"Kinda wild" Trial grow

Hello all,

I decided to pop a few seeds a friend grew in the yard. The original seeds were "high end" however with no males around I have no clue what fertilized the female. Thus I'm calling it "kinda wild". There are a lot of legal grows about 10-15 miles up wind from my friends yard. So it may have been something decent. But who knows?

I have just become a legal user and thus have been reading all I can about growing. However having never actually grown a full plant. I figured I'll need a little hands on before I buy some clones. So, I have not decided on a stain yet (still trying the various wares at the dispensaries).:thumbsup:

These are simply to try some LST, Test how often I need to water, and just basically mess with something.

I "popped" the seeds in a bowl. Then just dropped them on some organic potting soil I had laying around from a local greenhouse. I misted them with filtered water a few days until they got going. This was all under a single 23w CFL and a 15w floresent. Yesterday I bought 2 48" shop lights, with 4 plant/aquarium bulbs and built a "canopy" fixture for this, and all my future babies.

I added a couple somewhat lousy pics (cell phone). My only question would be,.. What is the advantage of underpotting? Is becoming root bound helpful in some way? I potted in roughly 3 gal pots I had laying around, But could still easily repot into smaller pots if need be.

I'm only watering with staight filtered water. PH might be a little high but I'm not sure(my salt aquarium test is 7.5-8.9 ish) Intended for reef systems. I think my PH is just under 6.8 from the tap, because I always raise it for the tank.

Pic1: Light fixture. Closest is the first seed to "pop".

Pic2: Second seed to "pop". Fell over yesterday and stood up with fresh water. "Popped" one week ago tomorrow.)

Pic3: First seed to "pop" (fell over this morning, popped back up after some water. Second leaf set is starting to be seen. Popped 1 week ago today.)

The seedling in the middle took three more days to pop then the other two. It has no pic of it's own because there's not much to see. However it seems to be growing much slower then the other two. I've barely seen any expansion of the first set of leaves over the last two days.:wtf:

Also the dark back ground is actually a huge window. It's currently blocked by a wool army blanket to block the direct sun light. However with no views in that window, I could have direct sun light (through glass) after they get a little bigger.

Maybe the plant was hermi!!

Anyway, starting them in a big pot don't cause any problems, imagine in nature, it's a pretty large pot!!

It will only be a bit longer for it to grow great foliage soon, cause it will establish roots first, and there is a lot of room.

If you wanna grow with fluos, I recommand you T5 or cfls, 42 or 26 watts, they are the most efficient.

Ph is not that important, tap water, let it sit for 24h, then water your plant. For fertilizers, begin around 1st month of growth, and start with 1/8th the recommanded amount. Then build your way up slowly. Less is better!

For LST, there are a lot of threads here, do a little search!! Basically, it's just bending branches to allow better lighting for the lower ones...

Take look at my grow log for infos, or ideas!

:thumbsup:

Thanks Monkeybone,

I don't plan to grow under just floresent, it's just intended to be used to for starters and future clones. I plan to buy a couple switchable ballasts and convert a 6'x10' room. However that is the future:thumbsup:.

I've read a few posts about LST. These plants purpose is simply to try a few of these technics out before I spend money on an intentional clone grow. I plan to try LST on one, while doing some bonsi mom stuff to one of the others.

Once I get my lighting and ventilation bought. I'll buy a crop worth of clones and get a real grow going. I also plan to build the cloner I read about here for future grows. If all goes well with these seedlings I may go buy a single clone to grow into a crop worth of "self rooted" clones once I'm ready for them.

Thanks for the potting info too. I thought this was likely the case, but wasn't to sure. I may repot them today while the soil is still pretty loose, just to increase root binding. I can move them back to the huge pots later.:thumbsup:

the work gradually up seems to mean every time you water and feed the gurls then you need to up the dose just a little bit. i kinda got caught with my pants around my ankles by not upping the dosing correctly.
and they will be fine in a 3 gal pot. you might have to transplant to a 5 gal bucket before they are done but no big deal right??
have a merry christmas..
-J

three days later.

I repotted them into smaller pots three days ago. This didn't effect two of the three, plant 2 however is mildly twisting it's leaves. I'm thinking it's likely due to the overwater during re-potting. I have given no nutes yet, as we are still inside 2 weeks. I am thinking it will be needed soon though.

