My First Grow! Legend OGK and Cindy 99 x African haze by Mosca Negra Seeds

I flipped to 12/12 today! here's a picture of the canopy.
its pretty damn even.. Things are getting exciting. before i flipped i did shorten the time for 2 days to 14/8.
i'm not sure if that made a difference in the growth but it is pretty noticeable...
but then again changing the PH to 7 has also shown a difference i feel....
no new deficiencies. nothing worse on the older leaves!

@gjs4786 you were right! i could have just left it alone. and should have!
there's no telling what difference it would have made. probably a big one.

anyways. I've backed off on the N and introduced bloom fertz..
Legend was showing an abundance of N. New growth does not have any burn on them, thankfully.
i feel like the PH has a lot to do with that, being able to take up everything properly and etc...

This might not be a thing.. but just looking at the 2 and comparing
I would have to guess Indica wants less N than a Sativa...
The sativa has a nice color. i don't think it needs more than i was giving them.
But the Indica is definitely dark and slightly burnt

i feel like it's worth noting so i am. any opinion on this is welcome.
i couldn't find anything when looking it up.

QuikWay said:

I flipped to 12/12 today! here's a picture of the canopy.
its pretty damn even.. Things are getting exciting. before i flipped i did shorten the time for 2 days to 14/8.
i'm not sure if that made a difference in the growth but it is pretty noticeable...
but then again changing the PH to 7 has also shown a difference i feel....
no new deficiencies. nothing worse on the older leaves!

@gjs4786 you were right! i could have just left it alone. and should have!
there's no telling what difference it would have made. probably a big one.

anyways. I've backed off on the N and introduced bloom fertz..
Legend was showing an abundance of N. New growth does not have any burn on them, thankfully.
i feel like the PH has a lot to do with that, being able to take up everything properly and etc...

This might not be a thing.. but just looking at the 2 and comparing
I would have to guess Indica wants less N than a Sativa...
The sativa has a nice color. i don't think it needs more than i was giving them.
But the Indica is definitely dark and slightly burnt

i feel like it's worth noting so i am. any opinion on this is welcome.
i couldn't find anything when looking it up.

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Wow man! Your plants are looking great. Nice canopy. They really exploded. What do you mean I was right, you should have left it alone? I'm drawing a blank.
I'm not really sure about sativas wanting less N than indicas. Total guess though. I figure sativas are a lot leggier, indicas are a lot bushier...I figure it's about the same, you know, within a certain range. Worth looking into. I guess the only way to really tell is through experience with a particular strain. Keep an eye open, I'll be updating my journal in a bit as the stretch is starting to really kick in.

gjs4786 said:

Wow man! Your plants are looking great. Nice canopy. They really exploded. What do you mean I was right, you should have left it alone? I'm drawing a blank.
I'm not really sure about sativas wanting less N than indicas. Total guess though. I figure sativas are a lot leggier, indicas are a lot bushier...I figure it's about the same, you know, within a certain range. Worth looking into. I guess the only way to really tell is through experience with a particular strain. Keep an eye open, I'll be updating my journal in a bit as the stretch is starting to really kick in.

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you asked me why i was lowering the PH of the water to 6.0 when it came out of the tap at 7. My only pathetic answer to you was that the seed pack told me to keep the PH of the soil around 6.0 ..... i just found out recently that the ph goes down naturally in soil(almost a whole point sometimes) when you water and raises again as it dries... so this WHOLE grow... ive been dealing with random.. small... deficiencies with each plant and haven't too stressed out because they aren't serious looking and have been different with each plant.. which screams PH...

QuikWay said:

you asked me why i was lowering the PH of the water to 6.0 when it came out of the tap at 7. My only pathetic answer to you was that the seed pack told me to keep the PH of the soil around 6.0 ..... i just found out recently that the ph goes down naturally in soil(almost a whole point sometimes) when you water and raises again as it dries... so this WHOLE grow... ive been dealing with random.. small... deficiencies with each plant and haven't too stressed out because they aren't serious looking and have been different with each plant.. which screams PH...

