joe-grow's first grow

joe on your next grow every single day switch all the plants around in a different order and turn them around 50 degrees, this keeps all plants the same height, and gets light to every branch.

if you can do it now, take fish line, tie it to something that will make your plant lean over a bit without snapping it, and leave it there the rest of the grow she will recover in a few days and continue to flower.

Hi CCIE, flowers on two plants have started to connect. It's tough getting photos in those areas. I haven't sampled anything yet. :weedpoke: I don't want to try anything until I start flushing out the nutrients. I've read that it can have a harsh taste to sample while using full strength nutrients. I have resorted to picking up some small supplies from a local source. It is frustrating having to pay these kind of prices for herbs when I have this growing right here. Soon, soon, I keep telling myself. I figure I should have at least something to sample for the beginning of February. I'll keep the bulk of it to cure until Spring.

Last couple days, water consumption has dropped to about a quart/day. The nutrient consumption also appears to have dropped, requiring replenishing about every four days.

I've attached photos from Christmas/Flowering day 32. The pistils are getting very large, and several spots have started to clump together. I am at about 4.5 weeks. I believe you need to flush during the last two weeks. If I am to flower for 8 weeks, that would give me 1.5 weeks of feeding. I will change the water one more time around then, and replace with the FloraKleen.

invision, that's a good suggestion. I was thinking of using a new system next grow, perhaps individual growing planters, instead of the shared one I use now. That would allow me to better adjust the plants as you suggest. There are many things which I learned from this time around. One is that I may need a larger flowering area. I may go back and pick up the HydroHut. The cabinet has the depth for the physical planter I'm using, but there's just little room to work around the plants or lean them over. I have tried to pull over the plants to lean lower, but have either creased the stem or caused the netted planter to pull up from the planter, exposing the top of the basket.

So, I fell victim to overeagerness - I sampled. Totally not worth it. I clipped a branch with a couple buds, which appeared to be getting fried from the lamp anyway. There was still some green bud on the branch, so it wasn't completely fried. Anyway, it was New Years Eve, and I was out of bud, and there it was just looking at me ... saying .... smoke me. It turned out to be a waste. After long attempts at trying to dry it in the microwave and then finally trying to vape what I got out of it, I got nothing, zip.

Another lesson learned, no sampling.

Attached are a few bud shots, most of which are not burned. It's starting to fill in in several places. I'm still frying about the top quarter of two of the plants. I am going to have to do some redesign of the cabinet for the next grow. I noticed a shot of the cabinet in invision's grow, and got an idea - the glass shelf. I think I have an old one sitting around here somewhere. I'm hoping that I can fit it in the cabinet as invision did, to rest the lamp on top of. I am also going to review other lighting options, perhaps a cooled light.

Back to patiently awaiting my crop to get done.

hey joe dont get to discouraged man alot of people dont even get this close on the 1st attempt. i sampled my 1st grow too and it sucked until i harvested the whole plant and cured it.



go to hardware store and ask for a glass cutter, they are no more than 5 dollars and measure out your cab and cut the glass to fit, it cuts very easy as quick as a razor blade really.

thin glass is what you want, the thinner the better.

Hi invision, thanks for the glass cutter tip! I haven't located the shelves yet, but seem to recall they were close to what would fit in my existing cabinet. There were about 1/8" thick, if I recall correctly. Think that will be thin enough? They originally were meant to be used as shelves in another cabinet (furniture, not a grow cabinet).

I'm pleased with how far I've come. All of the plants could have turned out male, or I could have killed them off completely by now. Given that this was bag seed, there was little to know ahead of time, such as typical height.

Next time, I will definitely research scrog or lst for the next grow, even with the changes to the cabinet. From what I've seen, this should help the biggest problem I seemed to have this time around - plants way too close to the lamp. Plus, as an added benefit, the crops from either method seem to be increased.

I do tend to be hard on myself, but in a productive way. It helps motivate me to get better. It looks like I should see at least an ounce, maybe two (not fried) from this crop. If that is the case, and there's at least a halfway decent buzz from the finished product, I will be very grateful. I'm amazed I've gotten this far.

I've learned a lot this time and I hope to get the next one started soon. I figure I'll start my next seedlings during week eight of these plants flowering schedule. Estimating about two weeks before they will need to get into the cabinet, that should give me enough time to dry out this crop.

Now, the question I face .... do I try with the purchased seeds, or stick with the bag seed for the next grow. I'm tempted to try the new seeds, since I've not knowingly tried any of the breeds I have acquired. I picked up some Blueberry, White Widow, and Northern Lights #5.

well im on my 2nd grow, i used again bagseed just incase and im glad i did. things got a little to warm on me and had to adjust things here and there but everything is ok at the moment.

i figured if i could get this grow to harvest as well then i can buy some real seeds without the worry of beating up the plants too bad, i myself was also looking into NL#5 and WhiteWidow, and i also considered Cinderella 99 by Joey Seeds.

LST just seems to be the best way to grow for my situation, height really isnt a issue with me as i have about 35" of space right to my glass and with LST this will take a long veg to make them grow so big. my plants now are about 10-12in high LST'ed so i better flower soon.

Here's my update, 50 days into flowering. Burn coverage is still about the same. I believe I've saved one of the branches/bud sites, by tying it down lower (you might notice it coming across the middle of photo 1, with a string going to the left). I am going to see what else I might be able to tie down.

Last time I tried it, I didn't tie it town far enough, and it got burnt worse. That's part of the problem of why I haven't tied them down better to date - sometimes, I have to bend them much further right off the bat, then they are comfortable bending. One spot, I wound up bending the main stem on the far right plant too far, and she bent. She's since healed the spot (a little fatter there than elsewhere), but it freaked me out about doing it too much again.

invision - I think you have a point there, wait till I have a good grow with the bagseed before I go for the good ones. Your second grow is looking good so far. I finally caught up with that one. Your first one was great! I hope I can yeild at least that much!

Below, I have posted the latest photos of my girls, 50 days and going (83 days overall). The first is all of them posing for me. So far, the one in the best shape, and building the most filled in bud, is the shy one on the far left. I sneaked in and caught a shot of the main bud site in the second photo. Finally, I have a shot of a really shy bud. This one is hiding in the rear right of the cab, right under the filter. The bulk of this bud's mom is burnt (top), so it's nice to see something developing at all on this poor stressed girl. But, this bud has got some of the most crystals showing so far.

Enjoy the weekend, I am about to kick mine off right (no, not an early sample, just something from a friend).

Well, I should be in the home stretch for the flowering of this first grow. As such, I cleaned out my reservoir and filled it with plain water, no nutrients or flushing agents. I plan to leave this in place, topping off as necessary, for the next week to week and a half. After that, I will begin daily reservoir replacements, using GH FloraKleen.

I have also pruned much of the plant now. I finally picked up some gardening tools in anticipation of harvesting. I picked up a small pruning tool, as well as something to cut down those big stalks when it's time.

I've cleared out most of the dead plant, from burning, or just dead leaves. I'm not sure if it's just because I cleared away all the bad looking parts or if the plants responded well to the trim, but all the girls are looking a bit better. In addition to trimming, I've tried to bend many of the stems away from the danger zone under the lamp. Finally, to help keep temps down from the HPS lamp, I've started leaving the cabinet doors propped open during the light cycle.

I've attached another overall photo. While this doesn't show very much detail, I think you can make out how they girls are filling out. I am going to try to get in there later today and snap a few shots before the HPS lamp comes on. Hope to have those available for the next post.

Lookin' good, Joe.

Home stretch indeed - and looking like you'll have a healthy bit of bud soon. I too, hopefully.