HID Grow - Revenge of the Kittens

[Steve McStoferson]

Re: CriMson's HID Grow- Revenge of the Kittens

hell yeah bro, thanks for stoppin in. Before long I'll be asking you for cloning advice

 

[Hypo Hippy]

Re: CriMson's HID Grow- Revenge of the Kittens

Yo Crimson....I'm in. Nice looking setup my man! Looks alot like ours (except using the 400W MH/HPS with the same hood from HTG. Like you, couldn't be happier with their cust service. Had a few probs and they made 'em right no questions asked. Your girls look nice and healthy. I will certainly be keeping tabs on your grow!

 

[Steve McStoferson]

Re: CriMson's HID Grow- Revenge of the Kittens

thanks for swingin by hypo. I'll check out your journal.

So heres an update.. All plants are showing a ton of new growth.. Zena hit 12.5" last night, so I decided to start flowering her.. I wanted to take clones, but I think I'll just wait on the cloning until the other plants are a bit bigger.. I think I'm just too lazy right now lol.

Anyway, I threw Zena in a dark room last night around 9pm and I'll leave her in there until 8 or 9pm tonight, then I'll start the light cycle. I'm hoping the MH doesn't stunt her flowering.. Do you guys think it would be beneficial to maybe give her 11/13 or 10/14 light while shes in the MH, and then switch to 12/12 when I throw in the HPS? I just don't want to wait around for 2 weeks and not see the sex.

The other 2 babies are around 7" right now, and my little seedling is showing about 3 nodes right now, so she should be ready for transplant in about a week.

I'll have to take some pics tonight.

 

[Steve McStoferson]

Re: CriMson's HID Grow- Revenge of the Kittens

Didn't get around to snapping pics, but when I went to water them last night, 2 were showing a bit of heat stress.. I had lowered the light to 12" above the plants when Zena was in the dark, just to give them a boost in light, but I think it was a bit close. I fed them all last night except for the 2 seedlings that were in cups. This morning they had picked up, and they're not showing any signs of light burn, so I think it was just slight stress.. I noticed this morning they are showing new bud sites everywhere, so I don't think the growth has stunted in any way.

one of my seedlings wasn't looking very good, and I think it was rootbound. These 2 were my first seedlings ever grown in good soil with good light from the start, so I should have taken that into consideration when judging transplant time, but oh well.. I threw them in 3 gal pots w/happy frog last night as one had roots growing out the bottom drain holes in the cups. I'm pretty much out of happy frog now, and I have a bag of ocean forest, but all of my plants are in their final pots.. The next batch will be grown in the ocean forest, and I'll see from there what soil I like more. I've noticed they last about 2 weeks before needing food in the happy frog, which really isn't bad. From my experience with happy frog, it's a great soil, and although the hydro guy said it was best suited for outdoor plants, I don't see any problem with using it indoors.. It's a bit thick, but I personally like thicker soil. I don't have any drainage issues and I didn't mix anything additional to the mix.

All plants are doing well, Zena is sleeping right now and measured 13" this morning. I'll throw some pics up tonight hopefully.

 

[3lions]

Re: CriMson's HID Grow- Revenge of the Kittens

Glad to hear all things going well

 

[Steve McStoferson]

Re: CriMson's HID Grow- Revenge of the Kittens

Well, some possible bad news.. I don't want to call it just yet, but I think Zena is a male.. It's only been on 12/12 for 2 days, but I did some examining last night with my camera and I found what looks to be white hairs in a few spots, still too early to tell, but I did notice a few spots where what looks to be balls forming..

I'll know for sure in a few days. I've never had a plant show sex this soon after flipping the lights. The dose of bloom nutes might have played a part in that though.

It will suck as Zena is growing remarkably well, and bushing out like crazy, but the others aren't too far behind, so if it takes me down to 5 plants, I'll just veg a week or 2 longer to make up for the possible loss.

 

[onthe420train]

Re: CriMson's HID Grow- Revenge of the Kittens

woooeee that plant looks really thirsty man! +rep for you, keep it up.


might just be veg growth too early to tell? idk give it a chance!

 

[Steve McStoferson]

Re: CriMson's HID Grow- Revenge of the Kittens

Thanks for swingin by bro. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it's just veg growth, but I've been expecting this one to be a male from the beginning because of the abuse my cat dished out lol.