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Oh I gotcha. Yeah, I find it odd that they would put that on the package. Maybe they meant for germination purposes? 6pH isn't even ideal for soil. While there is an acceptable range, I'm pretty sure 6.5 is the optimum number you want. I'm also pretty sure pH isn't strain specific like other parameters are. Some plants will just be more sensitive to incorrect pH due to their differing nutrient requirements. Post a picture of your seed packet - would be interesting to see!

As far as fluctuation goes, I'd have to look more in to that. I'm sure it depends on a lot of variables what the swing is, but when you think about it, when the soil is drier, your plant isn't taking in from the soil as much as it is when you give it a fresh watering. Don't forget, that it's really your plants pH that affects them directly. Of course, if your soil and water are having wild pH fluctuations, that will transfer to the roots and into the plant and throw your plants chemistry for a loop. I feel like having a slightly off average pH is a lot better than having a constantly fluctuating one. pH is just tricky and something that takes hands on experience to really grasp. I am always surprised by a lot of beginners lack of understanding how important a healthy pH is. It's everything!

It's worth noting that pH does something similar with hydroponics. I can't speak from experience, but you know, us hobbyists tend to do a lot of reading, lol. I can't remember exact figures, but I'm pretty sure it's natural for the pH to rise as acidic nutrients are taken in from a hydroponic medium.

I'm rambling again, lol. My wife is the only person IRL that knows I grow and she's completely uninterested...so I ramble online instead

gjs4786 said:

Oh I gotcha. Yeah, I find it odd that they would put that on the package. Maybe they meant for germination purposes? 6pH isn't even ideal for soil. While there is an acceptable range, I'm pretty sure 6.5 is the optimum number you want. I'm also pretty sure pH isn't strain specific like other parameters are. Some plants will just be more sensitive to incorrect pH due to their differing nutrient requirements. Post a picture of your seed packet - would be interesting to see!

As far as fluctuation goes, I'd have to look more in to that. I'm sure it depends on a lot of variables what the swing is, but when you think about it, when the soil is drier, your plant isn't taking in from the soil as much as it is when you give it a fresh watering. Don't forget, that it's really your plants pH that affects them directly. Of course, if your soil and water are having wild pH fluctuations, that will transfer to the roots and into the plant and throw your plants chemistry for a loop. I feel like having a slightly off average pH is a lot better than having a constantly fluctuating one. pH is just tricky and something that takes hands on experience to really grasp. I am always surprised by a lot of beginners lack of understanding how important a healthy pH is. It's everything!

It's worth noting that pH does something similar with hydroponics. I can't speak from experience, but you know, us hobbyists tend to do a lot of reading, lol. I can't remember exact figures, but I'm pretty sure it's natural for the pH to rise as acidic nutrients are taken in from a hydroponic medium.

I'm rambling again, lol. My wife is the only person IRL that knows I grow and she's completely uninterested...so I ramble online instead

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Feel free to ramble all you want! lol i don't mind.
Here is a picture of the package. it says 6.2... i should have round up instead of down. i couldn't exactly hit 6.2..
it was easier to hit 6.5 or 6.0... so i went with 6.0....
Yes that's what the article i posted about it said, your plant takes in different nutes as the PH changes.
I haven't dealt with many problems other than small random signs.. like spots, twisted leaves, i even have one bleached leaf!
I didn't actually do anything different until last week! but the difference is visible and you can feel it in the stems and such.

quick update on the plants. day 1 of flower i lollipop'd my plants except for the shortest bushy one! left that one like that for experimental purposes...
I lollipop'd to stunt growth attempting to make the most of the HPS.. i have a light meter and its just crazy how much less to no light the bottom of your plant might be getting so it makes since to get rid of the struggle bus.
BUT i left that one plant crazy bushy because i never ever have done that and i want to see for my self what happens directly vs a lollipop'd plant.

quick update. day 7 of flowering all plants are around 13 - 14 inches tall.... all plants except for the bushy one have very small pistols showing. the plants i lollipop'd, i don't think i took enough off/i missed some stalks i realized now that i should have taken off. oh well though, i don't want to take anymore off now... next go round i will make sure i do it right.

