Not my first grow but first grow log!

Pistil spotted on Stubby! Late bloomer (pardon the pun) but that brings the tally to 3 girls, 1 boy and one left to determine (though at first glance it's looking like a 4th girl - keeping my fingers crossed! :hippy: ).

Mary Jane is indeed one tough plant: after the mishap I had last month with the DIY light fixture nearly killing Stubby, I expected it to turn male...it's a girl! :thumbsup:

And I have a new found respect for Dutch Passion seeds. I'd read they have the most reliable genetics (they boast the Oasis breed as being almost spidermite and mold resistant if I recall), well, Stubby is certainly a glowing example of those great genetics!

KC and Leggy 2 are develpping almost pom-pom looking young buds. Which brings the question: when do I start counting days to harvest? 55 to 60 days would workwell with both the KC36 and Oasis plants, but do I start counting from the day I initiated 12/12 or from the day the last plant showed signs of sex?

Like if Jr shows pistils by next tuesday, does this become my "day 1" of flowering, or was Day 1 when I initiated 12/12? Just trying to be clear...:confused:

Tried my best to show clear bud sites on KC, Leggy 2 and Stubby:

Abd the official count: 4 girls and 1 boy! I'm a bit worried about Leggy 2, she's shown several limp leaves this morning...

I did a bit of pruning and will research "limp" on the forums...I think I know the cause but I want to be sure. Unless I'm way off, limp leaves are due to over watering, but the soilfelt bone dry, almost crusty even!

After yesterday's pruning I gave the girls a treat of diluted molasses! Looking good this morning!

Far out! I wasn't 100% clear of when exactly the flowering period starts, and Ed Rosenthal already had that answer in his "Ask Ed" Column:

Quote:

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Flowering time begins when the light cycle is reduced and lasts until ripening.

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Which means I'm a good 2 weeks & 2 days into flowering already! Or 17 days...avreage flowering time is 55 to 60 days, so 43 days to go give or take! :thumbsup::hippy:

Hmm...KC Brains has a 6 to 8 weeks flowering period for the KC36 whereas Dutch Passion has a 8 to 9 week flowering period for the Oasis strain. So the girls could be ready as early as 42 days or as late as 63 days, so the 55 to 60days period seems to be pretty much in the zone.

Late October would seem to be the overall target for the harvest, which is perfect since I might have some out of town visitors in November and I'd really like to have the grow-op put away for mid-November.

I water cure, so it takes care of any odor, and I have some good stash places to put the grow stuff & weed & accessories away without raising suspicion...

One day, mj will be decriminalized and all of the cloak and dagger won't be necessary any longer...until then, stealth's the word! :Tomcat:

Day 18 of flowering...had I paid better attention I would have seen that Legs already had a few pollen sacks that had burst open from a couple of days ago! :wtf:

Found a clean container (a recycled pill bottle) gently tapped the open sacks above it, collected the pollen, washed my hands...

took Stubby (who's pretty tall by now) out of the grow cab and pollinated one of the lower buds best I could. I then dusted off the pollen from the lower leaves (to avoid it pollinating the other girls when I return it to the grow cab) and returned Stubby to the wardrobe.

So...I'll either get no seed at all, seeds on the one bud I targeted or seeds all over the place because I missed some pollen and it'll fly around with the cab ventilation...

So best case scenario: I get big, resinous seed -free buds on all bud sites but one! :greenthumb:

Cut up Legs and sent it to the trash. I recuperated as much soil as I could, and put the makeshift Rubbermaid isolation cab away. And now...I wait as the girls bloom and ripen! :D

Day 19...resisting the temptation to overfeed or overwater, and resisting the temptation of adding a few extra low-watt CFL's to the mix...part of me feels the extra light wouldn't go amiss on the blooming girls, but my meagre experience tells me I'm asking for crispy dry leaves and heat damage if I do...

And the girls are looking fine, so I'll have to learn to leave well enough alone! KC is 20" tall (and seems to have stopped growing at that height), Leggy 2 tops her at 20.5 -21" tall, Stubby has had the most remarkable growth spurt, from being short and heat damaged and now standing tall at 17" of height!

Jr...I don't even see her any longer: too much of a canopy from Leggy 2 and KC hogging a lot of the top, all I can do is hope that its small buds get enough HPS light to fully bloom, even if it is only 4" tall (or at least it was last time I could actually see it!)

More to come!:hippy:

Day 21 of flowering and the girls are looking good! Found me an inexpensive SMT pure red LED light from ebay, I'll focus it on the lower branches. Since marijuana is a light hungry plant, extra red spectrum won't hurt...as long as the salesman sends me the right color this time around! :rolleyes:

Regardless, the switch to a 150 watt HPS is making quite a difference from the prior 100% CFL getup... here are the girls as of today:

A few more bud sites...sweet!