Mack's Perpetual Grow Journal

[MackMcMacMac]

I started a medical grow last week. Rather than create a new grow journal for each plant, I'm going to make this one a perpetual. Hello & welcome to all who happen to amble by. Feel free to offer suggestions & comments. I'm a newbie grower, learning as I go and could use all the help I can get!

The first grow documented in this journal will be a Dance World plant, a 75% sativa made from Mexican X Afghani crossed with Juanita La Lagrimosa. I'm looking for daytime pain relief.

The first DW seed I tried to germinate would not crack, even after 10 days in water. I also tried the paper towel method and just planting the seed in a starter. The seed was tiny, as in "wow, is this actually cannabis?" When I realized the first seed was a dud, I ordered three more, since I'd only bought one of them in my previous order. The other three are just as small. The breeder's description and customer reviews all concur -- this is a very small cannabis plant.

The second one germinated, but the sprout is not doing all that well. I'd used an L name for the first DW seed that never sprouted (lesson learned: don't name them until they sprout), so for this plant, I went with an M name: Macksine.

When Macksine first sprouted, I wasn't sure she would make it. She was pale and sickly looking.

The next day, though, she looked better, more normal. And green. By the fifth day, she was leaning over, her "trunk" not strong enough to support her heavier top.

So I used gardening wire to prop her up. She might not survive, but I'll do what I can to help her dig deep and discover her will to live. LOL Aside from the leaning, brownish new leaves, and sluggish growth, she's looking OK. I may have over-watered her a couple days ago, but next time she needs watering, some micronutes might be nice.

I guess we'll see if she makes it. I have 2 more DW seeds and 3 Painkiller XLs if she doesn't...

Edited to add:
For now, here's where she lives:

Soil: jiffy pellet + FoxFarms Happy Frog (FFHF) potting soil
Pot: 12-oz solo cup in a 5-gallon space bucket
Lights: 4x100w (4x23w actual power draw) CFL
Fans: Two 80mm PC fans on bucket lid (above lights) for exhaust, two 80mm PC fans at dirt level for intake.

 

[Chris Scorpio]

Ya she looks drowned...you have holes in bottom right?

What soil?
What nutes u planning on using
Lights?

 

[Guy Cavallero]

Right on Chris.......Once she dries up a bit she can be replanted so that 3/4 of her long legs are buried in your medium. All the little tiny hairs on her main stem will root for her and provide a base for a nice stable plant.

 

[MackMcMacMac]

Thanks, Chris and Guy!

I have 8 holes in the bottom of the solo cup and just checked to make sure the "catch cup" her solo cup is in doesn't have any runoff water in it. Her dirt is a bit wet -- I kind of overdid it when I watered last time. When I give her nutes, I'll be using the FoxFarms trio, as that's what my local gardening shop had (whose name I recognized!).

Forgot to post her environment. For now, here's where she lives:

Soil: jiffy pellet + FoxFarms Happy Frog (FFHF) potting soil
Pot: 12-oz solo cup in a 5-gallon space bucket
Lights: 4x100w (4x23w actual power draw) CFL
Fans: Two 80mm PC fans on bucket lid (above lights) for exhaust, two 80mm PC fans at dirt level for intake.

I plan to xplant to a 1-gallon felt pot when she's a little bigger, then to a 3-gallon felt pot after that.

The two intake fans rustle her leaves ever so slightly, so I was a little surprised to find her leaning. Could that have been caused by overwatering? Won't do that again...

 

[Chris Scorpio]

The Fox farm soils are laiden with nice nutes, so you won't need nutes till 2-3 weeks into her final pot, maybe Calmag, but no real nutes


Looks good, less is more, and have fun

 

[Guy Cavallero]

No worries my friend, this will all be second nature in no time. The lean could be the water, little environmental issues will make her stronger so no worries.

 

[MackMcMacMac]

Macksine is 8 days old today. When I checked on her this morning, her roots were poking out the holes in the bottom of the solo cup. Time to transplant! I didn't have any 1-gallon felt pots left, so she had to go straight into the 3-gallon. She's got FFOF soil under her, and FFHF on top, only because I didn't have enough ocean forest to fill the pot, and didn't want to open a new bag just to fill the top 2 inches.

Aside from the very low RH in the house drying her leaves, she's looking much better. Even with a humidifier running right outside the space bucket's intake fan, it's around 35% in the bucket. :/

Here she is in her new pot.

