1st Grow Attempt with LED Light! Feedback Welcomed!

[SmokingPanda]

Hey 420magazine family! I am a long time stalker on the forums but now it is time for me to start contributing to the cause of helping mother nature in her finest form!

The reason I started to grow on my own is that I was sick of trying to hunt down the goods. I have quite a bit of people to purchase from but you always have to wait on them or they will be inconsistent. Here also in our major city you pay a "tax" on your product. If you head out of the city this tax is removed but the drive is longer. The final reason was quality. This again is a hit and miss around here and depending on who you get it from and what time of the year it can be the greatest shit you ever smoked to wondering if you are smoking oregano (its not! just very weak!)

This grow for me was my absolute first grow ever. I can not say it is by any means the best grow. For me, this grow is a HUGE learning experience. I was not so much worried about increasing harvest sizes or anything of that nature. I was more worried with how to keep them alive while trying new things. I tried a few techniques (topping, fiming, super cropping, etc) I read about when it comes to growing nice size trees and experimented on these so I can get familiar with the processes on future girls. Still much to learn!

The medium was just some store purchases MiracleGrow with extra added Perlite to the mix. The pots were 5 gallon pots but with no holes for flushing (I will be drilling some holes soon though). My wife was so happy to buy pots and flowering stuff she went off into her own world with the pots lol! The nutrients used are MiracleGrow tomato food. I water them with nutrients one day and the next with just water with a little bit of SuperThrive in it. The third day they get nothing. The light I am using is an Advanced LED Diamond Series 200W. I love this light and it makes me just want to site with the plants. The light is so mesmerizing! Reflective material used is aluminum foil. I know I know...the worst thing to use but I pomise this will be the last time I use it and will get some mylar. I am still in the process of deciding on how I want to grow my next plants. I am leaning towards organic soil mix with little nutrients needed. If not I am going to go with a coco fiber and perlite mix using Earth Juice organic nutrients. I would really like to stay organic with these grows.

The plants came from 3 unknown seeds through random bags of weed. I have good seeds like G13, Liberty Haze, White Russian and a few others for the good shit later waiting to be planted. Again, these three were just for trying to see if I can do this and new techniques. Onto the pictures!

Here is my grow setup right now in my closet! Right now they have been vegging for 2 solid good months on 18/6.

Here is Shorty (pet name)

Here is Bertha (pet name)

Finally, here is The Miss (pet name)! She is my favorite of them all and this one I will be taking clones of!

As much as I love how these things are getting huge I have come to notice that two of them are probably hermaphrodites while The Miss is clearly a female. But I want to show some pictures to you all and have you chime in on their sex.

Here is Shorty with what appears to be pollen sacs growing....

Here is Bertha with what appears to be pollen sacs as well....

Here is The Miss with what appears to be female genitalia....

Please let me know if you think Bertha and Shorty are hermies because if they are I will remove them and destroy them. Possibly save them for future hash. I save all trimmings to make hash later.

If you guys like what you see please comment! I am so excited to start this new journey and will need as much advice and help I can get. I love this community and am looking to start being a bigger part of it! If you want to see more pictures just let me know!

Until then have a nice hit for me!

 

[Vick074]

Welcome to 420.
"The Miss" looks nice.
Have you tried LST'ing some of your hidden sites to give them more light?
I'm not positive, but pretty sure what you think are "pollen sacs" are just where the old leave sets were.
They shouldn't be showing sex that low down on the plant, plus you're light is in 18/6 still, so you haven't sexed them yet?
You have to switch the lights to 12/12 for a few weeks to determine for sure which ones are males and which ones are females. Kill the males (unless you want to keep them for pollenating) and keep the females.
Were they auto flower seeds? if they are, they could be starting to bud now because the plant has reached it's maturity. Maybe someone else can chime in with more experience with auto flowering seeds.
Do you have any ventilation in there? Didn't hear you mention it at all, and didn't see any in your photos. I know LED's don't generate much heat, but even an oscillating fan to tickle the branches, and keep them moving, while keeping fresh air moving around would make them happy. It will also strengthen their branches and make them thicker.
I'm not sure how high your ceiling is in that closet, and this is just a suggestion, but you might want to think about flipping them to 12/12 pretty soon, because they are still going to stretch even in flowering. Some strains can double in size after flip so it helps to know more about the genetics each of your strains have. It would suck to have them growth spurt right into your light then you'd have to use your supercropping skills on your whole crop, effecting your yield.

