o2blopez
02-11-2007, 10:35 PM
I have never seen such a helpful site with so many people looking to lend a hand to one another. What a cool place. This is my first post ever and a buddy and I could really use some help. We are hoping to be welcome here and any comments, advice, or suggestions anyone has would be greatly appreciated.
Many years ago I threw some commercial seeds in the ground next to my house and actually took about 10 females to harvest. The end result was not even worth smoking but I know now that was due to a lack of knowledge and especially of the curing process. Months ago I told a close friend that I believed I knew enough to have a basic hydro system successfully pan out. He was keen to the idea and bam we jumped in.
We located 5 Mazar and 5 Blueberry seeds(said they were feminized) and set out to grow 2 of each. My friend purchased a kit that seems to have included all we needed at least to get where we are now. Our experiment 1st began on 11/9 with germination. After the 1st day they had cracked and sprouted. I would have put them in rockwool after day 2 but had to wait for buddy to return to town. On 11/14 he returned and we took the seedlings and put them in rockwool inside 6 inch nets surrounded with this reddish pumice looking stones that came with the kit. We had no enclosure built yet so we put them in the corner of a basement and used a 65w light I had. We were a bit lazy and didnâ??t get the enclosure built for 2 weeks. The corner where they were I believe was too chilly and although they were well on their way, I definitely believe the non-ideal conditions at this point were slowing things down a little.
On 11/28 the enclosure was finished. It is about 5-6 feet tall, 4-5 feet wide, and about 3-4 feet deep. We took the seedlings in their respective rockwool and plastic nets and put 2 each in 5 gallon tupperware containers that have a pump in each that supplies a stream of water to the rockwool. We lined every square inch of the enclosure with mylar and even put it on the tops of the Tupperware because we were under the impression this could aid in growth. We used a 400 w mh and with an electronic timer began a 18/6 light cycle. The only nutrients we gave them were some plant food that came with the hydro kit, some SuperThrive my buddy and I thought theyâ??d like, and my buddy insisted on food spikes in the rockwool because he said they seemed to really dig them :) Every week we increased the light cycle by an hour until we got to 20/4.
It was 60 days, give or take 1 or 2 until we were able to see very tiny pre-flowers on all 4 test subjects. We felt that this was the proof we sought that the seeds we used in fact truly were female. We changed the light to a 250 sodium but not before leaving them in complete darkness for 30 hours. This was I believe 1/29 and we were excited to say the least that day 1 of the flowering stage had begun. We changed the light cycle to 12/12 and there they have been for 13 or 14 days, which brings us to today.
My ingenious partner in this experiment read that 10/60/10 would be wise to use as a flowering nutrient mix so purchased something called SuperBloom which arrived yesterday. We decided in an attempt to slightly stress the plants that we would starve them of water for 24 hours and that tonight when the lights go on at 10 p.m. they will get their first taste of nutrients during this phase.
All of this has brought us to the present and we are fearing the possibilities of this wonderful experience ending in despair due to potential mistakes from lack of knowledge. Please let me reiterate(if not yet obvious) that we are complete beginners and we are hoping for advice on absolutely any facet of what weâ??ve done and are trying to do. This being said there is a multitude of things I am seeking help and answers with and think it would be easier if I list them for simplicity.
1. 3 of the girls have recently run out of room with distance and 1 is past the light and the light can not be raised any higher. We have always been afraid to crop them but feel that we should at least for now center them inside and pull the tops to the their respective corners of the enclosure so that less of the them will be missing out on light. The 250 w sodium bulb appears to give out much much less light than the 400 w mh and we are feeling maybe we should be pruning off many of the big leaves that are blocking light to the lower limbs.
2. Are we retarded with stressing the girls out a little by starving them of water and nutrients for roughly 24 hours? If we arenâ??t wrong than should we ever do this again during the flowering stage?.
3. For strands like Blueberry and Mazar how many days roughly should we be expecting they should flower? 60ish? Did we make a mistake by growing 2 different strains under 1 light? Will we most likely harvest them at different times?
4. From what we have researched we feel the curing process seems to be the most important yet also seems to be the easiest to screw up. Like how exactly and for how long do we dry them? Do we remove everything but the flowers and hang upside down somewhere? How long do we do this and should it be dry or humid or drafty there? After we dry them are we supposed to remove the flowers from their stems completely, further prune, and relocate them to a different climate and environment for a period of time? Weâ??d really be feeling a lot better if we knew what to expect from here and how not to have had this project been in vain.
5. If we are successful in our experiment what can we roughly expect in weight for our personal enjoyment? Is ¼- ½ lb. per plant reasonable or very far fetched?
6. So that the end result doesnâ??t taste like SuperBloom nutrient lol how long before harvest do we flush them with just water and how do we know when to do this?
7. If you prune off the main leaf on a stem will the flowers on that stem not grow or should we be doing this everywhere to promote light to the lower branches?
8. Is 10/60/10 SuperBloom good to be using, is it all we need or should we obtain something else or in addition to?
9. We have done nothing to ventilate said enclosure except often leave the doors open and blow a big fan on them lol. What might be some suggestions on a quick yet inexpensive way to ventilate yet also contain the overwhelmingly precious scent we will soon be facing?
10. And lastly does it look like we might be on the path to a successful project that will produce some tastly little dragons :jointsmile: to play with or will this probably result in a painful pipe dream :( ?