Once she was in there, I wet it down with FF Big Bloom (micronutes). The water + micronutes was pHed to 6.5. She got ~16oz.

 

[MackMcMacMac]

Macks look happy in her new pot, so yay for not killing her during the transplant! (It's a concern with this lady's black thumb.) And she's looking way healthier than she did a week ago. I can't tell you how relieved & happy I am! I peek in on her several times a day. Because of my arthritic hands & my desire to medicate with cannabis, I'm more emotionally invested in this plant than the others I've grown.

 

[Guy Cavallero]

Macks look happy in her new pot, so yay for not killing her during the transplant! (It's a concern with this lady's black thumb.) And she's looking way healthier than she did a week ago. I can't tell you how relieved & happy I am! I peek in on her several times a day. Because of my arthritic hands & my desire to medicate with cannabis, I'm more emotionally invested in this plant than the others I've grown.

She's lucky to have you!

 

[MackMcMacMac]

Here's little Macksine at 12 days old. She's a little stretchier than the other plants I've grown (1 indica, 2 sativas). The plant I'm fluxing, also a sativa, seemed to have tighter nodes than this one, too.

I'm thinking I should be able to top her in a few days. I hope she doesn't get mad.

 

[MackMcMacMac]

Macks turned 2 weeks old yesterday, so last night I topped her. Snipped the top off with trimming shears right above the third node. This morning, she's still alive.

 

[Guy Cavallero]

The topping looks great, but she looks like she's a little bit on the pale side..... What is your feeding schedule? I forgotten. She looks low on nitrogen.

 

[MackMcMacMac]

Thanks, Guy. I've only given her micro nuts and plain water so far, but she's almost dry enough for a watering. I have the fox farms trio - do you think I should give her some grow big with the big bloom? She's in the fox farms ocean forest (bottom half of pot) and happy frog on top. My other plant seemed to struggle with the hot soil when she was young, and the guy at the nursery said happy frog is milder. But if she's not getting enough nutes from it, I want to feed her.

 

[MackMcMacMac]

Macks is 16 days old today. I fed her 40 oz zero water (tap water run through the ZeroWater filter) with 2T BB & 1T GB/gal @ pH 6.37 & 1086PPM. May have gone a little heavy on the Grow Big, but we'll see what happens.

 

[Guy Cavallero]

Eeekkk, those are big numbers......lets see how she fares!? What's ur ppm from the wall? Not familiar with the GB and BB formulas, is that the recommended dose for young plants?

 

[MackMcMacMac]

Fox farms recommends 2 tsp of grow big for a two week old plant, and I used 3. Oops. I was looking at the wrong chart when I measured it out! They also suggest 1200ppm, so I didn't think 1086 was too much. I guess we'll see if I stressed her out!

 

[MackMcMacMac]

The ppm for the water itself is only 8, compliments of the zero water filter.

 

[MackMcMacMac]

17 days old. Macks didn't seem to suffer from the heavy nutes yesterday, but I expect it'll take some time before such things become evident. She looks OK today.

 

[Guy Cavallero]

Fox farms recommends 2 tsp of grow big for a two week old plant, and I used 3. Oops. I was looking at the wrong chart when I measured it out! They also suggest 1200ppm, so I didn't think 1086 was too much. I guess we'll see if I stressed her out!

To put those numbers into perspective.....ive never fed my plants over 800ppm, lol. Glad they took it......Whewww!
A lot of people on here will feed their plants heavily like that but they lead up to it, they raise the amounts of nutrients until they are at high values..... To feed a two-week-old plant that much nutrients in my opinion is really pushing it, you pulled it off LOL!

She does.look pale to me still......like low nitrogen. Give her a couple of days to absorb.....but watch her.

 

[MackMcMacMac]

To put those numbers into perspective.....ive never fed my plants over 800ppm, lol. Glad they took it......Whewww!
A lot of people on here will feed their plants heavily like that but they lead up to it, they raise the amounts of nutrients until they are at high values..... To feed a two-week-old plant that much nutrients in my opinion is really pushing it, you pulled it off LOL!

She does.look pale to me still......like low nitrogen. Give her a couple of days to absorb.....but watch her.

In my previous grows, I started out with quarter strength and stepped it up over time. The only reason I didn't this time is Old Timers Disease. . I hope she's not too mad at me, but she's looking ok so far. I might see signs of her gacking and coughing as the new growth comes in. Maybe they'll remind me not to be so rough with her. Heh.