 

[ChesterC]

Funny you mentioned auto flowering plants Vick074 ... I switched to autos for indoors and I've never looked back ...

Your plants look great SmokinPanda ... That DS200 does a real good job ... I have a DS100 and I'm very satisfied w/ it ...

Nirvana autoflowering strains

 

[SmokingPanda]

Welcome to 420.
"The Miss" looks nice.
Have you tried LST'ing some of your hidden sites to give them more light?
I'm not positive, but pretty sure what you think are "pollen sacs" are just where the old leave sets were.
They shouldn't be showing sex that low down on the plant, plus you're light is in 18/6 still, so you haven't sexed them yet?
You have to switch the lights to 12/12 for a few weeks to determine for sure which ones are males and which ones are females. Kill the males (unless you want to keep them for pollenating) and keep the females.
Were they auto flower seeds? if they are, they could be starting to bud now because the plant has reached it's maturity. Maybe someone else can chime in with more experience with auto flowering seeds.
Do you have any ventilation in there? Didn't hear you mention it at all, and didn't see any in your photos. I know LED's don't generate much heat, but even an oscillating fan to tickle the branches, and keep them moving, while keeping fresh air moving around would make them happy. It will also strengthen their branches and make them thicker.
I'm not sure how high your ceiling is in that closet, and this is just a suggestion, but you might want to think about flipping them to 12/12 pretty soon, because they are still going to stretch even in flowering. Some strains can double in size after flip so it helps to know more about the genetics each of your strains have. It would suck to have them growth spurt right into your light then you'd have to use your supercropping skills on your whole crop, effecting your yield.

Thank you so much for replying! I really do appreciate it!

What does LST stand for? Im sure I have read about it but I am not good with all the acronyms just yet. I am not really sure what kind of strains these are so to know if they are autos is a little hard. Again, these were random to just see what happens. I do have a fan in the closet! Here is a picture of it! Also, the ceilings are about 11 feet high so I have plenty of room to continue.

As for flipping them to 12/12 I will be doing that tonight. I heard about monster cropping from a fellow grower here who said he take clones around 20 days into flowering and they will grow even more massive. I was skeptical until I saw his grow log. I think I will be trying that too to see if it works for me. Cloning seems to be my biggest challenge. BTW, would supercropping do anything during flower? Or should it only be performed during veg?

As far as the pollen sacs go I am still unsure myself. They can be found at every internode above the 3rd set on both Bertha and Shorty. If they do come out to be hermaphrodites should I still remove them from my grow area? Will they still produce buds? I am not equipped at the momemnt to have two seperate grow areas so any other options would be nice to hear. What about removing the sacs with a razor blade? Would that affect anything with the plant other than stop it from being able to pollinate? Here is some more pictures of them.

 

[Vick074]

Hi Smoking Panda, my pleasure! "LST" stands for- Low Stress Training. Basically tying and manipulating branches to grow out and up, or basically wherever you want. usually done at the beginning combined with topping or Fimming, to produce bushes instead of tall one bud'ers. I grew a plant in my window once and trained it all the way around my window frame with tacs and string. when it budded there were buds all the way around. Amazing what some people are doing with LST. Like training your plant to grow like a corkscrew to allow total light penetration. When I have some to play in my new veg room, I want to try and train a plant to grow in zig zags along my closet floor to get Multiple bud sites. Do some research on LST HST and supercropping, it it will keep you reading for days! Yeah sorry I totally gapped when you said they were random bag seeds, so you really don't know what they are. Perfect for practicing with like you're doing, and if you end up getting some good results out of your learning process? All the better right? Looks like that fan is pretty much all you need, and having 11 ft ceilings! Rad! wish I had that much room to play with damn! Good on ya for flipping them to 12/12. I have taken clones at 20 days into flowering as well. You can actually clone at any time, it just takes the clone a lot longer to re-veg, especially the further into bud that the mother is. Supercropping is usually more for plants in veg because they are growth spurting so much they bounce back from the bends quicker. I've heard it can be done in flowering, but it can again take a lot longer for it to heal. Can be done in an emergency with good results. As far as your pollen sacs, the plants should tell you more about what's up with that, as they progress into flowering. Just keep an eye on them. I think you should be more worried about if they are males rather than if they are hermaphrodites. Because if they are and those pollen sacs burst? your other plants might get gizzed on. then you have seedy weedy! not good.. I'd just wait until you've sex'ed them and make the call as to what you want to do. Myself? I'd kill all the males DEAD. You hear stories all the time about people sexing their plants and ALL turn out to be males!! ARRRGGGHH I'd be choked! That's why I only deal with clones now. And Cloning can be a little bit hard to get sometimes. A humidity dome helps a lot, make sure your water is PH'd to 5.5, spray feed them and keep them moist. That's all you really need to do, and you'll see roots pop in like a week or two. Some use heating pads under the dome to stimulate root production, but you can do without. I'm not quite sure what to tell you about the suspected pollen sacs. Maybe someone else can chime in to give some better advice.