QuikWay said:

quick update. day 7 of flowering all plants are around 13 - 14 inches tall.... all plants except for the bushy one have very small pistols showing. the plants i lollipop'd, i don't think i took enough off/i missed some stalks i realized now that i should have taken off. oh well though, i don't want to take anymore off now... next go round i will make sure i do it right.

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hear you man. I was forced into defoliating my plants. I wanted to keep them as they were but the aiflow and humidity was just too bad. I guess you can watch my plants and see what they do cause i didn't lolipop or thin until the 2nd week of flower, lol. Plants are looking great though, nice structure. Looking forward to seeing how the unlollipopped plant comes out against the others. That is wild they specifically said 6.2ph, I have never ever read that anywhere else...but hard to argue with info straight from the BREEDER lol

gjs4786 said:

hear you man. I was forced into defoliating my plants. I wanted to keep them as they were but the aiflow and humidity was just too bad. I guess you can watch my plants and see what they do cause i didn't lolipop or thin until the 2nd week of flower, lol. Plants are looking great though, nice structure. Looking forward to seeing how the unlollipopped plant comes out against the others. That is wild they specifically said 6.2ph, I have never ever read that anywhere else...but hard to argue with info straight from the BREEDER lol

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Right??? and the fact it says "soil" next to it. whatever, though. its definitely going to be interesting. hopefully its not going to be too drastic of a difference, though. since i am trying to save myself 300$ a month that i would really like to focus else where....
thank you though! they make me happy and nervous eeevverrrytime i go in there because i have to raise the light every 2 days.. i almost cant walk around them anymore. its like they didn't even acknowledge that i took a good handful from all of them!! LIKE THEY LIKED IT EVEN..

side note:
it's been 12 days since they were 9 inches tall and 9 days in of flowering they have reached 18- 20 inches its been only 2 days since i measured at 13 - 14 inches i think if the stretch last for another 12 days it will make it to 2 and a half feet tall or more.. i know my grow room will be completely out of space by then from the looks of it.
and my goal was 3 ft plants buuuut, that might be too much. unless i was only growing 4 plants or so. ive got 7 and one of the 7 is a gimp but its a sexy gimp so i kept him inside, he pales in comparison to the 6 plants in straight FFOF. plant number 8 got the boot. its outside. and still 4 inches tall but now its allowed to grow slow and im not all that concerned with it. i gave it to someone else lol. im glad too kind of... because 2 more full sized plants like the rest would cause me to panic due to lack of room and having to rotate plants to get an "even" amount of light..... funny how things work sometimes...
anywho,
i will definitely be going into flower much sooner next grow, more concentrated light. more light down on the lower parts, less pruning, the higher the plants get the weaker my poor 150w gets and a lot less of the plant is used which means more stress.... i may invest in a 400w hps next grow so i dont have to worry about height/penetration as much.. weeee shalllll seeeee, though...
how this grow goes determines what happens with the next one of course, if it seems to be okay/satisfying, then i will try to get this down pat.

ONE MORE THING.....
I HAVE TOTALLY SUPER CROPPED THE FASTEST/TALLER GROWING PLANTS, and yes it stunted growth but just enough to keep everything even which was my goal...
BUT HOW FAST they recovered from the cropping is absolutely fucking insane. maybe its because ive never done it and my mind is just blown away. i rubbed the stems, felt a few pops and bent it over, did not break anything... 8 hours later.. its like i didn't do it. they're standing back up and trying to grow again.. i've have to do this once with one of the legend and once with one of the Cindy..

Supercropping is a great tool to use. Should you find them to recover too soon you can do it again, and again and again.

QuikWay said:

it's been 12 days since they were 9 inches tall and 9 days in of flowering they have reached 18- 20 inches its been only 2 days since i measured at 13 - 14 inches i think if the stretch last for another 12 days it will make it to 2 and a half feet tall or more.. i know my grow room will be completely out of space by then from the looks of it.