I'll keep babying her until she shows full signs of balls, then I'll make the chop.

I need to throw up a pic update.. Since I've had the light kind of high, the other 2 oldest ones have been stretching a bit, not bad, but it looks cool how they're reaching for the light.. They're about 7-8" now. I will probably flip the lights at 14" depending on how bushy they are, I might let them grow out a bit more, we'll see.

 

[onthe420train]

Re: CriMson's HID Grow- Revenge of the Kittens

kewl - I flipped at 5 or 6 nodes and some of them are well over 4 ft tall.

 

[Spike69]

Re: CriMson's HID Grow- Revenge of the Kittens

great job k2,keep it up,nice chu chu train!

 

[Steve McStoferson]

Re: CriMson's HID Grow- Revenge of the Kittens

So here are a few shots of what makes me think Zena is a dude..

I haven't made the chop yet, I'm giving it a bit more time to show.. But I'm like 95% sure its a dude.

 

[Steve McStoferson]

Re: CriMson's HID Grow- Revenge of the Kittens

So heres a pic update as of this morning.. Zena is looking a little droopy.. Last night she was looking great when I threw her back under the light. I checked the soil this morning and it was still a bit damp so I didn't water her before naptime.. I'll give her a dose of nutes tonight when she wakes up (I'm still calling Zena a her because I'm hoping she doesn't turn all the way male lol)

As you can see the others are doing great.. The 2 second biggest ones are 8-9" tall, and the others are doing great..

The one seedling that was showing burn of some kind is still doing well, I'm not sure what the burn is from, maybe the soil, but I figured it would have happened to the others.. This is my 6th plant in Happy Frog, all from the same bag of soil, and its the only one showing any burn. It's only on the old leaves, the rest are doing well, so I'm not too concerned.

I fixed the grow box so the light is hanging directly in the center. I'm getting much better light distribution now, so I'm happy about that.

Onto the pics!

 

[Steve McStoferson]

Re: CriMson's HID Grow- Revenge of the Kittens

Not much of an update but I figured I'd let you guys know how the crop is doing.. I'll snap some pics tonight if i get a chance.. Last night I went to check on them and one looked like it was almost dead, and the top 4 inches was completely fallen over.. I stuck a stake in the dirt to prop it up and noticed she was a bit dry, so I gave her a good dose of nutes and within an hour she had completely picked back up again.. It was a scare, but everything is doing well now.

I nuked them all with veg nutes, and gave Zena a dose of bloom nutes. Zena isn't really showing sex much more than before.. The possible balls that started to show haven't progressed, and I've noticed what looks like possible hairs coming from more nodes. She is stretching like crazy.. 15.5" as of this morning. I didn't have any flower stretch with my last crop, I guess my light was just too weak. I'm hoping that since she hasn't shown sex yet, she will be a lady, and those possible balls were just from stress because the room I put her in for the first 2 days of flowering was a bit colder than under the light (~60F vs ~80F).

The rest of the crop is doing amazing. words don't do them justice.

the 2 second largest are 10-11" now, so I think I will grow them all out until the smallest are 12" and then switch to HPS.. It will give me about 2 more weeks of vegging, maybe 3 weeks, then I'll get to flower them all and watch the HPS make the buds swell.

I picked up some rooting powder over the weekend, along with a seed starting tray with jiffy cubes. I've seen a lot of people clone with these with great success..

I was trying to find a place to set my clones so they stay warm, and the best thing I can think of is on top of my reflector. I took some temp readings, and without a fan blowing on the bulb, the temps shot up past 120, but with the fan blowing on it, i get a steady 80F. I can also hang 2 23w CFL's above it, which will be adequate lighting until they root.

I've never cloned before so it will be interesting, but I have enough growth on the 2 send largest plants to take a couple clones each. if I take the clones now and veg for another 2-3 weeks, I'll only need to veg a couple more weeks until they can go in the flower chamber.

On a side note, I picked up 1/4 of some purple kush over the weekend.. It's some super sticky, super stinky bud. Not too dense, but fairly spongy rather than fluffy. I found 2 seeds in it so far though, but honestly, it doesn't affect the smoke at all, and I'm psyched to have 2 seeds from it.. I want to talk to the supplier to get some info about how it was grown so I know if these seeds are full purp kush or pollinated by another strain.. either way, I have some decent genetics, and didn't have to order any seeds!

