First grow (flowering stage only) with pics

[Chromophore]

I have a background in scientific research with monoterpene production in citrus and mint, but I throw most of that out the window with this stuff. Despite many years as an avid gardener and green thumb, growing these plants has been a challenging and unique experience. I have 4 female plants (I was able to sex them via pre-flowers) which I switched over to 12/12 today. I'm very nervous about the next 8-10 weeks. I will admit to becoming somewhat emotionally bonded to these 4 plants, as weird as that may sound. Here are the specs on this grow:

Plants: I grew these from seed given to me by a breeder/friend. He has named the line "Hail Bop". It's lineage is a male Lemon Skunk crossed with various AfGooey female phenotypes. Of 12 germinants, 6 survived and 4 showed female pre-flowers. The plants have been in soil for 10 weeks, transplanted 4 times into bigger pots. They now reside in 5 gallon containers. All plants were super-cropped starting week 4. I stopped SC in week 9. Over the last several days I have pruned lower material up to 24" from the base of each plant. Plants are approx. 4' in height (inc. pot) with a combined canopy of 6' diameter.

Nutrients: All plants grown in FoxFarm Ocean Forest soil. No additional nutes used until week 9, at which point I started adding FF Open Sesame. Molasses added to H2O every other watering at 1 tsp/gallon. I plan to follow the FF schedule during budding but I am open to suggestions.

Setup: room 6'x7'. Built stud-walls and enclosed in B/W plastic. Space is ventilated with 6" 410 cfm fan through an iPower 6" carbon filter. Two oscillating tower fans for circulation. Humidifier during light cycle. Ambient humidity in our area is very low so this is crucial.

Lighting: For growth I used a 400w MH. For budding I switched over to a 600w HPS. I plan to add 2x 24w UVB cfls at some point during bud stage, probably at the same distance from the plants as the main HPS.

Water: Our water is hard here, and heavily chlorinated. I tried using 50/50 DH2O/tap, but lately with their heavy consumption this has become difficult to keep up with. I do try to set buckets out for a 24 hr. de-chlorination. Out of the tap our water has a pH of 6.2 or so. After nutes it's usually around 6.5. Soil tests at pretty much the same range. Molasses acidifies the water significantly (4.5-5.5) and I have not found a safe way to neutralize it, nor do I know if I should even try.

Well, that's all I can think of. Questions/suggestions/advice is very welcome!Attachment 296325Attachment 296326

Chromophore Reviewed by Chromophore on 12-01-2013. First grow (flowering stage only) with pics I have a background in scientific research with monoterpene production in citrus and mint, but I throw most of that out the window with this stuff. Despite many years as an avid gardener and green thumb, growing these plants has been a challenging and unique experience. I have 4 female plants (I was able to sex them via pre-flowers) which I switched over to 12/12 today. I'm very nervous about the next 8-10 weeks. I will admit to becoming somewhat emotionally bonded to these 4 plants, as weird Rating: 5

[thenewgrow]

hello Chromophore your plants are looking great they are looking very strong and rdy to pack some big buds

[Chromophore]

This makes me happy to hear! Thanks bro!

[Chromophore]

So, my main questions and concerns at this point...

1. Will these plants stretch too much during flowering? As of day 1 of 12/12, they are 21" from the glass panel of the HPS. I can buy another 4" by raising the light, then I'm out of options.

2. Do the plants need to be further thinned/spread apart? I'm in a quandry over whether to spread them out to give more light access to lower growth, or keep things bunched under the light to increase exposure at the tops.

3. Has anyone here used supplemental UVB lighting during flowering? If so, what are your thoughts/recommendations on that?

[thenewgrow]

hey man when you turn them in to flower they will stretch to be double the size or triple size you can make a scrog net and eaven the cannabis out that's what im gona do this time i grow for more bud's scrog is great if what i have heard

[Chromophore]

Yeah in just one day at 12/12 they have noticeably grown,. The canopy is 1-2 inches higher than a day ago! I will definitely have to set up a scrog at this rate.

[OMB]

You can still tie branches down. Modified LST at this point, but I bet you can open them up and pull them down at the same time even now.

[thenewgrow]

nice man i would like to see how this goes you will have to make a big scrog net man ^^ but would be sick man :thumbsup: plz take some pic of it when you are finish man let me know how it goes with the scrog

[catbuds]

So, my main questions and concerns at this point...

1. Will these plants stretch too much during flowering? As of day 1 of 12/12, they are 21" from the glass panel of the HPS. I can buy another 4" by raising the light, then I'm out of options.

2. Do the plants need to be further thinned/spread apart? I'm in a quandry over whether to spread them out to give more light access to lower growth, or keep things bunched under the light to increase exposure at the tops.

3. Has anyone here used supplemental UVB lighting during flowering? If so, what are your thoughts/recommendations on that?

I use cfl's for side & underlighting because of the higher uv's, but I'm not sure if its uva or uvb. It helps pack on the trichromes & aids ripening.
-- I am so fortunate to have good water, but not everybody can have their own spring. City water is vile. You almost need a reverse osmosis system to make it drinkable. Do you have the space to set up a few 5 gallon buckets? If you do, get a decent sized air pump & some of the old fashioned fish tank filters (the ones using loose charcoal & floss) & run them for a couple days before using. Not only will it be better for your plants, but it will be much better for drinking too. I really hate municipal water.
-- Relax & enjoy your plants. Sounds like you're trying too hard.

[Chromophore]

Thanks man will do. I'm going to start work on tying/scrog tonight. I'll post pics. Another odd thing is that the plants seemed to really jump in growth after I flushed and then turned the light cycle down. While this new growth was vigorous, the small new leaves seemed pale green to yellow, though they looked fine otherwise. Like N deficiency. Odd that the plants would jump in growth when all the N was flushed out. I'm wondering if maybe I had more salt built-up than I realized. I didn't expect flushing to have such a dramatic effect. Or maybe it was a response to the sudden increase in darkness?? Wierd.