First grow (flowering stage only) with pics

[OMB]

Those plants look awesome! Nice job man, and very sanitary too. Fungus Gnats? Some sticky yellow paper and a 1/2" to an 1" of sterile sand on top of the soil will take care of their asses. The sticky paper for the adults and the sand to choke the larvae in the soil.
Wish I could have heard 'em choke.

[Chromophore]

Yeah OMB those damn gnats really irritate me. Though I guess they're better than spider mites (shudder). I have noticed with potted plants in general that fungus gnats almost always get going when the soil is kept constantly wet, and/or there is not good drainage/aeration to the roots. I've been watering them fairly heavily since I switched to 12/12 so I may need to ease up a bit.

[OMB]

I know what you mean! Didn't think much of them at first, then I found out the damage they can do and nuked 'em. Frankly, unless it's a LadyBug I'm going to kill it with whatever means is necessary.
I am very protective of my little buddies....Lol. I keep an Army of ladybugs to do the dirty work, but they had almost all died and Bam! Spider mites...But Mighty wash took care of that immediately. :thumbsup:
Check out my little stumpy's in the grow section Chromophore, they about done.

[CaptainOrganicsCO]

Hey chromophore,
Looking great! Gonna be some lg ladies! Ill follow along looks like a great grow!

One idea, someone said earlier, is tying your girls down. I think you will have great results tying them down without a screen. What I've learned, from doing it, is your going to want to train your plants for a scrog from the start. If you do the screen with your plants you will end up blocking way more light to way more bud sites than if they were simply tied down to open them up. As they stretch you can tie them more ( keeping it a little more open for light penetration) then if you pack the screen above full of the stretching plants.

My 2 cents
If you do scrog, it will still be very interesting to watch, looks like you're off to a super start!

[Chromophore]

Thanks Captain and all good thoughts. I probably will forgo scrog, for the reason you stated as well as the difficulty of harvesting without losing material and trichomes with all the handling required to detangle from the screen. Right now I have the outer branches of each plant tied out and down (difficult to see in my pics but I'm posting more tonight). This has resulted in some new branches in the central region literally shooting up from below. This weekend I will rotate the plants and tie down again. I agree that this is probably the most effective strategy at this point.

[CaptainOrganicsCO]

Sounds like you got a good grasp on things

[tlranger]

Those are looking so nice

[catbuds]

Chromophore, we know you're really dreaming of a big assed outdoor grow! Your next grow is going to be so much easier on you now that you see how they EXPLODE in flower. You decide how big you want them to be at finish & put them in 12/12 when they're about 1/3 that size. Easier on your back & your ceiling! Check out as many grow room pics as you can find. There's almost as many techniques & growroom styles as there are growers, so look around a while & take your time deciding on how you want to go. Then when you re-do that grow room, it will all fall into place. We already know you you have a green thumb & can grow. Your biggest problem will be trying to keep your basement from growing into a jungle! I can see it now; one day your wife will have to take a search party into the basement to find you, you'll have a full beard with algae growing on your back muttering to yourself, 'I need to use less nutes' ! LOL! Have fun!

[catbuds]

Yeah, its me again! Was thinking about what you said concerning collecting rain water. A lot of the better gardening catalogs sell rain barrels having a screen/mesh top to filter out bugs & debris. I'd test the pH, working in a lab, I know you know the pH scale, so I'll go no further than to say about 6.8 works well for plants. I know you're growing in soil, but should you need to correct pH, use the pH ↑, pH↓ chems for hydroponics.
-- Have you considered setting up a cistern? Considering what comes out of your tap, it might be a lot easier to clean up captured rain water than that mess. (I'd stay conected to your municipal water supply in case of drought).
-- My spring has me so spoiled about water. Naturally soft, slightly acidic (par for the course with naturally soft water), pH ave 6.8. I remember when we first came here after having hard water. First time I brushed my teeth, thought I'd never stop foaming at the mouth! Over sudsed the washer, nearly broke my neck in the shower. The more I tried to rinse the suds down the drain, the more foam I had. Tangle free hair without conditioner. And get this... don't have to treat my water for fish tanks! How rare & special is that?!? (Except for cichlids, who like hard alkaline water). I really wish some of you guys could experience my water. (Not to mention my wonderfully rich organic soil. The organics are what makes my water slightly acidic). Now, fix my house & kill my neighbor & it would be paradise! LOL! (don't worry, not REALLY gonna kill the neighbor... its just a nice dream!)

[Chromophore]

Wow. The atmosphere in the grow room has definitely shifted. The air feels heavier and more intense. The growing tops seem like they're dancing in very slow motion. The stigma are clearly longer, brighter and more erect, and are now sprouting from nodes that were previously empty. After a 36hr drying out, I fed them tonight, rotated pot positions, and tied down additional branches. The temp.s in my area right now range from -10-20F, and our relative humidity right now is around 8%! But I've been lucky enough to keep things stable in the bud room at 40-60% humidity with constant use of the humidifier. Overall, I have the sense that something cool is about to happen.
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