 

[Vick074]

Hi Smoking Panda, my pleasure! "LST" stands for- Low Stress Training. Basically tying and manipulating branches to grow out and up, or basically wherever you want. usually done at the beginning combined with topping or Fimming, to produce bushes instead of tall one bud'ers. I grew a plant in my window once and trained it all the way around my window frame with tacs and string. when it budded there were buds all the way around. Amazing what some people are doing with LST. Like training your plant to grow like a corkscrew to allow total light penetration. When I have some time to play in my new veg room, I want to try and train a plant to grow in zig zags along my closet floor to get Multiple bud sites. Do some research on LST HST and supercropping, it it will keep you reading for days! Yeah sorry I totally gapped when you said they were random bag seeds, so you really don't know what they are. Perfect for practicing with like you're doing, and if you end up getting some good results out of your learning process? All the better right? Looks like that fan is pretty much all you need, and having 11 ft ceilings! Rad! wish I had that much room to play with damn! Good on ya for flipping them to 12/12. I have taken clones at 20 days into flowering as well. You can actually clone at any time, it just takes the clone a lot longer to re-veg, especially the further into bud that the mother is. Supercropping is usually more for plants in veg because they are growth spurting so much they bounce back from the bends quicker. I've heard it can be done in flowering, but it can again take a lot longer for it to heal. Can be done in an emergency with good results. As far as your pollen sacs, the plants should tell you more about what's up with that, as they progress into flowering. Just keep an eye on them. I think you should be more worried about if they are males rather than if they are hermaphrodites. Because if they are and those pollen sacs burst? your other plants might get gizzed on. then you have seedy weedy! not good.. I'd just wait until you've sex'ed them and make the call as to what you want to do. Myself? I'd kill all the males DEAD. You hear stories all the time about people sexing their plants and ALL turn out to be males!! ARRRGGGHH I'd be choked! That's why I only deal with clones now. And Cloning can be a little bit hard to get sometimes. A humidity dome helps a lot, make sure your water is PH'd to 5.5, spray feed them and keep them moist. That's all you really need to do, and you'll see roots pop in like a week or two. Some use heating pads under the dome to stimulate root production, but you can do without. I'm not quite sure what to tell you about the suspected pollen sacs. Maybe someone else can chime in to give some better advice.

 

[Vick074]

woops, sorry about the double post. tried to delete it but wouldn't let me..

 

[SmokingPanda]

Funny you mentioned auto flowering plants Vick074 ... I switched to autos for indoors and I've never looked back ...

Your plants look great SmokinPanda ... That DS200 does a real good job ... I have a DS100 and I'm very satisfied w/ it ...

Nirvana autoflowering strains

The DS200 is fantastic! I really wanted to not have to worry about increased electric costs and heat issues. This is really the life saver for that! I am thinking of getting a second one for just a flower room. I bought mine for half price from a friend who only used it for 50 hours! I hit the jackpot on that one!

As far as autos go can you tell me a little more about them? When you say auto I suppose you mean that they autoflower on their own regardless of light time changes? Maybe that will be a more appropriate for indoor growing.

