Suck's Grow Journal

[Suck]

LST is about exposing nodes to more light to prompt more growth in those nodes. It sounds like you might be short on light. And you shouldn’t see too much shading of nodes due to their small size. How many hours a day of light are they getting? If you have limited light, you’ll get limited growth. I would definitely be rotating it. But they may start flowering right away, and if they do. They likely won’t turn out well at their current size. From my understanding, autos are still going to thrive best off 18+ hours of light per day. Ruderalis naturally grows in places with long day cycles, thus the adaptation to flower at a fixed time. Because they don’t need the whole far red receptor change thing that photoperiods require to trigger flowering.

Below is my autos at 28 days. Where I had just begun LST.

Hello Johny, thanks for reply dude. I am aware what purpose LST serves but i just was not sure if i should start doing that. Regarding the light - i was almost certain they are getting plenty. Like i said in the first post, its southern side balcony and sun starts hitting the flowers around 11am and does not stop until the evening so around 10 hours of direct sunlight and couple more hours of indirect. Now when i think about it im starting to realize that might be indeed the issue. Btw i just rotated all of them 180 degrees.

Bottom line i am probably not gonna stress these plants with LST as they are struggling annyway. Next grow will be indoor tent, decission was made

 

[BigD13]

I’m a soil grower and I never check pH. I grow outside in fabric pots. The pH of my well water is 7.4 and my total alkalinity is 120-140 ppm. The soil I use is my own mixture of 3 parts each: hardware store brand potting soil, FF Happy Frog and perlite; plus 2 parts each of peat moss and EWC (earthworm castings) plus a tablespoon of domilite lime. I sift the potting soil & peat moss through a coarse screen to remove the larger pieces of woody debris, which gives them a more consistent texture. I use both the FF trio on some plants and MC (Mega Crop) on others. My plants are doing fine. You might want to check out the link below about whether we need to be pHing nutes, water, etc.

Do we need to pH adjust our nutrient solutions?

Greetings all! I recently had a running email conversation with the "Grower Services & Product Development Director" at ProMix (aka Premier Tech). I began the conversation by posting a question on their website, asking if I should be treating ProMix HP as soil or soil-less when mixing...

www.420magazine.com

 

[MochaBud]

Any comments on the size for 3 weeks? I have nothing to relate to

Your plants look fine man, I would keep them in a solo cup for the first 2 to 3 weeks next time for bigger growth, as mentioned the roots have to fill the pots before new growth is detected
As far as soil and PH I use FFOF and have never PHed anything

Blackberry Gum 2 plant scrog

• MochaBud
• Apr 4, 2020

filling in

New veg closet

• MochaBud
• Apr 4, 2020
• 1

Girls are lovin' it

Blackberry Gum Manifold

• MochaBud
• Apr 13, 2020

Blackberry Gum Quad

• MochaBud
• Apr 13, 2020

8.1.19 .jpg

• MochaBud
• Aug 1, 2019

GG#4 & L.H.
Day 12

 

[Suck]

I’m a soil grower and I never check pH. I grow outside in fabric pots. The pH of my well water is 7.4 and my total alkalinity is 120-140 ppm. The soil I use is my own mixture of 3 parts each: hardware store brand potting soil, FF Happy Frog and perlite; plus 2 parts each of peat moss and EWC (earthworm castings) plus a tablespoon of domilite lime. I sift the potting soil & peat moss through a coarse screen to remove the larger pieces of woody debris, which gives them a more consistent texture. I use both the FF trio on some plants and MC (Mega Crop) on others. My plants are doing fine. You might want to check out the link below about whether we need to be pHing nutes, water, etc.

Do we need to pH adjust our nutrient solutions?

Greetings all! I recently had a running email conversation with the "Grower Services & Product Development Director" at ProMix (aka Premier Tech). I began the conversation by posting a question on their website, asking if I should be treating ProMix HP as soil or soil-less when mixing...

www.420magazine.com

Thanks for the information and link to the article. Interesting reading!

