Emmies Grow Log - White Widow
Quote:
Originally Posted by canniwhatsis
Yep, she's gonna need to do some weeding in the undergrowth,.... I went thru my big blueberry SCROG last night and pulled some viable clones from her,.... I'm gonna add to the "Let the cloning begin" thread by posting the results of rooting clones taken @ week 2 of flowering ;)
I have been planning on taking a few more clones (since I murdered most of the last bunch) and then cleaning up a bit under there... but some midterm tests got in the way this week. I am going to try the bubbler method this time to further my experience. But, to do that I need to make a trip to wal*mart and I just haven't had time to do it yet. A couple more days I think, but I am still on the fence about stressing her by cleaning out too much. I still have some reading to do about this. I have pretty good airflow in there and have temp and humidity well in control... so I'm not too worried about mold. I know that some say it increases growing at the top, and others have said it really didn't make a difference. I tend to fall on the side of thinking that too much messing around is not good and that pruning like this would induce stress that at least might extend the grow by a few days to a week, and at worst might cause her to rethink her sexual stance. I have actually wondered if it might be less stressful to add a few CFL's at the screen level all around to encourage growth under there. I can't help it... I've got to think outside the box, its in my nature.
Emmie
Emmies Grow Log - White Widow
looking great since my last check in:thumbsup:
Emmies Grow Log - White Widow
For me it's not so much air circulation, as just not liking having a bunch of otherwise worthless buds that are impossible to trim, dry to whisps, and evaporate anywhere near an open flame.
I would rather have the plant put its energy into producing flowers up where there's enough light to do so, and I can't afford the extra wattage to lace my grow with CFL's to get light in the undergrowth. (tho if I could I would! :hippy: )
As such, if it's not going to make it all the way to the screen (and appropriate lighting) during stretch, it gets pruned out. I do it in week 2 or 3 depending on strain.
As for stressing the plant I haven't noticed a difference pruned or unpruned in the length of flower or potency of meds.
I'm NOT talking about taking EVERYTHING under the screen, just the stragglers that won't make it to screen level or close. My 600w HPS makes it about 3" below the screen in a developed canopy (So around 7-9" tottal) with enough energy to grow good buds,.... below that and it's garbage.
Emmies Grow Log - White Widow
Settle back and relax my dear friends, we have been apart for a while now, and this update will be a long one. Much has happened this week and I have many things to tell you. It is going very well in my garden. We have seen an end to the stretching period now and I will not be doing much more training other than the tuck of a fan leaf or two from this point forward. Already I am seeing the first trichomes forming on the bud leaves, and the buds are turning into dense little flowers.
(look at that frost already starting to form!)
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The hard work of organizing the SCRog is now done, and it is time to sit back and watch the well earned results. Hillary (yes, she was named by Bigsby) stretched approximately 45% from the time the lights were switched to 12/12. She has become a monster with a flower site count from the top totaling well over 100. I have added the FoxFarm solubles to the nutrient mix and am following the suggested feeding schedule to the letter. This 3rd and 4th week of the schedule has me giving her 4 different products every other watering, a massive load of nutrients and the most at one time that FoxFarm ever recommends. Almost all of this fertilizer mega-load is directed at forming more, larger and denser bud formations. No other place in the schedule throws this many nutrients at her in one feeding. This next 2 weeks is where a lot of the bud mass and size is going to come from and I am giving her all the help that I can. When you think about it, the total nutrient load that I am giving her right now costs approximately $0.42 per every other watering, or on the average about $0.60/week. This is cheap y??all? and oh what a difference it makes!
(imagine what this will look like in 3 more weeks)
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I mentioned that I counted the flower sites from the top to be over 100. There are another 50 or so under the canopy. I found myself in quite a quandary as to what to do about this. Some recommend stripping out the undergrowth, especially those flower sites that have no chance of reaching the canopy. Others remind us that in a SCRog the fan leaves get in the way of bud sites trying to grow to reach the light. Still others say that all one can expect to get under there are little popcorn buds. My inclination however, is to NOT go in there all Zena like and start chopping away at this beautiful plant. My first thought was that I do NOT want to introduce this kind of stress into a flowering plant. Then I considered that I was taught not to waste? waste not; want not, they say. Lastly, there is my natural inclination to always ask if there is a way to think outside the box and improve something.
So, I spent more money! I have added 2- 125W CFL bulbs to my setup and have them positioned just under the canopy. One is hanging by a yo-yo and the other has found the most perfect use for my very first mistake, the box of Miracle Grow plant food that I bought before I knew better. The CFL??s base sits on this box and this puts the bulb at the perfect height to supply its 7000 lumens to the back side under the canopy while at the same time effectively blocking any possible access to the contents of this horrible product.