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Check out this article my man: https://hightimes.com/grow/grow-hack-day-and-night-growroom-temperatures/
It talks about "negative dif" and "positive dif", dif meaning difference, and how each one corresponds to different types of growth. Negative dif, is when you keep your grow room cooler during the day than it is at night, and this allows for shorter internodal distance. Positive diff, make for longer. I don't know if it's something you can swing right now, but you could probably get away with having a neutral dif, ie, the same temp for day and night during the rest of your stretch. Just a thought brother! I actually didn't pay this much attention most of my grow because they were so bushy I wanted them to stretch.

Oh, one more thing. I was reading an article over at growweedeasy.com and you came to mind when I read this:

"Polarized Sunglass Lenses. Although this type of sunglasses won't correct the color like the specialty HPS/LED lenses listed above, polarized sunglass lenses will block out the black bars from magnetic HPS lights. If you have a pair lying around you can pop out a lens and use it in front of your camera."

I remember you mentioned the black band being a pain in this ass to take photos with and I thought what the hell might help ya some, worth a shot!

gjs4786 said:

Check out this article my man: https://hightimes.com/grow/grow-hack-day-and-night-growroom-temperatures/
It talks about "negative dif" and "positive dif", dif meaning difference, and how each one corresponds to different types of growth. Negative dif, is when you keep your grow room cooler during the day than it is at night, and this allows for shorter internodal distance. Positive diff, make for longer. I don't know if it's something you can swing right now, but you could probably get away with having a neutral dif, ie, the same temp for day and night during the rest of your stretch. Just a thought brother! I actually didn't pay this much attention most of my grow because they were so bushy I wanted them to stretch.

Oh, one more thing. I was reading an article over at growweedeasy.com and you came to mind when I read this:

"Polarized Sunglass Lenses. Although this type of sunglasses won't correct the color like the specialty HPS/LED lenses listed above, polarized sunglass lenses will block out the black bars from magnetic HPS lights. If you have a pair lying around you can pop out a lens and use it in front of your camera."

I remember you mentioned the black band being a pain in this ass to take photos with and I thought what the hell might help ya some, worth a shot!

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That is super interesting... it's definitely warmer during the day than at night.. I'm not exactly sure what the best way to go about warming it up at night... I would have to change lights.. that would be the best way... which.. I have been looking into diy cob leds from scratch... but I can't raise the temp unless I turned the fan off at night... that would help but it does get pretty damn hot without it and I'm not home to turn the fan back on when the lights come on... from what it sounds like I would prefer it to be cooler in there during the day.. I feel like the best solution for me would be to follow through with the different lighting.. that would allow for more even temps constantly and it sounds like I would be able to achieve my goals. Thank you very very much for this information.

I believe the temp swing is about 10 degrees lol.... I threw out my thermometer because it tried telling me it was 120 degrees under the lights... I borrowed a different one and it didn't get above 85 degrees or below 70.. it gets a smidge chilly in there in front of the fan.

QuikWay said:

That is super interesting... it's definitely warmer during the day than at night.. I'm not exactly sure what the best way to go about warming it up at night... I would have to change lights.. that would be the best way... which.. I have been looking into diy cob leds from scratch... but I can't raise the temp unless I turned the fan off at night... that would help but it does get pretty damn hot without it and I'm not home to turn the fan back on when the lights come on... from what it sounds like I would prefer it to be cooler in there during the day.. I feel like the best solution for me would be to follow through with the different lighting.. that would allow for more even temps constantly and it sounds like I would be able to achieve my goals. Thank you very very much for this information.

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For sure. The thing is, I've found it damn hard if not impossible to get what I feel like are accurate temperature readings. The Thermo/Hydrometer are fine in the shade or off to the side, but the moment that light hits it, the little plastic housing starts heating up. I'll be able to either confirm or bust this tomorrow when my temperature gun gets here. I keep saying I'm done buying shit but nope...Anyways, I feel like switching out lights would more trouble than just dealing with the stretch with the light you have (for this grow anyway). You don't have access to a little space heater you can throw in there? Or you could get an adapter and plug your fan in with your light on the same timer so they both go off and come on at the same time. plug a power strip into the timer and then the light and fan into the power strip.