They look great today(other then that minor twisting on 2). So, I removed the window blocking blanket to expose them to some sun today (threw 2 panes of glass BTW).

I don't plan to water again until the soil drys out almost all the way. I also plan to add a couple/few CFL's to my hood today. I might also improve on my hoods construction with some sheet metal. We'll see.

Pics 1 and 2 are Plant1 (first to pop)
Pic 3 is Plant2 (with minor twist)
Pic 4 is plant3 (last to pop)
Pic 5 is all 3 plants

Last pic I took.

I think they were all stressed a bit during re-potting BTW. I noticed the growth slowed a little on all three, Just to throw it out there.:thumbsup:

Today I finally added the CFLs to my home made hood. Decided I should document it. :thumbsup:

I just bought ceramic sockets and a 15' wire. I riveted the sockets to the stainless reflector I robbed from the aquarium, Then wired the three in series and soldered it together. My total wattage is now 160w in tubes and 81w in CFLs, adding up to 241w. I noticed the tubes had a lot of red. So I bought 5000k 100w(equiv) CFLs to bring up the blue. They didn't have any 5500k or 6500k. My total lumins is 6400 from the tubes and 5250 from the CFLs, for a grand total of 11650 lumins.

I suspect they've recovered from my overwatering re-potting. They each have a set of three finger leaves expanding and a new set forming. None have grown taller but they are growing leaves much faster now. :thumbsup:

Pic1: The hood with the CFLs off (Phone can barely handle it).
Pic2: Plant one with newly expanding 3 finger leaf set.
Pic 3 All three plants under all the lights.

i like your hood.. if you bought it somewhere you should tell me where i can get one. i thin that i want to go up to 6 bulbs and i need a good way to keep all of the light on the babes..
hope it was cheap enough i can afford one..lol

-J

Good luck with the seedlings.

Shov

Thanks for the comments guys. They are LOVING the new lumins today!:thumbsup: They're growin like weeds!:jumphappy:

The florescent fixtures are the $10 ones at HomeDepot with 4 of the $10 aquarium/plant(2700k/1600L ea) bulbs. Totalling $60.

The reflector itself came from a local hardware store and cost me $6. But that was about 5 years ago. It's just a polished stainless sheet, bent to reflect. I'd guess they are still available somewhere. :D

The CFLs were a little more complex. I bought 3 ceramic sockets rated to handle up to 660w at 240v. they cost $3.97 each. Then the 15' power cord for lamps cost $5.98. I already had the rivets, rivet gun and soldering iron. the CFLs were on sale at $4.97 for two bulbs.

Total cost for the entire fixture adds up to $90.??.:thumbsup:

pic1 and 2: a look at where the reflector is jammed into the florescent fixure's seam, also can see riveted CFL socket.

pic 3 is how I used coat hangers to force the lamps to angle off the hanging chains. The cross piece of hanger is causing the to fixtures to hang evenly to each other.

It's basically all held together by gravity. :thumbsup:

sounds like a fun project to me..
i find the doing is half of the fun with this hobby..
-J

Today is two weeks. Technically plants one and two are a couple days older, but close enough.

I have tons of new growth. Plant one now has three finger leaves on the two forming branches and the next set of branches has leaves starting to unwrap.

Plant two is just about one day behind plant one with the same branch leaves. Just a tad behind though. This ones twisting original leaves have staightened out to normal. However you can see one of the newer leaves has a little twist.

Plant three is catching up to the other two very quickly.

I'm going to start nutes sometime this week.

Pics 1 and 2 are plant one from top and side.
Pics 3 and 4 are plant two (with twisted leaf)

I'll post again with plant 3 and the row

ok first two pics are plant 3

Last is the row

Staring to get excited! :thumbsup:

I also wanted to mention that I've noticed differences between the three.

Plant one has leaves that are bulgy in the middle then kinda smooth out to the point (less jagged). When you look down at them.

Plant two has thicker leaves when you look staight down at them, and the edges are very Jagged).

Plant three has shorter stockier leaves then either of the other two. Short stocky and Jagged. I also have noticed that plant three's leaves always look a little dusty compaired to the other two.

All this from the same bud too!

They are really stretched! But they look healthy, that's what counts most!