 

[Suck]

Your plants look fine man, I would keep them in a solo cup for the first 2 to 3 weeks next time for bigger growth, as mentioned the roots have to fill the pots before new growth is detected
As far as soil and PH I use FFOF and have never PHed anything

Blackberry Gum 2 plant scrog

• MochaBud
• Apr 4, 2020

filling in

New veg closet

• MochaBud
• Apr 4, 2020
• 1

Girls are lovin' it

Blackberry Gum Manifold

• MochaBud
• Apr 13, 2020

Blackberry Gum Quad

• MochaBud
• Apr 13, 2020

8.1.19 .jpg

• MochaBud
• Aug 1, 2019

GG#4 & L.H.
Day 12

Hello Mochabud, thank you for reassuring words I had 3 of them in solo cups and currently there is no difference between those and the othes that have been in final pots since germination. At the moment i am really worried about my plants as they are month old but they feel so small and stems very weak. Its painful o watch other people journals and to see how well heir plants are doing after a month

 

[Suck]

Hello guys,
funny news, my seedlinglike looking plants just started preflowering. I guess i will be happy if i roll like 2 joints out of those 9 plants
Since i have not much to lose at this point i though i would LST one of two similarily looking plants just for the sake of practice and comparison. Do you guys think its a waste of my energy or its worth trying?

 

[mrking]

That’s kinda crazy. Are you getting over 12 hours of daylight?

 

[Suck]

Yeah right? I am afraid i am not gettting 12 hours of direct sunlight, only about 9 unfortunately.

 

[mrking]

Yeah right? I am afraid i am not gettting 12 hours of direct sunlight, only about 9 unfortunately.

That’s too bad. Enjoy the mini cannabis bansai trees. Lol.

 

[Suck]

That’s too bad. Enjoy the mini cannabis bansai trees. Lol.

Actually i just searched Google and cannabis Bonsaii is a thing, pretty cool looking decoration. So i might be onto something

 

[mrking]

Actually i just searched Google and cannabis Bonsaii is a thing, pretty cool looking decoration. So i might be onto something

Ya, that would be awesome. Mini buds and mini joints. Lol

 

[Suck]

Hello guys, so i guess my issue might be the light but that leads me to one question. My balcony is oriented to south but also its covered from the top so the light can basically only enter under side angle (hope that makes sense). The thing is that half of the day, the light is shining to one corner and second half of day to the other corner of the balcony. The only spot where the plants would get max amount of light is right next to the glass fence but i am not sure thats good idea because the glass is quite thick (pictures).

Question: is it better to get double the sun time through the thick glass or half of the duration but direct sunlight?
Thanks so much in advance!

This is the setup next to the glass:


This is setup where light comes only in the afternoon but its direct sunlight:

 

[CanadianJim]

Can you do both? Put them right next to the glass until the sun gets to the point where it's shining onto your balcony, direct sunlight while it's there, and then back?
Your plants should grow under either, but in your position I would go with right by the glass. Even through that it should be brighter than indoor grow lights, and in that case I would go with whatever gave me the longest growing period during the day.

 

[Suck]

Can you do both? Put them right next to the glass until the sun gets to the point where it's shining onto your balcony, direct sunlight while it's there, and then back?
Your plants should grow under either, but in your position I would go with right by the glass. Even through that it should be brighter than indoor grow lights, and in that case I would go with whatever gave me the longest growing period during the day.

Hello CanadianJim, thanks for the answer. Theoretically i could do that but in reality its impossible as i am coming quite late from work and i doubt my wife will do this for me since shes not biggest fan of me growing in the first place

So if you had to chose one position, which one would it be?

I am not really sure what the glass contains. Might have some UV filters in it modifying the light spectrum or something...

 

[CanadianJim]

I would go with putting them right by the glass, and after a week or so evaluate how they're doing. If I'm satisfied, they stay there. If not, I'd try another spot.
I would be very surprised if there were UV filters in the glass. Since they're not windows it would be an unnecessary expense for the manufacturer. That being said there is always some lessening of intensity when sunlight passes through glass.

