JimmieJ's First Grow - Closet - Soil - Bag Seed - CFLs

[Smokeater]

Update.

Gnats finally seem to be gone. I'm still treating for them and probably will keep doing it for now.

Cici looks ok. She's not losing leaves anymore, so I just cleaned her up a little. I'm going to grow another clone of her, and if that one does the same thing, I'm going to consider it a "feature" that it defoliates itself.


Sandy is looking beautiful. This is the healthiest she has looked. I just adjusted the ties, tucked some fan leaves out of the way and cleaned her up.

Excellent out look! I like that, thinking of it as a positive thing!

 

[JimmieJ]

Gotta stay positive! After all, I'd much rather have a nice pot plant with yellow leaves in my closet, than something boring like clothes. Everyone does that.

 

[JimmieJ]

Nothing new going on with the flowering girls, so just a clone update.

The clones I put in the basement are doing fine.

Caught a few bugs. I expected more, being in the basement.

That's all.

 

[JimmieJ]

Next set of clones. We made it through a few challenges and I think we're thriving again.

One of each of my original girls. Third generation.

The one on the left was cloned right and put straight into my good soil a week or so ago. The one on the right was almost cloned right, put into store-bought potting soil, suffered from bugs, and it's way over a month old. Just transplanted into good soil today. The veg closet is about to come back to life.

 

[Dennise]

 

[Radogast]

Hey Jimmie, it looks like yu freaked out and worried a bit too much, but you are doig just fine there.

Keep on growing your smoke !

 

[JimmieJ]

Thanks Rad - good to see you!

 

[JimmieJ]

Sunday update.

Clones

Cici

Sandy

I'm at the point where I wanted to be. Two in veg, two in flower. I'm good at cloning now, so hopefully I can keep this going for a little longer till it's time to start ordering beans and getting exactly what I want, and see where that takes me.

 

[JimmieJ]

Update. Nothing much has changed except the clones are growing well.

Basement clone. I think this is going to be my new fridge experiment because she's healthy, but I won't have a place to flower her for quite a while.

Cici

Sandy

Not looking too bad underneath, just a little crowded

Clones. The one on the right grew into the light overnight and got some burnt tips

 

[JimmieJ]

Update. Things are coming right along.

Cici. Getting pretty close now.

Sandy. Slowly but surely making me some buds.

Clones. I named the one on the left Colleen, on the right is Sally.

Sally was starting to turn a lighter green, so that was my signal to transplant her so she can get some food. She was definitely ready.

I sterilized the soil in the oven for an hour at 200F. Since this is a living soil, I hope I didn't ruin it by baking it, but I don't want to risk anything since my bug problems are behind me.

She looks very happy

Colleen's roots looked like they needed to develop more so she will stay put for now.

Veg closet

The clone in the basement was getting too big for the single cfl she had, so I gave her one last drink and put her in the fridge. I'll check on her once in a while and see if I have the same results as I did with the male that wouldn't die.

 

[JimmieJ]

I've had a really crappy clone of Cici that's barely been surviving in one of those tiny clay pots. I almost let it go because I don't need it, but I had PJ soil on hand and just emptied a container, so I transplanted the sickly girl for the hell of it and it transformed like crazy. This soil is amazing. It's the batch that I sterilized in the oven and was worried about killing it. I didn't.

A few days ago, after transplant

Today after a little grooming

This plant is most definitely going to make it. Did I mention that this soil is amazing? Not having to mess around with nutes is great!

 

[Radogast]

I'm getting ready to give the kit soil a spin in a couple of weeks.

My last grow I went from seed or cloner into 1/2 gallon pots, then into 5-10 gallon pots.

I'm thinking of doing more sizes on the way to 7 gallons of soil in a fabric pot. What sizes are you using?

 

[JimmieJ]

At the moment I'm going from the cloner to 3.5" square pots (they look like they hold about 2 cups). They're the ones from the nursery that vegetable plants come in. Then 2 gallon pots from there. That's about as big as I can go with my small growing space, but it seems to be going fine.

Cool that you're starting back up again. Are you planning on a journal?

 

[JimmieJ]

Cici update. I pulled a test bud Monday and tested it last night. Very intense head high that I liked, so I partially harvested her.

This will probably end up at a little over a half oz when it's dry, which is about what I got from her mother altogether.

I'll let the rest finish, and this will probably be quite a bit more than what I chopped today.

Next job will be Colleen. Her new growth looks sick and it happened all of a sudden. I checked the roots and they look like she's ready to transplant. I just sterilized the last of my PJ soil and it's cooling off so I'll transplant later today. Hopefully she'll straighten out after transplant like her mother did.

 

[Radogast]

Cici update. I pulled a test bud Monday and tested it last night. Very intense head high that I liked, so I partially harvested her.

Tasty and bountiful

Next job will be Colleen. Her new growth looks sick and it happened all of a sudden. I checked the roots and they look like she's ready to transplant. I just sterilized the last of my PJ soil and it's cooling off so I'll transplant later today. Hopefully she'll straighten out after transplant like her mother did.

I'm guessing her roots can't find some nutrient or other because she has used up what was in the soil. The extra soil in the big pot should help her out.

I stopped starting in the garden center 2" pots and went from seed or clone to 1/2 gallon 6" diameter pots. The big growers on a Doc Bud thread all seem to start in 1 gallon or larger pots, then transplant one time into their final pot.

 

[JimmieJ]

That's what I was thinking about the nutrients being used up. I'll know in a week or so.

I have a couple of the 6" pots. I might be better off using them next time I plant. If this is a nute thing, it probably wouldn't have happened in the 6"ers. Would there be any harm in just going straight into 2 gal from the cloner?

 

[JimmieJ]

Update.

Sandy

Colleen. It's amazing how quickly a plant can go downhill. We'll see if the transplant saves her. Her mother Cici did almost the exact same thing but she snapped out of it.

Next to Sally, it really shows.

Sally is doing fine.

Here's the one I almost got rid of, look at her now.

Here's the one I put in the fridge a week ago. I'm not surprised that she looks exactly the same. Now that I have a female to experiment with, my goal is to see if I can keep a plant refrigerated for a while, take it out when I want it to start growing, and see if it will resume veg mode and then flower normally.

 

[Radogast]

That's what I was thinking about the nutrients being used up. I'll know in a week or so.

I have a couple of the 6" pots. I might be better off using them next time I plant. If this is a nute thing, it probably wouldn't have happened in the 6"ers. Would there be any harm in just going straight into 2 gal from the cloner?

No harm. I personally wouldn't start in anything larger that 2 gallons, but SweetSue does.

You need to water more thoughtfully to encourage root growth. Keep in mind bigger pots also drink more water. If you are watering with bottled nutes you will use more nutes, and flush more nutes out of the bottom of the pot. If you are feeding with organic teas and top dressing, the teas will feed the soil food web and the tea nutrients will be waiting in the soil when the roots grow there.

 

[JimmieJ]

I started reading Sweet Sue's "building a better soil" thread, but haven't gotten too far yet. I'm sure I'll gain a lot of knowledge from that thread. There's so much to learn, but I'm enjoying it. The fruits of all the labor are a nice bonus too.

 

[JimmieJ]

A sampler platter of some of my summer harvest.

It's amazing all of the great stuff that can be grown right at home.