So? what has resulted from all this extra light under the screen? One of the observations that led me to consider adding the 2 lights was that some of the lower fan leaves were being shut down; they were yellowing and then falling off. I reasoned that this was due to the lack of light penetrating the canopy. Upon observation though, this may not be the entire reason that these lower leaves are shed. The additional 14,000 lumens under the canopy has definitely had an effect. The buds under there are growing in size dramatically, and with the added light/heat along with the air circulation that we had already, there is very little chance of mold growing under the canopy. Did this entirely stop the shedding of lower fan leaves? NO. It seems that when the plant decides that it is time to turn off the production factories in those lower leaves, it will do so. It doesn??t matter if there is light for them under there. I am reasoning that it is simply inefficient for the plant to produce the sugars and all the bud-producing-yummy-stuff in those fan leaves way down low and then have to pump it up to the top where all the action is. Hillary has decided to move production up the stem to more efficient factories closer to or on the canopy. My expert friends will chime in here hopefully and tell me if my conclusions have any merit, but this is what I think I am seeing. I am very pleased however, that even though the added lights are not going to keep all the older fan leaves alive, the lights are going to add to the final yield with much larger bud sizes under the canopy than could have been had before.
(life under the canopy)
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The added lights had another very interesting effect. With more light on more surface area we saw an almost immediate increase in water use. Within a day of the photon enhancement, Hillary??s water use went from 6 cups per watering to ½ gallon! Overall then, I see the added lights under the canopy as a very positive improvement as compared to trimming underneath. First, it caused added bud growth. Second, it is much easier to manage a well-lit neighborhood. Third, more water use means more internal activity which I have to equate to the possibility of a larger and better yield. And fourth and probably most important? with the added water use it means that she will be able to uptake even more nutrients than before. This gives her a much better chance of a large yield as I would estimate that over the length of the grow I am now going to feed her 20% more nutrients than would have been possible to give before the added side lights.
With all these extra nutrients comes a danger of salt buildup and nutrient lockup. I am learning well my dear professors, and with my last plain water watering, I flushed Hillary with 3 times her required ½ gallon of PH??ed water. I got the clue that this was necessary when on the last water cycle she slowed down? and instead of using her water in 48 hours as she has been doing for a few weeks, she slowed down to not needing water for 60 hours. After the flush, she returned to her typical 48 hours to uptake all the water. It is amazing how much plants can tell you if you just pay attention!
So, we seem to be on a schedule and she has adapted well to the 12/12 cycle. She is happiest when I water her immediately after the lights come on as opposed to doing it before lights out, so in that way, she has trained me too. At each plain water watering, I attempt to add a bit more water than the last time, going for runoff to show me if she has changed how much she needs. I have to believe that as we move further into bud production and the physical size of the plant increases, these water needs are going to continue to accelerate, and I am watching for her to tell me how much to give. If I am able to notice the exact time that she needs more water, she will be able to grow just that much more efficiently.
One question I had going into this SCRog was never answered completely until I tried to do it myself, that is: How do you best train the plant to fit on the screen? What I realized when I started doing the training was that this depends mostly on your lighting. Try to train your plants to the parts of your grow area that have the highest proton flux density. The screen is a guide, but you train to the light! In my floro setup it means training toward the center (where the bulbs are brighter) and no further than the edges of the lit area at a 4? height, in other setups it would depend on your particular reflectors and light characteristics as to what directions you nudge your plant to grow under the screen.
Already I find myself smiling each time I go into my flower tent. The smell in there is breathtaking! Give me a few more weeks and these excursions will be making me downright giddy. Toward the end of this grow, I know that even outside of the flowering tent, you would be able to see a persistent twinkle in my eye that simply wasn??t there before.
(this is almost half the growing space with only one plant!)
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Thank you dear reader, for making it all the way to the end of this rather long log entry. I hope you enjoyed reading it. I am learning a lot and I hope that a few of you reading this are learning along with me as I try to explain what it is I am thinking and learning. I will update again when I see that something significant has happened? until then, I will just watch and try to figure out what Hillary is telling me. She looks very happy. I do hope that you are also.
(Happiness is defined in Emmie??s ??Growers Definition Book? as that feeling you get when you see your first trichomes)
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Be well everybody,
Emmie
Emmies Grow Log - White Widow
Waaay nice set up! I'm proud to say... You've come along way! Keep that up,girl... Tried to rep ya on this post.
I got my plants back.. Not gonna move.. Just gonna stick it out here till the end of summer.
Emmies Grow Log - White Widow
Well, after all this time off I just had to post something somewhere...I missed this place and the people something like awful for the last couple weeks...Emmie, I am so proud of you girl! I'll say this much....if the world of economics is approached like this young lady approached this project, I think there may be some hope after all for this screwed up mess our gov't has made of everything. Ya got your work cut out for ya, young lady! Frosting? I think you're gonna see some real frosting before this lady is done! (This statement works on several levels!)
GG...Good to see your gonna stick around awhile longer!
Emmies Grow Log - White Widow
Hi Emmie, et al,
I've been gone to NOLA for the Mardi Gras and just got back, so haven't been following the thread/log for a couple of weeks. Em, I am amazed at your pics, some real beauties there, flowering just lovely. I'm about 3-4 weeks behind you there, but mine seem to be doing well, too, despite the all LED. If anyone recalls, I was putting them into the sun shine about 5 hrs/day, but stopped that, bought another LED mounted perpendicular instead of hanging, and they are strong and dark and bushy now, if a little shorter than expected.
However, a question:
One of my girls, the tallest of the bunch, the early grower, who grew so fast while I was away that she pressed against the light. Now, the LED gives off virtually no heat, but there are top leaves that are living yet are curled and stunted and some grown leaves that are a bit..."wavy" at their base by the stem. There are also a couple of lower leaves that have rusty colored spots on them, maybe 3-4 spots per leaf, small but noticeable. What I'd like to know is,
1) What is causing the crinkled leaves in that one plant (others are almost equally as tall, one even pressing against the light in a similar way with no ill effects)
2) What is the reason for the rust spots - is it as I suspect related to the crinkled leaves?
Any help will be vastly appreciated, and Emmie, fantastic job on your grow. It's fun to see your plants and to try and tweak my system to emulate your plants maturation. Thanks for everything,
Trejedy
PS sorry for the lack of pics. I tried to figure out how to post them but ran out of time and have to go.
Emmies Grow Log - White Widow
Quote:
Originally Posted by trejedy
Hi Emmie, et al,
I've been gone to NOLA for the Mardi Gras and just got back, so haven't been following the thread/log for a couple of weeks. Em, I am amazed at your pics, some real beauties there, flowering just lovely. I'm about 3-4 weeks behind you there, but mine seem to be doing well, too, despite the all LED. If anyone recalls, I was putting them into the sun shine about 5 hrs/day, but stopped that, bought another LED mounted perpendicular instead of hanging, and they are strong and dark and bushy now, if a little shorter than expected.
However, a question:
One of my girls, the tallest of the bunch, the early grower, who grew so fast while I was away that she pressed against the light. Now, the LED gives off virtually no heat, but there are top leaves that are living yet are curled and stunted and some grown leaves that are a bit..."wavy" at their base by the stem. There are also a couple of lower leaves that have rusty colored spots on them, maybe 3-4 spots per leaf, small but noticeable. What I'd like to know is,
1) What is causing the crinkled leaves in that one plant (others are almost equally as tall, one even pressing against the light in a similar way with no ill effects)
2) What is the reason for the rust spots - is it as I suspect related to the crinkled leaves?
Any help will be vastly appreciated, and Emmie, fantastic job on your grow. It's fun to see your plants and to try and tweak my system to emulate your plants maturation. Thanks for everything,
Trejedy
PS sorry for the lack of pics. I tried to figure out how to post them but ran out of time and have to go.
Thanks for the complements Trejedy and as far as problems in your grow, I am not an expert. I am still working on figuring out my first grow myself. :) I strongly recommend that you ask those questions in a thread of your own, placed in the appropriate spot in the forum structure. In that way I think you can be assured of getting a fast and knowledgeable response to your questions. :)
Emmie
Emmies Grow Log - White Widow
Quote:
Originally Posted by emilya
Thanks for the complements Trejedy and as far as problems in your grow, I am not an expert. I am still working on figuring out my first grow myself. :) I strongly recommend that you ask those questions in a thread of your own, placed in the appropriate spot in the forum structure. In that way I think you can be assured of getting a fast and knowledgeable response to your questions. :)
Emmie
Will do, Emmie.
Trejedy
Emmies Grow Log - White Widow
Cripes thank god the forums back up again - I felt like I was missing a limb or something without it.
So glad you've posted a update Emmie and its all such good news. Youvé got one beautiful girlie monster there and she's one to be very proud of. Its going to be so exciting to see her finish up and count up how much she's given you.
