joe-grow's first grow

[TheKidThatLovesMary]

what happened to Zandor?? whats the story behind that did he get robbed because somone got his info. through his computer or somthing?

[joe-grow]

I had heard through his Podcast, or read it one of his postings about someone stealing his stash. I think that he believed the perpetrators obtained their information through his online activities. I'd have to go back and research a bit to get the exact details. I'm pretty sure you could find something if you wanted more detail, by searching on here.

[CCIE]

I'm sorry to hear things have hit a snag. Perhaps its time to organize a Cannabis.com picket of the hydro store until they give you something that works.
:cursing:

Regarding the stretching and drooping, I hesitate to make suggestions given my track record, but the plants' issues look to my inexpert eye like lack of light and improper spectrum for flowering. I think Faithless meant for you to bend the plants literally horizontal, halving their height or more. Even thick stems'll take more flexing than I thought possible before trying. Below is one of mine that I'm re-training after a cat attack. Two days ago that stem was bent to nearly that angle in the opposite direction.
[attachment=o103595]


Brainstorming(drizzling) now...

I think if limited to one overhead T5 fixture I'd make a screen, find the point below which the stems can't be easily flexed, place pegs in the walls there, pull all the plants over with a hooked hand, put the screen in place, then arrange the plants under it to form a flat, filled canopy. Eyeballing the first picture, if our plants are similarly flexible I'll bet a 2" mesh screen at the level of the scribble would let you weave everything to the same height.
[attachment=o103598]

Then visit the hydro guy and pummel him with your faulty ballast until he coughs up a working HPS. Seriously, that light is liquid schwarz. This last week mine have been bent, chewed, squeezed and pruned, but they're greener than ever.

I think one of the older growers said switching to 12/12 before alternating nodes or preflowers appear is a stressor. Maybe that's delaying maturity?

[TheKidThatLovesMary]

Thanks for the info joe-grow and good luck with your grow :thumbsup:

[joe-grow]

Hi CCIE .... thanks for the suggestions. I took your advice and dragged my lazy butt to the shop to get my light replaced. It turned out to be the bulb. I was very careful with it, and hadn't even tried it until I needed it for flowering. I was told that particular bulb was sensitive. I wasn't sure if he meant that I hurt its feelings. So, he was really decent and gave me a replacement bulb, under warranty. The replacement bulb was just a standard 600w HPS. Made the trip worth it. I picked up some GH Kool Bloom while there. I debated about the mylar, but I'd already shelled out about the same cost for the Reflectix, so I left it for next time.

Lesson learned - have your cabinet ready to go, and all your hardware tested before you need it. This is especially important, if you haven't a shop close by, or you're going through mail order. I didn't think it would be a big deal to hold off on some items until needed, but I'm regretting it now.

I installed the light, and relocated the T5 lamp to the side of the cabinet. I didn't install the screen, as suggested, yet. For one, I'm a bit nervous to try it. For another, I'm not sure I have the skill to install it without doing more damage than good. Tonight I managed to break off a pretty healthy and large fan leaf. I'm not sure if I should trim the whole branch. For now, I just left it.

I also cleaned up the cabinet a bit, securing the Reflectix better. With the addition of the 600w HPS, it is really bright in there now. At first it doesn't come on very bright, but after a minute or so, wow! Hopefully that will give my poor ailing plants what they need to start production of some bud. To help things along, I added about half strength of the Kool Bloom. I should know better - change one thing at a time, and wait for results. Ok, so I'm human, and a little anxious.

After all this stress, I hope they all don't turn out males. That's the one downer - not only do I have to work very hard on this, and wait a while for results, but it may turn out to be for nothing. In any event, I'm amazed I've gotten this far. This attempt was mostly to learn. It's certainly been a lesson in patience.

No pictures today. It's not too pretty in there right now. I want to clean things up a little. I tried tying the plants to spread them apart, but the garden I'm using isn't cooperating. The mesh buckets are coming up, when I try to bend the plant too much. I had to place a bottle on one of them to weigh the thing down. I'll try to get some photos up before the end of the weekend.

Oh, CCIE, I knew what Faithless meant - LST, right? I've read about it around here. I'd love to try it - everyone that does, seems to love the production. I didn't prep enough to do that, both for the cabinet or with learning. I hope to try that for my second grow. What you're talking about is scrogging, right (with the screen)? I've heard that's pretty good too. I think someone you either linked me too, or someone that posted to your thread had mentioned doing that. I'm tired, and forgetting a lot right now. It's been a long day. If only I had something to toke to wrap it up right. Soon.

[joe-grow]

So, I got a chance to get some photos, but so far, they don't tell any good news. I'm afraid that I waited too long to switch to flowering - I let them grow too tall. Two plants had leaves that looked severely burnt. Fortunately, I believe those are the same plants which show signs of being male.

The first photo is of the cabinet with the new lighting arrangement. The remaining ones are close-ups of each of the plants. The first two appear to be showing the sacs that signify males. The second two, I'm not sure. Given that the first two are the fastest growing, and have the longest fan leaves, in addition to what appear to be the pollen sacs, I'm guessing that they are make. The remaining two are shorter in height, and in fan leaves, and haven't shown any of the sacs.