Once I get cloning down to a science, I have those seeds to grow, along with some Jacks Cleaner and Blue Moonlight.

 

[Spike69]

Re: CriMson's HID Grow- Revenge of the Kittens

looking good bro,our plants are close to the same size.

 

[OldMedUser]

Re: CriMson's HID Grow- Revenge of the Kittens

Damn cats! I just had what is looking like a fatality caused by one of the cats slipping into the shop and knocking over my little Kali clone.

Looks like a fun grow you've got going!

I'd +Rep you but I already did that today! lol

 

[OldMedUser]

Re: CriMson's HID Grow- Revenge of the Kittens

Hang on to that suspected dude yet. It's not like they explode over night and F your girls. Won't hurt anything if he does as you have nothing flowering right?

I've got my boy in the flowering room but the girls are done so if any pollen gets away it won't hurt anything at this point.

You could always collect the pollen and use it later to dust a few lower buds for your own custom crosses.

 

[Steve McStoferson]

Re: CriMson's HID Grow- Revenge of the Kittens

Hang on to that suspected dude yet. It's not like they explode over night and F your girls. Won't hurt anything if he does as you have nothing flowering right?

I've got my boy in the flowering room but the girls are done so if any pollen gets away it won't hurt anything at this point.

You could always collect the pollen and use it later to dust a few lower buds for your own custom crosses.

yeah I'm still hanging on to it.. I only saw 2 possible balls show the first 2 days of flowering, which in my experience is much too soon to show sex, but recently I've seen a few possible hairs forming, so I'm hanging onto it in hopes its a girl. It's been stretching quite a bit since I have been letting it sleep at night. I'm really hoping for a lady since it's the first one to flower from this batch.

I definitely want to start breeding, but only when I have decent genetics.. This is just a bagseed run, so I don't see the need to breed, just clone

 

[OldMedUser]

Re: CriMson's HID Grow- Revenge of the Kittens

Never hurts to hang on to the pollen in case it turns out to be a killer pheno.

These forums are littered with regrets from growers who didn't get a clone or some pollen from an unknown donor only to find out it was a great plant or strain.

It's all a crap shoot so it's better to hedge your bets IMHO.

Good luck and good growing!

 

[Steve McStoferson]

Re: CriMson's HID Grow- Revenge of the Kittens

Never hurts to hang on to the pollen in case it turns out to be a killer pheno.

These forums are littered with regrets from growers who didn't get a clone or some pollen from an unknown donor only to find out it was a great plant or strain.

It's all a crap shoot so it's better to hedge your bets IMHO.

Good luck and good growing!

yeah can't argue with that man

 

[Steve McStoferson]

Re: CriMson's HID Grow- Revenge of the Kittens

Haven't gotten around to cloning yet.. I need to pick up some razor blades and have just been lazy. I thought I had some around the house but I guess I don't.

Last night they all got fed.. Zena had a dose of bloom nutes, and I was running low on distilled water, and only had a small amount of veg nutes mixed up, so the 3 smallest plants got hit with veg nutes and I just hit the other 2 bigger ones with bloom nutes.. I figure it will be okay just this once and they don't seem to mind it. I water daily, but I only feed them 1-2 times a week with MG All purpose (veg 1/4 strength: 3-1-4) and MG quick start (bloom 1/4 strength: 1-3-1). I'm going to bump them up to half strength next week since they are sucking all the food up. I won't go higher than half strength with this stuff, as full strength is rated at 12-4-8 for the all purpose. Half would be 6-2-4, and grow big is rated at 6-4-4, so I figure it's a pretty good alternative for those on a tight budget. Better nutes would most likely give me better results, but as it is, they're growing an inch per day, and any yellowing or discoloration I had before isn't spreading at all.

Here are a few pics as of this morning.. You can really see how the little ones are exploding with the added nutes, they're growing much faster than the 2 bigger ones were at that size without nutes.

Zena is pretty much a confirmed male.. Check out the pics towards the end and let me know what you think.. I'm pretty sure its a dude..

Zena is at 16", the other 2 are at 13", and the next biggest one is at 10".. The two small ones are still pretty small but they're getting bigger fast. I think I should be able to switch to HPS mid month.

Let me just show you what these two guys looked like 14 days ago

14 days later

These two are around 30 days old from seed. I love this light.

Zena.. the male :surrender: