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
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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
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.
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
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!~~~~~~~~~~~
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? :)
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. :)
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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).Quote:
Originally Posted by Buggy
~~~~~~~~~~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.
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
First shows a female's white hairs early after first showing before being full grown (before anything being done today to them)
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These? These are my happy plants. :D Taken a half hour ago only!
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(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)
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!~~~~~~~~~~~~
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!~~~~~~~~~~
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 ;) )
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*
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!~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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.
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!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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!~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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!
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.
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!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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!
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! :)
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!~~~~~~~~
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.
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.
OH! Totally forgot. I found a site that has NPK values for basically EVERYTHING. :) LOVE IT.
N-P-K Value of Everything
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. :)
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!)
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)
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!
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:
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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!