We do not have too many pics but I will try to upload whatever I can and will tell my buddy to take more depending on if anyone here wants us to. Thanks in advance and thanks again for having such an awesome forum.
Sincerely,
Lopez
Many years ago I threw some commercial seeds in the ground next to my house and actually took about 10 females to harvest. The end result was not even worth smoking but I know now that was due to a lack of knowledge and especially of the curing process. Months ago I told a close friend that I believed I knew enough to have a basic hydro system successfully pan out. He was keen to the idea and bam we jumped in.
We located 5 Mazar and 5 Blueberry seeds(said they were feminized) and set out to grow 2 of each. My friend purchased a kit that seems to have included all we needed at least to get where we are now. Our experiment 1st began on 11/9 with germination. After the 1st day they had cracked and sprouted. I would have put them in rockwool after day 2 but had to wait for buddy to return to town. On 11/14 he returned and we took the seedlings and put them in rockwool inside 6 inch nets surrounded with this reddish pumice looking stones that came with the kit. We had no enclosure built yet so we put them in the corner of a basement and used a 65w light I had. We were a bit lazy and didnâ??t get the enclosure built for 2 weeks. The corner where they were I believe was too chilly and although they were well on their way, I definitely believe the non-ideal conditions at this point were slowing things down a little.
On 11/28 the enclosure was finished. It is about 5-6 feet tall, 4-5 feet wide, and about 3-4 feet deep. We took the seedlings in their respective rockwool and plastic nets and put 2 each in 5 gallon tupperware containers that have a pump in each that supplies a stream of water to the rockwool. We lined every square inch of the enclosure with mylar and even put it on the tops of the Tupperware because we were under the impression this could aid in growth. We used a 400 w mh and with an electronic timer began a 18/6 light cycle. The only nutrients we gave them were some plant food that came with the hydro kit, some SuperThrive my buddy and I thought theyâ??d like, and my buddy insisted on food spikes in the rockwool because he said they seemed to really dig them :) Every week we increased the light cycle by an hour until we got to 20/4.
It was 60 days, give or take 1 or 2 until we were able to see very tiny pre-flowers on all 4 test subjects. We felt that this was the proof we sought that the seeds we used in fact truly were female. We changed the light to a 250 sodium but not before leaving them in complete darkness for 30 hours. This was I believe 1/29 and we were excited to say the least that day 1 of the flowering stage had begun. We changed the light cycle to 12/12 and there they have been for 13 or 14 days, which brings us to today.
My ingenious partner in this experiment read that 10/60/10 would be wise to use as a flowering nutrient mix so purchased something called SuperBloom which arrived yesterday. We decided in an attempt to slightly stress the plants that we would starve them of water for 24 hours and that tonight when the lights go on at 10 p.m. they will get their first taste of nutrients during this phase.
All of this has brought us to the present and we are fearing the possibilities of this wonderful experience ending in despair due to potential mistakes from lack of knowledge. Please let me reiterate(if not yet obvious) that we are complete beginners and we are hoping for advice on absolutely any facet of what weâ??ve done and are trying to do. This being said there is a multitude of things I am seeking help and answers with and think it would be easier if I list them for simplicity.
1. 3 of the girls have recently run out of room with distance and 1 is past the light and the light can not be raised any higher. We have always been afraid to crop them but feel that we should at least for now center them inside and pull the tops to the their respective corners of the enclosure so that less of the them will be missing out on light. The 250 w sodium bulb appears to give out much much less light than the 400 w mh and we are feeling maybe we should be pruning off many of the big leaves that are blocking light to the lower limbs.
2. Are we retarded with stressing the girls out a little by starving them of water and nutrients for roughly 24 hours? If we arenâ??t wrong than should we ever do this again during the flowering stage?.
3. For strands like Blueberry and Mazar how many days roughly should we be expecting they should flower? 60ish? Did we make a mistake by growing 2 different strains under 1 light? Will we most likely harvest them at different times?
4. From what we have researched we feel the curing process seems to be the most important yet also seems to be the easiest to screw up. Like how exactly and for how long do we dry them? Do we remove everything but the flowers and hang upside down somewhere? How long do we do this and should it be dry or humid or drafty there? After we dry them are we supposed to remove the flowers from their stems completely, further prune, and relocate them to a different climate and environment for a period of time? Weâ??d really be feeling a lot better if we knew what to expect from here and how not to have had this project been in vain.
5. If we are successful in our experiment what can we roughly expect in weight for our personal enjoyment? Is ¼- ½ lb. per plant reasonable or very far fetched?
6. So that the end result doesnâ??t taste like SuperBloom nutrient lol how long before harvest do we flush them with just water and how do we know when to do this?
7. If you prune off the main leaf on a stem will the flowers on that stem not grow or should we be doing this everywhere to promote light to the lower branches?
8. Is 10/60/10 SuperBloom good to be using, is it all we need or should we obtain something else or in addition to?
9. We have done nothing to ventilate said enclosure except often leave the doors open and blow a big fan on them lol. What might be some suggestions on a quick yet inexpensive way to ventilate yet also contain the overwhelmingly precious scent we will soon be facing?
10. And lastly does it look like we might be on the path to a successful project that will produce some tastly little dragons :jointsmile: to play with or will this probably result in a painful pipe dream :( ?
We do not have too many pics but I will try to upload whatever I can and will tell my buddy to take more depending on if anyone here wants us to. Thanks in advance and thanks again for having such an awesome forum.
Sincerely,
Lopez