Cool Breeze OG Beginner Grow

[LilBreeze]

This is my flower. Her name (im assuming its female) is Cool Breeze OG. I found a few seeds in a personal batch of mine and decided to try and get them to sprout. Only one did and here she is now. I dont remember what strain its originally from, so I named her Cool Breeze. It is 2/1/18, and the potting date was 1/1/18. This is my very first grow. Im hoping to get some clones of her so I can keep her batch going. Im trying to keep it OG. I bought a bag of Organic Soil and threw the sprouted seed in it, and so far its been growing like a beast (at least i think it has)

In the first few pics, youll see my makeshift pot. I took an old water bottle and cut the top off and put some holes in the bottom. It was working great. I got together a small little compost of some egg shells, banana peels, and some avacado peels. I put them in the bottom of a larger pot and let it sit. I recently re-potted her into the larger container with the compost on 1/26/18. I water her every other day with bottled water.

My light set up is 2 basic CFL lights ( I cant remember the specific wattage/lumens and what not) that I have about an inch or two above her. I have a cycle of 18 hours on, 6 hours off.

At this point, I am wanting to get a better light system, and maybe even an easier watering system. I heard that you can run a few strands of string through it that is in a container of water so she can get as much water that she needs without over watering? If thats wrong or right, please let me know. If anyone has any suggestions on lighting and what not, please feel free to let me know. I would like to learn as much as I can and get all sorts of opinions from everyone. I want to keep it Organically Grown, so any natural remedies or things I can feed her in the OG section would be cool.

Im super happy with the progress so far with what I have to work with. Im wanting to invest in a good and well priced light system to help her and her future grows to thrive even more. So throw some advice my way! Im gonna do my best to keep this journal as updated as I can so I can document my first grow. Thank you in advanced to anyone and everyone who keeps up, throws advice, and even some encouragement my way.

Also, I dont know how to identify between Male and Female, as well as Sative, Indica, and Hybrid. If anyone could help identify and explain the identification ways, that would be a huge help!

Thanks for Looking

 

[Pennywise]

Good looking baby, nice and healthy.

 

[Eyes4grandpa]

I think the blind man will grab a seat for this one. .

 

[Tunkers]

The compost you put in larger pot, how long was it sitting in the pot?? You may run into problems if it hasn't aged long enough..

Also, if your plants leaves are thin and the plant is quite large and spindly, you'd assume a sativa dominance, likewise if it is squatty with wide leaves you'd assume indica dominant.

 

[LilBreeze]

I had the compost sitting for 3 maybe 4 days. I cant remember exactly, but around that time. What kind of problems would there be?
And thanks for the clarification!

 

[Tunkers]

I had the compost sitting for 3 maybe 4 days. I cant remember exactly, but around that time. What kind of problems would there be?
And thanks for the clarification!

Whole idea of compost is that it sits and cooks and breaks down into a useable rich, earthy dirt looking subtance. If it hasn't got to that stage, you are looking to have a super hot soil mix with way too much N

If you notice alot of yellowing on the leaves, this is what is happening. You may be fine, if there's enough of a ratio between the soil and whatever scraps you have in there, but worth keeping an eye on...

 

[LilBreeze]

Whole idea of compost is that it sits and cooks and breaks down into a useable rich, earthy dirt looking subtance. If it hasn't got to that stage, you are looking to have a super hot soil mix with way too much N

If you notice alot of yellowing on the leaves, this is what is happening. You may be fine, if there's enough of a ratio between the soil and whatever scraps you have in there, but worth keeping an eye on...

I didn't make too much of the compost. There is definitely a lot more soil than compost in the pot its in now. I'll definitely keep en eye on it. Thank you for the heads up, I really appreciate it!

 

[LilBreeze]

Heres an update! Shes growing very well. I believe the compost is working very well. The leaves are getting nice and thick.
A question..What are some different lighting options? Anyone have a favorite item they have come across? I was thinking of getting two more of the same light set ups I have now to make for 4 CFLs all around her with the same light schedule. Thoughts?
Thank you to everyone whos active on my jouranl. This is a very exciting process for me and im glad theres people I can share it with.

 

[Pennywise]

I'm sold on the QB's, awesome lights.

 

[LilBreeze]

I’m sold on the QB’s, awesome lights.

