolope is still living I wouldn't ax it, during my grow the plants that I thought were going to be the worst ended up really surprising me...

and the one that seemed the best in veg, turned out to be the worst! [mostly due to some mistakes that I made]

Especially as we are both in the learning stages I think its good to learn anything we can and as usual I learned more from my mistakes during my grow than anything else. The more plants you have the more you'll learn.

That being said, I've never grown anything that had lots of sativa in it, so someone else may have a different response.

just my two cents.

But the plants look amazing! Some are really healthy IMO super nice colours! Others seem to have droopy leaves, I think this might be a humidity or watering issue but best to get some advice maybe from the community here that really knows what they are talking about. I wouldn't want to steer you the wrong direction.

Peace and thanks for the update looks great.

Ottawa

 

[smokeingdog]

great set up but bkkudz is dead right they will stretch

 

[scrapdizle]

Your going to need to veg the clones until they are well established and are the size you are looking for, for estimating purposes a would say 4-6 weeks before you flower them. Most strains with have a 40%-100% increase in size during flower so take that into consideration when your planning your grow space arrangement. If your feeling lucky you could flower the mothers after you take clones. As for the pruning, Anything that looks heavily damaged or isn't receiving proper light gets whacked. Although i would advise against snipping any of the largest fan leaves if they are getting plenty of light but look a bit ill because the majority of energy is produced from fan leaves. I always top my plants to control the height, then supercrop them. if i were you i would consider topping or fiming.

 

[shrigpiece]

Honestly id say you have not had a rocky start. You have learnt the adapt to your errors and have exceeded yourself. Stop bashing yourself bro
As for cloning don't feed your plants for two weeks Low nitrogen levels stimulate root growth Always lurking and chipping in when i need too
PEACE

 

[shotrocker]

Thanks shrig! I've got to induce flowering now I feel. My main question is whether I can take clones off plants and go right to 12/12, (after 36 hour darkness?), without harming the mother plant. Since I have a bunch of good seeds, I could wait until next grow if I have to, to produce clones. I wonder if, by vegging longer to compensate for the stunted start, I went past the normal timetable for cloning, topping, etc. With nothing to lose, I will try to cut and make clones now, as long as I am assured by experienced growers this would not unduly stress the mother.

 

[ottawaliquid]

Honestly id say you have not had a rocky start. You have learnt the adapt to your errors and have exceeded yourself. Stop bashing yourself bro
As for cloning don't feed your plants for two weeks Low nitrogen levels stimulate root growth Always lurking and chipping in when i need too
PEACE

Good to know re: clones, makes sense and didnt know that! Appreciate it.

and I agree. those plants are looking super amazing.. much better than mine looked during my first grow. You are rocking it shotrocker. I think you'll be happy 2-2.5 months from now.

 

[shotrocker]

I watered them with 15% feed several hours ago and they look noticeably better; not drooping. I'm thinking at this point I'll keep it simple; not clone until the next grow. I have some interesting seeds that I'd like to try and start by doing everything right and clone and prune those at the right time. I think I'll move the current bunch to 12/12, and just prune unhealthy lower leaves, and try some bending to expose buds.