My First Grow Ever - Bag Seed - Lots To Learn!

[MaineGreenery]

Hello All!

I decided to get involved around here and contribute my experiences to the collective good of all. I am a recently prescribed Medical Marijuana patient and look forward to learning and eventually growing some quality medicine. The Journal Below is for a grow I started in early June (I forgot the exact start date...) and I didn't really start tracking things until 6/30. All comments, tips, suggestions are welcome.

The grow began with three random seeds from a bag of medical grade product. They were started in Peat pots inside on a heat mat at about 80 degrees and all three sprouted. After about a week they were transferred to containers around 3 gallons. Through 7.9.16 they were grown under a set of t5HO lights. Humidity has been kept at 50% with a dehumidifier and temperatures in the 70 - 80 range. Watering schedule was every third day and then in early July I began watering some times every other day. Feeding has been done with Miracle grow liquid drops and beginning mid June I fed every time I watered with about 10 drops per plant.

LST work began early on although no topping was done. The only pruning was of leaves that made contact with the ground so as to increase ventilation and prevent disease. Below is the series of photos from 6.30 through yesterday. Sorry for the confused nature of this but this is also my first journal. Also, as of this writing the sex of all plants is still unknown so I am prepared for some disappointment.

6.30.16

7.2.16

7.3.16

7.6.16

7.7.16

7.8.16

7.9.16

As you can see in the last photo I made an upgrade to the grow yesterday. I put the plants in a 32 *32 *60 tent. The light has been upgraded to a 600 HID equivalent LED and ventilation has been added with an inline fan and carbon filter. All in all I am pretty psyched about the new set up. I have to attend to the plants later and will post another entry after.

Thanks!

 

[MaineGreenery]

Hola. Everyone seemed settled into their new home after the first night in the tent. I took each out today and did some more LST work, focusing on expanding the base of the plant as much as possible. Although it can be really time intensive, I find LST work very calming and enjoyable. It brings more creativity into the practice.

I also watered each, making sure to saturate the soil. I have begun using a two pot holder technique to allow for excess water to be removed from each plant after watering. I used to not care about leaving a pot holder full of water overnight, but after learning that roots die after 20 minutes under I am trying to be more aware of standing water. I chose to skip adding any nutes to try to give the soil a chance to leach some. I thought about doing a full leaching but didn't have the time.

I am pretty happy with the inline fan and carbon filter ventilation I have set up. There is zero odor so far and I feel much better about them getting enough fresh air.

Still a mystery on the sex. I am praying for the best but remembering that there is a 50% chance for disappointment. I have been searching for pre-flowers for weeks but they either aren't there or I am terrible at sighting them. Or both.

Cheers

 

[MaineGreenery]

I was pleased to see that the plants all seemed to have adjusted to the new tent without any obvious signs of stress. I went ahead and lowered the LED light a foot. I am guessing the light is currently 3 or so feet above the plants and I am anxious to see how close they can come without the plants showing burn.

I admired each plant for 5 or ten minutes and did a little LST work. The left and center plants are spreading really well. It's getting hard to maintain an even height across the plant. Not sure what the best time to stop that is but I think I will stop when they start actually forming buds.

Speaking of which, still can't sex them. I have spent so much time with each plant that I really can't imagine having to toss any of them if it is a male. I was thinking though that because I only found a small number of seeds in the bag and because the bag was pretty good quality that there is a possibility that a female plant herme'd and therefore they are from a female self pollination which could make them all ladies. I wonder if anyone has experienced this before, feminized bag seed.

 

[Heiryfarmer]

Looking good bro

Sent from my HTC_0PJA10 using 420

 

[MaineGreenery]

Today was the 4th day on 12/12 and man am I anxious to sex these plants. Today was not the day but I am really hoping that I will know in the next few days. The tent is feeling a little cramped so it might actually be nice to pull a plant out, I just really hope it isn't one of the better performing ones.

They were do for a watering today and I wanted to play around with a decent leeching set up. So I took a plant saucer and poked some holes in it, put it on top of a bucket and then ran a hose real slow into the plant. See the pic below. I know to properly leach you need to do many gallons and I was far short of this however I think that the smaller amount of water I did run through had to help with any build up in the soil. Most importantly I know this set-up can work. After running the water through I added 12 drops miracle grow to each plant and ran a little water to get it into the soil. I ordered some fox farms nutes and plan on using them beginning next watering.

I also did a little LST. It is getting pretty tough as I am running out room on the lip of the pots to attached to. In hind sight I wish I had been more active in removing older clips and wires and keeping the plant cleaner. Oh well, live and learn. Next time will be better. I also had my first stem break during LST. As I have read you can do I duck taped the break and left alone. We'll see if everyone is right about that healing trick working.

Here are the most recent pics below. Enjoy!

 

[Recklessjoint]

Looking good! Those beauties look nice and bushy.. what led light is that? Just curious.. also it looks like it's hanging a lil crooked.. I would try and keep it evenly hung and centered to try and maximize the light spread.. with it hung like that the strongest point of the light which is the center is being pushed more towards one side of the tent. Evenly hung will give you the most even spread.. I would even drop it a lil closer as well 18-24 inches is where I keep my leds.. leds par ratings drop off pretty quickly the further away you get from them.. I am no expert by far just sharing what I've learned about leds..keep up the good work and before you know it it'll be harvest time!! Happy growing!!

 

[MaineGreenery]

The grow light is a VIPARSPECTRA PAR600 600W. After looking around a little it seemed like a good deal for the price. I don't know much about LED's so I hope it is good, time will tell. I took them out tonight and did a very light pruning, cutting a few leaves to increase air flow at the base and to expose more bud sites. Still no idea on sex. I am frustrated because I feel like given the age I should be able to identify pre-flowers but I can't and I think that if I had more experience I probably would be able to. They all seemed pretty good, the oil was still damp to the touch so I can maintain the current schedule. I posted a few pictures below. We are on day 6 of 12/12. No clear stretching has occurred yet that I see. I also found the ventilation flap that is on the bottom of the tent. Kinda stupid that I didn't already know. I kept it open for about 8 hours during the day. I am afraid of forgetting I have it open and having a light leak so I am not taking chances.

 

[dirt mcgert]

Looking good

 

[Book of Thoth]

Big and bushy!! Will be cool to see how this develops

 

[MaineGreenery]

Hola. I have been waiting to check in again until it felt like something eventful had happened. It's been 4 days since the last entry and today, being a water and feed day, seemed like a good day to get in here. First, here are the plants prior to being watered.

They all looked pretty good and after looking at a couple older pictures I can see that they are all filling in well and putting on a lot of mass. The plants didn't seem to take as much water as previously. I am concerned with heavy soil compaction and so I used the hydrometer probe I have to create some holes and improve water absorption and aeration. Anyone experience soil compaction and have any solutions?

In addition I also fed each some FF tiger bloom at about 1/4 strength. This is after feeding with some FF super bloom last watering, which was 3 days ago. That was also at 1/4 strength. I assumed starting low was best.

I have been anxiously awaiting a determination of the plants sex, checking daily, even when on some days I told myself I was not going to check that day. Well today I think I saw one or two female flowers. Here is a close up of one I tried to capture. This is the smallest of the three plants.

I also think I saw flowers on another plants although I am not as confident in that identification yet. I also think I saw balls on one. I don't want to mistakenly destroy a girl that I think is a boy, but I also don't want to risk spoiling the other plants. Anyone know how long I have until I need to be worried if one is a boy?

Here are some pics of the three.

Hopefully flower growth will begin to happen. I can't wait to see something that begins to resemble a finished product. When all was done I tucked them all back in just in time for their bedtime.

 

[MaineGreenery]

Things are happening now and I am happy to say that I think with a 95% level of surety that I have three ladies on my hands which I am thrilled about. What luck! I had hoped this would happen. Because the seeds were from a higher quality medicine I thought it probably the plant self pollinated. This would result in feminized seeds right? Here is some of what I found.

I've read a lot about plants female plants growing a rogue male flower. I have no idea if this is the exception or the rule. How worried do I need to be about this happening, and do people really look at every flower on the plant? Am I overestimating how hard that would be?

I was not going to even touch them today but as usual I couldn't resist. I decided to get some practice with a pseudo scrog set up on these plants. I got three circular plant grids and placed them on the two larger plants. I think they may be over sized for the plants I have now but I think they will work well next round and are a good height for my tent. Should I expect buds to reach that height?

