Oh great, apparently we're growing now!

[Buggy]

Hi all! I'm a total newbie at this whole thing. And, I'm not even going to be using! We're looking into the details of getting my husband a medical use licence in our state, and while on vacation out of state he tried pot to see if it worked for his pain. It was GREAT. His pain is usually 8/9/10 but the pot brought it to nearly NOTHING! WOOT! Nothing we've tried from the pharmacy worked even a third as well! :D BTW, he's had pain from scoliosis and then a spinal fusion surgery 20 years ago, but 18 months ago he sneezed and threw out his back. It's been getting worse and worse and worse and worse ever since. We still have about 12K in medical debts to pay while the insurance has paid close to 1/2 MILLION for everything we've been doing to try to help him plus the ER visits for falling down the stairs and various treatments and scans that have helped nearly none...

So we got a 1/4 ounce from a relative's connection while we were gone... and apparently we got 28 seeds in it.

Yes, you read that right. TWENTY. EIGHT. SEEDS. And this isn't crap weed, it's good quality (not *best*, but pretty darn good according to my husband who used a LOT 20 years ago! He only has had better a COUPLE times, and he smoked pot a TON over 10 years all throughout western NY and surrounding areas). He's never grown before either, so we're just figuring this out.

He "borrowed" one of my nursery flats I use in springtime, and put in a bunch of jiffy 7 seed starters. *sigh* We now have 24 seedlings (would have been 25, but one's stem snapped cleanly in half when he dropped the flat while bringing it out to show me! Oops). We potted them up since a few had the taproot already showing through the mesh. They are now in 3" jiffy squares (four in 4" plastic pots as I only had 20 3" pots). Nearly all have their first set of true leaves (only 2 or 3 don't), and 2 are showing a second set of trues about to grow! They are about 1 3/4" at most right now, mostly because they were in the dark until this afternoon, but a few hours of evening light (not direct) allowed them to go from lime green to a nice medium green that should darken tomorrow I'd think. :D And of course, he didn't tell me until a few hours ago about this or they'd have had good growing light from the START. (you should see my GARDEN right now! :D )

So... They are currently out in our greenhouse/shed (LOCKED) right at the windows so they'll have light during the day. Soon I'll have it set up in our basement for them to be under a fluorecent 4' fixture (sometime tomorrow or Saturday) for 18-24 hours/day. Next payday (5 days away) we'll get the lights we need to set up the plants in our closet.

I'll get pics in the morning. From the looks of things, some are at least 3-4 days after cracking shell and a couple are only within a day.

Guessing that these are going to be mostly male from the stress of being DROPPED, no light, and repotting (though with the J7s it may not be an issue)... How soon should we set them at 12/12 to check gender on maybe half of them? Or more, as we don't have a TON of space to get these to "full" size. I've read you can switch any time but I'm thinking after we pinch the 4th node, let them have another 3-4 leaf nodes before the switch. Thoughts?

If we switch light for gender, how long does it take to usually show the sex, and how bad is that stress to check gender then put back into veg state? How likely is that to make any females herm out? If we did the light switch in, say, 3-4 weeks, how big would these plants likely get on average (for average street-sold pot strains, whatever that means)? How long do you suggest we let them grow before we make them flower? How likely is this an auto type? How could we tell if it's auto or not?

Also, how many CFLs do you think we'll need, as well as how much space???? :wtf: Serriously, I NEVER thought I'd have ANYWHERE near this number of plants to deal with of this sort. I jokingly told my husband that I could just claim it's another of my flowering plants I can put in my garden... I LOVE flowers.... ;) (They'd blend quite well in with the dahlias until they start their flowering phase!)

Now to figure out how to get 24 plants inside my closet... *sigh* I'll also have to get some good 6" or 8" pots now... either that or plant all my rosebushes already, even though I didn't want to do that until next spring since they are so young and thin still. At least I'd have enough large pots for about 14 plants in our closet then (and I MAY be able to fit them well in there... maybe. It's 2.5' deep but at least 10' long if I want to use ALL that space...)

Sorry for rambling, but it's a start to this odd journey. :) At least we have a decent chance to help my hubby be out of pain! :dance:

(Note: next time, dear husband, we shall only plant a FEW at a time, k? Heck, even 10 are managible! But 28 seeds at once on your FIRST TRY???? REALLY????)


Note to self - Start half in 3" jiffies and half in 7s next time to compare. Heck, use 10 in each to compare how well they do to get to the point of needing to be upped to 6/7/8" pots to see if there is a difference. Also, try making a mixture for them for seedlings and up (hum/verm and hum/verm/comp/man mixes

Another note to self - find correct separate NPK ingredients FINALLY to make the mixes we need for the specific plants. BETTER GROWTH ON ALL PLANTS THIS WAY, DUMMY. :)

[Shovelhandle]

welcome, Buggy
I like to 'pop' lots of seed and pick the best to grow. Of course when I buy seed from the vendors I really can't afford that, only with 'free' seeds.
You can grow 16 or more plants in a square meter space or you can just grow a half dozen. This depends on the pot size and how long you're going to veg them. Basically, you'll want to fill the footprint with pots. I use 3 gallon bags for sea of green and 5 gallon pails for larger plants. You can use larger or smaller.
A 10 foot x 2.5 foot space will require a lot of lighting and ventilation. Use reflective panels or tent to corral the light.

Check out some grow logs that feature similar methods to yours. here's one (http://boards.cannabis.com/grow-log/205635-shov-spring-2013-grow.html?highlight=) of my recent grows. And another (http://boards.cannabis.com/grow-log/204689-shovs-winter-grow.html?highlight=)

Good luck~

[Esteban1]

You are asking a bunch of ?'s that are relevant but most can wait at this point. Take your time to do it correctly. If there is limited space just do 12-20 seedlings this way all will come to fruition. Sounds like ya also understand plant structure & growth so it should be fairly simple. Stick with the basics visa vie proper soil mix, lighting & nutrients. You do have time with nutes so get the soil/lighting correct & yea 24/7 lights would works just fine! Hope ur hubby feels better. Peace


:thumbsup:

[Buggy]

Update. :)

So, two plants so far barely growing - unsure why, but I bet while moving them the seed casings might have loosened so the plant didn't have to struggle to grow. One of the two for sure has baby leaves just starting to grow at least, while the other has the nodes for them but hasn't done anything. One other babe had a bruised stem, so I had to use rooting powder yesterday to try saving it and mounded dirt around the stem nearly up to the leaves. It's now doing much better and seems perky - I think it will live. :) If we lose it, not a huge deal as we have SO MANY.

About 3/4 have their second set of true leaves already, and a few have visible stem above the cotyledons... The two smallest just barely have their first leaves, but all are getting nice a big! :)

My husband also thinks they are getting a smell to them already. Great, just great... ;) So we'll have to get some GOOD carbon filters for the house! :)

Luckily, I "get" plants fairly well. I also do have a variety of fertilizers and fert components already, so I may be able to skip getting special ones. Happy plants for now. Can hardly wait to see how well they start springing up.

Looking for your opinions on this: Considering how MANY plants we have, how long would you let them veg before moving them to 12/12 lighting? We would like to have about twice as much as my hubby needs as supply between the end of this grow and the end of the next - 5-6 months?. So guessing/estimating we have 6 girls (considering the stress they've had plus they are just plain bag seed plants), how big would they need to each be to give 1/2 ounce plus each? And would you suggest making them show gender then return to veg state so we can weed out the boys, or leave as is? With what I've read, you can set them to flower from day 1... But we do want a decent crop too!

Am I correct in my research that the plants will double or more in height during "flower" stage?

Oh, and since we're gonna pinch them likely at node 3 or 4, do you consider with these the 3rd true leaves to be 3, or the 2nd set of true leaves to be 3? Thanks! (I do this with other plants normally in my garden yearly, too)

Shovel, why do you aerate your "teas"? How does that effect the "brew" for the plants? Asking especially since I have a few plants I have to give teas to in my reg garden, and I'm wondering the difference. :) I think I've learned a lot looking through everything here, really. Looking forward to the next few weeks! :D

Pics from 4 days ago in the evening - 3.5 days before the next set.
293390

To look how much the babies have grown! :)
293391

Showing some of how they are developing in this stage
293392

Runt with the first set of leaves growing. Cracked seed ~7/25?
293393

The poor babe that cracked it's stem (thanks to Hubby dropping it during transplant we think). Was pretty bad yesterday, but looks happy now. Shows the mounding of dirt around the stem to help it re-root with the rooting powder. :)
293394

Fingers crossed for low boy numbers. :) :vader1:

[Shovelhandle]

no need for carbon filters yet. try some Glade plugin air fresheners or equal. some smell shitty so don't buy a bunch until you find a flavor you like.

[Buggy]

Today is the day for lights! :) Still deciding between two choices. Also will need to get a sheet of drywall to put up the closet to divide the space in half. Whole thing is about 17' from one side to the other with two sets of doors and about 4' in the middle (approximate numbers - have not measured). About 2.5' or so deep, and 10' high. As we WANT to be able to use the closet as a closet too, we'll be using half to grow and ~half for normal closet use. :) Our tarantulas live in the closet as well and I doubt they'd like the high light conditions!

Pics up later. All but three are growing beautifully. The snapped-stem baby is still recovering nicely. I think once it's rerooted properly it will explode like the others are. The two that had their casings taken off (one for sure by hubby, one likely when dug out of the dirt since it was too far down - confirmed by husband as well) are both struggling. One has baby real leaves that are SLOWLY growing, and the other's cotys are all dried up but have teeny tiny regular leaves. Fairly sure that one will die, but we're hopeful. I'm considering putting in a bit of growth fert in with that one to help it out since the feeder leaves are gone. I'll let you know my results.

