MacMota's Second Go - Poor Man Style

[MacMota]

So after discussions with the better half, we've decided to stay with it. Last night I put everything back together (sort of) and I got the plants back under the lights. I think 2 of them had too much shock and may not make it. I'll get some pictures up in a little while, there's cleaning to be done around these parts and I have 2 baskets of laundry to put away, but after that, I'll get some up here.

MacMota. I understand your paranoia, but try to relax. First, depending on what state your in, even if you were busted, it may just be a fine. Second, if your landlord hired a company to spray. it is not likely that the exterminator will say anything to your landlord. I would keep the plants growing for now and wait to see if anything comes up. You already have your story in hand. eace:

Thanks for your advice. You helped me keep my cool and not do something too crazy with my plants. While my immediate reaction may have caused some harm, I don't think it'll be a total loss.

I think Wolfbuddie is right don't panic, stay calm. The guy didn't say anything to you about them, I doubt he will tell any one else, maybe his wife for giggles. Let a little time pass and then jump back in.
Something like this sure gets the old heart pumping
I would hate to see all your work go for nothing.

Now that I've slept on it, I feel better about the whole thing. I think you're right as does Mrs. MacMota. She thinks we're good and I believe her intuition over mine. I agree with you, I'd hate to see all this go for nothing.

Damn bro, that does suck. I know the feeling. I live in a somewhat shady area and I am always double checking everything. Most likely nothing will come of it, but stick to your story. Keep them going. I would get a locking doorknob and replace the one to your outside storage space just until you vacate the property.

I'm lucky because I do have a locking door knob, I just need to start locking it. We're going to keep at it and hope this all blows over. I think it will.

Thanks guys for the encouragement. We really appreciate it.

 

[MacMota]

So where are we at? After one of the craziest weeks I've every had, here's where we stand. The second MA sprouted but due to my transplanting craziness, I killed it. Along with both of the Strawberry Cough and one of the bag seeds. So we're left with one MA and one bag seed. The bag seed looks rough. I don't know if it's the genetics, the pH of the water I'm using or the heat but this little thing looks rough. Anyway, here's some pictures below. The MA's looking fantastic as usual. I'm really pleased with those seeds.

MA:

Bag Seed:

See the curling of the leaves? I wish I could get my macro to focus on the plant instead of the dirt below it.

So that's if for now. I apologize for the delay in posting, I've had a rough time the last few days, but, all is getting better.

 

[MacMota]

Oh and thanks for the Reps, McBudz!

 

[MacMota]

Not much to report on today. They still look the same. I'm leaning toward a pH issue with the bag seed. I watered them last night. Trying to get on the bi-weekly watering schedule. I'd say I'll have some pictures up soon, but given the last time I did that it took me almost a week, I'm not saying anything other than: Pictures, eventually.

 

[KannabisKid]

So where are we at? After one of the craziest weeks I've every had, here's where we stand. The second MA sprouted but due to my transplanting craziness, I killed it. Along with both of the Strawberry Cough and one of the bag seeds. So we're left with one MA and one bag seed.

That sucks about the SC man. I know that's the strain you were gunning for. The MA is looking good though. It is a real easy plant to finish.

 

[OldMedMan]

Hi MacMota and Mrs MacMota
Well, sounds like your out of shock from the haps before. Cool.
That funny looking spout might make it. Thats the way mine looked when I started my grow. Sure looks Indica dominate.
Glad you doing good and all is well.

 

[jcool09]

Macmota,

Sorry about what you've been through, glad to see that you have at least one plant with good genetics that survived. Are you going to germinate more seeds or just try to finish the two that lived?

I don't know if you're looking for advice but I'll throw in my .02 anyway. I would veg for 3-4 weeks and use the FIM technique to generate as many shoots as possible. I would then cut off 80% of the shoots for clones and flower the remains of the parent plants for 10 days while the clones root. In an ideal scenario the MA plant would be female and provide a half dozen or so clones. The parent plants would be discarded and the clones would then be vegged using FIM and/or LST for another 3-4 weeks before flowering. This way you can still get a decent yield for your trouble vs. growing a single female all the way to harvest.

Whatever you decide to do I'm here for you man.

 

[MacMota]

Alright, day 21. The MA looks fantastic, I'm truly amazed by this strain, and with the weather cooling off a little, both the plants seem happy. The bag seed still has some twisting on that first set of leaves, I doubt it'll go away. No biggie though.

I'm going to water them here in a little while and I'm going to start the first dose of nutes. It'll be really diluted and it's just to get them used to it. I'll probably veg for another 1 - 2 weeks and see how they look, then on to flower. Technically, I could go to flower this time next week but I think I'm going to wait a week, just for the hell of it.

Got a few pictures of them here. First up, MA:

Next is the bag seed. The more I looked at these pictures, the better I realized that it's doing!

That sucks about the SC man. I know that's the strain you were gunning for. The MA is looking good though. It is a real easy plant to finish.

I know, it's a bummer, but if my MA is anything close to yours, I'll be fine. And she'll get over it.

Hi MacMota and Mrs MacMota
Well, sounds like your out of shock from the haps before. Cool.
That funny looking spout might make it. Thats the way mine looked when I started my grow. Sure looks Indica dominate.
Glad you doing good and all is well.

I'm hoping you're right. They seem to be happier now that I've stopped uprooting them. Thanks for hanging around, we both appreciate it.

Macmota,

Sorry about what you've been through, glad to see that you have at least one plant with good genetics that survived. Are you going to germinate more seeds or just try to finish the two that lived?

I don't know if you're looking for advice but I'll throw in my .02 anyway. I would veg for 3-4 weeks and use the FIM technique to generate as many shoots as possible. I would then cut off 80% of the shoots for clones and flower the remains of the parent plants for 10 days while the clones root. In an ideal scenario the MA plant would be female and provide a half dozen or so clones. The parent plants would be discarded and the clones would then be vegged using FIM and/or LST for another 3-4 weeks before flowering. This way you can still get a decent yield for your trouble vs. growing a single female all the way to harvest.

Whatever you decide to do I'm here for you man.

Thanks J. We were going to germinate more and go with those, but at this point they'd be 3 weeks behind the others and we don't have a different place to flower. We also talked about FIM and LST with these but with the craziness and luck of last time, I'm more for getting females and getting some smokeable herb out of these this time and trying for the fancy stuff next go. We appreciate your input and thanks for hanging in there with us.

Thanks again to everyone who stopped by!

 

[jcool09]

Alright, day 21. The MA looks fantastic, I'm truly amazed by this strain, and with the weather cooling off a little, both the plants seem happy.

Yes they do! I was concerned that you might have dumped them since we haven't heard from you in a bit. I'm glad that you decided to hang in there.

 

[MacMota]

Yes they do! I was concerned that you might have dumped them since we haven't heard from you in a bit. I'm glad that you decided to hang in there.

Yeah my work schedule pretty much dictates that I be dead to the world for 4 days a week. I like to try and get on here those other 3 days. We had friends in town earlier this week though so I couldn't get on here then.

Not much to report, they still look great!

Thanks for hanging in there guys!

 

[KannabisKid]

They definitely are some happy looking ladies. Nice recovery. My MA peaked in height. Never measured her but I would guess about 3 - 3 1/2'. I would definitely recommend a little LST on some of the stems so the light can penetrate the canopy. Mine was extremely dense and had I followed through, I probably would have doubled the harvest. So many bud sites throughout that just didn't get enough light to grow and mature.

 

[MacMota]

Day 28.

Things are going to be a little different with this grow now. For one, we needed to move the grow indoors because we decided to purchase a washer and dryer. I got tired of hauling 50+ lbs of clothes to the laundry center and dropping $20 to wash our clothes and second, I wanted to make sure that we had a setup that was a little more easily climate-controlled and was more secure. Enter "The Grow Box". Taking some pages from this guy's grow journal, I fashioned a 45" H x 24" W x 18" D, grow box from items that can be purchased at your local hardware superstore.

First off, mad props to dfw-guy. His necessity for stealth inspired the genius in him and he has pulled off a fantastic stealth/closet grow. I'm truly inspired by his work and you will see much of it emulated here.

I started with 2 large moving boxes. I attached the two of them together with duct tape cut a large opening to access the plants. In the top of the box, I cut an opening for a vent fan and places to run the lighting cords through. Near the bottom, I have passive air intakes and I'm in the process of finding a place to put a bigger fan to circulate some air around in there and to strengthen the stems of our plants.

Now on to the lights. There are 8, 100 watt equivalent compact florescent light bulbs that offer 1600 lumen each and of which, 4 are 6500k light temp, 2 are 5000k light temp and 2 are 2700k light temp. In case you're wondering, that's a total of 12800 lumen. On a side note, I put the plants in the box last night and this morning, there was very noticeable growth on both plants. I'm gonna really have to keep an eye on these to make sure they don't burn our babies.

I know there's much more work to do, like get some form of mylar (prolly emergency blankets) and line the inside of the box for maximum light reflection, and I'm going to be making reflectors for each of the lights from some old soda cans lying around. I also have to fix some light leaks and figure out how to cover the passive air intakes to block light from them as well. We're totally open to suggestions so feel free to comment. I've included pictures below.

The Grow Box:

I didn't forget about the plants either, first up is the Mazar-Afghan. We're at 28 days with this one and as soon as we get the box straight, we're gonna switch to 12/12. It's looking very healthy and happy and I'm ready to make the switch.