I'm in a bit of a bind now. If I remove the two that I believe are males, and the two remaining do not grow any taller, I should be ok. However, if they grow any taller, I'll have problems with them burning too. The new HPS light has raised the temperature to 80F during the light period, and the humidity has climbed to ~50RH. They consumed about a half gallon of water is only a day.

So .... anyone want to confirm the males for me? Once I've confirmed the males, I'll yank those out. That should create a lot less canopy and allow a lot more light to get to the remaining two. If they remaining two turn out to be females, I'll feel lucky. When I first started with my six seeds, I had figured I'd get at least two females. Hopefully, I wasn't aiming too high.

[Abattoir Dream]

yeh man, hopin for females here.... dunno whether they are males though, too tired lol just woke up... good luck..

[joe-grow]

So today, I made an executive decision and pulled one of my plants. It was tough, and I don't just mean getting the roots out of the basket. After spending this amount of time looking after these things, from their start to now, I guess I got a little attached. I had to take him out, to save the remaining crop. I was pretty sure it was a male, given the amount of tiny sacs I noticed. The remaining three aren't clear yet. One more might be a male. There's no signs either way from the remaining two.

The remaining plants are looking good and bad. The ones that have grown the tallest are the ones currently getting the most leaves burned. I can't raise the HPS lamp any higher, and I can't bend the plants any more out of the way. I would really appreciate any suggesting on how to keep them from frying. The temperature in the cabinet has risen, but only 5 to 10 degrees F. It is usually around 75 to 80 F in there now. They are gulping down over a half a gallon a water a day now. I'm not sure if I should trim them down, or if that would make things worse. The addition of the HPS and moving the T5 to side lighting has improved the plants which fall below about 12" from the HPS. What about the fried leaves? Should I trim them off, or leave them for any benefit to the remaining plant?

I found a tip from Pass That Shit on his grow log, about using your hand to sample the effect of the lamp. It does get pretty warm within the first 12" under the HPS lamp. But the cabinet overall is pretty cool, considering all that heat right under the HPS lamp. I guess the circulation is working pretty good. I think I should have switched to flowering sooner, before they got so tall.

Oh, and any suggestions on what to do with my exiled plant? Should I just wrap it up and toss it in the garbage? How do people dispose of such material? I can't imagine anyone digging through the garbage, but I'd rather be safe, than busted.

[CCIE]

I hadn't reckoned with the aeroponic system's fragility when suggesting bending the plants in half. The only way I can see to avoid burning is still to squash 'em horizontal, but how to do that if it upends the mesh buckets eludes me. Do you have someone local who can hold the stem steady while you lower a screen from above? It's not truly full-on SCRoG, but those overachievers look like they're itching to hit 6 feet otherwise. Perhaps start a thread in the plant problems forum; several of the gurus hang out there consistently and might have an idea.

Board consensus as far as I've read is to leave leaves be unless they are completely dead. I clipped foliage off of mine that a cat had mangled, and I'm still not sure it was wise.

Don't pitch the male! Chop him up, run him through a coffee grinder and cook him for a couple hours with 1/2 cup butter in a 200-degree oven. Make half a pan of brownies with the butter, eat it one sitting and report the results. I wanted to try it myself, but they all turned female ...which may have been an act of self preservation after seeing me standing over them with a stick of butter and a glint in my eye.

[joe-grow]

Hey CCIE, that was just what I needed, a good laugh. The thought of you standing there with a stick of butter was pretty funny.

Yeah, the garden turned out to be inconvenient for a couple reasons. The dimensions were such that I couldn't use the narrow cabinet I bought first. The baskets are another. Care and feeding isn't the easiest either. I need to risk damaging leaves and or stems to get my gallon jug close enough to the access hole. To remove the cover on the access hole, I need to pull the plug too (no power button). Otherwise water, water everywhere.

My next grow will be in a aeroponics garden I make myself. This was mainly to get me started, and give me an idea of how they work. I've seen enough plans on here to get me going with my own design. If I stick with these same bag seeds, I may go with SCRoG or LST since, as you pointed out, they have an affection for growing tall. As for this time, I really don't have anyone to assist with making the changes you suggest. This is top secret, except for the thousands of readers on this board. Nobody in real life knows about this. This was to minimize someone using it against me, or leading to a break in.

The other suspected male is also the same one getting fried before it's time, due to it's height. The remaining two seem short enough to take the heat. They'd better turn out to be female, or I might be trying your baking suggestion, CCIE. I've read many posts on here about making some use out of the males. I can't say that I buy into the thought of getting anything from them. Biologically, they don't have that much THC. Catching them early means that they haven't developed much in the flower department (hopefully) either. But given my lack of something to smoke, and how long it'll take to get another crop going, I might be tempted. I appreciate the suggestion. I just don't think I've gotten that desperate yet.

I don't think I'll need to stand over the remaining plants with a stick of butter. I think snapping my latex gloves might scare them into the correct gender.