Knockout's First Ever Grow

[RETRIX]

They all call it "new father" syndrome, here on the forum. We all do it.

You will get over it after your 100th grow or so..... as I understand.

LOL This! I used to stress over these plants a lot. But after a while, I just got to the point where I just let them grow and respond to problems if and when they pop up. Usually just a quick peak in the tent once a day to make sure they are still ok. Plants do a whole lot of nothing much when they grow from day to day. And especially seedlings because most of the growth that is happening at the roots in the first week.

 

[Knockout]

I usually ask what was amended into the soil but looking at the color you could wait for another week before feeding. Then start slow 1/4 nutes ass watch how they react

Hello DB! Right now the soil is nothing but the soil included in the bag i bought. It had perlite pre-mixed into it and i think some mild nutes for seedlings (meaning mostly N). I was planning on starting them on 1/4 or maybe even 1/8 nute dosages after week 3, which is in about 9-10 days.

Thanks @Bonsaiweed for your support. I love having you checking up on me every time i post. I feel a bit safer knowing somebody else might notice problems with my girls!

@RETRIX you have no idea how much i stressed the first ~6 days. The plants seemed to do nothing and i was worried i might have stunned them or something. But the most difficult part was waiting for them to pop above ground!! Not being able to see a nice little plant was devastating. Right now i feel that if something wrong happens i could be able to tell from the image of my plants, but when nothing was showing i felt powerless and completely left out. Being my 1st time sure did not help there!!
Right now is a completely different story, the girls seem to be growing by the day and there are noticeable differences every time i open the cabinet.

 

[Knockout]

So todays update coming up!

Day 12 above ground

Lyanna

Melissa

Everything seems to be going great up until now. The plants are growing by the day!
You can even notice the 1 day difference between the girls (Melissa is a day ahead). Melissa has grown some more leaves given she is a bit ahed in schedule but Lyanna will be there tomorrow! It is a really fun exercise for me to compare Lyanna today with Melissa yesterday when they, supposably, were on the same time in their growth.

Oh i weighted the pots today and decided to forfeit the watering again. Today is the 6th day after the previous watering and i am afraid i might be pushing it but they do not show any unhappy signs. As they say "when in doubt, skip watering". When i am absolutely sure i have to water (knuckle test and weight of pots) i will!
Lyanna --> 2260
Melissa --> 1210

 

[Knockout]

Also i would like to LST the both girls and i would like to know when the best time to do that is.
I read that you should start LST as soon as possible but i found no clear info on how soon is "soon"...
I would like to top Lyanna on her 5th node when that one develops and then LST her after maybe a week or so. This is to give her time to recover from the 1st sock. I have read that you should only top autos if they show regular/increased grow speed, meaning they have developed 4 nodes by the end of week 2. I think Lyanna is right on schedule, she is currently working on her 3rd one and i think she will have starting working on the 4th one when week 2 is over.

I have also read that i should forgo topping since it is my first grow, but i am really looking forward to it! I was not afraid of ruining my girl because i was planning to have 3 girls anyway, so i would have a good enough yield in the end. I am a bit more sceptical now that i am left with only 2 girls since Rebecca never made it.

I am thinking of starting LST on both the girls at the same time of maybe start LST on Melissa when i top Lyanna.
What do you guys think? Should i maybe start LST on Melissa right now?

 

[Derbybud]

I would wait with the lst right now. Wait until you top them and see how the new growth looks. They look real good. Maybe go with 1/8 nutes as not really knowing what's in the soil. Don't want to burn them with too much nitrogen. After a week you can up it from there. Topping can be done with autos up until 21-24 days. Yours look like good candidates for it and will help your yield. Also autos should be planted in there finishing pot. They don't care much for transplanting but if you do make sure you use great white on them and they shouldn't miss a beat.

 

[Bonsaiweed]

Also i would like to LST the both girls and i would like to know when the best time to do that is.
I read that you should start LST as soon as possible but i found no clear info on how soon is "soon"...
I would like to top Lyanna on her 5th node when that one develops and then LST her after maybe a week or so. This is to give her time to recover from the 1st sock. I have read that you should only top autos if they show regular/increased grow speed, meaning they have developed 4 nodes by the end of week 2. I think Lyanna is right on schedule, she is currently working on her 3rd one and i think she will have starting working on the 4th one when week 2 is over.

I have also read that i should forgo topping since it is my first grow, but i am really looking forward to it! I was not afraid of ruining my girl because i was planning to have 3 girls anyway, so i would have a good enough yield in the end. I am a bit more sceptical now that i am left with only 2 girls since Rebecca never made it.

I am thinking of starting LST on both the girls at the same time of maybe start LST on Melissa when i top Lyanna.
What do you guys think? Should i maybe start LST on Melissa right now?

I would wait with the lst right now. Wait until you top them and see how the new growth looks. They look real good. Maybe go with 1/8 nutes as not really knowing what's in the soil. Don't want to burn them with too much nitrogen. After a week you can up it from there. Topping can be done with autos up until 21-24 days. Yours look like good candidates for it and will help your yield. Also autos should be planted in there finishing pot. They don't care much for transplanting but if you do make sure you use great white on them and they shouldn't miss a beat.

