SO, I'll get this out of the way and say that unfortunately I had to end my grow short. My family came for a surprise visit, and I had to pull the plug the day before.
It was a reg seed, so it would probably turn out to be a male because development was GALOPANT with the baby.
It's kind of sad, but next time I'll just order some fem seeds and play it safe.
I'll post some pics anyway.
SO, sad as it may be, I still got some nice insight and lessons from this short spanned grow.
As you can see the root system was VERY healthy and vigorous. Not sure if this is because of the probability of it being a male, and thus, faster grow rate, but still, this gives great insight into transplanting times.
By the time I cut this little one, I was about 2 days away from phase 3 of the mainline where I was going to top the 4 existing tops and thus create 8 main nodes which I would then grow out into 8 main colas/nugs.
This brings me to the conclusion that by the time I do the 3rd topping session, the root system is well established and ready for a healthy transplant into a final pot. The root ball would be developed enought to create a big root mass near the top of the pot as well as, later, a filling of the bottom. This is especially beneficial in my hempy pot setup because the large bottom root mass is always dipped in nutes, and the top root ball is always dry, making for efficient nutrient and oxygen absorptions.
Also, I posted the pics of how I top my plants. Usually people cut the "head" off with a sharp tool, but I've learned the hard way that this is easily transformed into a mutilation fest.
SO, I read somewhere that it's easier and safer to just top plants by bending the "head" off. And if the stem is too tough (which it usually isn't) you can help the breakage by working your thumb nail into it.
I just bend it down slowly and carefully until it snaps off. And if I have any flesh still connected, I twist the rest of it off.
Also there is no real rule as to how close or far from the node to cut it, so I did it at different lengths on either side, so as to demonstrate this has no visible effect on growth. You can see this in the pics.
Stay tuned for a REAL and COMPLETE grow next time folks! haha
Living n' Learning
Onwards and Upwards!
allthebest
Jad3