Because of not wanting to keep buying from elsewhere longer than we have to (REALLY great price IMO, but still), we're thinking about switching them to 12/12 shortly after the recover from being topped. We'll top them once after they get their 4th set of leaves (we can see the baby set of #3 on some!), and once they are recovered and growing a bit they will be put onto 12/12. For now they are on regular outside light but will be moved to between 18/6 and 20/4 tonight. Even with the switch, we should have enough medicine from the smaller plants to last until the next harvest. :)

[Buggy]

Update. :) It's been awhile, but they are all looking GREAT. Down to 19 for whatever reason (weak stems we think), and one of the minis is still with us. It even is growing another set of leaves!!! :wtf: The 19 don't include the runt as it would NOT be growing in the same rate as the others. S/he will be placed outside soon for the rest of the local growing season to see what happens I think. :)

All others have started on their 4th sets of leaves, so all were topped at that level. They are recovering quickly - colas are all showing and working on growth after only a day (some have been 4 days now). Very very VERY happy with the results.

We ended up with tube F.L.s at 6500K but lowish lumens. I'm waiting until my next payday (10 days away) to get other lights and fixtures so as they can have side lighting as well and be switched to 12/12. Using SOG method to start. Because I'm a noob at this plant, I'm just going with miracle grow bloom for the bloom phase for now. If I have time/energy to do so this next weekend, I'll see if we can get a more specific alternative... But for now, it should be a good start. Again, we're only growing for my husband's medical use, no sharing or selling (although I might share on occasion if/when needed for pain or migraine issues of my own! better than the scripts I've had in the past!)... Thus, the number of plants we have even if most are boys, we should still have WAY more than enough for him for quite awhile. And if we still have to get it our usual way for a little bit in between crops, I think we'll be OK. :)

Only thing is, these kids are really starting to smell. It's not aweful as if someone smoked it inside the house, but it's like someone has an open bag inside a drawer that is cracked open. Instead they are in a closet, but there are cracks around it... *sigh* Just what we need. Stinky baby plants cluttering up my closet space! LOL!

Pics later. They are GORGEOUS! Growing fast and healthy - in miracle grow soil, btw. The started in Jiffy 7s, but transplanted into 3" fiber pots with MG flower potting mix. Will use the same later in the next upgrade (next weekend likely) into either my 1 gal pots currently containing roses outside that need planting as well as the old pots sitting around, OR be put into milk jugs - all of course steralized before hand. :)

[Buggy]

So it's been awhile. :)

After about a month of growth, all have been repotted to 2 gallon or 4 gallon pots (5 in the 4g). Happy, healthy, 19 young growing smelly plants.

They stink up my bedroom BADLY. With payday 2 days away, we'll be getting smell under control as well as better ventilation and light control. Currently we're at about 18 hours light per day, but the closet leaks light BADLY. That will be corrected Thursday so we can switch them to 12/12.

Preflowers are showing on ALL plants, and I have great hope that most are females from the looks of it. At least half LOOK like they have the little hairs coming out, although I'm reserved over whether they may be the calyx only - we'll see. As I've not dealt with this type of plant before, I'm trying to be patient. BUT, I see so many with positive "female" signs! :) Looking at other pics online, I THINK I'll be good with figuring out who's male and female as long as I keep up with it.

Currently 1 plant outside and 18 inside under two 4' FL lamps currently - lights are 6500K in color, this week we'll be switching to 2700 and CFLs. We'll be taking power strips, plugging in 3 adapters in each for plug-to-socket and use high wattage CFLs at 2700 color. As many as I can fit in the area we'll looking at. :) We'll likely keep the 6500 strip lights for now until we find out who's male so we can cut down on closet space usage. :) Males will be put outside within the middle of a ton of plants so they can grow a decent amount of pollen (my husband's plan) so we can fert one bud site for seeds to grow later.

I'm quite happy with the results. I was VERY cautious with my first pinching, and I didn't pinch enough for them to split. In the past 2 days I've done a proper pinching (I THINK), and it looks like they will be growing well.

We're still on Miracle Grow soil, which I'm fine with. As a beginner, we're also going to use MG Bloom Booster when it's needed. So far, quite happy with the plants, and the plants seem to be happy with our growth for them. :)

BTW, They REEK. Whenever we walk into our room, it's like a LARGE bag of good quality smokables was left open! I'm wondering if it's an auto-flower type as well as the preflowers are growing. I do know we had a couple days with lower light levels (one of our light's ballast broke so we needed to replace, plus light was on for about 15 hours only a couple days in a row), so that may have lead to such, but... Dunno. We'll see. :) 12/12 will be cheaper for sure with lighting, but I'm not too worried.

Buggy

[Buggy]

Hi all. 1 week into flowering now. Still at 19 total, but should be "weeding" out the boys soon. :) Don't want to take anything out too soon before making SURE they are boys, but...

Still on same lighting - 6500K tube fluros for now, but within a day or two we're switching to 2700K CFLS - plenty to let a blind man see for sure in there! :) Just wanted to give them a chance for as must regular growth before they started really flowering.

Using Miracle Gro for tomatos at first, but just switched with the water last night to M.G. bloom booster (15/30/15). Next grow (whenever that is) will likely have a different nute mix. Don't know, but I'm happy with what we've got. Lots of great growth!

New batch of fungal gnats just hatched yesterday, so put more neem oil on everything. Overwatered and the bottom 1/2" of the trays they are sitting in (not enough to let the pots soak it up on all but 1 tray) has water with a high load of neem oil concentrate in it to help kill them. Those are full of dead flyers, but still working on the last few (might still be hatching?). Fly strip next, then beer trap... until they are gone. :)

LOTS of pics in next post. I've numbered the plants to keep track of them so I know who to pull when. I have my suspicions for male/female on a few plants, will be keeping my eye on them daily to check for more signs to make sure. :)

[Buggy]

1) 294543
2) 294544
3) 294545
4) 294546
5) 294547
6) 294548
7) 294549

[Buggy]

8) 294550
9) 294551
10) 294552
11) 294553
12) 294554
13) 294555
14) 294556

[Buggy]

Last post! :) Just trying to keep a record of the best photos each week for sexing clues. I'll have less next week for SURE. Likely less tomorrow!

15) 294557
16) 294558294559
17) 294560
18) 294561
19) 294562

Let me know your thoughts. Any suspected males are gonna be separated after tomorrow I think so I have time to make up my mind for whether or not I believe they are male or not. They won't be killed for awhile - I'll still be checking them out to be sure before they are axed!

(note - fairly sure 9 and 10 are males so far, but those are the only ones I'm more than 50% sure on so far)

[Shovelhandle]

I hate Monsanto like poison (Miracle Grow, Scott). Good luck with your grow though.

[catbuds]

Buggy you're doing great. Its a plant, you're a gardener, the growing part will be easy. Sexing isn't as dificult as it seems, once they fully declare their sex, you'll see how easy it is to tell difference. The next step that will be different from other plants is judging ripeness & when to harvest. Then drying/curing. If you've ever cured tobacco, you're half way there. The cool part is, you have a green thumb, mj's light (except the photoperiod to fruit is reversed), water, nutrition requirements aren't all that much different from tomatoes. Just keep posting pics & reports & any of us old heads will be more than glad to advise on ripeness, harvest & curing. Some of these youngens approach this like its a complicated, expensive endeavor. Don't believe it. You have two of the best here already advising you, stick with them, they know their shit & they're great guys too. If tlranger replys to your post, take heed to him too, he's right on par with the other 2. I just wanted to reassure you that you're doing great, & with the advisors you have, you can't go wrong. Happy gardening hon. Its always great to see another girl here! BTW cannabis-seeds is a girl too. Just saying.

[Esteban1]

They do look like males. Keep up the good wor!

[Buggy]

Ok, I went through all the plants and did a water flush to clean out any old water and old ferts. Also washed off all the neem from the outside of the pots so it didn't build up.

And... most seem to be boys. :mad: No for-sure females either. :( Crap.

What are everyone's favorite ideas for using the boys? (other than fire wood?) Hubby wants to smoke them, but knows there's little THC in them. He also wants to put one outside for a bit to allow us to collect some pollen to make seeds in the future. My thought is lots of butter or hash. Never did either of those of course before, so... Yep, gotta do a lot of reading.

Now for pics to keep up the records.

1) Possible male
294679

2) No indication
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3) male :(
294681

4) male
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5) Male
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6) no indication
294685

Two more sets... Give me a minute...

[Buggy]

7) no real indication...
294686

8) male
294687

9) male
294688

10) male
294689

11) male
294690

12) 95% likely male
294691

[Buggy]

13) possible male?
294692

14) male
294693

15) unknown
294698

16) male
294694

17) male
294695

18) maybe male?
294696

19) unknown
294697

so... 8 that have some chance of being female (SOME)... 11 can be chopped? Will be deciding soon. *sigh* Even with 4 plants, we should likely have enough medicine to last my husband until we can have more produced. *sigh*

[catbuds]

Males are quicker to declare sex than females (usually), so the ones that haven't said a word are probably girls. You can increase your chance of females with ethylene gas. Its easy to do this old school. Just place bowls of ripening fruit around. Bananas & peaches ripen fast & therfore put out a higher concentration of ethelene than say apples. Keep an eye peeled for those damned little fruit flys! Put pest strips (hanging) in your grow space, if they still make them. I do this the same time I put them in 12/12. The youngens with their high tech ways would have you going to great expenses with filled tanks of manufactured gas & emitters, but not necessary. Your biggest expense my way might be eliminating fruit flys. I've never had the need to try & 'turn' males to females, but it might be worth the try since you have so many males.
You could let your fastest male mature, then collect & save the pollen in something small, like a 35mm film canister or sm baby food jar & store in the freezer. Unless one of the guys have an idea what to do with them, I personally would turn them into compost. You could dry & smoke the leaves & get somewhat of a buzz, but I can't stand the taste. Up to & your guy.
Peace!