 

[Suck]

I would go with putting them right by the glass, and after a week or so evaluate how they're doing. If I'm satisfied, they stay there. If not, I'd try another spot.
I would be very surprised if there were UV filters in the glass. Since they're not windows it would be an unnecessary expense for the manufacturer. That being said there is always some lessening of intensity when sunlight passes through glass.

Thanks dude, what you are saying makes lot of sense. will try that. See ya

 

[Buds Buddy]

Between not pH-ing & no drain holes in the pots & not enough light hours you have a little bit of a mess on your hands. You're growing Auto's so you should have started them in their final pot. You don't up-pot Auto's. You're in soil so you want pH of nutes going in to be in the 6.4 - 6.5 range. You really need drainage holes in the pots or the roots will stay wet too long & possibly get root rot. That alone could be stunting your growth. I'd put holes in them now with a heated nail or something similar that would melt through the pots. But that's me & I take chances if I feel I have nothing to lose & more to gain.
As far as light goes you need a good 18 hours of light on Auto's. 20 - 24 hours of light daily is even better. You wont get 18 hours of light outside. I know some people do Auto's outside; but I don't know their strategy. I wouldn't even attempt it. I'm thinking they do 12 hours of light outside & then in a tent under a light for 6 more hours before lights out for 6 hours. Just a guess.
I personally don't like Auto's; but I have seeds so I just started 3 seeds just to get rid of them.
I prefer Photo's as I can control how big my plants get to accomplish the yield I'm after. Auto's are on a time line so you can only do so much to them.

 

[SmokingWings]

Between not pH-ing & no drain holes in the pots & not enough light hours you have a little bit of a mess on your hands. <Cut the rest>

I caught that about the drainage. Just cannot imagine those pots not having any drainage holes. Kept rereading the msg and started to figure that he did not put drainage material in the bottom of the pots; maybe he meant he did not put in material like those clay pebbles some people use.

There have to be holes there. In one msg he said that he was told to flush a couple of times because he was just misting. It would make for an interesting experience if the pots were flushed to run-off if there were no holes.

 

[SmokingWings]

Hey dude, thanks for reply and for your insight. Might be overwatering, guy in growshop told me i should flush it from time to time because i was just lightly spraying the surface until now.

The soil is just a shitty "substrate for muscat" from regular growing store supposedly enhanced with basic nutrients for up to 6 weeks. I kinda realized this was probably my biggest mistake. Next time i will be going for some special substrate, bio bizz, plagron etc. Also i forgot to insert some kind of drainage to the bottom of the pots. I will also learn from that next time pressuming i would only stress the plants doing it now.

I really think that the biggest part of the slow growth is the soil mix. And, no one knows what kind of soil mix is being used except that it is...shitty "substrate for muscat"", whatever that is. I have the feeling that it is something from a bag and is predominately a peat moss or coco coir mix with little, if any, natural soil added.

I have a small plant outside, in a pot smaller than what you are using, and it gets about 4 hours of direct sun and several more hours of indirect dappled sun through the leaves of the maple tree. It has grown more in the last 14 days than your plants have grown since they sprouted. But, I do understand slow growth caused by cool temperatures, low light, to much water and not enough water. I really think something dealing with the soil mix is causing the plants to grow slower than they should.

As for the pH, if it is a natural soil then you only need to know the pH of the water going in. No point in knowing the pH of the soil itself or of the run-off water.

If it is not a natural soil, for example a heavy peat mix meant for a hydroponic style of soil mix, then the pH of the water going in and coming out has to be known.

 

[Buds Buddy]

I caught that about the drainage. Just cannot imagine those pots not having any drainage holes. Kept rereading the msg and started to figure that he did not put drainage material in the bottom of the pots; maybe he meant he did not put in material like those clay pebbles some people use.

There have to be holes there. In one msg he said that he was told to flush a couple of times because he was just misting. It would make for an interesting experience if the pots were flushed to run-off if there were no holes.

You're probably right about what the OP said. I've bought pots like that before though & you have to poke out the circles on the bottoms of the pots if you want drain holes. That's what I thought they meant.