Also, the bag seed is looking good, but...weird. The leaves are growing great going in one direction, but the leaves going the other way, well, they look like Nemo's little fin. I'm concerned that it's even going to flower.

So yeah, that's it for now. There's still a lot of work to be done but it'll happen. Thanks to everyone for stopping by and to all those who've hung in through the thick and the thin, we really do appreciate you all.

 

[jcool09]

Mac- you've gone totally DFW on us! We'll call you MacMota-guy from now on I love it. You don't need to waste a whole closet on your ladies. Do it small and do it right and you will get a better yield/ft2 anyway. Looks like you're on the way to getting a stable and comfortable home set up for your subjects. You have seen how this type of grow box can deliver a very happy ending so good luck and I will look forward to reading your future updates.

 

[OldMedMan]

Hi MacMota and Mrs MacMota
Now that's what I'm talking about
I am really happy about what your doing. Using other folks as inspiration is totally what 420's all about. You two are a great pair working together.
I hope it continues your whole lifetime. I think it will.
+Reps.

 

[MacMota]

Mac- you've gone totally DFW on us! We'll call you MacMota-guy from now on I love it. You don't need to waste a whole closet on your ladies. Do it small and do it right and you will get a better yield/ft2 anyway. Looks like you're on the way to getting a stable and comfortable home set up for your subjects. You have seen how this type of grow box can deliver a very happy ending so good luck and I will look forward to reading your future updates.

That's what I've been thinking for quite some time now, it's just that the funds and desire weren't enough to push us to do it. We've got it now and we're both super excited. Our next step is to put in the mylar and as soon as I've got it in, I'll get some pics on here.

Thanks for hanging around and we appreciate your comments.

Hi MacMota and Mrs MacMota
Now that's what I'm talking about
I am really happy about what your doing. Using other folks as inspiration is totally what 420's all about. You two are a great pair working together.
I hope it continues your whole lifetime. I think it will.
+Reps.

Right on Man, thanks for the feed back and the kind words.

I'm so ready to get this finished so we can switch to 12/12. On a side note, I read in another journal something about 11/13 for flowering. Does anyone know anything about this?

 

[Legalize09]

its all a matter of opinion....some think its better bc it has more of a dark period which is when all the sex hormones are going crazy...but like i said diff ppl find different results and its just up to whoever is growin...personally i just stick to 12/12

goodluck n cheers!

 

[MacMota]

I've added the mylar and have some pics. Also, we've discussed it, and since we're on day 29, we're going to switch to flowering tonight. I'm going to water them with some diluted flowering nutrients and switch the timer over to 12/12 when we hit the sack.

Here's the pics:

I like this last pic. It's not as hard on the eyes with the light being diffused by the fan blades. It makes it easier for me to peek in on the plants as well.

its all a matter of opinion....some think its better bc it has more of a dark period which is when all the sex hormones are going crazy...but like i said diff ppl find different results and its just up to whoever is growin...personally i just stick to 12/12

goodluck n cheers!

Thanks for your input Legalize09. Every little bit helps. We've decided to stay at 12/12 seeing as we have yet to get a female so we have no basis to test results!

Thanks to everybody else for stopping by and for all of your input!

 

[MacMota]

Just a quick update, things have been crazy busy this week. I have fashioned some shades out of soda cans and have them in place. There are also dozens of new little leaves shooting off the main stems on both. I'll have to get some pics and put em up here.

That's it for now!

 

[MacMota]

Alright, time for a real post.

This is day 41. We've been flowering for nearly 2 weeks now and I'm still unsure of a sex for either plants. I don't see any signs of pollen sacks, but I'm not seeing any pistils or signs of female sex either.

I have a picture of the lights with the relectors on them. I fashioned them from soda cans that I got from work. It's pretty easy to make them, perhaps I should make a tutorial for those who are considering using this technique.

Anyway, here's the pic:

Okay, on the the plants. First is the Mazar-Afghan. It's on day 41 and I'm leaning toward it being a girl, but I don't want to jinx anything like on the last grow. There are several potential bud sites and I've taken some pictures of the undergrowth to show some. Also, the main cola site is looking fantastic. The way that the passive air intakes work on this box create a crosswind from the fan that blows the plants around like a fan was inside there with them. The stem is fat and thicker than a pencil.

Here's some pics:

Here's the bag seed. This little plant is only about half the size of the MA but, it's doing quite well in it's own right. It's on day 40 and is also showing some good bud sites. Since it's smaller, I'm not expecting too much from it but I'll take what I can get, ya know?

Pics of the bad seed:

Well that's it for now. What do you ya'll think? Are they girls?

Thanks guys!

 

[jcool09]

What do you ya'll think? Are they girls?

Mac, I'm not seeing any flowering activity. It is possible that the plants are too immature at 41 days to flower. Hang in there.