OK, so my six plants have made the transition into the flowering stage and my attentions are turning to my second crop of the season. I have 6 nice clones started in vegg and things are progressing nicely. My plan is to continue vegg'ng those plants until the other six in flower are harvested and then of course flip those into flower and so on and so forth.
I figure I have about 8 weeks of vegg, maby ten before I can flip these into flower. By that time I'm hoping to have some monster plants. I'm hoping there will still be nice enough weather here in my own private Idaho to flower them outside. This will again free up the vegg room for one more cycle before I lose the outdoor conditions and have to do it all indoors. Have to admit that I am looking forward to that day though as I will then start planning my first true hydro grow indoors. I haven't decided on a strategy yet but I have plenty of time for that later. Right now I'm thinking about my next crop.
I have learned a bunch from this first crop and although it's still a couple of months away from harvest, I have surpassed my expectations for my first grow and don't expect failure at this point. In fact, quite the opposite.
There is always room for improvement however and my grow certainly has had a few hiccups along the way but those hiccups have been a majore source of education and I am looking forward to using this new found knowledge to my benifit in the form of a bigger and better second crop.
I'm starting off with cloned starts this time so I will save all that time it took to start the grow from seeds. That's nice because although the process has been kinda fun, it's also a bit nerve racking with those tender little plants. Once they get a little more robust it does sort of give you a sense that at least you have a couple days to figure out what you are doing wrong before you lose the crop.
With my first crop I took some pointers from FDD and topped my plants. I did this because I needed clones but I am a long time gardener and have been doing this in my fruit and vegetable gardens for many years so I am very comfortable with that system of growing. So I topped to get 4 colas and for the most part everything turned out just right. One time I slipped with the blade and cut one of the four branches that I had intended to save and so that turned into three colas. Oh well. Another has six, I could have made it four but didn't for whatever reason so we will see how that turns out. again, no big deal as at the moment these things just add to my knowledge base.
One thing that I noticed about half way through the vegg was that those plants that have say four main branches had sort of tightened themselves up to form a bush. To the point that unless you spread out the branches and looked closely you would not be aware that here were indeed four main branches. It sort of struck me thatif you have four main branches the plant should look like it has four main branches and not appear to be one big bush. So I used wire spreaders that I fashioned out of very stiff wire to open up the center of the plant. Much better!! This allowed the four colas to grow into their full potential without the crowding in the center discouraging growth in that area. It also provided unrestricted airflow through the center of the plant. I feel that this is a major plus that will manifest itself as a healthier overall plant. I have much more sunlight striking leave because the center of the plant is not shading itself because of overcrowding in the center. I am so pleased with the overall vigor and robustness of the plants that if possible I will expand on that strategy in my next crop.
If I start early enough I think I can create a opening in the center large enough to hang a barebulb right down into the plant. This will eliminate the neesd for reflectors of any kind and therefore reduce the lenght of travel of the light rays before it hits the plant.
I'm hoping I can push enough cool air up through the center of the plant to keep things cool.
seems like the most efficient way to run a lighting scheme to me.
Any thoughts would be appreciated as I am going to be making some major decisions regarding this pretty quickly.
If I don't hear from you,
have a good second crop!!
I figure I have about 8 weeks of vegg, maby ten before I can flip these into flower. By that time I'm hoping to have some monster plants. I'm hoping there will still be nice enough weather here in my own private Idaho to flower them outside. This will again free up the vegg room for one more cycle before I lose the outdoor conditions and have to do it all indoors. Have to admit that I am looking forward to that day though as I will then start planning my first true hydro grow indoors. I haven't decided on a strategy yet but I have plenty of time for that later. Right now I'm thinking about my next crop.
I have learned a bunch from this first crop and although it's still a couple of months away from harvest, I have surpassed my expectations for my first grow and don't expect failure at this point. In fact, quite the opposite.
There is always room for improvement however and my grow certainly has had a few hiccups along the way but those hiccups have been a majore source of education and I am looking forward to using this new found knowledge to my benifit in the form of a bigger and better second crop.
I'm starting off with cloned starts this time so I will save all that time it took to start the grow from seeds. That's nice because although the process has been kinda fun, it's also a bit nerve racking with those tender little plants. Once they get a little more robust it does sort of give you a sense that at least you have a couple days to figure out what you are doing wrong before you lose the crop.
With my first crop I took some pointers from FDD and topped my plants. I did this because I needed clones but I am a long time gardener and have been doing this in my fruit and vegetable gardens for many years so I am very comfortable with that system of growing. So I topped to get 4 colas and for the most part everything turned out just right. One time I slipped with the blade and cut one of the four branches that I had intended to save and so that turned into three colas. Oh well. Another has six, I could have made it four but didn't for whatever reason so we will see how that turns out. again, no big deal as at the moment these things just add to my knowledge base.
One thing that I noticed about half way through the vegg was that those plants that have say four main branches had sort of tightened themselves up to form a bush. To the point that unless you spread out the branches and looked closely you would not be aware that here were indeed four main branches. It sort of struck me thatif you have four main branches the plant should look like it has four main branches and not appear to be one big bush. So I used wire spreaders that I fashioned out of very stiff wire to open up the center of the plant. Much better!! This allowed the four colas to grow into their full potential without the crowding in the center discouraging growth in that area. It also provided unrestricted airflow through the center of the plant. I feel that this is a major plus that will manifest itself as a healthier overall plant. I have much more sunlight striking leave because the center of the plant is not shading itself because of overcrowding in the center. I am so pleased with the overall vigor and robustness of the plants that if possible I will expand on that strategy in my next crop.
If I start early enough I think I can create a opening in the center large enough to hang a barebulb right down into the plant. This will eliminate the neesd for reflectors of any kind and therefore reduce the lenght of travel of the light rays before it hits the plant.
I'm hoping I can push enough cool air up through the center of the plant to keep things cool.
seems like the most efficient way to run a lighting scheme to me.
Any thoughts would be appreciated as I am going to be making some major decisions regarding this pretty quickly.
If I don't hear from you,
have a good second crop!!