P.S. you can use your neem oil on those pesky little fruit flys. Prevention & cure! ;-)

[Buggy]

Thanks Catbuds! Hadn't heard about M2F idea before. Ethelene uses will be my next search for info. :)


Shopping list: Bananas - some ripe, some semi (must have some to snack on later!)
more sticky traps
sand to keep other eggs laid (have a cloud of the ijit gnats right now)

Recently read of some who make the males into butter - not sure if he wants any medibles or just smokables. We'll see. But I don't want to keep so much space used just for dang useless boys. They will get culled or moved tomorrow. :)


EDIT:
Found this on another site (bing search), which was taken from a plant site:
Functions of Ethylene
Ethylene is known to affect the following plant processes (Davies, 1995; Mauseth, 1991; Raven, 1992; Salisbury and Ross, 1992):

â?¢Stimulates the release of dormancy.

â?¢Stimulates shoot and root growth and differentiation (triple response)

â?¢May have a role in adventitious root formation.

â?¢Stimulates leaf and fruit abscission.

â?¢Stimulates Bromiliad flower induction.

â?¢Induction of femaleness in dioecious flowers.

â?¢Stimulates flower opening.

â?¢Stimulates flower and leaf senescence.

â?¢Stimulates fruit ripening.

Ethylene has been found not harmful or toxic to humans in the concentrations found in ripening rooms.
In fact, ethylene was used medically as a anesthetic in concentrations significantly greater than that found in a ripening room. However, ethylene is often targeted as the reason for difficulty in breathing in ripening rooms; what can affect some people is usually either:
a) Carbon Dioxide (CO2,) levels: CO2, is produced by the ripening fruit in the room and levels increase over time, or
b) Oxygen levels: The oxygen in the room when loaded is taken in by the ripening fruit. This sometimes will make breathing in a ripening room difficult. The increased CO2, and decreased oxygen levels are the main reasons for venting the ripening room.


So I may have been wrong in what I said before.

Now here's the kicker, 5 grams of ethylene costs roughly $600 USD.




(thus, will be doing this as well for future grows! And tomorrow we'll be getting bananas.)

Catbuds: Do you have fruit around the entire time of blooming, or just the first while until showing strongly female? How affective is it in your opinion (what are your general m:f ratios? :) Thanks!

[catbuds]

I usually have to ask other people to save me pollen! But I also soak my seeds in apple juice, hoping that may also encourage feminism. Not sure, it doesn't hurt. Once I decide what I want to continue out if my grow, I revegatate then clone. Now a days, I usually only use seed if I have nothing to clone from. Hell I haven't changed strains for around 25yrs, maybe more. That's the reason for my posts about small strains. All the new ones out, & I haven't tried them yet! Right now I have no seeds or anything to clone from, so I'll be hitting up the seed banks. There are threads on here about re-veg if you want to give it a try. Play around with stuff, it's fun. Hey fun's a girl thing, remember Cindy Lawpener (spelling)? LOL! GIRLS RULE!

P.S. almost forgot to answer your question. I usually keep fruit in there till the buds are about the length of the first joint on my pinky finger. Change out the fruit before it rots. Guess you figured that! Ha! Ha! Get the guys thoughts on ethelene too. There's more than one way to do anything & they might have ideas on this too. I've often wondered about mango. Hey, it would double as air freshener!

Damned, I'm gettin' silly. Must be past my bed time!
Peace!

[tlranger]

Like they said, once you found the first one for sure the others get easier, compost pile, or smoke if your buy ruling tobacco.

Impressive start, I don't think the fifty-fifty boys-girls is one of m.nature's rules, have seen extremes my self, but forcing sex change, I bet will come back and bite you

Reveging works

[Buggy]

Thanks CB and TL.

All the possible girls are hosting a peach and banana in the pots... They will be frozen and used either as fertilizer or banana bread later on so no waste!

Boys weren't touched today as kids decided to be wanting to spend time with me. :) Can't blame them too much, but the morning shall bring their deaths! (evil cackle! DUNDUNDUN!) The plants' that is, not the children. That would be more frowned upon (maybe?) than my forest. ;)

It's sad that I'm killing off over half of what I've worked so hard on. :( I NEARLY want to go for feminized seeds next time, but too expensive for poor people like me.

Instead, I'll be planting a number of seeds soon to allow enough time for them to be harvested so as hubby doesn't run out of his meds in the meantime. I'll also take some clones from the for-sure good girls too as assurance, and try revegging too. :) Shouldn't be too hard considering all the plants I've brought back from the brink of death (clearance racks at box stores!).


I didn't look closer at anyone today, but I'm planning on doing a half-strength MG bloom boost spray on the leaves in the next day or two. There are no buds started, so it shouldn't be a problem. I'm also working on getting the other nutes for use soon - likely FF or similar. Just have to wait a couple pay days. (big bill this check, birthday right after the next. THEN I should be able to - hate tight budgets, but have to pay for meds and dr visits) Update soon on gender issues.

Also, we're likely seeing a local doc group for his MM certification soon. They aren't badly priced, we just have to do the state fee plus doc fee (under $200 for it all it looks like!) and we'll be able to have 2/3 of the current plants... ;) it's why the nutes have to wait a while. We have good enough nutes although they are a little strong in nitrogen and aren't "organic", but it's OK for a first grow for just him. In a few more grows I'll likely start using my own home-made mix like I do for my other plants, but I'm not positive I won't scar them too hard either right off the bat. :/

More tomorrow or Tues. :)

[Buggy]

Small update.

I did a quick check of the boys this morn (one sickie kid in my house, so not much time to do anything), and one has a female flower on it. :wtf: Effect from the banana in the pot?

Totally a boy before yesterday - balls EVERYWHERE. Will check number later, gotta get to work.

[Buggy]

WOOT! 1 girl so far - #13 of all things. Too bad I didn't see she was a girl last Friday the 13th 2013 ;) LOL! 15 may also be a girl. I think it was #8 that had the single female flower on it? Everything was a bit mixed up thanks to hubby looking at everyone earlier. Oh well. But most of the boys are chopped and hanging upsidedown as someone wants to try smoking them. *sigh* I'll try to get him to make hash at least, but... Oh well.

BUT YAY! First girl! Camera out of batteries, so pics tomorrow. ;)

[catbuds]

Boys beat the blank. Pretty weak & taste like crap. If I smoke too much male I usually get a headache. They make very low grade hash so I never felt it was worth the time & effort. Then again, I silk screened, & there are better ways to do it. Maybe tlranger or shovle can coach you through some better methods. But if it were me, I'd maybe only keep some to tide me over till my buds were ready or I cold get some.
Know about the battery thing. B.S. degree in photo + 20yrs pro. Ruined a wedding I shot once over battery (re-chargeable didn't hold charge), nearly got sued! Horticulture was always my main thing though. Best thing about photog was I could work florist/greenhouses full time & photog on the side. Kept me from getting bored.
Everything will fall into place for you &by the end of next season you'll be asking yourself what took you so long. I can't wait for you to harvest & enjoy your first grow. Its really a big thrill!
Girls rule! PEACE.

[tlranger]

I get rid of all males into compost, no trace and the most good out of it

[Shovelhandle]

zero use for males except pollinating for seed.

[Buggy]

Shovel, Ranger, I totally agree! I really don't think there's any reason to hang them up, but... *sigh* HE thinks he should. Apparently when he was younger and smoking for fun, he and his friends would always smoke one friend's dad's males (grew a lot in his attic apparently, and had a huge can of pollen - which is another reason we're keeping one boy so husband can start his own pollen collection). Yeah. Sure. Whatever.

So far I've chopped down 7 completely.

Two fairly obvious males I "topped" again and have fruit around them JUST to experiment. I'm going to see if it will rebud with female flowers. It's been made fairly short, and I'll LST it if needed, but I'll hide it in the outdoor garden around a forest of roses, raspberries, lilies, and glads IF it rebuds with female flowers. It will stay outside so any pollen released (if it does) won't affect the females. We'll see what happens.

1 is likely male, but I'm still unsure so better safe than sorry so it's not chopped until I see lots of balls on sticks instead of tiny baby balls in a few spots. Peach and banana in the pot to encourage. ;)

5 are still unknown for male or female. Not enough signs yet, but should be soon. A couple show SOME signs but aren't big enough yet to be clear.

4 are FEMALES though! :D YAY! One has TEENY TINY hairs, so it almost was on the unknown list. But no, I saw two barely-there hairs just sticking out of a flower port. :)

So, to compare for my records with the pictures of who's what so far:

1 - unknown

2 - unknown

3 - unknown

4 - DEAD male

5 - likely male

6 - female - VERY small hairs on one flower

7 - unknown

8 - DEAD male

9 - DEAD male

10 - DEAD male

11 - DEAD male

12 - DEAD male

13 - female

14 - male, topped

15 - female

16 - DEAD male

17 - male, topped

18 - female!

