JohnGalt's 2nd Grow (1st Indoor) - Soil SCROG

[JohnGalt]

11/15/10 - The girls were finally ready for another watering (6 days since last watering). Had trouble pH'ing (**just noticed I have misread the Fox Farms feeding schedule... it says "tsp" not "tbsp"... which means I've been giving 3 times the dose I was supposed to, including tonight... :rolleyes3 )

Seems the triple dose nutrients didn't do any harm last week, and hopefully tonight doesn't do any harm either... but at the best I'm wasting expensive nutrients in amounts beyond what the plants can absorb.

Also tonight I did some pruning to remove fan leaves that were either sickly or were blocking light to other buds. This is the first time I've really done this, so it was a lot of work. If kept up on it will only take a few minutes a day. (Note that the following pics are mostly pre-pruning, so don't be surprised to see some leaves covering neighboring buds.)

Pictorial journal update incoming (now featuring bud development macro pics):

Overhead view

Above the screen

Below the screen (photo too blurry to bother editing and posting)

Bud porn

And here's what I think is the best pic I've taken so far... gonna be so much fun watching this bud fill in...

 

[Tmac12]

Lookin sweet!!

 

[Tyrone Hamilton]

Those buds look like they are complying with your training to become a picture perfect screen! Pretty work JohnGalt. +reps

 

[JohnGalt]

Thanks for the comments. Been a stressful week between the electrical problem and then discovering I've been over-fert'ing.

Good news: just checked in on the ladies, and... damn! I might have to keep giving triple dose ferts... got a good dozen or so buds that now look like the one in my last pic, and all the buds' pistils are fattening up noticeably (about twice as thick as visible in my pics from just 32 hours ago). Also looking much more frosty.

I gotta hand it to my local club... they weren't exaggerating about the quality and durability of their Blue Dream strain.

 

[CharlieMopps]

Good gracious those are some pretty plants. +rep I agree that the tripple feed does not seem to have harmed the plants any. But i would thoroughly flush all your pots and get back on the recomended schedule, salt buildup and nute lockout is a PITA especially in flowering when you REALLY don't want to mess anything up.
Are you still pulling the tops outward or are you done training them. Regardless, the girls look great. Subscribed!!!

 

[JohnGalt]

CharlieMopps,

Thanks for dropping in.

I was thinking the same thing about salt buildup over time. Too much of a good thing might bite me in the backside if I keep it up. Not sure if I should flush or not, considering I did start at 1/4-dose (times 3, so 3/4-dose) for the first couple waterings.

And these babies are still growing, so training is ongoing. Hoping they'll still fill in a couple "bare" spots in the screen. ("Bare" meaning less than 20 bud sites in a square foot of screen... the "dense" areas have more than 30 per square foot; more if you count stuff below the screen trying to find an opening)

 

[JohnGalt]

Last night I took a small sample from a bud leaf to look at under the microscope. Trichomes are >70% capitate-stalked (though still not fully developed), and about 25% are cloudy. (Note that these trichomes are ALREADY more dense and better developed than the best of my outdoor grow... can't wait to see how they look in a couple weeks!)

Starting to look frosty:

The following fan leaf was taken from a lower part of the plant. Hard to tell in this pic, but the leaf is yellowing (likely due to lack of light penetration). I would like to leave such leaves on the plant longer to let the plant suck as much nutrition from such leaves as possible, but with the humidity problems I've had, I am pulling anything that isn't a healthy looking green.

Pictured next to a 32-ounce (~950 mL) bottle:

 

[Tmac12]

That is a BIG LEAF!!

 

[JohnGalt]

11/20/10 - Flushed with a double-quantity of pH'd water.

11/22/10 - Pictorial update - looks like snow before Christmas! My camera, keyboard, and mouse are all sticky now... (washed my hands thoroughly before logging on, but forgot to wipe down my camera before uploading my pics... >.< So now it's just spreading... need a moist towelette here!)

Noticed the very first brown "hairs" on the buds. Another exciting milestone already upon me. (Sorry, none of the pics to show this turned out... better luck next time.)

Had to pull a lot more leaves than usual as a result of flushing instead of feeding (they really suck the nutrients out of the fan leaves fast!).

Also found a leaf with a black spec on it... like I had on my outdoor grow with mites & thrips... closer inspection revealed no webs or eggs, but a small bug-looking thing. Not sure what it is but it was very small (even compared to a spider mite). Most importantly - it wasn't moving. I believe I saw 3 sets of legs, so I'm leaning towards thrips... gotta keep my eyes peeled.

 

[Tmac12]

Beautiful buds~~

 

[Mmmmick]

Nice update JG, the girls are getting very frosty, looks good.
Good vigilance on the critter watch.

reps when I can, gotta spread some first I guess.

 

[j4s2u0]

Resin covered goodness
They look sweet man!

 

[JohnGalt]

11/27/10 - Watered with full nutes. Plants lost a lot of lower fan leaves over the past week, as suspected would happen without nutes for several days.

 

[JohnGalt]

12/2 - One of the plants was really droopy and had a bunch of yellow leaves. Pulled most the yellow leaves (just as a precaution; been pulling some lower leaves with what I suspect is mildew due to the high humidity). Gave the one plant about 10 ounces of water (her sisters weren't ready for water yet).

Took a small leaf sample to check trichomes - looking good so far! Took some pics, but most didn't turn out, but got one really good one (too bad I had to crop it so small, but what I'm posting is still pretty good).

 

[Tmac12]

Buds are looking very sweet John. Looks like you are doing well!!!

 

[JohnGalt]

Thanks Tmac12. Screen isn't as full as I had hoped, but then again that's the hardest part from what I've read. In any case, if this crop finishes solid I'll be in smoke for months. For my first time around I'm happy with the progress I've made.

 

[JohnGalt]

12/5 - watered with full-dose nutrients (1x, not 3x this time lol).

 

[Mmmmick]

Hi JG, sorry I haven't been around lately.

Nice update, the girls are going to give you plenty of good smoke. Lots of crystal on them, looks very good.

You'll work out the fine points of scrogging soon enough. It can be tricky getting the amount of stretch figured in, at first.

Very nice work.

 

[Two Tokes]

Just finished catching up. Nice looking scrog with sweet buds you got going.

 

[Saturn]