Punk Rock Caramelicious - First Grow

[UrbanGrower]

They should have them at your local hydro shop but if they don't then you could try wally world or a pool/aquarium/garden shop?

This is just mho but I wouldn't add nutes until they ask you for it (bottom leaves will yellow from no N). I like to go 4-5 weeks with pure ro water (I use promix hp which is medium hot). Without knowing your ph and ppms its kind of tricky but usually curled burned tips mean over fert. The small foliar spots could be a macro nutrient, but it's hard to tell without the ph. Hang in there though because worse comes to worse, if you do cull those 2, the others will greatly benefit from the extra light and co2

 

[PunkRockGirl]

We're using Roots Organic soil (which seems to have been a mistake, one we won't repeat) and I'm pretty sure when we have added nutrients they have been too much. We're going to try to flush them and when they look better use a lot less nutrients maybe once a week.
I think we are going to have to let our free seed plants go. Our tallest Caramelicious plant is about 15" and our shortest one is about 10". Our free plants are so far behind these it's hard to believe that they were all planted at the same time. There is no way they are going to catch up and be ready by the time PunkRockGuy moves and they are sickly anyway. We're going to 12-12 next week after we add more lights.

 

[Smoke2Js]

When you cull them, disect the plants into a bucket. look inside the branches then examine the roots, smell them, rinse them, look closely. This will help you understand what is going on in the plant when this occurs. Understanding the symptoms of the roots and soil will help you avoid this in the future. It could also be weak genetics of those individual plants. If that is the case, there was nothing you could have done for them.

 

[PunkRockGirl]

Thanks, I'll do that. I've been meaning to toss them for several days now but haven't gotten around to it, now I'm glad I didn't yet.

We're going to try to keep two of them. They don't have nearly as many leaves as the others but they are a foot tall, so we figured why not see if we can get them to bud. I've been amazed at how stubborn this plant is. The other two, while dwarfed, and looking like ass, are growing nonetheless and creating new leaves here and there. If we had the time I'd try to bring them to fruition, just to see how they turned out.

 

[PunkRockGirl]

And some pics...

First, the healthy ones...

The two that we are going to try to save...trying to get the first one to stand up, but it's not working...

This one has a better chance of making it I think, but doesn't have many leaves...

These two are getting trashed. The first one is only 3 or 4 inches tall, the second maybe 4 or 5.

 

[PunkRockGirl]

Is it true that the male plants are usually bigger than the females BEFORE they flower? I read that somewhere, that the male plants mature faster and are bigger...

Also, we added some epson salts to the water a couple of days ago, as we think they needed magnesium...

 

[canabinerd]

Male plants "in general" tend to be be a little taller and have fewer leaflets per fan.

Looks like most of them got a fair bit of nute burn on the lower leaves, but they all seem to be recovering and the new growth looks healthy. I wouldn't give up on them yet. Just give em' a bit of a flush.

 

[PunkRockGirl]

Ok, so it IS nutrient burn...thanks. We're working on getting them flushed out, haven't had enough money to buy a lot of distilled water all at once.

Our bigger plants have 7 leaflets or more per fan, hopefully that means they are females.

 

[KingJohnC]

most of your plants look to be growing well. i have never found any correlation between fast growth and male plants, just hearty plants.

 

[PunkRockGirl]

Hi *waves* Thanks!

Ok, we have a problem. We went to 12/12 Wednesday and things have been fine til today. All the plants are in pre-flower. Today when I went to check on them our best plant had fallen over, and the leaf stems are really droopy. WTF?? It lost a couple of lower leaves as well. Other than that, the main stem was not broken or damaged, and the plant seems to be mostly ok, just droopy. I did a little research but I can't figure this one out. PunkRockGuy watered them all last night, and we had not watered them since Tuesday (last night being Saturday, for those coming to this later). He said he didn't give that one as much water as he usually does, so I don't see how this could be a case of over watering, and it wasn't showing signs of distress before now. Still, I'm no expert. Here's some pics, please tell me what you think. I took these after I moved the plant so I could prop it up against the wall.

 

[Smoke2Js]

What kind of heat have they been through? Heat can cause this.
Also is there a fan blowing on them? Add one if not.
Use stakes , or a tomato cage ,and tie them up carefully, leaving room for growth.
During growth, Carefully bend the branches back and forth to strengthen them.
I like to shake mine vigorously once a week once they get real big. Keeps them strong.
Something to consider. Cannabis can be a ground runner, much like tomatoes.
They grow, get heavy, fall over and keep growing, repeating the process many times till death.
Other than that looking healthy!!

 

[Smoke2Js]

The number of blades on a leaf is not how you tell a male from female Cannabis plant, its the flowers.
Male plants do tend to grow taller than females early on, and begin to flower a little before the ladies.
This is to ensure the male flowers casts its sperm over the female flowers from above.
The male plant can last for many months outdoors flowering the entire time, and dieing before the female.
Last year I had a 6' tall purple and red Sour D Male , I used his pollen to make most of my crosses.

 

[denots]

I know you said it had been tuesday since you watered but I dont know how much you water them normally, It looks like heat damage or Over watering. I water about 2/3 a cup per gallon of soil(give or take a lil) every 3-5 days. It is a weed after all, it thrives on minimal water, thus the reason for such a tough growing plant. It will grow almost anywhere on earth with just light and a little bit of water. Plants never get a regular watering in nature, so I like to give time of heavier watering and times of drought. These are all just opinions of mine but I would look into a possible heat or over watering issue, especially since you say they were watered the night before...

 

[PunkRockGirl]

Thanks guys...we'll go with over watering...I'll let it dry out some before we give it anything else. (We have a heater in there, but also a fan that is on at all times.)

 

[PunkRockGirl]

Ok it looks like we have our first sexed plant...I feel kinda stupid asking this, but I want to make sure before I throw it out, this being the first time and all...

...this is a dude, right?

I'm SO disappointed...I knew we were gonna have SOME males, but I had really hoped that one would be female...at this point it is our best plant...very tall and healthy, with very little nutrient burn.

 

[Smoke2Js]

Ok it looks like we have our first sexed plant...I feel kinda stupid asking this, but I want to make sure before I throw it out, this being the first time and all...

...this is a dude, right?

I'm SO disappointed...I knew we were gonna have SOME males, but I had really hoped that one would be female...at this point it is our best plant...very tall and healthy, with very little nutrient burn.

Yup its a dude

 

[denots]

Males will typically be taller and mature first to try to spread its pollen asap.

 

[PunkRockGirl]

That's what I've heard. And it's still just a bit early to tell but indications are that 4 more, maybe 5 more are male as well. That will leave us with just 2 females, and one of them looks like ass. However the other one has two big stems (the one that fell over) and seems to be doing alright now. I just hate the thought of all the money we have put into this only to have to throw most of the products of it out. WHY didn't we buy feminized seeds to start with. *bangs head against wall* Well, lesson learned. We decided several weeks ago that from now on we will only buy feminized seeds or use clones. Having to throw that one out the other day actually made me very sad. Not just because it was time and money wasted, but because we nurtured it and watched it grow. That sucked. Kinda felt like losing a friend.

There's a medical marijuana convention going on mid-state in a couple of weeks that we are planning to attend. Hoping to buy some good feminized seeds there. Part of me doesn't mind if this is a failure to start with because the plants are just now in pre-flower and PunkRockGuy only has about 6 weeks or so before he has to move and that's probably not enough time to flower as much as they need to. He can harvest last minute of course, and put the buds in a wardrobe box for curing/moving, but I think it will be a miracle if he gets much of anything at that point. We started this whole thing too late, plain and simple.

 

[denots]

Yea six weeks is a little early as 25% or so is really packed on it the last weeks, but dont be discouraged by males. You did get alot of knowledge of growing while they grew. If you have space you can always save the best one and get pollen from him for future free seeds. Just make sure the room is far from the females as pollen will travel through duct work and such.

 

[PunkRockGirl]

We don't really have ducts (radiators for heat and window units for air) but our place really isn't big enough to separate them anyway. :/

I was just looking at them again and it looks like yet another, the double stemmed one, might be male as well. I'm resigning myself to the fact that this is probably going to just be a learning experience. Although if we end up with just one female it might not be that hard to transport her to a new place and let her finish. I was worried about the possibility of having to move several plants but one might be ok.