Hawk's Granddaddy Purple & THC Bomb Grow Journal - 2023

Hawk's Outdoor GDP & THC Bomb Grow Journal - 2023

Strain: Granddaddy Purple - Feminized
Indica Dominant: 80/20

Strain: THC Bomb - Feminized
Hybrid: 50/50 (even though it’s listed as Indica Dominant)

Current Stage: Started the germination process (soaking in water) on 4/25/23.



And so it begins…

This is my first attempt at growing and first Grow Journal. I’m including info already posted in the Intro Forum.

I live in Northern Virginia and am a total newbie to the cannabis game. Got a medicinal certificate in August and have been vaping ever since. It’s the Only thing that helps with my chronic migraines.

Thought it would be fun to attempt to grow my own plants. I bought 5 Granddaddy Purple feminized seeds and they added on 5 more GDP seeds and 2 THC Bomb feminized seeds for free.

I started the germination process on 4/25/23. VA allows growing up to 4 plants / household. I’ve started with 3 seeds to see how it goes.

I plan on growing outdoors in soil for this first attempt. Want to make sure I enjoy growing as much as I think I will before pouring lots of money into all the needed supplies for an indoor set up.

I’ll start with 3 three gallon fabric pots (or 3 five gallon fabric pots based on input)
Two for the THC Bomb seeds and one for the Granddaddy Purple.

As of this morning (4/27), I have taproots for all three seeds. Will wait til the taproots get a bit longer before planting in soil.

After 72 hours in water, I planted the 3 seeds in cow pots using Jiffy Seed Starting Mix as the soil. I’ve put plastic baggies around each of the pots to keep in moisture and plan on giving them up to 18 hours of light / day. Hopefully, the seedlings will spout from the soil in a … couple days?

If I’m doing anything crazy, please let me know. I’ve read a ton of articles, but still feel totally clueless.

Looks like you're off to a great start! I will be popping my beans a little later this month, so I'll be keeping an eye on the thread and wishing you the best fellow Outdoorsie

As of May 1:
All 3 seedlings have now broken thru the dirt. The three pots are still on a heating mat. I will continue watering them 2x / day and leave the blue LED light on for 18 hours / day. Anything else I need to do at this point or just wait for them to grow big enough to transfer to 3 gallons pots?

One of the THC Bombs and the GDP are now totally out of the dirt. There’s a bit of a stem w. leaves. The other THC Bomb is still barely out of the soil and still a bit curled. The temp gauges seem a bit all over the place. Guess you get what you pay for. The temp seems fine but the humidity is low. Will hopefully fix this today when the domed seed trays arrive. Watered and added indoor plant food since there really wasn’t much if any in the soil I used. Gave each of them a dropper of diluted grow food.

Wondering if I’ve already made a mess of these 3 plants. They’re still on a heating mat, still watering 2x a day and still leaving the LED lights on 18 hours a day w. the blue spectrum. Thoughts?

Hawk518 said:

I’ll start with 3 three gallon fabric pots (or 3 five gallon fabric pots based on input)

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Just my 2cents - outdoors, 10 gallon at least.
I have seedlings at the same stage as yours, their final pots are 25 gallon (10 gal are much easier to move).

Have fun

The THC Bomb and GDP are a couple inches tall now. The other THC Bomb is still the same – struggling to make it out of the dirt.

Any suggestions on what I can do to save the THC Bomb that's struggling?
Also, do the other two look ok or are they considered too stretchy?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

Hawk518 said:

The THC Bomb and GDP are a couple inches tall now.

Any suggestions on what I can do to save the THC Bomb that's struggling?

Also, do the other two look ok or are they considered too stretchy?

Click to expand...

Trash your poor THC bomb and germ another seed.

They're a bit stretchy, I'm growing Grand Daddy Purple and it's more compact. How high is your light above the plants? What kind of light?

.

Hobbes said:

How high is your light above the plants? What kind of light?

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While waiting to take them outside for sunlight, I used a 3 wand LED w. the blue light. BUT the specs say the power has a Max of 90W, which I’m guessing is WAY too low? I keep the LED wands very close to the plants (a couple inches away).

May 9th - It’s been two weeks since I started germinating the seeds. All 3 are the same as before. Will transplant the 2 stretchy plants into 1 gallon pots asap.

May 10th - Misted them in the morning. They looked the same – two stretchy stems and one still trying to get out of the soil. I’ve had a fan on them since they got stretchy to try to strengthen the stems. As of 6 pm, the strong one was leaning over and the other stretchy plant was looking like it was starting to wither away. Transplanted both into 1 gallon fabric pots and buried most of their stems. Used an organic potting soil mixed w. coco coir. Even though I’d misted them this morning, they were Really dry at this point. So when trying to ensure I didn’t Over water them, it looks like I probably Under watered them! I’m guessing that these 3 didn’t get enough light which led to them getting stretchy. While waiting to take them outside for sunlight, I used a 3 wand LED w. the blue light. BUT the specs say the power has a Max of 90W, which I’m guessing is WAY too low. Will try to start acclimating them to outside sunshine tomorrow morning for a couple hours. Will keep them out of direct sunlight so they won’t be shocked too much.

