My 1st Grow: Blue Dream, Purple Punch & Sour DLK

[lorsteez]

What's up forum! Figured I'd start a post on my first grow to see if anyone has tips/tricks for me along the way.

Some details on the grow:

Clones
I picked up 3 different clones on 5/24 and was told they were only a day or 2 old under 24 hr. lighting. The 3 strains are Blue Dream, Purple Punch, and Sour Diesel x Lemon Kush (SDLK), all from Dark Heart Nursery in CA.


Transitioning to Outdoor
I live in Northern CA so outdoor temps are optimal and I get plenty of sunlight in my backyard. My main concern has been transitioning them from being indoor to outdoor the right way at the right time.

To be honest, I had no idea they needed to be kept inside and slowly transitioned to outside....I was just planning on throwing them straight into the dirt! Luckily I was able to throw together a little rack with a 2 bulb LED lamp I had in the garage which seems to be doing the trick so far.

I currently have the lights on a 18/6 timer, and have been putting the plants outside in direct sun and then partial shade for a bit longer each day. Today they were out in direct sun from about 8M to 1PM, and then I think they were getting a bit hot so I moved them into the shade and will bring them inside in a few hours. I've heard early June in Northern CA is an ideal time to get them outside full time?

I'm planning on transplanting the clones to 1 gallon pots on Thursday since they've been in these small pots for about a week. After that, I have 3 gallon pots which I was planning on keeping them in until harvest. I wanted to go 5 gallon but the wife was scared they would get too big haha. I picked up few bags of Black Magic potting soil to use as well.

Anyway, pics of the clones, grow rack, and grow site are below...let me know what you think!

From left to right (Sour Diesel X Lemon Kush, Purple Punch, Blue Dream)

 

[lorsteez]

Quick update-

One of my cats got to the Purple Punch clone and went to town

. Do you guys think it will survive??? I think my cat unintentionally FIMMed it lol.

I also switched my indoor light cycle to 17/7 to start getting them used to the 15ish hours of outdoor sunlight they'll be getting once they're outside full time.

Any tips/advice would be greatly appreciated!

SD X LK thriving!


Purple Punch post-cat attack


Blue Dream starting to stretch

 

[lorsteez]

5/30 Update:

I transplanted the babies into 1 gallon buckets today and filled them with Black Magic potting soil. After transplanting I gave them a fresh watering and dug holes to keep the pots cool below ground level.

I noticed some purple on the stems yesterday, which after doing research sounds like a magnesium deficiency. The Black Magic soil has some magnesium in it so hopefully that will do the trick.

I do have 2 questions and I'd love to hear what you guys have to say!

#1- I think the clones have hardened off enough to be outside full time moving forward. My only concern is about the temps overnight which are hovering in the low 50's right now. During the day it's low 70's-80's. Do you think the plants will be ok?


#2- I am planning on buying nutrients soon, and I saw that they have the 3 pack of foxfarm nutes on Amazon which is super convenient. Any other brands you guys might recommend looking into?


Grow site:


Sour Diesel x Lemon Kush


Blue Dream


Purple Punch (recovering from cat-attack but still growing)

 

[Bush Doctor 77]

You're on the right track. Looks like your soil could use some organics(compost or peat if alkali soil). I've had good luck in soil with Expert Gardener Organic tomato plant food from Wally World. Those temps are fine for outside.

 

[lorsteez]

You're on the right track. Looks like your soil could use some organics(compost or peat if alkali soil). I've had good luck in soil with Expert Gardener Organic tomato plant food from Wally World. Those temps are fine for outside.

Appreciate the insight man, those plants look nice!

The actual dirt on my terrace is definitely old, so I'm planning on keeping the plants in pots with good soil as opposed to putting them in that dirt. After they grow a bit I'm planning on transplanting them into 3 gallon pots, and ultimately 5 gallons probably. Can't let them get too huge though

I was also curious if you've ever had to deal with temps being too high in the peak of summer? Sometimes we can get up to mid 90's and I was looking into buying one of those shade fabric things to hang over the plants when it's super hot to keep them from getting cooked.

 

[Bush Doctor 77]

My greenhouse gets plenty warm, and never had a problem. Good smoke grows in some of the hottest places in the world, and it's a weed. My soil was basically sand when I started. Improve it every year, and you won't have to worry about pots, and with pots, you have the same size plant stick up 2 feet higher because of the pot height. I would not grow it in the same spot 2 years in a row.

 

[lorsteez]

5/31 update-

The clones had their first full day and night outdoors yesterday and seem to be doing just fine today. By my calculation, they are going to be getting somewhere between 8-9 hours of direct sunlight out of the 14-15 hours of daylight we have here in Northern CA.

I threw some extra dirt to cover up the rim of each pot because the black plastic seemed to be getting pretty hot in the sun. Hopefully the extra dirt can keep the pots a bit cooler.

I know people say that plants with leaves standing up towards the sun are happy, but hopefully they aren't getting too hot! The new sets of leaves are taco-ing a bit, not super bad though. Maybe they're just adjusting to the outdoor light?

Updated pics below, they are definitely growing!

Blue Dream | SD x LK | Purple Punch
​

 

[lorsteez]

6/4 update-

The clones have taken to the outdoors nicely and seem to be thriving!

Even the Purple Punch looks awesome after being attacked by my cat last week.

Now that they're comfortably vegging, I am looking into topping the plants to encourage the plants to be more bushy.

Are the clones too small to top right now? They are 2 weeks old and have about 3-4 sets of nodes each.

Any insight or alternative methods to topping would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[lorsteez]

6/9 update-

We’ve got quite a few days of hot weather in the forecast! It’s 90 today and mid 90’s the next 2 days.

Thankfully the clones seem to be holding up nicely in the heat. I watered them this morning and only the sour D x lemon Kush leaves are tacoing just a bit. The blue dream and purple punch seem to be doing fine.

I thought it would be a good idea to put an umbrella over them for the last few hours of direct sunlight to keep them from getting too hot. This won’t mess the plants up will it?

Also, if the clones are in black magic soil which I understand has nutrients, when should I start feeding them? I’ve read you can wait a month or so in the soil before needing to feed. I ordered the 3 pack of fox farm nutes as well.

Thanks guys!

 

[lorsteez]

I would love the communities insight....comments welcomed!!

Questions:
-If the clones are in black magic soil which has nutrients, when should I start feeding them? I’ve read you can wait a month or so in the soil before needing to feed. I ordered the 3 pack of fox farm nutes which I now have.

-Would it be a good idea to start topping them? I'd rather them be more bushy as opposed to Christmas trees, and it looks like they are past their 5th node and have quite a few flowering sites branching off the main stem.



Cheers!

 

[lorsteez]

6/17 Update-

They call them Weeds for a reason....what a difference a week makes!

The clones are vegging out nicely so I transplanted them from 1 gallon buckets to 3 gallon buckets on Saturday. I can't believe how many roots they had already developed...they were damn near root bound!

I also topped the Blue Dream and SD x LK clones last Wednesday and they seem to have recovered quite nicely as they already have lots of side branches coming up. I only topped the very tops of the plants though, not the other bud sites. The Purple Punch was fimmed by my cat at a very early stage so I decided not to top it again.


Questions:
-I'm not seeing any signs of nutrient deficiency and I'm guessing it's because the Black Magic soil I'm using has a decent amount in it. I have Fox Farm nutes....would it hurt to start using them even if the plants look fine?

-Should I top all of the future bud sites as opposed to just the very tops?

Thanks all!