19 - unknown


With current use, we need only about 1 ounce per 4 weeks in combination with other medications to generally help with his pain. So if we only have 4 females total, that should be plenty for when these are harvested for us to start a new crop. (before drying, that is). We'll see. But I'm REALLY happy with the current report of 4 girls. :) I've worked hard on these and want a good harvest! Heck, I won't be profitting from the crop other than paying that much less in medical costs for my husband (who's pretty expensive, BTW, with everything he needs let alone his cannabis treatment!). It's gonna save us a LOT of money this way. Very pleased that this should mean that we don't have to purchase more of this med possibly ever again as long as we're careful with out supply and grow cycles. :)

[Buggy]

Error - never mind. :)

[Buggy]

New update. :)

Just keeping records so I can see how it goes from the older pics. :)
1 - FEMALE

2 - FEMALE

3 - still unknown

5 - DEAD now. :)

6 - poss female - saw tiny hairs I thought before but can't find tonight. no indications of being male, so very hopeful

7 - still unknown

13 - STILL FEMALE

14 - male, topped to see if girly flowers appear out of PURE curiosity. Will be dead soon I think. :)

15 - STILL GIRL

17 - male, topped. Seeing how flowers happen with fruit...

18 - STILL FEMALE

19 - unknown still...


So, of 19
6 Gals
10 Guys (8 are dead, 2 experiments to see if ethylene gas can cause female flowers if just from fruit - I'm a science nut, so just for fun)
3 still confused about their future. :)


So 28 seeds planted to start, over 20% end up being producers (likely - no idea if some will herm!). Not too bad all things considered! Possibly even 1/3 are producers! Heck, only 2/3 even lived to show gender because we're new at this (husband dropped the tray apparently THREE TIMES between planting and repotting the first time! some seeds likely lost, some plants broke stems...). Quite happy that we didn't get, say, 20 females! EEK! How can THAT fit in my closet unless they stay in solo cups?!? :D Maybe will do in the future if it's feasible, just to see what happens.


OH!!! Just thought of a good use for male plants - at least the leaves. :) Seasoning! I'll see how it may add flavor to various dishes, as I like to try new things with spices on occasion. :) As they are low in TCH but high in other chemicals and phytonutrients, it should be safe for the whole family although I'll be looking into that before I let the kids try any!

[Shovelhandle]

I was reading something recently about juicing raw cannabis and how good it is for you, leaves and all. The thc acid is not active on the brain until decarboxylation process (heating) which changes this to the active cannabinoid thc. I plan on using my leaf as described next harvest.

[catbuds]

I also read somewhere cannabis is a whole food, if you include the seeds (which you would eat whole, not juiced). Just keep in mind that ANY leafy substance dulls the cutting edges of the extractor basket & you get a brand that gives you the option of ordering new ones. A lot cheaper than replacing the whole juicer. (Helpful household hints from the cheap old biddie). LOL.

PEACE.

[Buggy]

Oh, also wanted to put how I just calculated how much electricity I'm using. :)

Looking at my electricity rates and what I'm doing with lights this time, for a total grow I'm paying less than $20 for lights I think. As I'm not needing any extra fans, cooling, etc over what I already have (fan going in the same room most of the time, so closet doors open often for air circulation), it's really cheap. That's with 4 40watt fluros during veg (yeah, not enough IMO for what we had going, but it was a start grow with limited funds! next time, it'll be less plants with the same amount of light so should be even better results). Flower is 10 23w CFLS.

So far, I THINK I've only used about $9.51 for lighting since we started nearly 2 months ago. For a while, though, the plants were outside so that did help SOME with the lights. But from here out, I should use another $9.56 if it's 6 more weeks, or $12.75 for 8 more weeks. We're 2 weeks into flower so far... :) So at most I'm GUESSING it's $23 in electricity for the plants. :)

CHEAP. If I stay with the same nutes (likely wont, but if) I won't need more for another 4-5 grows at least!

All I'll need is to get more soil each time (depending on the type I get, could be cheap or could be not so cheap... About $24 for what I got this time)... And containers. I think we'll try for 1 gallon ones next time with a better SOG method with small plants put into 12/12 very quickly - about 2 weeks after breaking from seed. Just to see. :) We have enough 2 gallons in case we veg longer with less plants. All depends on the number of plants, mostly.


As for genders, tonight's thoughts in next post to keep things organized for me. :)

[catbuds]

Hey Buggy! Your plans sound great. I grow on the cheap indoors too. Dont need much since my indoor is only 'tide me overs' till the much bigger out door grow. Dont know if you've done this already or not, but flat white paint around your grow room/closet will reflect that light back unto the plants for optimal light usage. I sometimes lay a fluorescent fixture on the floor, on its back between the plants. Provides extra light where plant would be shaded, that plus the white paint adds a boost at minimal cost.:smokin:

~~~~~~~~~PEACE!~~~~~~~~

[Buggy]

WOW. Ok. Just went through them with a fine-toothed comb... well, at least, with a magnifying glass! :)

1 - GIRL
2 - GIRL
3 - GIRL
6 - GIRL
7 - GIRL
13 - GIRL
15 - GIRL
18 - GIRL
19 - GIRL!


WOW. Catbuds, you were right - all those that hadn't made up their minds basically were girls. A couple I was thinking were likely boys but were given the benefit of the doubt, were boys. One I thought was likely a boy, has two TINY SKINNY hairs coming out - one from one spot, one from another.

Also, one looked completely gender free until I saw the end of a tiny skinny hair sticking out of the flower bud. It's less than 1/8" long, but it was a hair sticking out of the right spot and it wasn't dust - I tried brushing it off just in case! :)

The two boys that are in there don't show any flowers again yet, so no idea how my experiment is going yet.

Will be giving a 1/2 strength of MG bloom fert tomorrow or Saturday too. Also, since I'm dealing with ANOTHER set of stupid fungal gnats, I'm doing an aspirin-water foliar feed first for increased robustness against pest problems (I don't have a local source of willow branches, which I'd use instead if I could for plain salicylic acid bath for the plants). I'll also be getting a lot of diotimacious earth to put on the soil to kill the jerks. :) Hate bugs. I'll be mixing in a decent amount of DE with the soil from now on when planting or repotting. Heck, I may go to the store to see what other ferts I can find easily Saturday that has less nitrogen than my 15-30-15 mix currently. :) If I can find a decent priced organic and microbe introducer I'll likely do so as well. :)

Wow. If we even get 1/2 ounce per plant dried, we'll have enough to last until a next harvest. If we get the higher end of what's possible for a new with my set up, we'll have enough for a YEAR! WOOHOO!

[tlranger]

It's nice to see the girls start, the difference is there after you have seen both. I have to watch elec, sometimes they quesstimate and it comes back later. But it's still cheap for the hobby, and what you get for our time a effort.

[catbuds]

They put new 'smart meters' in my area a while back. Read it right from their computers, no more estimated bills. If you still have the older type meters, you MAY be in for a suprise when you get your 'actual reading'. See when your last 'actual reading' was & count forward 3 months & then you should know when your REAL bill will come in. It may varry by area, but ours used to be quaterly. Forgot about that. Hope you don't get an unpleasant suprise. If you have the newer 'smart meter', then your good to go.

~~~~~~~~~~PEACE~~~~~~~~~~

[Buggy]

Catbuds,

I estimate electricity cost because of the actual charge they have for electricity per kwh - not the bill. Heck, the bill for now goes to my parents and we pay them back from there! And with how much we have to run the air/heat at our place, $10~ more per month doesn't affect it much. (husband's pain is greatly increased with high or low temps...) Also, we do get a larger bill every few months because our gas is from the same company but is only quarterly for some odd reason. But, as we're dealing with just my income, my parents are helping us with a few basic bills when needed right now too - until disability starts, at least, which could be another 5-12 months...


Also, getting mosquito dunks tomorrow I think instead of the DE. I'll do DE for each soil set in the future, but the dunks should kill those larva for me and a vac plus fly strips should get the adults. *sigh* yay for Walmart being right near my work! I'll check to see if they have any decent ferts too (depending on the store, you can find some odd good items too! Found some really good things for the outside garden in the past, so you never know).

[catbuds]

MG is nasty. Sometime you'll taste that shit in your buds, even when you've flushed well. Watch out for walmarts store brand called expert gardener. DON'T get it, just a cheap version of MG. If you're stuck with MG or equalivent, don't use it past mid bud. Find a fish emulsion somewhere, but still flush prior to harvest. If you can't find something healthier than MG, still stop using it mid bud & go to plain water. The buds will end up a little smaller, but they won't be full of metalic chemicals that you can taste & are not healthy for you, & the bud will taste much sweeter. Use 1 Tablespoon epsom salts per gal of water toward the end (omit for last wk). This will add magnesium, if deficient in this, bud will not burn when you try to smoke your dried harvest. While there are better liquid organics than fish emulsion out there, they're more expensive. Fish emulsion is a good food & you can't beat it for the price.
~~~~~~~~~~~~PEACE!~~~~~~~~~~~~

[IHaveSixCats]

I was going to use MG but I went with an organic. While flushing she started getting bad bud rot so forget flushing. I will go all organic next year

[Buggy]

Catbuds - Wait. I'm a bit confused. I thought from all I've seen that for flowering you want less nitro? Isn't fish emul just high nitro?

I was only planning on using MG for the next few weeks at most anyways, as it's so high and doesn't need to be used much to keep them happy. :) I do have a few products I use for my outside stuff, but didn't want to mix poorly with this grow. :/

Looking for more organic-types this weekend. I may flush, I may not. Depends on the situation and how much chemical ferts I used. Considering I just flushed, if I don't use chems again before harvest I don't think I'll need to again until 24-48 hours before chop time. We'll see.

[tlranger]

You know I'm just quessing, But it seems if you get a high quality organic fertilizer- bat guano, sea kelp extract, molasses, teas all can have some N in them, but it seems to act different than when you dump a bunch of chemo salts on your plants

[catbuds]

Ranger, your right. Chem nitro seems to over power everything. Plants seem to take up only the amt of nitro needed when its in a natural form. Also, orgaincs feed the soil, chemical nutrients bind up many organics & make them unavailable to plants.(&you're right Ranger, its the metalic salts that does this).

Fish emulsion npk varies from brand to formula. Here's one that will knock your socks off. Not the cheapest, but I like to get it by the gal. & it goes a long way, so it's more than worth the price. Go on line, look up Spray n grow. Family owned & operated BTW & organic. You want Bills Perfect Bloom. It says hydroponic on the label, but goes both ways. They have 3 formulas, Bills Perfect Fertilizer, Bills Perfect Grow & the bloom. Good organic soil + this shit, & you'll be amazed. Foliar feed, root feed, & its fish based. The only product they have that I don't like is their wetting agent. I think its called cocoa wet. Fine for other plants, but burned the leaf tips on my herb.
~~~~~~~~~~~PEACE!~~~~~~~~~~~

[Buggy]

So I got mosquito dunks, will be using tonight. Will water with them until the pots drain. They have plenty of water in them now, but the stupid bugs have to go! lots of sticky traps for the adults too. :)

Also, the only organic fert at Walmart was Miracle Gro organic choice. Not too bad. I also looked at the liquid transplant formula that was there (which I already own), and saw the ratio is 4:12:4. So for now I'm going to use that. I also already have compost that I'll make into tea for the next watering as well, and will be putting that on top for now. Plus the bone meal and we should have happy plants. :)

DUNDUNDUN.