I don't remember if your girls are auto-flowering or photoperiod. My memory sucks.

If auto-flower you want to top between 14-21 days. Any later and you run the risk of topping in the flowering stage.

After you top, you can start LST. You can start LST now if you have auto-flowering plants. With some autos the sooner the better. I tried to wait until they had their third node (true leaves). You can continue LST into the 2nd week of flowering, but after that week you run the risk of stressing the plant. All this is based on what I've read. It is how I was training my girls.

If photoperiod, you can top and start LST anytime after the third or fourth node.

 

[RETRIX]

Hello DB! Right now the soil is nothing but the soil included in the bag i bought. It had perlite pre-mixed into it and i think some mild nutes for seedlings (meaning mostly N). I was planning on starting them on 1/4 or maybe even 1/8 nute dosages after week 3, which is in about 9-10 days.

Thanks @Bonsaiweed for your support. I love having you checking up on me every time i post. I feel a bit safer knowing somebody else might notice problems with my girls!

@RETRIX you have no idea how much i stressed the first ~6 days. The plants seemed to do nothing and i was worried i might have stunned them or something. But the most difficult part was waiting for them to pop above ground!! Not being able to see a nice little plant was devastating. Right now i feel that if something wrong happens i could be able to tell from the image of my plants, but when nothing was showing i felt powerless and completely left out. Being my 1st time sure did not help there!!
Right now is a completely different story, the girls seem to be growing by the day and there are noticeable differences every time i open the cabinet.

Yes I think part of it is 1 you spent a lot of money on that seed, and 2 you're excited at the same time. I can tell you that a lot of my mistakes were made from excitement LOL. My first grow was in Miracle Grow Moisture control that already had fertilizer in it. I was so excited about all of the nutrient lines and bud candy this and power flowering potion that, and I actually started adding more nutes on top of the miracle grow. Then I went to the gardening store and amended my soil with blood meal and bone meal. The next morning, my plants looked like somebody had electrocuted them. Then I had to flush them over and over again to keep them from dying. I would flush them, they would perk up for a day, then the next morning they were drooping and dying all over again. I had to flush those damn plants like 15 times to get them to come back around. Another time I had a plant growing in soil and I read about DWC. So I had this bright Idea that I would pull the plant out of the dirt, scrub the roots off under the sink and put it in a DWC bucket. 2 days later the roots turned brown and died. I ended up throwing the plant away that I had spent 16 bucks on the seed. I think the tipping point for me was when I tried a manual water coco grow in fabric pots. When the plants got 5 weeks old I had to water them sometimes twice a day for 3 months straight. After that, Now I embrace laziness, and it feels good to do as little as possible. LOL

 

[Knockout]

Good morning everybody.

Today is day 13 above ground and here is the daily update

Lyanna

Melissa

I also did the finger test and weighted the pots. Soil was dry a knuckle deep and the pot weight have not changed since yesterday, so i decided to water.
Lyanna 2260gr --> ?? 3260 ?? Gave her a litre of water and i saw very little runoff. I cant actually measure her weight now because my scale will only go up to 2800 - 2900gr. (update may be coming in)
Melissa 1210gr --> 1760gr Gave her a bit above half a liter and saw little runoff as well, although a bit more than Lyanna.

I also decided to take a closer pick under the foliage so you can have a better picture of development. So here an upskirt photo of Lyanna.

I am trying to discern all the different parts of the plants but i admit i am not really comfortable yet. I will try to have a long inspecting session tonight. Any help is appreciated! I would especially like to understand why is there another branch/leaf growing from the 2nd node, is it something else? And also are those pre-flowers on the 3rd node already?

Oh, and by the way when i got close to her to take the picture i thought i smelled something funny, so i slightly rubbed a leaf of hers and put my nose right over it aaaand... yup... there it was.... the unmistakeable stench of weed!!!
Can they do that this early?? :O :O I thought they would only smell once they got into flowring!

 

[Knockout]

So the consensus on topping seems to be that is must not be done after week 3. I was planning on doing it as soon as the 5th node started developing and i think i will be well into the allowed days.
I have also decided to start Melissa on LST the moment i see her 5th node as well which should not be much longer. I will try to buy plant wires today to have them at hand should the time come.

@RETRIX i can definitely understand your pain!! ;D I have it a bit easier because i can't/don't want to open the cabinet a lot of times a day because of stealth reasons and also i am not stressing over yield very much since i am not a heavy smoker at all. If i can yield 20-30grams of each of the girls i will be more than happy. That amount will last me for some good amount of months the way i am smoking so i don't have to be on the absolute perfect health and growing conditions all the time to have great results. As long as the girl do ok+ at what they are supposed to i am perfectly happy. I guess i am a very relaxed dad
I am also thinking of buying an Arduino and some heat/humidity/ppc controlers and turning this baby into a completely automated grow box. That way i can know what is happening at all time and protect both the girls from my noobiness/over-excitement and protect my privacy better. But these are thoughts for the future and i will only do that for the next grow, if at all.

