My first grow. California Dream

[The Weed]

mersone my Friend! I would love to be there when you take your first toke in months from your OWN bud YOU have grown. IT will blow your mind! You are doing great, you are going to have one hell of a harvest! Interesting thoughts about your lighting schedule, Finishing with MH bulb. Well be cool to watch. I am here watching and reading along. Great to see your work paying off. Best regards.

[mesrone.]

Greenblood for the kind words! Il do m best to give you research material in my grow, but im a first timer! Ive just read TONS of other threads on here. Some of My favorites are grows on here are by Harry Red, MCBudz, Ms Fox, PitVier, Pan4Gold, Dread, Etc. I know im missive tons that helped me get to where im at now but I could just list forever!!!
And as for the LST, thanks! I have one plant of the group, planted at the same time, that I did not LST. The differences between that, and the rest are undeniable that LST is the way to go!
As for your question about the computer case.. Do you have any pictures? Ive been interested in those stealth grows for sometime. Think it would be cool to do a sea of green with bud in a cups in one of those. BUT i dont know about the MH lamp. Could one fit in the case?

BACK Weed! Great to see you around again!
Yeah I remember reading a while ago about using a MH through the inital stretch during the first couple weeks of flower. So i began to do more research, and read about peole using MH lamps for their entire grow and getting some DANK buds. Then began reading about how using MH lamps increase potency of the buds. I can find the links and post them here if youd like? But then how HS lamps increase yield, but only by about 5-10% so it was more of a personal decision on which to use...
But through all the reading i never found any that switched back and forth, but saw it mentioned in a question by someone on the rollitup forums. But no pictures, or followthrough. SO i am going to give it a try in my grow.

I cant wait, its cool too now that the lights are off for 12 hours because it causes me to really control myself with peeking at the plants. So only check them when i get up before work, and when i get home the lights are already off. So only see them once a day, and get to REALLY notice a difference. One is already 10 inches tall today!!

Well thanks everyone!!

[NE14AJ]

Originally Posted by mesrone.

Thanks for the advice! Its funny you post that, because this morning i was going over everything and that was a concern i actually had.
Ive looked at my circuit breaker, and i have nothing but 20 amps throughout the house.
From what i understand, you dont want to have any more than 80% of total maximum hooked up to a circuit breaker at any time, and 80% of max on a 20 amp breaker is around 1900 watts?
With all of my elect in my closet, i am barely pushing 1000W. But i am still a bit nervous.

Now you mentioned the 600W light producing ALOT of heat, even with decent fanage? my closet is about 28 cubic feet. I have an exaust fan running at 105cfm hooked up to the air cooled light, so about 3 1/2 times a minute the air will be refreshed. As well as an 8 inch standard cage fan for intake. Also the ducting is being led OUT of the closet into the open room. Do you think it would still be too hot?

hello fellow member and grower
it is normal to only have 20 amp breakers and as long as the breakers are functioning properly you should have no worries , A 20 amp circuit has in most cases #12 solid wiring made of copper and UL underwriters laboratory's has tested the load capability's of the #12 and its safe as long as your breaker does its job , you can buy a tester that will short your plug and kill the breaker to make sure it trips ,

but like medi said heat and cotton not safe just use common sense and i put a fire alarm top my vent and a fire extinguisher next to closet just in case

if you have any questions feel free i have 7 years in the electrical field and a job forman if it lights up or turns on i have wired one so hit me up

[mesrone.]

Thanks for stopping by and sharing your concern NE1. I think i am good however. It has yet to tri and ive been running 24/7 the last month without any problems. Plus in the room, i only have a alarm clock and a lamp hooked up, so nothing else putting load on the breaker. Each room has its own separate circuit. its pretty decent setup in this house actually.

[mesrone.]

Well Havnt updated in a little while. Been super busy with work. Which also sucks because i have hardly got to spend any time working on the plants. AT ALL. Basically just enough time to check them one a day, water them (which made me late for work) and do a quick check for preflowers. because the lights come on at 8, and have to be at work at 830am, and they are off by the time i get home from my second job.
Which by the way they have began to show!!
I had 5 California dream FEMALES in there, which none of them have shown signs yet. But of the 6 randoms. 3 have started growing white hairs. and 2 are what looks to be little balls. Im going to wait another couple of days to confirm the 2 males and then toss them. The Bud in a cup is undetermined as of now.
But Even with that tally. That leaves me with 8 females and possibly 9!
They are all around 10-12 inches tall as of now, and very bushy. And starting to smell more and more. I walk into my room and get just hit with a wall of smell.
day 10 of flower

MALES???


FEMALES MYSTERY STRAINS



CALIFORNIA DREAM I TOPPED

BUD IN A CUP

ONE OF THE MYSTERY STRAIN FEMALES. THINK THIS IS A SATIVA





SO like i said about the MH lighting, Im going to keep that bulb in until day 14 of flower, then switch to the HPS for the next 14 days. Also, when would it be wise to begin with the flowering nutes. Ive heard to stick with the veg nutes until the stretch is over?

[The Butcher]

i start off light with the flowering nutes then work my way up to full strength. that way no chance of a lock out. which can easly happen when switching from one nute reg to another. Thats just the way i do it. Start off 33% then the next 66 % strength then the next change out i go full. I only so this with flowering, vegging goes 1/4 strength then 50%, 75% and well you get the idea.
again this is just the way I do things. I'm sure there will be more peeps to help you with the question as well.