I'll just sneak up on this journal, don't mind me, the mask or the bottle of chloroform

gjs4786 said:

For sure. The thing is, I've found it damn hard if not impossible to get what I feel like are accurate temperature readings. The Thermo/Hydrometer are fine in the shade or off to the side, but the moment that light hits it, the little plastic housing starts heating up. I'll be able to either confirm or bust this tomorrow when my temperature gun gets here. I keep saying I'm done buying shit but nope...Anyways, I feel like switching out lights would more trouble than just dealing with the stretch with the light you have (for this grow anyway). You don't have access to a little space heater you can throw in there? Or you could get an adapter and plug your fan in with your light on the same timer so they both go off and come on at the same time. plug a power strip into the timer and then the light and fan into the power strip.

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i dont know how i would keep the temperature at good spot with a small space heater. maybe i should just aim to buy strains that grow well in my environment lol. i just want to update all of my stuff after reading about everything.. definitely not going to do it during a grow. my power strip is full.. its small and old and also needs to be updated. i'm just going to go with the flow for now and not try to control the plant anymore...

which.. they are at 23inchs! with hopefully only 2 more days of stretch.

The bushy plant is invading my other plants and its frustrating. i want to chop it to bits, but i made a promise to it, myself and a few other people i would leave it alone for the sake of seeing what happens for ourselves.. so... i cant... i just wont..
The other plants look faaaantastic, things are coming along nicely. i will be doing a "photo shoot" tomorrow or so for those who are trying to watch!

Side note: i've ended up taking off some small nodes on the plants little by little(except for bushy) because they just aren't showing growth like the rest of the plant is.
and i really don't think they care too much at growth of 1 inch a day..

welp!! its day 15 and the stretch continues.. the tallest are 2 cindy's at a height of 27 inches... its a bit frustrating.. but hey. its okay. they seem happy.
I think it would be totally fine if they were properly lollipopped...
on the other hand. the legend isn't getting much taller.
they are only 25 inches or so and their buds are looking nice. can definitely tell the difference between the two.
Ill let the pictures describe themselves!

QuikWay said:

welp!! its day 15 and the stretch continues.. the tallest are 2 cindy's at a height of 27 inches... its a bit frustrating.. but hey. its okay. they seem happy.
I think it would be totally fine if they were properly lollipopped...
on the other hand. the legend isn't getting much taller.
they are only 25 inches or so and their buds are looking nice. can definitely tell the difference between the two.
Ill let the pictures describe themselves!

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Looking great man. So many tops! Yeah, my two White Widow x Himalaya Gold are 8 or so inches taller than one The Church x DeadheadOG I have. She looks like she's gonna have fatter nuggets too. I'm not too worried about the height difference tho because I only have 3 plants under 1000watts. Looks like you are making the most out of your lighting. I'm wanting to try C99 and do a proper scrog. I think this time just top and not LST until they reach the net.

Thank you! i wish i could get every one in the picture but they would be blocked anyways because my lights are always only 4 - 5 inches away from the plants.
I kind of wish i only had 3 to 5 plants... I think i would have taken better care of them and things would be "properly" done.. It's a little stressful in my grow room...
my past grows ive gotten nice dense buds fatter than my phone is wide... but i think because of the lack of a good lollipopping, i hurt my yield.. or maybe it just wont be in the form of giant buds...??
i can already tell cindy 99 is going to have big buds but they aren't going to be anywhere as dense as legend... that's where legend is keeping up in size, but shes so thick, too.
both are supposed to have heavy yields, though, so we shall see!!

the plant i haven't lollipopped i have had to tie to itself... it was invading the area of my other plants. she truly is out of control... her buds on top look really nice, though!!
ill have to take pictures..