 

[Bonsaiweed]

So the consensus on topping seems to be that is must not be done after week 3. I was planning on doing it as soon as the 5th node started developing and i think i will be well into the allowed days.
I have also decided to start Melissa on LST the moment i see her 5th node as well which should not be much longer. I will try to buy plant wires today to have them at hand should the time come.

You could start doing some ponytailing if you have something to ponytail with. (pipe cleaners are used mostly)

 

[Knockout]

I am not sure how to do ponytailing, haven't researched it at all yet. I was thinking i would do only LST + defoliation when needed. I guess i can do ponytailing instead of defo because it is less stressful.. Hmmm.. i think you may have a point. Will do some research and see how i feel about it.

 

[Bonsaiweed]

I am not sure how to do ponytailing, haven't researched it at all yet. I was thinking i would do only LST + defoliation when needed. I guess i can do ponytailing instead of defo because it is less stressful.. Hmmm.. i think you may have a point. Will do some research and see how i feel about it.

Ponytailing is a simple procedure that is only done for a few hours at a time. You just pony tail up the top branches to let the bottom branches see some light. It's probably the least stressful of any lst. You can do it early.

Just google it, it's easy. Just don't leave the pony tail in for overnight or anything that long.

 

[lxstnr]

looking swell here. I would say one of the greatest obstacles of growing, one that I still face myself, is obbsessing over doing something for the gals when nothing can be done but wait... Im pulling up a seat for this one, girls look great!

 

[Knockout]

Hellow lxstnr and thanks for pulling up! I will call you L from here on out since your name is kinda weird to type

Thanks Bonsai, i am looking up ponytailing right now. The thing is i am a bit forgetful generally speaking, so if it is something i would have to do and undo every couple of hours i think i will shy away from it. I am also afraid of doing something clumsy and hurt the girls. I am not the most dextrous person in the world and i would like to avoid messing with the girls a lot (LST will be a constant sweat ). Let's not forget i threw a glass dome on Melissa when she was only a day old

 

[Knockout]

today's update.

day 14 above ground. Today is end of 2nd week and i would like to see Lyanna having started work on her 5th node because i would like to top her there.

Lyanna

Melissa

Weighted the pots at:
Lyanna --> 2825gr seems to have drank almost 400gr of water since yesterday
Melissa --> 1500gr drank ~200gr of water

Lyanna seems to be right on track i can count 4 total developed nodes (i count as 1st the one with the 1st true leaves) and she has started work on the 5th one.
Picture proof:

the painting and picture are not the best, but you get the idea

I think i will start training them both during the weekend when i will have some spare time

 

[Bonsaiweed]

Hellow lxstnr and thanks for pulling up! I will call you L from here on out since your name is kinda weird to type

Thanks Bonsai, i am looking up ponytailing right now. The thing is i am a bit forgetful generally speaking, so if it is something i would have to do and undo every couple of hours i think i will shy away from it. I am also afraid of doing something clumsy and hurt the girls. I am not the most dextrous person in the world and i would like to avoid messing with the girls a lot (LST will be a constant sweat ). Let's not forget i threw a glass dome on Melissa when she was only a day old

I agree, if you are forgetful pony tailing is not a good idea. Also, any kind of lst, if clumsy, can be met with an ill fate. Just some suggestions. LST is still a great method. One of the better things I've seen this time around for me growing.

 

[Bonsaiweed]

They are looking good.

 

[Knockout]

I will be doing LST for sure. I will be as careful as possible and do it. If i ruin the plants so be it. I need to start being less clumsy some time in my life anyway

But ponytailing i will avoid since it is not greatly bbeneficial anyway i would like to avoid the risk

 

[Knockout]

So good morning everybody, thanks y'all for being here!!
Sorry for skipping yesterdays update but i was really busy with other stuff.

Today is day 16 above ground.

Lyanna

The hawk-eyed among you would have noticed she was topped! Yes, yes that is true, i topped Lyanna ~24hrs ago. I cut her 5th node out while it was developing. Sorry i forgot to take a picture of the part i cutted . But here is a close up of Lyanna so you can spot the topping easier.

you can see the 2 small grow tips that will eventually/hopefully turn into the main stems.
She has shown no signs of shock whatsoever and she is taking topping like a champ.

Melissa

Weights of the girls:
Lyanna ---> 2600gr
Melissa ---> 1275gr

Both pots have gone very light since the last watering. That being said though Melissa is much much closer to her "dry" weight that Lyanna is right now. I will forgo watering them both until Lyanna needs to be watered too. I would like to avoid having to water them at different dates if possible. However, if the girls insist on getting fed at different times, i will bite the bullet and do it. They are two completely different characters anyway. You can actually tell their phenos apart already! Lyanna is much more indica than Melissa is. Just look at those leaves! Lyanna's are suuuper wide.

Something tells me that Melissa is going to be my favorite smoke-wise. I really like the head high

 

[Bonsaiweed]

Great job on the topping.

Also, you shouldn't drink soil.....it's hard on the stomach (dirty glass in the picture)

You seem to have a green thumb of sorts, so not much to advise on.