DJ Mcfinnigan's First Grow Journal: Indica Bag Seed 1-15-2013

[DJ McFinnigan]

Yosh everyone! I figured since I should probably start my grow journal considering I tell people to also start one lol. Only reason I haven’t was because I’m already flowering, but just found out my camera has the dates of when I took my photos so why not show everyone the last some odd months of hardish work. A little about myself is that I attempt to DIY everything I can so I will help out anyone and explain any of the DIY things I have built. For me its a combination of the unwillingness to pay a lot for something I know can be easily built and the simple joy of doing something yourself.

Grow Info:
Start time: Planted after germination 1-15-13, popped 1-17-13
Germination method: Sandpaper and cup
Strain- Unknown bag seed, but appears to be mostly Indica
Stage-Currently in flower
Grow type- Indoor soil
Soil type- Some organic soil I got from a organic store (I have the bags, I’ll dig them out for the name later )
Container- Cut down five gallon buckets to three gallons
Light- 300 watt 2700k CFL
Venting- Use a combination air purifier with a DIY carbon filter
Pests - Fungus gnats
Watering schedule- About twice a week
Fertilizers - Schults Plant Food Plus 10-15-10, Miracle-Grow Bloom Boost 10-52-10
Fertilizer strength- Third week ¼, Forth week ½, fifth week on full strength
Number of Plants- Started with four, currently two
Grow area- About 4X3X5 feet

Day 1

WOOT, they live! Germination was actually really simple. I used some 220 grit sand paper and put the seeds in a shot glass and waited a couple days. After I saw a tap root, took a pair of tweezers and painted them directly in the soil. It only took two days after planting for them to break the soil which was amazing because after waking up from a hangover I saw quite a nice little surprise.

DAY 7


I used solo cups because it was January and I could not find a store that had any peat-pots in stock and actually, I like using the cups better. They give the seedling enough room to grow and be established with the benefit of being flimsy enough to tear apart. All I do is cut down the two sides and I have a perfect plant to transplant. If you're cafeful, you can pull the cut cups open to check out the root system which is nice to see if it is ready to transplant. The cups are so stiff that even if you cut them open, they still reform back to protect the roots from light. The only thing to be careful with is that they are top heavy and get knocked over very easily. I did it a couple of times and even had one plant fall three feet to the ground. I was sure the plant would have died, but what do you know it lived. The lights I had for the seedling were three 23 watt CFL and one 40-something watt CFL. Overall, nothing to really say at this point.

 

[DJ McFinnigan]

DAY 20

Attempted to do some LST with the them. If you notice why there are only three left it was because I decided to get rid of one plant because it had toppled over due to its own weight and considering I only had a certain amount of light and space, I wanted to keep only the strongest and the best and it was neither. I used some Blue-Tack and wire to tie down the plants. The one in the back was the fastest to grow and was growing unusually tall which suggested it could have been a male so I didn't bother to LTS.

 

[DJ McFinnigan]

DAY 25

Well, the LTS didn't seem to hold up over the weekend. Apparently using Blue-Tack as a easy means to hold down the plant and readjust when needed simply isn't strong enough to hold back nature I decided to just let them grow normally and worry about fooling around with LST among other things for my next grow. Also, you can see my 5 gallon CO2 ferment-er at the left which made some tasty 120 proof lite-rum

And here is the boy! Oh wonderful. If I was going to breed I probably would have kept him to start fooling around with polination, but c'est la vie or more appropriate death.

 

[DJ McFinnigan]

DAY 30

I thought I'd post this little set of pictures to show anyone how you figure out if your plant needs water or not. The soil I'm using has a high water retention so while the top layer may be dry, the remaining layers were not which made it difficult to figure out a water schedule. I find that if you are unsure if it is over or under watering (or any other problems for that matter) do this:
1. Take a picture of the plant before you do anything
2. Give a little bit of water to the plant.
3. Wait a hour or two
4. Take another picture and compare the two pictures

If you find that you see the plant perk up than it needs water. If it gets worse than it needs to dry out. If you see no change than repeat again and if you still see no change you may have some other underlining problem. Remember, DO NOT change multiple things when you are attempting to fix a issue. Keep you variable to one thing and every other variable conditions that could be changed constant. See, all that science in school wasn't all that useless huh?

 

[bigblunts209]

Grow looks good so far! Its not too late to LST. i use yarn for mine. you just have to find something strong enough!

 

[DJ McFinnigan]

Yeah, I found that out the other day. The two plants are about two feet tall and with the CFLs I didn't think enough light was getting through the canopy so I basically bent them in half using some twine. It helped to get the light closer to the plant with the added bonus of getting more light to more bud sites. I'll post those pictures shortly, but I want to try to get the rest up before showing their current state.

 

[Mono]

Looking good so far

Droopy leaves are a common occurrence after a heavy watering, but plants should perk up after an hour or so.

Well done.

 

[DJ McFinnigan]

DAY 32

Had a major problem around this time. Came back after the weekend and when I opened up the tent I got a face full of FUNGUS GNATS!. Now, I don't like bugs period and nothing cause my pissed-off-o-meter hit the roof then bugs in my room. I had a few Gnats before and was using soap, but when this happened enough was enough. Currently, I don't really have any problems and it is all thanks to H2O2. I used a 1 part H2O2 to 3 parts water and in a week the problem was non-existent.

 

[DJ McFinnigan]

DAY 33

Nothing really to say about this day. Everything is looking normal and I have to say everything is been pretty easy.

 

[DJ McFinnigan]

DAY 44

Well, it is now time to put my ladies in 12/12. They were at around 18 inches and since I am only using 3 gallon pots, this is about all I think I can push in terms of veg without the roots getting all bound up. Kind of sad since they just seemed to be really growing. A week before these pictures were taken they were at 15 inches, so 3 inches of growth in a week was pretty damn awesome.

Okay, now a problem I started to notice on one of the plants. It looks like there appears to be balls growing on the one plant, and considering it already has pistols its wasn't exactly a great thing for me to find. They were on the lower branches so I plucked them off and it had been growing without incident. Now, I didn't take a picture of the one during this time, but currently it looks like there are a decent amount of pollen sacks appearing on the one and I will update for the current day tomorrow.

 

[bluebell]

wow cool, I'm interested to see what you do about the pollen sacks. can you nip 'em all off and be alright?

 

[bigblunts209]

If it looks like pollen sacks you should remove it from the grow otherwise you will pollinate any females and your smokeable bud will be mostly seeds!

 

[DJ McFinnigan]

If it looks like pollen sacks you should remove it from the grow otherwise you will pollinate any females and your smokeable bud will be mostly seeds!

Yeah, I did end up cutting the hemi up and flusing her down the toilet. I was going to keep her because I wasn't too sure if all the stress she had in particluar was the cause or it was genetics, but after all the BS of trimming her and making sure pollen wasn't polinating my other plant, I had to literaly take a step back and look at the bigger picture. Also, I can't upload any phots because I can't find my bloody camera cord so, I'll upload the hermi and my last (lovely looking) girl as soon as I find the cord.

 

[Truth Seeker]

How did this grow turn out?

We would love to be updated with some pictures and info!

How about posting a 420 Strain Review?

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I am moving this to Abandoned Journals until we get updates.

Thanks and hope all is well in your world.

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