Closet grow - First attempt

Good day, fellow growers.
I would like to share my first growing experience and some professional feedback and critics would be more than welcome.

The 4 plants you can see below came from my dealer who asked me one day if i would like to grow his plants in my closet. As I just moved out of my parent`s house I immediately agreed and transformed my closet into a small grow space.

The size of the grow space: 40"wide x 14"deep x 44"high
Installed two fans, one for air intake, one for air exhaust. Covered the whole interior with white cardboard.
Lights: 2x 23W 2700k CFLs + 1x 25W 2700k CFL + 1x 25W 6500k CFL (all these lights are in reflector i improvised so it hopefully focuses the light better on the plants)
Grow medium: Bio+ flower soil with Ph between 6-7

The strain is unknown to me. All I could find out about them is that they`re sort of a short strain and that the seeds are feminized. Other than that they seem mighty stress-resistant (it took them roughly one and a half day to recover and resume growth after re-potting them).

Now for the awkward part:
1) The dealer dude told me to keep the ladies on 12/12 since we moved them into my grow space, although all I read around here is 24hrs of daylight or 16/8 until the plants show first signs of flowering.
I`d really appreciate it if someone could tell me if the 12/12 from beginning is a viable option and if yes what`s the reason.
2) I was told to keep the lights as far as I could from the plants. Now... this doesn`t seem to make too much sense either since everybody seems to keep their CFLs just at 2-3 inches distance so they don`t burn the plants (whereas the distance in my case is 12-14"), not to mention that the lower leafs get less than half of the light than the top leaves get from that distance. Again.. if you can find a reason to this, it`d be greatly appreciated.

Just so you get an idea of how the girls evolved - I take pictures of them each week, so there`s 7 days time between each set of pictures.

In the last week it seems they started flowering or something like that. One is showing white hairs on the top, the tall one (plant#4) started shooting stuff that looks like flower to me from the top and several small stuff of the same sort directly from the nodes close to the top and the other two are also shooting stuff from the top (stuff= i`m a noob and rather say stuff than suppose it`s a flower).

P.S.: I`m starting to fear the 4th could be a male ?!?!??!

Lol, yeah it's a male, get it outta there fast, those naners look pretty big so you don't want them burstin open.

-C

I agree with ForgetClassC.

Its definitely a male and will pollinate your lady if you dont remove it.

Thanks for the answer, guys !!! I was just over-searching about male plant characteristics.

BOTH males are out ! Llooks like plant#1 also turned out male.

So, now that I know what cannabis balls look like, here pops the question:
How soon do i know if the ladies got any pollen on`em or not? What do I look for in this case?

The pistils will turn brown and receed into the calyx. But since you caught them early I doubt they had time to open and spread there pollen. Good luck:thumbsup:

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Originally Posted by blackmon

Lights: 2x 23W 2700k CFLs + 1x 25W 2700k CFL + 1x 25W 6500k CFL (all these lights are in reflector i improvised so it hopefully focuses the light better on the plants)

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You are going to need some more light if you want to get some decent sized buds. 125w of light per plant is as low as I would want to go.

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Originally Posted by blackmon

Now for the awkward part:
1) The dealer dude told me to keep the ladies on 12/12 since we moved them into my grow space, although all I read around here is 24hrs of daylight or 16/8 until the plants show first signs of flowering.
I`d really appreciate it if someone could tell me if the 12/12 from beginning is a viable option and if yes what`s the reason.

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12/12 is for flowering and not a viable option for vegging. You want to pick 18/6, 20/4 or 24/0, stick with it until you want them to flower and then switch to 12/12.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by blackmon

2) I was told to keep the lights as far as I could from the plants. Now... this doesn`t seem to make too much sense either since everybody seems to keep their CFLs just at 2-3 inches distance so they don`t burn the plants (whereas the distance in my case is 12-14"), not to mention that the lower leafs get less than half of the light than the top leaves get from that distance. Again.. if you can find a reason to this, it`d be greatly appreciated.

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You need to get those lights closer. Aim for 2-3 inches if you can.

Looking more closely at those pics, it looks to me like they have already started flowering. It might be too late to switch back to a vegging schedule without stressing them.

Ok, so as you said the flowering most probably started as the white hairs are visible one both females...
Anything I can do to make the plants feel better / flower better (other than better lights - and much closer to the plants) ?

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Originally Posted by blackmon

Ok, so as you said the flowering most probably started as the white hairs are visible one both females...
Anything I can do to make the plants feel better / flower better (other than better lights - and much closer to the plants) ?

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You have got the basics covered, improving the light, food and growing medium are where the largest gains are to be made. If the plants were bigger then techniques like LST. (low stress training) and SCROG would improve yield (have a read up on these techniques before you start another grow).

You may still be able to switch these back to a vegging schedule, but you need the advice of someone more experienced. I would make a specific thread in the plant problems section and ask for opinions on whether or not switching light schedules will cause you issues.

If you do decide to continue flowering, you are going to be looking at a very small harvest.

Yes, you can switch them back to veg at any time, but there is a time price to be paid....two or 3 week delay while they revert. Just up the light back to 16+on and they will go back to veggin, but they won't grow much while doing this and you may see some single blade or mutant looking leaves for awhile when it does start veggin again. They eventually return to normal again tho. Then grow em out to what you want, and switch them back to 12/12....there is also a slight risk of herming them from all the stress of doing this.

Today I lowered the lights... It`s still not as close as 2" as my improvised reflector with those lights makes too much heat, but still - lights are much closer, and now the two plants should receive better focused- and more light.

Switching back to "vegetative mode" sounds a bit freaky... or at least I think it would freak the plants out so I think I`ll chose the tiny harvest with these ladies and veg. properly ( as all of you reassured me -- 18/6) when I start a new grow.

Is it normal that some leafs (in my case, the top ones) droop during the dark period ?

yes its normal. my plants do it at night, my outdoors did as well.

not to sure the cause, id think theyd be peak'd up trying to search for light.
maybe someone else knows the exact cause but you should be good :thumbsup:

During the day, your plants grow TO the sun, photosynthesising... producing a healthy looking leaf.. at night, when there's no light, no more photosynthesis, leaves have nothing to do. Stomata which are the cells on the bottom of the leave close at night forcing the water towards the stem and roots thus the droop. During the light, these cells open back up and fill with water which helps cool (transpiration) the leaves thus making them perk back up.

GTD

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During the day, your plants grow TO the sun, photosynthesising... producing a healthy looking leaf.. at night, when there's no light, no more photosynthesis, leaves have nothing to do. Stomata which are the cells on the bottom of the leave close at night forcing the water towards the stem and roots thus the droop. During the light, these cells open back up and fill with water which helps cool (asperate) the leaves thus making them perk back up.

GTD

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:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup: well said.

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Originally Posted by GreenThumbDoc

During the day, your plants grow TO the sun, photosynthesising... producing a healthy looking leaf.. at night, when there's no light, no more photosynthesis, leaves have nothing to do. Stomata which are the cells on the bottom of the leave close at night forcing the water towards the stem and roots thus the droop. During the light, these cells open back up and fill with water which helps cool (transpiration) the leaves thus making them perk back up.

GTD

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Such a great answer (like one I would expect at a horticulture class). Thanks :thumbsup:

@ hmacmolara
Thread jacking and spamming is a first rate to ensure I and everyone else I know never visit your site and never recommend it.
:postreadrulez::bluespam: