Mashikag's Soil AK-48 & Aurora Indica - First Grow & First Grow Journal - 2013

[Light Addict]

re: Mashikag's Soil AK-48 & Aurora Indica - First Grow & First Grow Journal - 2013

Ohh yeah baby! very nice little bushy babies, still think your gonna have fun with them once they're into stretch but really awesome looking girls! +reps

 

[KingJohnC]

re: Mashikag's Soil AK-48 & Aurora Indica - First Grow & First Grow Journal - 2013

it appears your plant has cupped leaves with upturned edges, that may be either heat stress or a magnesium deficiency if it is a magnesium deficiency treat it with one teaspoon per gallon of Epsom salts.

 

[Growingnow]

re: Mashikag's Soil AK-48 & Aurora Indica - First Grow & First Grow Journal - 2013

Looking great so far bro keep it up

 

[mashikag]

re: Mashikag's Soil AK-48 & Aurora Indica - First Grow & First Grow Journal - 2013

Day 47:

I don't know how did I let them to get to a state where they are at now. I guess lack of responsibility. Anyways I need to quit blaming myself and start doing something to help them. Some serious problem which I can't identify myself. I never changed my watering schedule or didn't do anything different from what I was doing before. It looks a bit like over-watering to me but the above pics are taken 6 days after the last watering. Every time I water them I use 2 liter of water per each pot. Pots are 13L but filled with maybe 10-11 liters of soil. I would really appreciate ANY recommendations on what this looks like or what should I do. Also there are getting burned at the top because they are getting quite tall and it's just a pain for me to put up the light before they get burned because they are not even in flowering period yet. However I just got my new air cooled hood on Friday which I am going to put up tomorrow. ANY help is really appreciated!

 

[Light Addict]

re: Mashikag's Soil AK-48 & Aurora Indica - First Grow & First Grow Journal - 2013

God damn my friend Bad luck! Erm Im not sure what to say, only time I had that was with a supercritical that I over fed over watered and ended up scrapping. The big boys will be along soon enough with the answers.

 

[mashikag]

re: Mashikag's Soil AK-48 & Aurora Indica - First Grow & First Grow Journal - 2013

Just a quick update lads. Fortunately I have figured out that it was actually underwatering and now I have changed my schedule and we are back on track. Also I have fitted the new air cooled tube up and have also led the ventilation out to a wall vent using about 6-7m of ducting so the hot air isn't fed back into the room anymore and the overheating problem is solved too! So things are starting to work out well again which I am really happy about! I will post some pictures of the new set up and my babies getting back to shape tomorrow night.

 

[mashikag]

re: Mashikag's Soil AK-48 & Aurora Indica - First Grow & First Grow Journal - 2013

Day 53:

Back on track + new set up!
Planning on starting flowering period next week, do you think it's about the right time?
(sorry for crappy quality)

 

[Light Addict]

re: Mashikag's Soil AK-48 & Aurora Indica - First Grow & First Grow Journal - 2013

He he, now thats ducting baby! Have you thought about any defol?

 

[mashikag]

re: Mashikag's Soil AK-48 & Aurora Indica - First Grow & First Grow Journal - 2013

Have you thought about any defol?

I assume u mean defoliation? Never heard of this technique, only read about this now. I really like the idea of it however I think it is a bit too late now as I will be entering flowering mid of next week hopefully.

 

[Mono]

re: Mashikag's Soil AK-48 & Aurora Indica - First Grow & First Grow Journal - 2013

Hey buddy, just caught up.

First up, great job on your first grow, you are well on your way to a good harvest. + Reps for that!

Stretch is to be expected during veg, especially when starting from seed if you are using a hps. Even though the light intensity is good it's the wrong type of light so the plants go crazy as if searching for the correct spectrum. When using hps to veg it's highly recommended to use some form of low stress training technique.

Your wilting plants were down to exactly what you thought, under watering. Remember to adjust to the needs of the plant. You have to be ready to adapt and read your plants. Well done on sorting the problem.

As for the defoliation, a little tidy up now of the older, lower growth would be beneficial and help air flow and let you see what's going on. Could give the mid branches a top to give more tops, 4 or 5 days would give them enough time to recover. Then another round of defoliation in say week two of 12/12 to tidy it up and clip off lower growth that will not produce much bud will really help given how packed your grow tent is.

Once you enter flowering you are cruising along, just keep an eye on the little things and read what your plants are needing. Try and avoid the temptation to go heavy on the nutes to early and you will be rewarded with a bountiful harvest.

Once again, really well done so far my friend. Great first grow! Enjoy the flowering period

 

[Light Addict]

re: Mashikag's Soil AK-48 & Aurora Indica - First Grow & First Grow Journal - 2013

Really spot on advice from Mono, just like he said and your golden.

 

[KingJohnC]

re: Mashikag's Soil AK-48 & Aurora Indica - First Grow & First Grow Journal - 2013

I would defoliate your plants. I would remove the lower growth and any fan leaves that are blocking bud sites. defoliation is also commonly done in flowering at days 21-25 when the stretch phase has ended and again at day 45 if required.