:thumbsup:

I guess I don't understand stretch then.:wtf:

I measured the height of the plants last week and the first set of leaves are the exact same height as last week. The only change in height is the new growth out the top. All this new growth is Jammed together at less then 1/4 inch between nodes. In the side pic of plant 3 you can still see the "seed yoke" stuck to the side of the stem(hasn't fallen off). This too is exactly the same height from the soil it was five days ago.

Were these stretched already a few days ago, before the new CFLs? If stretch isn't a plant growing tall to get light (which these arn't). Then what is it? Are we talking the leaves kinda pointing up instead of hanging?

Now I'm all confused. The stems are not growing(although they look thicker to me today). The original seed leaves (Round) are my original measuring point and they are still the same height from the soil as last week.

Which leaves 1/4 inch between nodes is "really" stretching?

Dang-et!:(

This enquiring mind wants to know (Before spending money on good clones)! After all this grow is just to test the waters and see what I might do wrong. :thumbsup:

i think that you are right vance.. they are not stretching... they DID stretch already.. that is why they have a couple inches above the soil for the first set of leaves.. and a 1/4 inch is stretch but i think that it is in the OK margin.. i allow/encourage a bit of stretch before the first set so that when i transplant i have some room to work with.. ya know?
unless you are pumping some serious lumens onto the babies then they will stretch a bit between nodes and that is ok unless you have a 1000w MH on em then something is VERY wrong.
have fun and if i am wrong someone will step in but i am fairly sure im right...
-J

Cool, thanks Mainegrown.

I thought they may have been a little tall last week when I added the 3 CFLs. However since then they have gotten not only the CFLs, but direct sun light every day as well. I've been watching the growth (checked about every 30 min :D) and thought I was seeing almost no stretch. I've seen pics of some tall lanky girls out there, some with a foot+ between nodes. I plan to have these under a stronger light source ASAP. Just don't have the $$ this week.

I may put these into flower after another week or so as well. I'm thinking of buying some clones soon. These could all be males, so not sure yet. My reading seams to be up to par(pun intended):thumbsup: So, who knows. Still need to try some LST and might just chop a top off to see how a healing works out on this plant for myself.

Thanks again.

give em a try if these is your 'test crop'.. see what LST topping and all that is about..
i would let em go until you see pre-flowers. then you would know wether er not it is worth flowering them.. i kinda got really lucky and i was SO outta smoke that i just threw mine into flower WAY early.. i think that if i had waited until they were around a month older they would have been so much better looking now.. and they can only be forced into flowering just so much earlier then they want to..
you can only force nature if you are willing to accept the consequences.. like small/low yield plants
play with ur gurls for a while in veg.. let em grow and bush out. top one, bend one and let the other just go au natural..
just my :twocents: take it or leave it, but its free all the same
:greenthumb: good luck bro
-MG

Looking good Vance! I agree, test 2 method on each plant, but make sure to put spacers under the topped and especially the LST plants because you want to still keep the canopy at the same height. That's the pain I'm working with now. I have my first to flower all LST'd up and in a 3ish gal pot & the other two flowering naturally in 1 gal's but they're getting taller already even though the smaller pots are like 6" shorter...Oh, I also dig your light setup, looks pretty pro for just a cheap DIY project!

Thanks all,

I agree on the whole get to know them idea. :thumbsup:

I also agree redtails, There will be good info from trying all three methods, and I am somewhat troubled by the differences in height I'll see once I do it. I can easily deal with the light being unlevel to a point. But at some point they will be Short, Medium, and Very Tall.

I am just using a piece of string tied to a hook on the cealing. I tied a slip knot in the other end after running it through the chain that came with the flouresent light fixtures. This way I can adjust the height of the light on both or either end.

I've also been running 40 on and 8 off. Just turn the lights off every other night before bed. They love the direct sun light too. I didn't realize this plant was so phototropic. On my days off work I turn them as the sun moves to "try" to keep them straight. But on my days at work. I come home to the tops pointing at the window for a few hours. :D

Pretty cool :thumbsup:

Howdy all,

Day before yesterday I started bending my first plant (plant 1). I just used some soft string I had, tied a loop knot and used a measuring tape to hold tension. I should have started this first bend earlier I think, because the main stem was already quite stiff. All three have a layer which has cracked and tanned a bit on the stem like bark(I assume normal then).:)

So I'm going to post three times in a row here to show each plant. :thumbsup:

Here is plant 1

Plant 2

This one I topped just after the third node about 26 hours before this posting. I expected a slow in growth! However the leaves on that third node grew HUGE overnight and through today. Thus the measuring tape shots. :thumbsup:

P.S. I added the best shot I could get of the cut itself using my phone. I was surprised the cut sapped a tad, then tightened up and dried so fast. All the remaining leaves seem to continue to grow as well.