 

[SmokingPanda]

Hi Smoking Panda, my pleasure! "LST" stands for- Low Stress Training. Basically tying and manipulating branches to grow out and up, or basically wherever you want. usually done at the beginning combined with topping or Fimming, to produce bushes instead of tall one bud'ers. I grew a plant in my window once and trained it all the way around my window frame with tacs and string. when it budded there were buds all the way around. Amazing what some people are doing with LST. Like training your plant to grow like a corkscrew to allow total light penetration. When I have some time to play in my new veg room, I want to try and train a plant to grow in zig zags along my closet floor to get Multiple bud sites. Do some research on LST HST and supercropping, it it will keep you reading for days! Yeah sorry I totally gapped when you said they were random bag seeds, so you really don't know what they are. Perfect for practicing with like you're doing, and if you end up getting some good results out of your learning process? All the better right? Looks like that fan is pretty much all you need, and having 11 ft ceilings! Rad! wish I had that much room to play with damn! Good on ya for flipping them to 12/12. I have taken clones at 20 days into flowering as well. You can actually clone at any time, it just takes the clone a lot longer to re-veg, especially the further into bud that the mother is. Supercropping is usually more for plants in veg because they are growth spurting so much they bounce back from the bends quicker. I've heard it can be done in flowering, but it can again take a lot longer for it to heal. Can be done in an emergency with good results. As far as your pollen sacs, the plants should tell you more about what's up with that, as they progress into flowering. Just keep an eye on them. I think you should be more worried about if they are males rather than if they are hermaphrodites. Because if they are and those pollen sacs burst? your other plants might get gizzed on. then you have seedy weedy! not good.. I'd just wait until you've sex'ed them and make the call as to what you want to do. Myself? I'd kill all the males DEAD. You hear stories all the time about people sexing their plants and ALL turn out to be males!! ARRRGGGHH I'd be choked! That's why I only deal with clones now. And Cloning can be a little bit hard to get sometimes. A humidity dome helps a lot, make sure your water is PH'd to 5.5, spray feed them and keep them moist. That's all you really need to do, and you'll see roots pop in like a week or two. Some use heating pads under the dome to stimulate root production, but you can do without. I'm not quite sure what to tell you about the suspected pollen sacs. Maybe someone else can chime in to give some better advice.

Ah! Low stress training! I tried a little on Bertha early on and it did just what I expected. I think I am going to do it to two of her branches now. As I look at them this morning Bertha is even bigger! She just wont stop growing and is frankly being rude to the others by covering over them

I never knew you could manipulate them to grow around a window! How awesome is that! If you have any pictures I would love to see that!

Yeah, the seeds were random seeds. I would have hated to use some of the better seeds like G13 or Liberty Haze that I have to learn. My next grow may still be a few tests with clones but I am itching to use the better stuff.

The ceilings are great....for now. My lease is up at the end of Oct. and I am desperately running around trying to find a new place to put these plants. I switched them now because in 4 weeks when I am close to moving I can hopefully start to harvest these girls. Moving the plants will be easier when they are chopped down! So all I will have to do is move with a few small clones that most wont even know what they are.

The pollen sacs will be monitored closely. If they become males I will kill them. But if they are hermaphrodites would it be OK to cut the sacs off so they dont pollinate "The Miss"? I really wouldn't have another place to put them just yet with a constant light source but from my understanding they will still produce buds if flowered.

I am in the process of really looking into organic/high brix soil mix to really reduce my interaction with these plants. My future goal is to provide an environment for these plants so I can be a few days away from them if I absolutely had to and not worry. I work a full time job and a side job so my time is very limited. I really want these things to almost become automated in their grow cycles. I know hydro sets are good but organic soil seems to be easier to setup and work for beginners like me.

Thanks again for the interest!

 

[SmokingPanda]

Update:

Two out of the three were males. Cut them down with much sorrow. But The Miss is looking fantastic! She is currently in day 11 of flowering and looking great! I am not expecting much out of her but she was a fantastic learning experience! If I get a few ounces to hold me through a few months to get a good grow going then I will be more than happy!

I decided to go to the hydroponics store today and buy some supplies and to clean up and improve the grow area. I plan on changing the grow space as needed with each grow. I am planning on taking clones in a few days and run them under T5 lamps on 24/0. I am still in the process of obtaining a good T5 setup along with purchasing another DS200. I have found that I will spend a bit of money up front for expensive lights but will eliminate the heat and exhaust issues along with higher eletric bills. I am a firm believer in spending the money the right way the first time to save money in the long run. I applied Panda plastic on the wall to get better light penetration on the sides. I love this stuff!

 

[Truth Seeker]

How did this grow turn out?

We would love to be updated with some pictures and info!

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I am moving this to Abandoned Journals until we get updates.

Thanks and hope all is well in your world.

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