 

[mashikag]

re: Mashikag's Soil AK-48 & Aurora Indica - First Grow & First Grow Journal - 2013

I would defoliate your plants. I would remove the lower growth and any fan leaves that are blocking bud sites. defoliation is also commonly done in flowering at days 21-25 when the stretch phase has ended and again at day 45 if required.

First of all I can not find a real guide to defoliation as in there are some good threads but they do not show the process step by step and I am a little bit anxious as how to do it properly. I am not sure also what a fan leaf is. I am not even sure as how to remove the leaves too(cut them or rip them off, or does it even make a difference?).

Second of all I am kind of getting worried as to my indicas since I can't see clear pre-flowers on them yet(or it's just me). Could it be that the middle of the plant is not getting enough light for the pre-flowers to develop??(it's day 58 since the seeds have been moved into soil) However all the sativas has shown their pre-flowers(feminized seeds).

 

[mashikag]

re: Mashikag's Soil AK-48 & Aurora Indica - First Grow & First Grow Journal - 2013

Also when u say to reduce my lower growth u mean to cut the lower branches off? If so how many/how should I know where to stop?

 

[doopie]

re: Mashikag's Soil AK-48 & Aurora Indica - First Grow & First Grow Journal - 2013

Hi mashikag!

Just read your journal. Your plants are looking very healthy and seem to have well recovered from that underwatering problem.

I also had to recently read up on defoliating. First of all, it's a bit controversial. Some will tell you that you shouldn't do it, others swear by it. That's why for my current (and first) grow, I defoliated one of the plants and left the other as it is.

You can trim the 1/3 of the lower growth (called lollipopping), you'll be able to find several how-to videos on youtube, when you search for the term. This way your plants will concentrate all their energy on the buds that get direct light and instead of many small buds (called popcorn), you will get big nice buds.

Then once your buds are developing, you can also remove fan leafs that block light from the buds. Fan leafs are the ones not attached to buds, you'll understand once your buds are developing.

Also, I'd switch to 12/12. Usually the plants will grow to twice their size after the switch and you don't have a lot of space. I made the same mistake, thinking that I have so much space for my plants when I was in veg, but believe me, judging from the photos it will get pretty crowded in there.

 

[Light Addict]

re: Mashikag's Soil AK-48 & Aurora Indica - First Grow & First Grow Journal - 2013

Hi my friend, ok with defol its simple. I use my my finger and thumb nail to nip the stem of the leaf until it comes off. I dont take it off right at its base, I leave a little bit of stem still attached to the branch. The reason for all of this is firstly with nipping it you create a part closed off cut, with a small surface area of damage. The reason I dont just rip off at the base but leave a stump is again for surface area of wound. These stumps will eventually dry up and fall off by themselves anyway.
Your fan leaves are the massive big ass leaves, the ones that stand out from plant on the big stalks. These are the main factory sites of your plant. They are so big though that they can become a blanket shielding lower growth. Simply look at your girls, spot where your bud sites are going to be, then if any big leaves are above and obscuring this spot from the light remove the offending leaf. I if possible only take one leaf per node site so you have at least one at each point.
Once you have done some defol take another look at em, then work out if you have any spindly little branches that are not getting any light. Ones that dont look like they would support much bud growth due to there position. If you have a few of these weaker branches I would remove. Use scissors or whatever, but again leave a tiny bit of stump rather that ripping from main stem.
If you look at my Fluxing Journal below you will be able to see where I removed stuff and left stumps on most of the recent pics.
Hope this helps!

 

[mashikag]

re: Mashikag's Soil AK-48 & Aurora Indica - First Grow & First Grow Journal - 2013

Ok, so it has been a while since I last updated this thread. Meanwhile I have found 2 females and disposed of them. Did the defol twice and now I am into harvest for 9 of the 10 plants. One of the plants was accidentally broken when I was trying to stress it using a rope. It took it a while to get better again and so it is now a good few weeks away from harvest which is a bit of a pain. I have divided the tent with a bed sheet into two so one compartment gets no light for the next 48h's and the second compartment is the one plant. I have turned down the balast to 400w since it has to provide only for one plant atm.

My problem is now whether I should keep on growing that one plant or is it just not worth it economically to have the light and fan on just to support that one plant? It seems to have produced the best premature flowers than any other have during this growth.

Now it's time to comment about the actual yield. I am not sure as to numbers yet but I am not too happy the way it turned out, maybe I am being just pessimistic. There are some nice looking flowers all around but the size is what bothers me, they are not as big as some of ye produce but I guess it's only the first grow...

Anyway below are some pictures from when I did my first defoliation:

Below are pic's from today:

Here's the unfortunate one that is behind the others, some pretty nice premature flowers on it:

 

[KingJohnC]

re: Mashikag's Soil AK-48 & Aurora Indica - First Grow & First Grow Journal - 2013

Meanwhile I have found 2 females and disposed of them.

I hope it is the 2 males you have disposed of and not the female plants. Economicaly whatever you are able to produce should out weigh the cost of purchasing your medicine.

 

[mashikag]

re: Mashikag's Soil AK-48 & Aurora Indica - First Grow & First Grow Journal - 2013

I hope it is the 2 males you have disposed of and not the female plants.

Ops my bad, 2 males obviously.

 

[Mono]

re: Mashikag's Soil AK-48 & Aurora Indica - First Grow & First Grow Journal - 2013