SpaceLulu's - Soil - First Grow - 2015

[Dr Bob]

They look great! Two weeks in and things look just dandy, even with your plant that was having issues. I have never had pots clog, but I guess it could happen. But it is happening with all your plants right? My guess is that there was more residual mositure still in the soil before. Now your girls are bigger and flowering and need more water. And that is typical.

That all 3 clogged up at the same moment I think is less likely.

You are going to have some dandy dank in about 6 weeks me thinks!
Bob

 

[SpaceLulu]

All plants at the same time. When I watered them last time (4-5 days ago) while I would be pouring 2l they would already start leaking from the bottom. But this time I 2l poured and like nothing happened, then after I poured about 1l more they started 'leaking'.
The 'weird' one still has different leaves, but other then that its good.

 

[Dr Bob]

My feeling is that they are just drinking more in that case. Just what you want to see!

Bob

 

[SpaceLulu]

Here is a small update. Everything is going pretty much fine (except the inner/bottom leaves yellowing, but I think that is because of lack of light. I think all of them went away so if others don't start it should be fine).

Having a bit of problem with a temperatures, they are close to 27C(80F) when the lights are up, but that should not be a big problem.

But overall I think they are doing good.

 

[Dr Bob]

They look very happy. Great job. You are going to have some beautiful bud.

Bob

 

[SpaceLulu]

36 day of flower.

Here I am with a small update. I watered them this evening so I took some pics.

Leaves are still yellowing, but slower, and only those that are inside or at the bottom, so I still think it is due to lack of light. Because plants spread on the top, and light is far away from the bottom leaves.
I could have done a much better job with lollipopping, but nothing I can do about it now

Flowers seem small to me, that is undeveloped, not sure thou. Here are some pics:


and here all of them in the box

 

[Dr Bob]

I think you are right about the lower interior leaves, I take a few of those every few days or so from the dark recesses of the grow. On the other hand those flowers look about right for 36 days to me, quite nice really. They should swell dramatically starting about now I would think.


Bob

 

[SpaceLulu]

Thanx bob, you are the only one looking at my diary and I am grateful for that

this is the 6th week, here are some pics.
no1 seems the healthiest
no2 a little less healthy
no3 it seems it has the smallest buds (that is the one that had weird leaves) but hopefully something will come out of it

1



2


3

 

[Dr Bob]

Well I have 3 beautiful girls to watch grow up with you then! Perfect.

You are going to have some very nice herb very soon!
Bob

 

[SpaceLulu]

I have a question. Maybe you can help me out.

I started educating myself regarding the final phase.
Now I am currently at 45th day of flowering, according to specification 2 of my plants take 8 weeks to flower, and one takes 9 weeks. But I plan to use my x60 magnifier to look at the trichromes for the best spot to harvest. I would like a mix between a body and mind high (unless you advice something otherwise). But, anyway I am left with about 2 weeks of flowering.

Last time (1 day ago) I watered only with plain water, no nutrients. I will need to water in about 3-4 days. Now should I give them nutes, or just continue plain water until the end?
Also, I bought the Flawless Finish (Advanced nutrients) and I plan to use that for one flush (probably the last one).

Also, should I leave my plants in total darkness for the last 48h before harvest?

Is there anything else you would recommend?

 

[Dr Bob]

You are using bottled AN nutes? If so, I would normally have stopped about 2 weeks before harvest and started to use just water to flush things out. I never used a flushing product other than good ole H2O though so I would just recommend using the AN Flawless instructions. They make great stuff so I wouldn't worry.

Personally the only thing I really do is try to harvest dry plants vs ones I just watered. I have done the darkness thing before but truly couldn't tell a difference in tric production so now I harvest when my schedule allows. Also, I have a full time flower tent. Shutting off the lights for a few days isn't really an option for me.

So I would just water until you get the mix of clear/cloudy/amber you want and go from there.

As a funny side note, you said in your first page "I might not have made the best choice of seed but it is what it is." and I couldn't help but think that your seed selection is fantastic. Now I can't imagine why I would think that except that this is my current veg group. See any similarities?

I think you have great taste!
Bob

 

[SpaceLulu]

@Dr Bob, yes, I am using bottled AN nutes. Ok. I will stop now with the feeding better to receive a bit smaller buds then to have them full of chemicals. I'm thinking to maybe go organic for next grow.
What combination of clear/cloudy/amber would you recommend?
I was thinking on leaving one MoneyMaker plant (the weird one) a bit longer so I can compare the taste.

That pic looks super cool
Regarding my seed choice, I don't know why but I ordered them rather quickly without much investigation. I ordered them so hastily that the main seed I ordered wan't feminized (THC bomb). And now when I think about it I am not sure why I did that. The strawberry blue was actually a gift of one seed I got with the order
Then somewhere I read that money maker is not that good, but (luckily) it was too late by then and everything turned out okay

I am not sure if I will be able to grow when the warmer weather comes, maybe under 250W. I don't think I will be able to implement some cooling system. Then I might experiment with my regular seeds.

I'm so happy that it's only a month until I can try the fruit of my labor
and actually try some nice weed (at least I hope it will be nice) because here quality is so bad :/

 

[Dr Bob]

@Dr Bob, yes, I am using bottled AN nutes. Ok. I will stop now with the feeding better to receive a bit smaller buds then to have them full of chemicals. I'm thinking to maybe go organic for next grow.
What combination of clear/cloudy/amber would you recommend?
I was thinking on leaving one MoneyMaker plant (the weird one) a bit longer so I can compare the taste.