Is that what you used in your Starkiller grow page? I can see that it worked good, among your other techniques, so im definitely interested. Any links or suggestions on set ups?

 

[Pennywise]

The Starkiller I used a PS 1000 from Perfect Sun. The Quantum Boards are from Horticulture Lighting Group.

 

[Eyes4grandpa]

I do not have specific experience with the Growant line of LED panels, but everything I have heard and read about them is great. You may want to take a look at them also. I am going to be using one in my next grow. They are reasonably priced, especially for the features they carry, and the quality of light you get. Fortunately for me... I got mine for free for winning the grow Journal of the month award here on 420 magazine. Good luck with your search!

 

[irregardless]

Im trying to keep it OG.

I like where all of this is going. I'm in for the ride. A few weeks ago my wife gave me the green light to purse a hobby that brought me such joy once before(she had just finished her 2nd bottle of wine). I've been researching all aspects of indoor growing since then. Unfortunately, we have renegotiated her agreement, but I still have high hopes she will see the light.

Enough about me. Good luck, sir. It looks like you are familiar around the garden. Little lady looks very healthy and off to a great start.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[LilBreeze]

Thank you, sir. Ill look around the interwebs and see what I come across. Im trying to invest in something better than CFLs but not too much of a pocket buster.

edit: Sorry if I forget to quote the specific comment. Im still getting used to the forum set up and what not

 

[LilBreeze]

I do not have specific experience with the Growant line of LED panels, but everything I have heard and read about them is great. You may want to take a look at them also. I am going to be using one in my next grow. They are reasonably priced, especially for the features they carry, and the quality of light you get. Fortunately for me... I got mine for free for winning the grow Journal of the month award here on 420 magazine. Good luck with your search!

Oh snap thats whats up. Thanks for the suggestion. Imma do a bunch of research. LED's seem to be working good from what I have read, so that could be a good option

 

[LilBreeze]

Heres an update for 2/11/18 She is doing great. Everytime I go out and look at her, there is always a significant change. I am very very happy with how she is going. Yesterday morning when I turned her lights off after her 18 hours, she had fallen over because of the weight and there wasnt enough support on her base stem. I packed some more soil around the base so shes upright now. Any way I can keep her upright without risking her falling over again and folding her stem? Im super super stoked with the progress that she has made. For it being my first grow and not very knowledgable of the craft, Im proud of myself with it so far. I hope her end product is as good as Im hoping.
Thank you all who has stayed updated. I know its not the most active journal, but im trying to post every 2-3 days for now. Ill probably start posting 1-2 pretty soon since she has been getting a lot of progress recently.

 

[Eyes4grandpa]

I use cheap bamboo skewers to hold mine up when they have a situation like that. You did the right thing by putting more dirt over the base of her, but a couple of these skewers on each side will help keep her stable and also allow her to grow without any interference. Hope that helps.

 

[LilBreeze]

I use cheap bamboo skewers to hold mine up when they have a situation like that. You did the right thing by putting more dirt over the base of her, but a couple of these skewers on each side will help keep her stable and also allow her to grow without any interference. Hope that helps.

Thank you gramps. I'm gonna do that right now. I have another question, do I need to trim any of the smaller leaves or branches? Or should I just leave them be?

 

[Eyes4grandpa]

There are a lot of schools of thought on that one. Myself, being blind, I like to keep it simple. I leave mine on. The advantage to leaving them on, unless they are blocking the light two more important sites of the plant, is that the plant will use the energy and nutrients of the bottom leaves at the end of flowering. So to my way of thinking, the more that are there, the more energy a plant gets to put into the buds. Now, I am by far no expert, so hopefully someone who is more experienced can come in and say right or wrong.

 

[LilBreeze]

update as of 2/16/18 Shes doing nice. Shes growing very evenly and expanding out a lot more. She has nice full leaves that are nicely taking that "pot leaf" look and let me tell you.. its so satisfying. Today hits the 1 1/2 month mark. Im keeping all the leaves intact. A few questions, how does mixing LED and CFL lights work? Does one cancel out the other in a sense? Or should I strictly stick with one?
and should I eventually re-pot her with all new soil and compost? Or keep her in the one shes in now? Thank you everyone!!