Next time, I'll likely be using half prepared soil, half my own additions too. Do it already in the garden, why not inside? :)

[Buggy]

I'm glad I kept two boys - even if I did top them like I did.

After reading a LOT online, and after finding out what other people do with their boys, looking into science and gardening studies and biology details, I think I've agreed with the conclusion that males also produce a large amount of cannabinoids including THC glands.

See the crystals everywhere? NOT MY PICS - found online on a "pics of males" thread. :)
294824

294825

294826

294827

294828

Anyone try this before? Smoking the flowers of the boys like you do the girls?

[catbuds]

I'm glad I kept two boys - even if I did top them like I did.

After reading a LOT online, and after finding out what other people do with their boys, looking into science and gardening studies and biology details, I think I've agreed with the conclusion that males also produce a large amount of cannabinoids including THC glands.

See the crystals everywhere? NOT MY PICS - found online on a "pics of males" thread. :)
294824

294825

294826

294827

294828

Anyone try this before? Smoking the flowers of the boys like you do the girls?

I have. Didnt like the taste & it gave me a really bad sinus headache, but that could have been due to my pollen allergies. In the 1970's I read of making hash with both male & female. Not sure, but I seem to think the technique that was used was just called rubbing. Gently rub the plants between your hands to have the resin stick to your plams, then rub your palms together to roll off little black balls of hash onto a white sheet. Gather the balls, press together & what you will have is a soft black hash. Being male, the pollen will change the taste, but if you aren't sensitive to pollen & you don't mind the taste, give it a try. Won't cost a thing but your time. (Won't be much, just a cool new thing to try out).
~~~~~~~~~~PEACE!~~~~~~~~~
I heard someone refer to this as growers hash. If anyone knows the correct name of the technique/finished product, I'd like to hear it. When I tried it with females only, it was the best hash I ever tasted. But I wouldn't do it with my nice buds, only the ones that were 'running'. Light & fluffy with no substance. Some of out sativas did this one hot summer when we couldn't get the growroom temps down.

[Buggy]

Either way with the boys, we're down to 1 of them. Because of space with the current lighting, I want to allow enough space for the gals to grow so one isn't going to be put in the center of 4 of the others. I may get rid of him too this time. In the future, we'll likely start with fewer and let them veg a bit longer. If we do, at least I know what I'll do with the boys. :)

last night, I treated all of them with mosquito dunk tea and crumbled some more on top of the soil and put some in the runoff trays so any gnat larva near the runoff holes would die for sure too. :) I also added neem oil to the tray water to help kill any adults that get too close.

Today, I did a full flush to help wash out any older chemicals (I think I only watered the soil with fertilizers 3 times, and sprayed the leaves two or three times, so they weren't too concentrated either way). I filled the tops of the pots with water fully twice (about 2-2.5" on the pots), so even if it wasn't a huge flush it should still help. :)

I also found out that the local water was tested at 7.2 out of the faucet somewhere in my township recently (my water authority gave that info online), so I'm also thinking about how to make sure the soil isn't too high in pH too.

Just thought of a random thing - if needing to neutralize acidic soil, what about baking soda? Going to be looking it up just to see. :)

I also put in some half-day-steeped compost tea with the compost that also had some bone meal mixed in (appropriate amount for the amount of soil I'm working with). Before adding it, I put in a 1/2 strength dose of MG transplant ferts which is a 4:12:4 formula - it was overdue for a feed.

I'm considering a rudimentary pH check as I don't have a meter (I have enough OCD without encouraging THIS - I'd check 4 times a day and work until it was PERFECT knowing me!) with vinegar and baking soda. If it's too high, I'll work on some orange juice or coffee grounds with the next time I feel I can safely water since this was two days in a row with HEAVY water.

But the plants look REALLY happy right now! Even with all the water, they are all perky and nice green other than a couple spots that showed it needed nutes. I'll be also getting some molasses this week, which will be in every watering too from here out. With that and the bone meal and wood ash (we have LOTS of ash thanks to a woodworking and pyromaniac hubby...) added once plus the organic ferts for later, I think we'll have happy plants. :D

[Buggy]

First shows a female's white hairs early after first showing before being full grown (before anything being done today to them)
294855



These? These are my happy plants. :D Taken a half hour ago only!
294856 294857

(ps - last two pics show some leaves with the compost slurry still on them, was waiting for it to finish drying before being brushed off - did so right before lights out. some deficiencies also able to be seen on the leaves if you look closely)

[catbuds]

You sure they're not a tad overwatered? They're starting to look it, BUT I am looking at a really really sm pic on a cell phone. The next time you flush, do all the water run-throughs at the same time. Just keep filling pot to the brim & let it run through, when it stops dripping, do it again. I do it at least 3times. Don't water or flush again till surface soil is dry. Over watering isn't how much water you give them at one time, but how wet or moist they are when you apply water again. Letting the top of the soil dry between waterings/flushes is how air gets to the roots. When soil is too wet for periods, the roots can't get air/oxygen & the plants show signs by the leaves yellowing. As I said, cell ph, xtra sm pic, but it kinda had that look. Just checking, not accusing. Iron deficiency also has a yellow look, but more golden. If you ever suspect this, take a bunch of nails & put them in water till they rust, stir/slosh it around once in a while & get them as rusty as you can. Apply both to soil & foliar spray. Even if u have no deficiency it won't hurt. Sometimes I just shove a nail into the soil as prevention. Check all this out with your plants & post back. I'm concerned about the color & I'm hoping its just the pic & not the plant. You know you don't always get true color with an image.
~~~~~~~~~~~~PEACE! PEACE!~~~~~~~~~~~~

[catbuds]

Wish I had a computer so I could highlight what I'm looking at & post it back to you. Can you take a wider shot so I can see your light set up? I'm not seeing what I need to be seeing for a fluorescent set up. I'm not sure if its not there, or just not in the shots. Ill explain what I mean when I see a wide shot. Make sure you show all your lights in it.
~~~~~~~~~~~PEACE!~~~~~~~~~~

[Buggy]

Crap. had a reply all written out and my comp decided it had to restart for "maintenance". Grrrr.

Catbuds, for your concern on color, is it just the color on the last two shots? We JUST changed the bulbs to all 2700K color bulbs. The first pic in my last post is from the old lights under 6500K, the other two are the new bulbs. Color is how the first pic looks, that's how they ALL look. But, is the concern from any other the other plant pics? They all look nicely green to me. the flowering light (2700K, HPS type color, and a couple other options I've seen) all make the colors look weird. Only lights over 3500K let plants look normal IMO. the last two pics, again, are with the 2700K lights. I do, however have a couple rusty items outside that I'll harvest from if I see any signs in the next few days - I'll be keeping an eye out in case. :) With the flash I've used, it has been flushing out color recently, but I've also been keeping an eye on the newest leaves coming out in the case that maybe they are low in iron (they seem pale, but are they paler than new growth should be? I'm just paranoid and OCD, so I'm nit-picking more than needed ;) )

[Buggy]

As for the flushing, I did flush twice on most of them, 3 times on a few - waited until it was running clear for a full flush. I NORMALLY don't water until the pot is nearly as light as before it was watered the very first time. I've only watered once a week at most in the past. I don't top up, I don't do anything until it's light. But I did water a bit early when I did yesterday, but I really did need to kill the bugs if I wanted a better crop - so I did. And, I wanted to get rid of any old ferts that could cause problems or locks as they were showing a need. Heck, I've watered each time with half nutrients just because it's only once every 7-10 days! :)

They were VERY VERY sad after the shower, but perked up more quickly than usual when we put them under the new lights - thus they seem happier than usual. I'm pleased with their response. Again, I'm planning on more lights quite soon, trying for 2500-3000K lumens per square foot as it's not too expensive. Next time, switching to HPS 250 since it'll always be a small grow. We'll also be getting the air circulation set up in the next couple days to make sure it doesn't get too hot. I went ahead and kept the closet closed today after the flush to see how they did with the lights and how hot it got. It wasn't bad, but more than it had been with the other lights, and it likely will be more when I get the proper reflectors in place. Thus we'll need the air circulation going to help.

Oh, another thing weighing down the plant was from the compost (manure-based) slurry that I poured on. Many leaves still had some on that I was waiting to finish drying for an easy brush off instead of having to wash it off. If you see the greyer areas on the leaves near the bottom? That's the compost slurry leftovers. ;) There are a couple leaves that show an edge spot that looks like calcium deficiency or such, and one or two leaves on four plants that looked like they were low on phosphorous - which is why I flushed until the water was coming clear (especially those that showed anything).

I hate overwater issues mostly because I lost many of my best, highest-costing plants this year that I had just planted this spring (10 months after moving into the house) when our neighborhood had a lot of back-yard flooding in June. I didn't realize that the flooding-prevention pipes buried at the back end of all the properties here were not working or I'd not have planted them all there. :( Fortunately, most of my roses made it (no idea HOW!) although I lost most of my daliahs and ALL the heritage varieties! So mad about that, although the one I got because it shares my daughter's name survived at the DEEPEST part of the flood! No idea how unless it's just as stubborn as she is... ;) But it was hard, really, to water this much on these plants but I want them to have the best chance they can have to make what my husband needs (it's been hell dealing with this pain for the past nearly 2 years, on top of the periods where he threw out his back on occasion before that)... *sigh*

[catbuds]

Ok. I was seeing 2 different kinds of yellow. The brighter surface yellow I took to be from warm lights. It was the yellowishness coming from under that worried me, but since you had 2 light sorceses, grow lights & flash competing, cameras auto light balance tries to compensate & ends up with off color tones. Well that's a relief now that I know where that was coming from. Ok now, as long as you do the rusty nail thing & let them dry between waterings/flushings, the only other time you should see yellow leaves is when the buds are nearly ripe & the sun leaves have been depleted of nutrients & are just begining to die. This is natural & indicates your buds will soon be ripe & its a good thing. Whew! That was kinda scary.

Hey! Panicking over color is a GIRL THING! LOL!