[mesrone.]

Well i bought some CAL-MAG today to add into the flowering nute program. There were a couple of spots showing up on several of the leaves. small spots, and not really spreading much, but from reading through the problems guide, figured it had to be a deficiency of some sort. So going to add calmag and hope that works.
Also Im very pleased with the results from the NSR nutes ive been using in conjunction with my Fox Farms, so I picked up some Boost juice. It is a high potency Vitamin B1 and natural auxin formula. IM going to use this with the cal mag and Tiger Bloom from Fox Farms through harvest.

Also I threw out the two males today. The balls were getting bigger and much more defined, and didnt want to take any chances in waiting. PLus i needed to get rid of a couple anyway. Now I thinkI need to get rid of at least one. if not two more. They are sitting at 6 sq inches a plant right now with 8 of them (and the bud in a cup)

THANKs Butcher! I will definitely do that! I would hate to start causing them stress now.

[The Butcher]

less is more sometimes, great job on the grow mesrone

oh and i posted some picts of my rainbow kush mother plant today alond with picts of the side colas as per your request, hope you like them.

[mesrone.]

Well its day 14 flower!! They are still stretching like crazy! With the canopy being around 14 inches now, with one thats over 16. They have doubled in size in the first 14 days.!!

I have been insanely busy with work lately, so updating has been a trick and keeping u with everyones journals has been even harder!!! Im finally off today though so going to try and catch up on everything ive been missing! I think a few of the grows im following are getting super close to chop time! EVERYONE!

BUTCHER I checked those pics! AWESOME!! If anyone hasnt seen THE BUTCHERS PRIDE you should check it out. Some fantastic looking plants in that journal. What are you referring to Butcher? Less is more when it comes to the nutes? or the plants?

So New things that are going on in my garden. I switched to the HS light yesterday, and they seem to be lovin it. Because its so cold here right now, around 20F outside, I just leave my window cracked slightly. It keeps the temps in the tent down to 73-75 during the day, then close the window and it stays about 68F at night. So i have my problems figured out from earlier with the HPS lamp and the temps. So thats a plus!!

I fed them on the 5th. But i think i underwatered them slightly on that feeding. to a couple of the bigger plants, because they are drooping a tiny bit. So i will feed them tomorrow morning. Im still feeding veg nutes. I figure i will do this until day 21 flower, then switch to flower nutes for the remaining 5 weeks.


ANYWAY PIC TIME!!!! And im going to need a little advice on this post.
heres the garden

Mystery Females
Mystery 1


Mystery 2


Mystery 3


bud in a cup

California dream females
CD 1


CD 2: This is the one i believe i mislabeled at somepoint in the transplanting process. The leafs are all so much different than the 4 other CD ladies. ALSO. Ever since I topped this plant. All the new growth leafs are misshaped and deformed... Ive looked, and mishaping of the leafs can be caused by a PH issue, but it would be affecting all of the leaves, not just the new growth?
Anyway take a look, and advice would be great.

The tips of the leafs are missing all together on several of the new growth.

CD 3


CD 4 This is the biggest, at 16 inches with a huge stem.


CD 5 This is the other california dream that I topped. Which turned out great! SOOO many colas.




And some random pics





SORRY there are so many pics. I got a little trigger happy today! ENJOY!!!

[AmGrowR]

@wesome pics, m@n!!! Them girls @re comin' @long nicely!!!

[ReggieG]

This journal has inspired me to get off my ass and start a grow! Thanks for the inspiration.

[llewop211]

Awesome plants man, mine are about a week behind yours and these pictures are making me really excited of whats to come. I'll be watching, best of luck.

[The Butcher]

damn now those are some branches..nice job on the topping

[mesrone.]

AMGROWER! THanks! Youve been around for a while now! I hope they turn out as good as im hoping!!!

REGGIE. Great! Im glad I could have been a help to inspire someone to start growing! This is my first real grow myself so im still learning as well! Post some pics of your grow! or start up a journal! This forum helps you learn more than any book or any other site.Thanks for stopin by!!

llewop211 Hey man! Thanks. Post some pics up!!

Butcher! Yeah The one california dream plant that I topped has just exploded. 10 main colas and hardly any undergrowth. Theres just ten level colas on the top of the canopy. Im definitely going to experiment with topping more in my next grow..

Anyway update time. Im going to have to give one more plant the axe today. There are too many leaves and branches blocking light to the lower budsites on the ladies, so one more has to go. I removed one and it opened up quite a bit more room and light getting to the lower branches.
SO final count is 8 plants total. 4 California Dream. 3 Mystery plants. and the 1 mystery budinacup. Which i think will all fit nicely in here.
Im on day 19 of flower Im going to feed them veg nutes one last time then start the flower nutes around day 21.
There are so many bud sites its insane.
I also noticed that the california dream strain takes VERY well to LST and topping. The three mystery strains, i tied over the exact same way, with the same number of ties, and they are not nearly as bushy as the california dream. So far i am very impressed with these plants.
and heres my first set of some pre mature budporn!! about 5 more weeks!!!
Just a couple random pics
Mystery strain.

CALIFORNIA DREAM



budinacup!!

AND a group shot


ENJOY!!!!

[The Butcher]

great job on the topping. There is a technique that is done while topping that causes it. I'll have to research what its called. But it gives you the the outcome that you have. The other way is just traditionally topping the plant and letting the side branches grow. Its a light difference, like i said I'll find exctly what its called, but it works well when done right.