Plant 3

This little one is the youngest and shortest. thus he/she's going Oh natural. I expect this plant to be the tallest, thus I started with the shortest!

This one also showed some droop yesterday, I watered because it was very dry. Also felt the weight of each pot when dry BTW. :thumbsup:

not that im an expert but i think that you should be looking into finding some bigger pots.. kinda soon
i have had a consistent problem with getting root-bound and that seems to slow/stop growth.. something to think and toke on bro
~MG

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Vancefish

Plant 3

This little one is the youngest and shortest. thus he/she's going Oh natural. I expect this plant to be the tallest, thus I started with the shortest!

This one also showed some droop yesterday, I watered because it was very dry. Also felt the weight of each pot when dry BTW. :thumbsup:

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She is a she!!! Think positive dude! For the stretching thing, your plants looks nice but in the early days they stretched a bit (first set of leaves over soil). Sorry if i've confused you, my english is "good" but not excellent. My first language is french. :D

:thumbsup:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MonkeyBone

She is a she!!! Think positive dude! For the stretching thing, your plants looks nice but in the early days they stretched a bit (first set of leaves over soil). Sorry if i've confused you, my english is "good" but not excellent. My first language is french. :D

:thumbsup:

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Is all good MB. :thumbsup:

I want to call them all she's. I just have some weird habit of calling them he :D:wtf:

I actually kinda knew that was a bit tall early on. Thus added the CFLs and direct sunlight. Beyond that I think they look good. It also doesn't really matter if they are he's or she's. They are getting bent, cut, under watered, over watered, over misted, twisted and just generally harassed!:D

As for Maingrown: I'm not sure I believe the potting situation yet. Most plants have a root ball roughly the same size as the plant is above ground. Some are larger, but they tend to be trees that catch wind. I'd believe this plant being capable of being like a tree in size could have around 150% root mass in comparison to plant size above the dirt? Based on this being a semi annual plant(if someone knows please correct me:thumbsup:). So, these are likely just barely reaching the edges of the pot at this point. Actual root binding will take 2-3 more weeks while filling out the pot to become a mild issue if I'm correct (I could well be wrong).

Plus I've seen bushy plants three times this size. Potted in the same size pot these are in now.

I guess this is just another part of my learning curve.:D Maybe in a few days I'll repot the LST. It'll be the shortest. Thus I'll move it to a bigger, taller pot first. We'll see.

Plant 3 is the smallest. I said in my last post it was drooping. I watered because of this droop(and because it was really dry). However it has barely improved. All the leaves are a little droopy. Oddly it seams, the new leaves continue to grow and swell, but they are coming out droopy too. This being the smallest of the three, and the others not having the issue. I doubt it's root bound. I still haven't bought good nutes. So couldn't be nute issues as this soil likely has at least a few without adding any.

Any ideas?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MonkeyBone

She is a she!!! Think positive dude! For the stretching thing, your plants looks nice but in the early days they stretched a bit (first set of leaves over soil). Sorry if i've confused you, my english is "good" but not excellent. My first language is french. :D

:thumbsup:

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MB: drop by my thread and lets see if we can improve MY french and i will point out anything that is wrong with ur english.. ;) not that i have seen anythin and i have found that many 2nd language english students speak/spell better than most americans.. sad isnt it?


VF:wait a day or two if the 'droopy-ness' dont leave then post a few pics.. but i would imagine over watering.. that is the most common by far.

~MG

Droopy leaves are mainly over-watering. When I water mine, she droops, then 1-2 days later she's all pointing up!

:thumbsup:

High ya! Yo got a bigger pot now!!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by weeding4u

High ya! Yo got a bigger pot now!!

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Hey Weeding4u.