Finally as you see I placed a paint can under the short plant to try to even out the height difference.

 

[dirt mcgert]

You have some ladies not seeing any male flowers

 

[MaineGreenery]

Greetings from Vacation Land. It has been a couple days since I checked in last. Although not much has changed since last I was on here, things seem to be going really well and I feel like the ladies are really developing there full personalities now. They are definitely in the stretch phase now, and they are gaining height at a good rate now. I don't know if the two taller girls will make it to the grid above them, but I think it is very possible. I have expanded my use of the FF products and have now incorporated big bloom, grow big, tiger bloom and microbe brew into my feed schedule. I am following the FF schedule but only using 1/4 of the recommended dose. I am so enjoying using the FF nutes and happy with the growth I am seeing that I think I am going to go ahead and get the remaining products to round out my collection. They are expensive, but if I feed only 1/4 then I think I should be able to get several grows out of the batch I have.

The problem I have now is that I am going to be heading for a weeks vacation in a month and although I can find a trusted friend to water every few days while I am gone, I am not going to be able to find someone to come to my house in the morning and night to open and close the vents. I open them in the morning and close them at night so I don't have any light poisoning at night. I am trying to rig up some blocking set-up that will allow me to keep that vent open at all times but not allow in light. Has anyone else dealt with this issue and have any suggestions?

Well without further ado here are the girls as of yesterday, including a couple pictures of the young and developing flowers.

Finally, I am trying to decide what strain to grow for my third wave of growth. After this bag seed round I have three white widow plants which I have already started and are lined up to go into the tent once these girls are done. I have some northern lights and carnival seeds in addition to a few more WW seeds that are all options. I have read that NL are an easier to grow strain and that carnival seeds are tougher. Anyone agree with that? If that is the case then I thought maybe it would be best to do the NL seeds to get a little more practice before growing the carnival. Because I also only have 2 of the NL and Carnival seeds I am also think that it might be smart to try growing a mother of one or both of them. I am just concerned about space requirements for mother(s).

Thanks to everyone for following along and for adding your experience and knowledge to this grow. This is the most and interesting hobby that I have gotten into in the past few years and I feel lucky to be able to do it and have this communities help and support!

 

[MaineGreenery]

Wow. They are defintely in the stretch. Hopefully that period doesn't continue to much longer because height could become an issue. At least I am getting some use of the grid I purchased and wasn't even sure the plants would reach.

Things are steady. I have expanded my selection of fox farms products and so from here on instead of listing individual products just know I am following the FF feeding schedule. The buds are small still, but it feels great just seeing them and beginning to realize a completion to this cycle.

 

[dirt mcgert]

I've never grown out NL but I heard it was a fairly easy strain. Low odor, decent yielder. You can keep a small mother and take a few clones at a time from her, or just keep cloning a clone. They might have a little more stretch in them but probably not too much since they look more indica dominant. Hope this helps, keep up the good work

 

[Lilred]

You asked before if u should be checking every flower and the answer is yes. Nanners can pop out at anytime and should be removed to prevent seed production.
I have seen people use tape or glue to get them out there. I am sure a member who has seen them and removed them will be in to tell u about it. But if not I know Dennise has had Nanners before and had to harvest early cuz of them.


Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I537 using 420 Magazine Mobile App

 

[MaineGreenery]

Took a quick look at the girls today, didn't see any male parts. Will do a more thorough exam tomorrow when they get watered. Here they were tonight, still in the stretch!

 

[MaineGreenery]

Still stretching! Glad I got the grids now.

The reason I am checking in tonight is to ask for opinions on the leaf issue I am seeing on two of the plants. More severely on one than the other. I am watering every third day and feeding the fox farm schedule at 1/4 strength. Most of the plants look great but there are a couple leaves at the base that are looking like this.

Anyone know what might be going on? Your thoughts are appreciated. Here is my favorite pic of the day.

Be well

 

[Lilred]

Over watering maybe....I am new so I may be wrong

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I537 using 420 Magazine Mobile App

 

[dirt mcgert]

Bump your nutes up to 1/2 -3/4. The yellowing of the lower leaves means it's using up its stored nutes most of the time. Looking good