Colorado High - Soil - CFL - Super Skunk - 2013

[Christine Green]

I did the same thing for the same reason, around the same time. It turned out fine. My girls were extremely happy to see me when I got home.
Good luck!

 

[David Bowman]

Thanks Pinky! That helps to reduce some of my anxiety and apprehension about leaving the ladies alone for so long.

 

[b.real]

Later this month we will be going on spring break vacation for 9 days and my ladies will be in week 7 of flowering during that time. Initially, I was thinking of getting some sort of watering system for when we were away but decided to try something different. I'm getting the ladies use to large infrequent feedings/waterings every 8 days in order for them to get used to that routine. If they do well during this pre-vacation trial period, I'm hoping that this will cause them much less stress during the time we are away.

To that end, yesterday, March 6th, I gave each lady one-half gallon each of Growology Step 3 & Molasses (both at 1 Tbsp/gallon). For the remainder of this month I plan to feed/water on March 14th, March 22nd and March 31st. Once we return from vacation I plan to resume regular feedings/waterings on an as needed basis.

that deep in bloom they need less frequent waterings. they should be fine with a large soaking and a small amount of runoff in a container under them, kinda like a wick system.

 

[David Bowman]

Day 29 of flowering and the ladies are doing well. They've grown a couple of inches over the last week or so and now they both are 23" in height although the right lady is still slightly taller than the left lady. The environment remains stable with the temperature during lights on around 85° +/- 5° and with the lights off around 60°. RH ranges between a minimum of 20% during lights on with the exhaust fan running and a maximum of 75% during lights off. Between exhaust fan cycles, the RH is between 40%-60%. I added a few more branch spreaders to both ladies to aid in spreading out the branches to give each and every bud site the maximum available light.

Group shot of the ladies -

Single shot of the left lady -

Close-up of the top of the left lady -

Close-up of a pre-bud on the left lady -

Single shot of the right lady -

Close-up of the top of the right lady -

Close-up of a pre-bud on the right lady -

Close-up of pre-buds in the middle of the right lady -

It is halfway between feedings/waterings with the next scheduled feeding/watering set for March 14th. At that time, I will be able to see how the ladies are handling feeding/watering every 8 days. With the pots drying as fast as they are, they will definitely be in need of water but I don't think that the stress will be that high as to cause any problems for them.

 

[b.real]

good stuff! to me they look a bit soft and droopy already. I bet by tomorrow they will look very sad lol.

 

[Christine Green]

Good luck!

 

[David Bowman]

good stuff! to me they look a bit soft and droopy already. I bet by tomorrow they will look very sad lol.

If that is indeed the case I will up the amount of feed/water I give them next time. I don't mind if they are a little stressed out after 8-9 days as I expect that to some degree.

 

[David Bowman]

Thanks Pinky! Good luck with your new grow as well. I'm already subscribed to your 2nd grow journal BTW!

 

[b.real]

I hear you bro. they are really nice plants. my girls going droopy after 5 days of not watering @ 7 weeks in bloom, but I have a much smaller plant and container. still a pretty good reference. I really like how your girls are stacking up. I would remove that lst to be honest lol. lst only works well when you hold the main tops down.

 

[David Bowman]

Thanks b.real! I'm not LSTing like most growers do to lower the height of the plant and get a flatter bushier plant, I'm simply trying to get the side shoots out more towards the sidelighting so that they can get more exposure to light. On my last grow the side shoots had good quality buds, but the quantity and size of the buds was not to my liking, a lot of them had trouble getting good access to the available light. In fact, on each of the four ladies from my first grow, the main cola was ~25% of the total harvest for each lady. I'm trying to spread out and expose as much of each plant as possible to see if I can get a better high quality yield from the rest of the plant.

 

[stealthgrow]

Looking very nice Colorado. Half way through flower, now they are gonna start bulking up.

 

[b.real]

Thanks b.real! I'm not LSTing like most growers do to lower the height of the plant and get a flatter bushier plant, I'm simply trying to get the side shoots out more towards the sidelighting so that they can get more exposure to light. On my last grow the side shoots had good quality buds, but the quantity and size of the buds was not to my liking, a lot of them had trouble getting good access to the available light. In fact, on each of the four ladies from my first grow, the main cola was ~25% of the total harvest for each lady. I'm trying to spread out and expose as much of each plant as possible to see if I can get a better high quality yield from the rest of the plant.

I hear ya bro! many of us (with tall enough plants) harvest in 2 sections. we take the top half, then let the bottom half go an extra week.

 

[David Bowman]

Hmmmm! I might have to try that then as that sounds like a good idea, thanks b.real!

 

[trichomes]

Looking good colo!

 

[David Bowman]

Thanks trichomes!

 

[David Bowman]

Looking very nice Colorado. Half way through flower, now they are gonna start bulking up.

Thanks stealthgrow! (I missed your reply the first time around.)

 

[David Bowman]

Day 33 of flowering and the ladies are doing surprisingly well given that they have had no food/water for the last 8 days. As you can see in the pictures below, other than new growth, they look very similar to the update I posted 4 days ago. The only issue I had was that since it had been so long since the last watering, the soil was especially dry and compact and even with misting the top of the soil, it took longer to feed/water so as to avoid it running around the soil rather than through it. This morning, after taking pictures, I gave each lady a half gallon of Step 3/Molasses (at 1 Tbsp/gallon).

Group shot of the ladies on day 33 of flowering -

Single shot of the left lady -

Close-up of the top of the left lady -

Close-up of a pre-bud on a branch of the left lady -

Single shot of the right lady -

Close-up of the top of the right lady -

Close-up of a pre-bud on a branch of the right lady -

The next scheduled feed/water is for the morning of March 22nd, the day we leave on our Spring Break vacation. If all goes well over the next 8 days then it appears that my plan for dealing with a 9 day absence should proceed without any issues.

 

[Christine Green]

They are absolutely beautiful! It looks like they are taking to the 8 day feeding cycle really well!
I sure hope you have a great vacation!

 

[David Bowman]

Thanks Pinky! So do I!!

 

[KaBloom]

Today is my first of 5 days away from the girls...I went 5 days before I left with no water either,.should be OK. Crossing my fingers for both u n I Colo,....