This grow is definitely more of an experiment than i was hoping it was going to be...
but i've definitely learned a lot i feel.
this is my 5th grow using these HPS lights but the FIRST time actually paying attention to everything, took pictures often, talked about it and not just watering and feeding and topping and flowering... and i've always harvested about 2 weeks too early as well judging by my past pictures... i've been a member on this site for 5 years and look at it off and on but have barely used any of its knowledge until now.... it is AMAZING how things change sometimes...

3 plants under 1000 watts isn't such a bad thing at all! your plants definitely wont be fighting for light or shading each other.. i tried to spread my plants out a bit... it helped a little but made it much harder to get to all of them...
i couldn't imagine 500+ grams.. that would be so great..
my goal weight is ATLEAST 2 ounces per plant! seems reasonable, if you go by the watt to gram ratio that would be about .5g per watt. I would lose my mind if i pulled more.

QuikWay said:

Thank you! i wish i could get every one in the picture but they would be blocked anyways because my lights are always only 4 - 5 inches away from the plants.
I kind of wish i only had 3 to 5 plants... I think i would have taken better care of them and things would be "properly" done.. It's a little stressful in my grow room...
my past grows ive gotten nice dense buds fatter than my phone is wide... but i think because of the lack of a good lollipopping, i hurt my yield.. or maybe it just wont be in the form of giant buds...??
i can already tell cindy 99 is going to have big buds but they aren't going to be anywhere as dense as legend... that's where legend is keeping up in size, but shes so thick, too.
both are supposed to have heavy yields, though, so we shall see!!

the plant i haven't lollipopped i have had to tie to itself... it was invading the area of my other plants. she truly is out of control... her buds on top look really nice, though!!
ill have to take pictures..

This grow is definitely more of an experiment than i was hoping it was going to be...
but i've definitely learned a lot i feel.
this is my 5th grow using these HPS lights but the FIRST time actually paying attention to everything, took pictures often, talked about it and not just watering and feeding and topping and flowering... and i've always harvested about 2 weeks too early as well judging by my past pictures... i've been a member on this site for 5 years and look at it off and on but have barely used any of its knowledge until now.... it is AMAZING how things change sometimes...

3 plants under 1000 watts isn't such a bad thing at all! your plants definitely wont be fighting for light or shading each other.. i tried to spread my plants out a bit... it helped a little but made it much harder to get to all of them...
i couldn't imagine 500+ grams.. that would be so great..
my goal weight is ATLEAST 2 ounces per plant! seems reasonable, if you go by the watt to gram ratio that would be about .5g per watt. I would lose my mind if i pulled more.

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I know how you feel dude, I’m going through the same thing. I feel like I need to relearn everything

quick update....

the plants are shedding leaves that aren't getting enough light. literally just falling right off. the bud sites are holding strong, though. the bushy plant looks like it will have multiple harvests. the top buds are really nice, while there are almost no buds below a certain point..
i will be able to chop half of that plant and then let the under buds grow.... that is the ONLY positive thing i see about leaving a plant untouched. if thats even possible without herming whats left of your plant or if you even want to wait xxx amount of weeks until those buds mature.
I think i would rather just start a whole new crop.. but we shall see.

Day 23
Here's a picture update. all is well in the neighborhood. nothing is really happening to report..
i could just complain about everything i already have, agaaaaiinnn but it won't do any good
but biggest buds are near thumb size.
Bushy smells like a lemon skunk while the other 2 cindy 99 plants smell like straight lemon pledge.
Legend smells like dirt, maybe? its really close to odorless. rubbing the stem smells nice and skunky but not the buds definitely different.

Leaves are still continuing to fall off(i am not helping them fall off) where the light is not able to reach,
bud sites are nice and strong, so that tells me its getting rid of big fan leaves
in order to get light to the bud sites. it is almost bare with a bunch of tiny bud sites trying to do their thing.
its still a mess to look at.

Anywho. ill shut up. Enjoy the pictures!

all input is welcome.