Update: Today Weeding4u and I (Good friend I referred to the forum and will be growing with/for)got 2 new clones. First one is a Durban poison. Second was SAID to be G-13.

We mixed a couple organic composts, bat guano soil, and worm castings, some of my local greenhouse potting mix and some extra perlite to make a nice soil. Then re potted my seedlings (YES they were a bit close if not already root bound). Then we potted up the two new rooted clones into the 6" pots the seedlings were in before.

I was also able to test my water today. It came out to 7.8:eek:. Which I could barely believe. So off to the store, where I bought a soil test strip kit and some PH down. After getting this stuff. I tested the soil PH and found it to be 8 after watering in with the filtered water I've always used. So, I re-watered them in using water adjusted to 6. Hoping I can even that out to around 7 today and lower on the next watering.

However the Phosphorus, Nitrogen and Potassium are all just barely higher then perfect.

Weeding4u also brought me some type of fish emulsion stuff. I was thinking since these are SO wet and this soil so rich, we'll wait until the next or following watering to add this.

I'll get pics up after they all stabilize. At this point they look almost the same as before. Except bigger pots! :thumbsup:

Hoot! I know I have girls now! :thumbsup:

Pics of plant1(pics 1,2):

After re potting today I decided to start the next bend to aim the main top around the pot. I figure as long as I stressed it already a bit today, I'll start that bend as well.

Pics of plant2(pics 3,4):

This one looks awesome to me. Although I haven't really seen any growth the last few days. I bet it'll grow a lot with the new space and soil.

Here is plant3 (pics 1,2):

This is the droopy girl. Thought it was over watered. I'm thinking Nitrogen deficient mixed with near root binding now though. After soaking it just two days ago, the soil was dry as a bone at re pot today. So, we'll see,..

Pic 3 is the new Durban poison! :thumbsup:

Pic 4 is the new G-13. (?:wtf:) This is questionable as it's said to be a lost genetics line, with the possibility of some cloned mothers somewhere. Most are a cross with something else though, as it's said a cutting(female) was stolen from the CIA. However no male! This happened in the 70's too. Thus most if not all are a cross with this strain.

Edit: I also did pot them deeper to use up some stem. :thumbsup:

Congrats on the new girls, let's hope the other 3 are also! Although 5 teenage girls sounds like a handful!

Hey Frenchie, nous parlon francais, en pur. ;)

live near lake champlain and have morocycle ridning and racing friends in Qc.

Shov

They love the new dirt! :thumbsup:

I could see some change yesterday, but not enough to call it growth. However I'd like to have a record of what they looked like after recovering from the re pot.

Here is plant 1(LST) SHE'S been stretching a little on all branches. Trying to get out from under big leaves. Most of the branches are now poking through. Although branches in the darkest area under the side bent down are having trouble getting to the light still.

Plant 2(topped)

Also loving the new soil and space. This girls lowest branches are just starting to reach through the canopy. Although there is some definat stretching there I think this is the hardiest of the three.

Plant 3 (natural)

This girl looked pretty bad to me a few days ago. Droopy and some minor yellowing. Now I thing she's stretched, but looking good.

And the two new clones.

Pic 1 is the Durban poison

Pics 2 is the G-13(?) When we potted this girl she had wrinkled leaves, some were browned on the tips too. After we potted then I trimmed off the leave tips that were browned to reduce water loss. It now has new leaves just popping out and starting to expand. However two of those messed up leaves are still on the clone and starting to outright brown! Should I remove them or let them keep pulling water as they fade? Then trim after a leaf or two form up top.

Re-potting WAS the way to go too! :thumbsup:

And sorry about the spelling. Eyes and fingers are tired, brain is just :stoned:! :D

Today I decided I need more light! :thumbsup: I'd been thinking of adding CFLs to the hood. Because moving them around to expose more shoots is a pain, AND plant 3 is still stretching.

I also decided to tie back the four upper branches on Plant2 to expose the lowest two, to more light (and shorten the plant a little). However today plant 2 is showing either nute burn or K lockout(I'm going with nute burn). I flushed today with PH set water since it was getting a bit dry anyway.

I added four new 6500K CFLs, wired the same way as before. All are 23W(100w eq). Adding 6400 more lumins!:yippee: Now totaling 17900 lumins. :D Now I just need to add some reflective end caps somehow.