~~~~~~~~~~~~peace!~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[tlranger]

I'm kinda afraid your gonna kill them with kindness.

Couple of questions- males- pretty pics- maybe if I saw one like those then maybe, but I want the males gone long before that. Finger hash - when handling,& green trimming females, resin will accumulate on scissors and hands and can be collected, never seen it come from males.

Why do you want to force a sex change? Doesn't sound very natural, especially if the victim is going the other way, think it may bite you in the later.

[catbuds]

I have a 6' light track, used to have a 400hps on it but it finally bit the dust. I'm kinda glad. Had heat issues with it. Wanting to go down to 250 & just add more fluorescent side lighting plus I always lay a (tubular type) fixture on its back shining straight up. Next time I grow indoors will be in a LONG narrow closet in a camper (its at least 8' long). Hoping to be able to keep temps down when I throw the 250 in there. Someone ripped off my entire outdoor garden this year & at the moment, I have absolutely nothing. First time since 1972 that I've nothing to harvest. I don't know how to act!

~~~~~~~~~~~~PEACE!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[catbuds]

Ranger, I was kinda leaning that way too, that's why I stressed letting soil surface dry before watering. Since she'd been using MG, I didn't say anything about all the flushing because that shit gives you a lot of salts build up. Normally, I'd say that was too much flushing, but I kinda make an exception when its MG. BTW, What are mosquito dunks? Never heard of them. You sure they're safe to be putting in/on the soil? I mean for both the plant& the smoker? If pest strips & the vac aren't dealing with the gnats, is there water sitting in the catch pots/ trays? That's a no- no. Ranger, you catch anything I might have missed? Gotta help her, she's trying awfully hard. You seem to be concerned about the sex change thing. It was just an experiment. You're safe. I swear I won't let anybody try that on you! Hehehe! Oh lord its past my bed time & I'm getting goofy! Nite all!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~PEACE!~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Buggy]

Ranger, the sex change is just for the fun of it! I've nearly always had some sort of odd science experiment going on somewhere in my home. When I was a kid, I was testing what solvent would eat through plastic the fastest and didn't take into consideration what it would do to the marble sink under the cups... My parents were NOT happy. :D I just wanted to see if I can get any female hairs to pop from the boys - just for fun.

And I would NOT flush this much unless there were the salts from the MG in there that might be causing issues. When I found out that the water here was a little higher now than it had been (was 6.8 before, now 7.2ish), I wanted to make sure that it wasn't locking anything out from the plants.

Catbuds, the dunks are safe for ponds, marshes, even water troughs. "Made with Bt-israelensis (Bt-i), a highly specific biological pesticide, this product represent a major breakthrough for people and the environment when compared with the traditional toxic chemical approach to mosquito control. Will NOT harm people, pets, wildlife or fish." Also, the MDS from the EPA says no hazardous or toxic components... It's also recommended under gnat control on multiple MM sites, which is where I got the crumbling it onto the pot itself. There was no water sitting in the catch trays other than with NEEM twice now, but the closet isn't too far from a well-used bathroom which is a good water source.


Next time for watering is likely a good 7 days away. If it looks like they need a specific nutrient, I'll likely foliar feed with a soft cloth or paintbrush to the leaves only - same for any foliar feeds from here out. Love leaf feeding for the quick response I usually get with my garden, and cannabis doesn't seem any different. ;)

Pics up in a minute. Then I'm off to the store to see what I can find for more lights and camping blankets (the reflective type) and molasses!

[Buggy]

Ok, pic: (cfls turned off to show color better)
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I originally was going to have the lights zip-tied to a 2x4 hung over the plant tops, but this way the lights are able to be adjusted somewhat to the height each plant needs. The leftmost front plant is the male, and has most of the leaves stripped so far. And the girls ARE showing water stress today, which is why the closet is being left open with the windows open for air flow. As I get more lights, they will be hung separately from their own cord near the top so I can move each light separately (current lights are on extensions that have 3 sets of 3 plus each, which causes us to only have 2 strings of lights currently. I'd like to have up to 18 lights going, personally, but not sure how feasible that would be. It would be more electricity that we're running now, so we'll see if it's needed. Heck, if we stick with just a few plants from here out, we'll likely not even go HPS. But I'm more likely to want 1 grow per year in which case it'll be easier to do it that way. :)

Oh, a quote from Planetnatural.com's ad for the dunks: "The active ingredient in Mosquito Dunks® is Bacillus thuringiensis subspecies israelensis. (B.t.i.). B.t.i. is a bacterium that is deadly to mosquito larvae but harmless to other living things." "As the Dunk® slowly dissolves, it releases a bacterium which is toxic to all species of mosquito larvae. Mosquito Bits® are a granule that contains the same active ingredient found in the Dunks®, but unlike the Dunks® the Bits release the larvicide immediately."

About the bacterium: "Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) is a bacterium that lives in soil and is deadly to insects. When ingested, Bt produces a crystalline protein that kills cells and dissolves holes in an insectâ??s gut. It has been used as a pesticide for decades and is approved for organic production, due to the fact that it occurs naturally in the soil and doesnâ??t persist in the environment long after spraying."

The "Bits" are literally just small pieces of the Dunks, and as I broke them up very very very well they will dissolve within a few weeks at most within the soil. We have 5-7 weeks until harvest. Also, many crops have been genetically modified to produce the same toxin that these bacteria do, except at much higher levels than found naturally (those thousands of times higher concentrations than when the bacterium is spray-applicated is leading to it being found in human bloodstreams, but from consuming corn and other crops modified to make the toxin). Fortunately I'm using smaller amounts.

It's another thing I may try to see what happens - get a male plant that I keep taking the bud from, and way-overdose with Dunks to see what it does in the weeks after. :) Would not use the pollen from it, though - just watching to see any effects.

[catbuds]

Geez girl, me too on making parents unhappy! I had to take everything apart to see what made it work! I'm why I never wanted kids. I knew if I had one just like me, I would have KILLED it!
The MG is why I hadn't said anything about the frequent flushings. I know of no other plant food that leaves behind as much metalic salt deposits as MG. Ugh! I don't mind it as a foliar feed tho, as I wash my plants a lot as a preventive, so no problem. You can do a quick fix as a foliar feed when you see a deficiency crop up. I would just filter my organic slury into a spray bottle & apply that way. Quicker & easier with same results. I was going to say you're making this more dificult than it has to be, but.......I now see this is play for you, your entertainment. I'm surprised your scientific mind hasn't broken everything down to the molecular level & you haven't posted pics of microscopic slides proving you theories yet. So now I'll be waiting for that! LOL!
Hey, I'm a zip-tie kinda girl too. I actually built a sm storage shed & put it together with zip-ties, greenhouse tape & gorilla glue! Everybody laughed at me, but that was about 5yrs ago & its still just fine. (Somebody stole my deck screws & I was in a hurry).
Thanks for the info on mosquito dunks. I should have asked sooner. Farmers ponds behind my house really LOADED me up with mosquitos this summer. I'll pass that information on to him.
Everything sounds good & you seem happy to have a project that occupies your scientific side! What can I say? GIRLS RULE!! HEHEHE!~~~~~PEACE!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[catbuds]

Ok. You said somewhere earlier you had 4' fluorescent fixture ( assuming 2 tube shop light)? I would put that back as over head light & use the cfls as side light. You can even go a couple wks into flowering with that before you add the 250hps. Their color is good. I'm assuming you don't have other lighting in place, just what is shown in pics? Correct me if I'm wrong. If you have lights not in the pic, that would void the first three sentences in this post. Crap! Unexpected company. Be back in a couple hours.

PEACE!

[Buggy]

Hi Catbuds. Don't think I haven't thought about the close up looks, but my daughter broke my good microscope a few years back (FOR REAL) playing with it and I'm too busy and dirt poor to get another good one. I also won't get a cheap one since it will just annoy me. ;) This IS a ton of fun just learning, tweaking, and enjoying it. It's my way of dealing with my OCD/depression issues - I'm busy enough with kids, husband, full time work, and I make myself have something I concentrate on (generally gardening). But nothing much to do outside right now other than weeding and I used a lot of Preen out there. :)

Oh, and I'm working on paper the molecular level of the chemical reactivity of the ferts and how they break down and how the plants' reactions create pH changes with the ferts, etc etc etc. I want to add sawdust (maple only since they have less bad chemicals that can hurt other plants, unlike the walnut and oak that is also used a lot in our basement woodshop) which raises the pH (just a little bit of sawdust to counteract the woodash, bone meal, and 7.2 water)... but that requires adding nitrogen for the breakdown although not a lot but you have be cautious about how much because as it is broken down by the plant and bacteria it creates more acidic conditions which partially reverse as it is used... Also, I find it REALLY weird that wood ash is alkeline and sawdust acidic! So odd - on my list of things to find out why and what chemical structure changes happen with the burning process to make that happen...

Back to the plants. Girls look happy, the buds are REALLY starting to look like they "should" from the pics I've seen online. one plant is being a bit slow, but the others are really taking off. I'm looking into the gardening/botany debate of whether removing some/most of the vegitative growth helps to produce more and/or higher-quality fruit and how this corresponds to MMJ. I've seen some claims that it really helps, some that it hurts. I'm nearly wanting to try it myself with ONE plant to see what happens. It won't be conclusive as it's not the exact same DNA and conditions as any of the other plants (topping was different, different days... different amounts of water, different DNA, etc), but it may be a start of more research and information for myself and my growing habits both for MMJ and the rest of my garden (berries mostly, actually).