That pic looks super cool
Regarding my seed choice, I don't know why but I ordered them rather quickly without much investigation. I ordered them so hastily that the main seed I ordered wan't feminized (THC bomb). And now when I think about it I am not sure why I did that. The strawberry blue was actually a gift of one seed I got with the order
Then somewhere I read that money maker is not that good, but (luckily) it was too late by then and everything turned out okay

I am not sure if I will be able to grow when the warmer weather comes, maybe under 250W. I don't think I will be able to implement some cooling system. Then I might experiment with my regular seeds.

I'm so happy that it's only a month until I can try the fruit of my labor
and actually try some nice weed (at least I hope it will be nice) because here quality is so bad :/

I personally try to go for mostly cloudy with very little clear or amber. Trying to hit it in the middle so to speak. Right now I have a plant that is about 5% amber, 20% cloudy and 75% clear. Waiting for those clear to fog a bit.

On nutes, I don't think too many folks using bottled nutes don't flush for at least a week or so. I would be curious as well how much a difference you see as well between taste/yield.

I have never heard that MM is bad, it is the current top seller on Herbies so it can't be too terrible I think. I also have the freebie Strawberry Blue and I love that girl!

Summer temps are an issue in my garden as well. We will be moving to autos outside soon!

Bob

 

[SpaceLulu]

Here I am
I've been feeding my plants only water for the last 10 days. And today I did a nice and big flush. I hope that is enough.
Regarding trichomes, there are all shapes and sizes. I think there are a lot clear, and I hope they will become cloudy until weekend.

First plant turned out great. Basically a huge bouquet. If other plants were this shape I would not have where to put them in the box
Top buds seems nice, very little leaves, and compact.


Second I think its the worst. Some branches are very heavy that barely support themselft. But the buds itself have a lot leaves. I am not sure what to do in that case?


Third is somewhere in between. But I am loving the fact that it has these dark green, purplish, color on the top leaves.

 

[Dr Bob]

They look great to me. Somehow #2 looks like it got too much N at some point and just never got better from it but is flowering nicely now.

Is #3 the Strawberry Blue? My memory is that you lost one of the Money Makers early on leaving you with 2 and 1 right? That last one looks like it is going to be fantastic. And I do see some tasty sugar on #1 already.

A nicely cured bud isn't too far in your future!
Bob

 

[SpaceLulu]

#3 is actually MoneyMaker. Yes, I lost one MM at the very start.

I am still not completely sure what was up with #2.
But I think it is a combination of factors:
1. I planted my seeds in soil that was pretty much sterile - didn't have any nutrients.
2. At start I watered them only with distilled water, because I thought they had enough nutes in the soil. And to make things worse, I recently found out that distilled water had PH of 5.
3. And to top all of that, my PH meter was not calibrated, even thou it said it was. So it was giving false readings.
4. Seed was probably a bit weaker then others, because others received the same torture and didn't suffer as much.

So those are the factors I could think of, maybe there is something else. But I am guessing that improper feeding combined with PH fluctuations got #2 to that point.

But on the bright side, I learned a lot. And I can't wait for my next grow

Now I am leaving them be until the weekend and then I will see if they will be ready to be harvested then. If not this weekend then probably the next one, because I will not be able to harvest them during working days :/

 

[SpaceLulu]

Looking at them I think I flushed too early. Plants have been getting only water for 2 weeks now, and I flushed 2 days ago with a lot of water.
I think that the 1st one from the pictures in the previous post will be ready to harvest it during this weekeend.
And that is the one that lost the color a lot it is very light green now.

But I am not sure that other 2 will be ready, and now I don't know should I feed them or not...

 

[Dr Bob]

On your post a couple days ago you were looking for cloudy trics, did you find any? I would have been flushing about that long myself before looking at trics using those nutes so I think you are right on target. Those leaves look perfect for being at the end. Kinda lime green. Some folks like them totally yellow before harvest, and some want them totally green. I like the middle which appears right about where you are.

If you think they are ready and can't harvest until the weekend, leave them in the dark for a couple days. Some people swear by it.
Bob

 

[SpaceLulu]

This trics stuff is driving me crazyyyy
I've looked on like 5buds per plant. And on some places, they are all milky white, on other places they are clear with some milky ones, and on some they are amber, more like brown. So I am definitely not sure if they are ready, and I can't take any pictures cuz I have that hand held magnifier.

Since I am working, it is either this weekend or the next one. And I think that the best spot might be like Thuesday , but I can't do that.
I will check trics again in the morning, on natural light.
But I think that they will get light tonight and then I will leave them in darkness until Sunday. And I will harvest on Sunday.

Btw, plants right now barely smell at all (or I am used to it) is that 'normal'?

 

[Dr Bob]

I totally understand your frustration and this has driven me a bit crazy too. I like to pick a consistant place and measure a few buds. Make sure to look at bud, not little sugar leaves as they will go amber quicker (learned this recently myself). Lower down bud or fresh tips will be clearer than the rest. I try to look dead center on a good sized main bud, then the same spot on a couple others.

I am guessing you have mostly cloudy with a few clear and few amber in the primary spots. You are entering the harvest window is my though. I would think this weekend is going to work perfect with Sunday being dead on.

And I bet you are a bit used to it but this is my first Money Maker run so I don't know how stinky it is. Also, sometimes plants that smell like crazy don't have much taste and visa versa as well.

You will be testing something soon!
Bob