From the mess I’ve made of these three, you’d never know that I’ve read a ridiculous amount of articles & watched a lot of YouTube vids, etc,

At this point, I’m thinking that if any of these three survive, it will be a major Victory. ANY advice on how to potentially save these plants??

Hawk518 said:

May 9th - It’s been two weeks since I started germinating the seeds. All 3 are the same as before. Will transplant the 2 stretchy plants into 1 gallon pots asap.View attachment 5289913

Click to expand...

Give them a bit of morning/afternoon sunlight. A more balanced red/blue light would help too.

May 11th - Put them outside this morning. They look much better since being transplanted into the 1 gallon fabric pots last night. The 3rd is STILL trying to get out of the soil after two weeks. What can be done to help #3? Anything? I don’t mind if it will be stunted w. low yield (if any), just want the practice of raising another plant.

I’ll bring all three inside tonight and place them under a white LD light so they get a total of approx.. 18 hours / day.

5/12/23 - Putting them outside for about 12 hours a day and then inside under the LED white light for about 6 hours. The two stretchy plants seem to be doing much better. The third is STILL trying to get out of the soil. I know / realize that #3 is a lost cause, but I’d still like the practice of growing it, assuming that I can get it to sprout properly!

Any suggestions on how to help it?

5/16/23 - It’s been 3 weeks since I started germinating the seeds. THC Bomb #2 is no longer. She had a taproot, was planted, but never got out of the soil. Shame, cause I would have loved the experience of trying to raise another plant. RIP THC Bomb #2. The other THC Bomb and GDP appear to be doing well (better) after being transplanted into 1 gallon fabric grow pots and burying their leggy stems. Also, they’ve been outside during the warm days and then under an LED light for a total of 18 hours / day. Have a fan on them while they’re inside. Finally ordered more fabric grow pots – 3, 5, 7 & 10 Gallons. Will go for either the 7 or 10 gallon when I re-pot. Also, ordered GeoFlora nutrients.

Questions:

• At what point can I leave them outside all day and night? Is it based on the temperature, how big they are or a combination of the two? Or something else entirely?
• When do I start giving them the GeoFlora nutes? Is this based on size or age? Or something else entirely?

Appreciate any tips / advice. Thanks!

Hawk518 said:

• At what point can I leave them outside all day and night? Is it based on the temperature, how big they are or a combination of the two? Or something else entirely?
• When do I start giving them the GeoFlora nutes? Is this based on size or age? Or something else entirely?

Click to expand...

I don't know the climate in Northern Virginia, but I suspect it's warmer than Nova Scotia, that being said mine have been out side for 2 nights now.
If there's a risk of frost I cover them with clear garbage bags, or into the garage. - If you were planting them, then you'd wait for 2 weeks after the last frost.

You can feed them now 1/4 strength on the nutes. - Seedling don't "need" ferts until the cotyledons start to fade or shrivel

The seedling died from "damping off", give it a google.

& just my 2 cents - dump the purple light and get a full spectrum lamp


Good luck

5/23/23 - It’s been one month since I started germinating the seeds. Both look good, but definitely smaller than other plants I’m seeing online at this stage.

Took both plants outside. My GeoFlora nutrients finally arrived. Mixed a little soil w. 1 Tbsp of GeoFlora Veg for each 1 gallon fabric grow pot and watered with rainwater. This is a half dose to what is suggested, but since this is the first use, I thought I’d use less in case the soil already had some nutrients. Watered til there was run off. Since I’m very new to all things gardening, do I leave the run off water in the saucer for a little bit or dump it immediately?

I figure I don’t up-pot until much larger. Will try one in a 7 gallon and the other in a 10 gallon to see how much of a difference the pot size makes.

Am I doing this correctly? Does this sound good enough that these will continue to live / grow?

5/30/23 - It’s been 5 weeks since I started germinating the seeds. It’s been a week since I gave them their first dose (a half dose) of GeoFlora. Haven’t seen much of a difference yet. I plan on giving them a full dose of nutrients next week. The GDP is putting out more branches, but the THC Bomb still looks very small, especially for a 5 week old.

Also, the THC Bomb has white tips on two of its leaves. I’ve done a search on white tips and the answers are all over the place – good and bad to have white tips. So, I’ll ask here: what are the white tips a result of? Nute burn? Crazy if so, cause I’ve only given them a half dose last week of GeoFlora. What do I need to do (if anything)?

I’m still putting my plants outside during the day and bringing them in at dusk. While inside, I place them under an LED light for a couple more hours. Today, the temps will range from 49-80 F. What does the low temp have to be so that I can leave them out all night? These two plants are still in 1 gallon fabric grow pots.

a month? yamma hamma.