For lighting, I had planned on just the 2700K lights, but after a bit more research it seems there's better results with the combo of lights (more tricromes). It will also be easier to provide good coverage with the lights by adding the tubes back up. Will do likely tomorrow. Thanks!

The boy has not had any girly flowers on him at all, and he's gonna bloom shortly so he's outta the closet and in the garden for a couple days (burried in a variety of plants so people don't notice) - as soon as he blooms, I'm taking so pretty pics, gathering a tiny bit of pollen, and chopping him down. That pollen I'll be using to create a few seeds on one of the girls - that way, if husband likes the product, we can grow it again. I'm planning on trying to reveg the girls, but I don't know how successful I'll be and I don't know if we want to keep the plant going during the winter if we don't need to produce right away either. I want to try the fruit from the start of flowering phase next time, and specifically see if I can get a boy to throw girl flowers ONLY BECAUSE you can get a girl to throw boy flowers - I just want to see if I can make it happen without a ton of work and stress and effort and MONEY just for the fun of it. :) Just to see what it takes to do it - not for production of bud, not for how to make it always happen, but rather just see what it takes to make this plant turn female if already genetically male/leaning male. :)

So much I'm still researching. At least this is keeping me from drooling over all the plants I COULD BE ORDERING to put in my garden that I just can't afford to get right now. I could spend an easy grand or two each fall and spring in plants and supplies for my garden. But again, I'm poor. REALLY poor, until at least my husband gets his disability. It's why he's not yet certified with the state for MMJ use (we're saving up - next weekend we see the doc for the paperwork, and the paycheck after we'll send the paperwork to the state). Not having to pay for expensive meds every couple weeks will help - just a few more times of buying them and we'll have our own! :)

[catbuds]

I know what would be right up your alley.... on line studies, biophysics/biochemistry & horticulture. High humidity ruined my microscope one wet summer. Lense fungus grew inside the lenses. I used it for fecal flotation, testing my animals for intestinal parasites. I also zoned out looking at insect eggs. Yeah, I can't afford to replace anything either. Sm disability check. We have a lot in common, tec freak, science geek & no money to pursue our interests.

On the sex change thing, there are rooting hormones that can influence gender too. Go online to get their names & which ones influence which gender, since I forgot, & that will add to your arsenal. I think playing is fun. So, if all this can affect a complete sex change, male to female, would the plant then be trangendered, or just a drag queen? LOL! (Just kidding, it would be transgendered ofcoarse!).

Girls just wanna have fun!~~~~~~~PEACE!~~~~~~~~

[catbuds]

P.S. Remember photosynthesis. Don't remove the leaves. When I harvest, I pop off all the sunleaves just before I cut the plant. Only because when you cut the plant & they start to wilt, they want to cling to everything & they're easier to remove before they wilt.

[Buggy]

OK, after a NASTY week of illness, nutty work issues (people out from being sick, too!), and regular life, I'm back!

I've done NOTHING until today since last I posted other than lifting the lights and redoing the lights completely.

After being sick, I looked at the girls after 2 days without checking and found one with a burned leaf right ON one of the lights. OOPS. But it's just 1 fan leaf at least. Also, a few fan leaves' stems are a bit red, so I'm trying to make sure the CFLs are a bit further from the plants now. This is a bit of a conundrum though: The closer the lights are, the more efficient the lighting is - but the closer they are, the HOTTER the plants are! Sheesh! Instead of being 2-4" away, they are now 6" from the CFLs and about the same from the fluros (have to have that space so as the CFLs can have access to the plants, too).

So, for lighting, I have 4x4' 6500K fluro tubes directly over all 9 girls (they JUST reach from the center of 1 side to the center of the other), then 9 CFLs around the edges so far but more will be added soonish. 3 cfls directly on one end, 2 on the other, and the others in between on the back side. More will be added on the near side mostly when I'm able (need a few more parts and possibly more bulbs - only 3 are unused right now for lack of parts needed to use them). 12 on, 12 off of course.

The soil is still quite damp since last weekend, which is normal in my situation for some reason. So they are not going to be watered likely until next weekend. If any seem too light or dry during the week I may water then - we'll see. Very few gnats around now, although I did stir the soil slightly to check for larva - I did find some so I made a Dunk slurry that I sprayed on the top LIGHTLY (heavy amount of dunk ground up in there, though) to kill them. 1 spray bottle that fit 16 ounces was not even half-used over 9 pots.

One anomaly: #19 still is not "budding"! I SWEAR I saw tiny hairs on her, and I didn't look really close again... But there are no signs on her of being a boy either. So... I don't really know! It's been 25 days - TWENTY FIVE! - since I switched the lighting, but... but... I don't know! So the side that has the 3 cfls have them surrounding her in the hopes that the extra light helps. Two theories: 1) was a boy that the fruit around him changed him but not enough to throw flowers, just to stop the male flower production. UNLIKELY, but ya never know. 2) Something has shocked her that she's not coping with well, even though all leaves seem healthy, she's quite bushy, and she's not growing out like in the Veg cycle. 3) She's an anomaly which just doesn't flower properly - genetic malfunction. Most plant species occasionally have such problems, especially with inbreeding if there are any bad genetics - same with animals. It's possible that whatever strain this is, that there was enough inbreeding of the strain that the bad genetics just combined on this one plant to keep it from maturing. Most likely from what I know of animal biology, although I know little other than some theory of this in plant genetics.

With the single male, I've put him outside now as he was flowering. The tiny boy flowers are actually quite pretty in their own way before the pollen is released. :) I will be repeating this experiment with just the fruit next time. I am thinking it is likely that females show their gender more easily with increased outgasses from the fruit (but how much is enough I wonder? hmmm...), and it's POSSIBLE that a male will throw female flowers with it as well IF the gasses are in enough proportion and introduced early enough in the flowering process to work. Because of how late I started, I've given up for this time. BUT, next time I'll be using the fruit from the time they could begin to make preflowers - before I switch the lighting. Heck, I may even do it from the time they have their first set of true leaves just to see if it works. :)

I am letting him live a little longer for two reasons: 1) I got some pollen to create seeds on ONE bud site so if he likes this strain enough we can create more, especially if my reveg attempts don't work. 2) I'm going to keep an eye out on trics to see where "peak" harvest may be, just to see what quality they are for medicinal use for my husband - we'll see what he thinks, as he wants to try it. It's just for fun, and as he's outside I have no worries about more pollen going anywhere I don't want it to. :)

Also, as we have so many girls (8 or 9, don't know!) I decided to go ahead and strip the fan leaves off one girl that is nearly exactly like one other that was just next to it - same size pot, same number of bud sites, same height, same health from what I can tell, etc. JUST to see how things go. I fully get that more photosynthesis means better growth, but what sort of growth do the fan leaves promote? do they promote better bud growth, or would the lack of fan leaves allow more bud growth as they see more light and the bud's leaves get all the light then? I do know it goes against the SOG method in many ways since there is no sea of green anymore there, but... Well, we'll see. Also, when I was redoing the lights, one of the lights fell on that plant and snapped off the top of the bud - the top-most bud and the set right below it both came off. Because of that and because I wanted to see what happened, I decided to experiment with this plant. It's also the one that was pollinated - luckily the bud site I chose for that was below the break point! :D So I thought, oh well, since it's already trying something new, lets go all out! Heck, we still have 7 or 8 more girls after this one, so... I'll be keeping an eye on how it does. I also did mark the spot I pollinated just to make sure I know where to check. :)

Other than that, the only news is that I don't see much of a difference for me really between the effects of marijuana and alcohol - at least, past the first 20-30 minutes - other than I have a slightly befuddled brain in the morning. I don't drink much even when I do, so... My husband suggested trying marijuana for a nasty headache I had this week that my regular meds didn't touch. I didn't help, in fact. :( It may just be the strain, but unless we have a specific strain that helps generally for migraines, I doubt I'll use again anytime soon. Meh, just not my thing - I like my mixed drink on occasion. Heck, if we get a tincture sometime together and I have a migraine and don't work the next day I may try it then. But... *sigh* no real point for me. Alcohol hits me just as fast - I'm a lightweight! :D

(Once a king or queen in Narnia, always a king or queen in Narnia! Love these stories - watching the end of the older movie right now... Can't help it!)

BTW, pics when I can. Seem to have lost the cord for the camera.

[Buggy]

OH! Totally forgot. I found a site that has NPK values for basically EVERYTHING. :) LOVE IT.

N-P-K Value of Everything (http://www.lundproduce.com/N-P-K-Value-of-Everything.html)

Very good for thinking about what needs adding. ;) I'm looking specifically for P and K right now for what I have easy access to that I can add right in as a top dressing or water in, which is why I found it. :)

[Buggy]

My favorite possible additions:

Banana! :) (has TONS of k)
Apple skins (PK)
cantaloupe rinds (PK)
coffee grinds (mainly N)
Lemon skins (more P actually! surprising as Grapefruit and oranges are mostly K!)
Molasses (K)
Orange rinds (K)
