BlueCheese - Super Short and Stocky

[aryastark]

Hi everyone

I'm new to this forum as a member, but I have been reaping all your extremely useful advice in over the last five or so weeks - so first of all - thanks very much for that, it's great to have such a fantastic resource.

The time has come where I am now a bit concerned for a friends plant. It is a Barneys Blue Cheese seed, and this week turns 4 weeks old.

The plant itself has been growing wonderfully, there are 18 branches and 6 nodes on the plant with loads of leaves. However the plant is no more than 5.5" tall. Is this normal? Friend has attempted fimming recently which has slowed down the top growth but sideways growth is insane. There must be over 30 leaves on this short and stocky plant.

Does anyone have any advice, or is this completely normal? I have gone through loads of posts and have not seen such a short plant anywhere else at 4 weeks - if any other plants are that age they are usually much taller and often with even fewer leaves.

The other thing is the leaves look much smaller than those on other peoples posts...

Lightwise they are using x2 350w equivalent CFL's placed about 1" above the plant (it is not hot near the plant, but could it be that they are too close?). The average temperature is a bit hotter than usual as the climate here is between 26-30 Celsius everyday out doors.

Nutes wise, this country is very limited in what can be found - even ordering online, so he has found some Compo which is as close to the 21 ratio which is supposed to be good for vegging and this is 7/3/6. Week 2 saw quarter feeds and Week 3+ 1/3 feeds.

It is a constant 80-90% humidity where we live - is that too high? Could excess heat cause stunted vertical growth as well but promote horizontal growth? At four weeks it should really be looking at swapping to the 12/12 cycle, but at this rate nothing will be seen until the New Year!

Thanks for any help, I really appreciate it.

PS the stalk is a bit bent for some reason so it could be about an inch taller.. the ruler says its just below 5"

 

[Antics]

The growth might be a little stunted, but the plant itself looks normal for the most part.

This an an Indica dominant strain, so the short stature, and broad leaflets are perfectly normal. They normally tend to grow wider also.

I FIM'ed an Indica dominant plant, and when I harvested the plant was only 14" / 35.5cm

For the CFLs 350w Equivalent, is about 100w real wattage? We don't use the equivalent number since that's only used to help shoppers replace an incandescent bulb with a CFL of similar brightness. You usually will only see CFLs discussed in terms of their true wattage.

Distance of light from plants sounds fine also. 1" 2.5cm is the closest it should be, and no further than 6" 15cm.
The stalk could be bent depending on where the lights are located. Plants will grow towards the lights.

This humidity level is fine for Veg. They actually do better with higher humidity in Veg. but in Flower a 40%-50% humidity is suggested. An air conditioner or dehumidifier will help. If you can't do these things, I strongly suggest really good airflow on the plants with a fan. This will minimize the risk of bud rot as the buds get bigger and denser.
When this plant is switched to 12/12 it will go through a stretch period, where it will grow fast, tall and wide for a short time, then it starts putting almost all of its energy into growing those beautiful buds

 

[aryastark]

Hi Antics,

Thanks SO much for your help - it's really appreciated as this is (obviously) a first attempt ever

With your plant that ended up at 14", how long did you veg it for? What do you recommend doing with this one? How much did you end up getting off of the plant?

Sorry yes, the real wattage is around 100w in that case - one is 55w and the other is 50w. Looking into buying an LED panel as well.

Your tip on humidity is really great - thanks for picking up on that. Will stick a dehumidifer on them.

Thanks again.

 

[Antics]

This will be short and to the point since im on my phone and im terrible at typing on it lol

Plant veg was 5 weeks. Cali jack in my signature.

I suggest LST (low stress training). Train branches to
grow straight out, and train the canopy flat.

I got a little over 2 ounces on that plant, another ounce. on another. 3.15 ounces total ising 361 cfl watts.


Aim gor 60%-75% humidity in veg. And flower ypu want 40%-50%, and good airflow from a fan.

Have a good one, and excuse any typos!

 

[aryastark]

Hey Antics,

Thanks for the pointers, they made a massive difference I set up an additional fan, LST'd the main branch and have also swapped out to LED's (I got the panel from Milly @ TopLED's, the basic reflector one - paid at 3pm and it arrived next day at 11am, no kidding - though here is a little bit closer to them than most of you guys). Just to note in the last photo the LST wire fell out so have re-done it now.. that's it without the wire obviously..

Wanted to update with a couple photos, this bushy little plant has not increased much in size over the last week (about 2 inches) however it's thickened out massively as it's been loving the lights - couple of the leaves in the photo are a bit crispy as they are on the bottom side of the plant that doesn't receive much light when tied down!

Any thoughts? Thinking of flowering this week, though still no alternating nodes just yet. Think there was a mistake made on the previous post - should be her 5th week birthday on Wednesday!

 

[Antics]

Train it as wide as you can, that will expose as much of the plant as possible to the light, and will definitely help produce some big healthy colas.

Are these crispy leaves showing signs of a deficiency?

Plants grown from seed will grow symmetrically, and nodes will not alternate. You'll have nodes appear at the 12 o'clock, and 6 o'clock positions, and the 3 o'clock and 9 o'clock positions. Obviously this can vary slightly, since all plants are unique, but for the most part seed plants will follow this pattern.

Plants grown from clones will produce alternating nodes, since they were originally a branch on another plant.

I would suggest continuing LST to get a nice spread on the branches, but you can flower any time you'd like. I also see that your branches all seem to curve uppward, if you can straighten those out gently, a little at a time, it will help give her a much wider appearance as well, which will also soak up the light nicely.

 

[Hiddenkoncept]

Blue cheese is a known dwarf, one pheno in particular can be very short and stocky.
I'm with antics, some LST will go a long way, and just tuck those fan leaves out of the way if covering budsites

 

[aryastark]

Hey guys

Thanks so much for the help, as this is the first time honestly I have read so much material but sometimes it isn't clear whether a post is about clones or hydro or any other growing method - so thanks for the alternating nodes info. I've got them growing at 12, 3, 6 and 9 now

I am LST'ing away and switching to flower tomorrow once I get some cloning gel in the mail in case it's completely awesome.

Pretty sure the leaves are from lack of light Antics as there is minor nute burn appearing on the edge of a couple leaves and the only leaves crisping up seem to be the ones that are hidden on middle nodes.

Will tuck the fan leaves in to allow a bit of light in.

I knew the plant was going to be short but thought it would be at least a little bigger!!

Again thanks loads guys, you have helped a newbie a lot.

 

[Hiddenkoncept]

No problem my friend. Start a journal and send me an invite, would live to check how it's going as blue cheese is line of my favourite strains!

 

[Antics]

Always happy to help!

Save this page somewhere: How to Grow Marijuana Everything You Need to Know

That was basically my entire reference guide while I was learning, and I STILL use that guide when I have questions. It just has literally everything you need for a successful grow.

And if you really want to have a 'blow your mind" moment, There are a ton of techniques and things I've been learning about on this site that haven't even been listed yet. There's SOOOO much you can do with Cannabis! You're going to love it man!

Keep on growing your way to a happy life.