potato skins (p but BIG K)
Potatos in general, too (K)
Firepit ashes (K)

Note to self - things that can be used when we need certain ingredients. :) (common for my home, at least!)

[Buggy]

Hi all.

Looking back at everything and guessing at the planting time, it looks like we're just over 11 weeks into this entire process, 4 weeks into flower now. :)

I have two leaves total showing issues. One plant has what looks to be either K or Ca issues (all will be solved later today with the watering) - just started showing yesterday. One other has one leaf that looks like heat stress so the CFL was moved back away from the plant to help and the plant turned. Everything else looks happy.

Top couple inches of soil are nicely dry, so I'm doing a full watering today - just enough to allow a LITTLE water start to come out at most. I've added some wood ash as a top dressing with sawdust mixed in to even out the pH between them (also with the bone meal added previously and my just-over-7 water, all should even out nicely with their chemical interactions).

So, adding crushed TUMS and a bloom fert here in a little while after going out to buy milk. :)

Other than that, everything is growing GREAT. My one "test" subject is doing OK, but it's hard to tell with less leaves whether it's growing more bud or not. It seems to me to be either equal or slightly less than the gal next to her, but the real way we'll know is in about 4-6 weeks when harvested to see how all is after being cleaned up for drying. She's still peachy keen and growing, but nothing extraordinary so far in any way. One girl is looking GREAT - trichromes on a TON of the leaves as well as buds developing very well. I will be pollenating her later I think on one bud in hopes they will keep so nice. :)

#19 finally started getting hairs this week on all shoots, things look really good on her even though she's a late bloomer... ;) I think we'll be chopping them over a few days or even weeks! - each plant when she's ready. I'll also be trying to reveg them after the chop, so we'll see how that goes. :)

My male is outside and has been attacked by bugs. :( So sad. So he's being fed MG bloom and sprayed thoroughly with pest spray to keep it from continuing. Just hoping to get some more pollen as I want to get seeds outta the one lady that is growing so well! I'll also be marking that bud site to make sure that I leave it in place longer (it will be a LOW bud site) so as we get better quality seeds. Just hope we can get the pollen soon enough! Also hoping that it will do well for his pain.

Husband's new pain doc not HAPPY that he's using MMJ as it is still technically illegal with the feds, but he'll still treat him. One med was upped and really helps although the doc stopped another pain med that's the "main" type of med used for pain... He's still in a lot of pain, even with the MMJ. He's also having issues sleeping so I'm looking into what types to use next time for his issues. We'll use bag seed for now, and we have a few batches. :) I'm also planning on using 1 gallon containers only next time and topping more for more branching, likely vegging for only 4 weeks to allow a 12 week grow. Currently he's using less than 1 ounce per month of decent strength, so we should be able to grow more than enough. Heck, we'll be able to start playing with trying different forms rather than smoking - need a vaporizer, but can try that, cooking with, tinctures, etc.

:)

Buggy

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(last is #19)

[Buggy]

Hi all. One week later, all is still good. No water needed today for most of them, so I'm holding off a few more days on that. Everyone seems happy other than the couple bad spots from light burn from before, and then one bud spot that acted weird.

I didn't get a pic, but some of the sugar leaves started turning black and then white right at one of the buds. I looked VERY close but did not see any evidence of rot or mold, so I'm not worried. It didn't grow or expand, and those leaves were no where near a bulb (6-8" from any CFLs, 4" from the tubes). So no idea. The bud is continuing to grow nicely, so I've decided it's a NOOB's anomaly.

Some of the buds are 3ish inches tall now and 1.5" across, so it's a good start. Others are smaller (especially #19 - she's quite small in bud still, but she'll be harvested much later I think since she started much later!), but all seems to be doing very well. One plant has GORGEOUS big buds all over and tons of "sugar" sprinkled on her. Another has one cola with nice size and the other about regular size (compared to the others). Most have buds from the tips to the bottom leaf nodes all over. So excited to see how well everything is growing!

Side note: I didn't get to see them, but apparently a friend of ours that we KINDA know decided to grow some himself. He ended up with two girls (cut the boys down) and both were over 6' tall! He just chopped them, which I'm wondering might have been a bit early since it's still in the 70s most days in our area and we're a month away from decent freezes from the looks of it - he might have had a LOT more growth I'm thinking, but again I didn't see them. My husband did though, and he says the colas were over a foot long and easily wider than a can! WOW! Oh, and the friend doesn't use cannabis: it's for my husband! :D Likely no need to grow again until spring I'm guessing! But we'll see what the quality is. Also, if he just chopped, we'll likely not need to get any from our normal source again! Well, maybe a LITTLE while we wait for the friend's crop to dry and cure. :)

It's so much fun seeing how everything grows. Also, I think we'll make some into oil or tincture to see how well that works for him - I'm hoping it works well and he likes it. It will be a LOT better for him, and then there will be no need to worry about the kids or anyone else smelling the smoke on him. Much more discrete, and likely will work longer and better for him from what I've read/heard about. I'm also looking into doing capsules for him too. :)

Pics:
1) How low buds go (also shows fertilizer splash on bottom leaves from a watering where I didn't pull the front plants out to water the back ones - thus the water splashed and I forgot to rinse after)
2) one of the larger buds
3) another bud, shows upward growth of bud
4) sugar everywhere!
5) one of the largest buds
6) Some of the plants wide view! (color differences are from the tubes, CFLs, and the camera flash - they all look good to me other than a couple brown spots!)

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Also, I've decided the next time we grow inside we'll be adding perilite to the soil for better drainage. The right-most plant in the front still shows some water stress a week later and the soil is quite damp (not sitting in water, but was watered enough a week ago for it to drain just a little through). I'll also be using screening in the bottom of the pots instead of jiffy-7's to block soil from escaping - they drain pretty well, but I think the soil is a bit compacted.

Oh, I also added some CO2 with vinegar and egg shells this week, and put in a fan for added circulation. I moved a few leaves back to the stem a bit so they were out of the way as best as possible from the buds. I'm also planning next time to add side lighting - but we'll also likely be growing more consistantly starting next time inside a wardrobe which could fit up to 6 of my current size plants on each level I'd do, likely just 1 level though. Already have the wardrobe, just have to use it! I'll also be composting and being careful about what I compost for the planting material to make sure I have the right levels of nutrients the plants need. It will be mixed into the soil when planted, but then we'll do a top-dressing at bloom time. :)

Oh, I also noticed that there was very little stretching of the plants since we started the bloom period. Some, yes, but not the 50%+ I expected. I MAYBE got anther 25% at most on any of the plants. Well, #19 may have reached 50% now, but that's about it. Didn't expect that - it's why I made sure to keep them short. Next time I'll do a little topping to make sure there are 2-4 branches but tie them down for better lighting instead of more branches. The light in SOG is just not getting down enough so far with all the leaves to grow the buds enough I think. We'll see how they look at harvest, but...

I'm also going to progressively harvest them as they are getting ready. Some of the hairs are starting to turn on a couple plants, so I know it's time to start watching the trichs in another week to see when they are ready. Some plants will for sure be ready ahead of others - #19 likely will be harvested 2-3 weeks after the first if not even longer! We'll see. So much fun with all this! :D At least I'm not turning any marble yellow with this... ;) LOL!

[Buggy]

Catbuds! Guess what? IT WORKED!!!!

It's been weeks since the boy got pulled out of the girls and set outside. I had planned on spraying it with insecticides to kill off whatever was eating the leaves (Can't remember the name of the bug off hand - odd as I like bugs!)... Also all the pollen sacs were dead when I last checked. I left it, said "whatever - no big deal"...

JUST checked it less than 5 minutes ago. Lots of pollen sacs all over which is nice as I don't want to lose this strain if we like it. Gonna pollenate a couple gals that we like to looks of as soon as the flowers open on the pollen...

BUT THEN I LOOKED AT THE BOTTOM SET OF SACS!!!! THERE IS A FEMALE FLOWER! Sorry for the shouting, but I'm SOOOOOO EXCITED!!! WOO HOOO!!!!!!!!

Ok, not gonna be doing this normally, but still!!! This means that this plant will get seeds from which can be used just for making another male specifically, and maybe I'll work at continuing the experiment next time with the fruit for this plant's seeds specifically just to see what happens. :D

For those of you who don't understand the purpose:
This is just for fun. I'm not *TRYING* to make all male plants female for increased production - although, if I could find a way to do so it would be kinda neat just for the fact it can be done. But a male throwing a female flower??? YAY!!!! :) I'm a nerd, I love trying new things and seeing if I can make things happen or seeing what will happen with different conditions. I'm growing for my husband's medical use, but enjoying my own science experience with it too. :D

EDIT: (at least to what I was going to first post) I looked harder and found ANOTHER female flower and took some more close ups. THEN, when I cropped and saved the REALLY close up photos, I see a THIRD flower with hair coming out! :D


Whole plant:
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First female flower I found with the original pic:
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Same one from above:
295533

Other female flower I found, look at top right to see tiny white hair emerging as well!
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Anyone else have experience with males throwing female flowers? :) Just curious. Looking forward to drying this guy too with all those crystals too!