First Grow - Bag Seed

[Spittn4cash]

quality is more so in the genetics of a plant, not the type of light u use.
The type of light U use encourages more growth, not necessarily potency.
U used incandescents to grow, I use CFL's. Incandescents dont have the right spectrum for growing, plus in order to get the light intensity you need to grow strong plants the light has to be pretty close, and as you already know the incandescents can get pretty hot so it wouldnt be a good idea to put your lights that close.

these were grown under CFL's


15 Days:

19 Days under CFL's:

26 Days under CFL's:

Upgrade your lighting and it will increase the growth rate of your plants.

 

[bodhisattva]

incandescents haven't been used since week one. since then, only fluoros and cfls. about 140w worth of fluoro light on the seven of them right now. more than enough light really, esp. given how small they are; they were shorted a bit when they were transplanted. all standing about 6 inches right now. vertical growth seems to have been slowed down a wee bit, though secondary growth is moving along just fine.

 

[bodhisattva]

reading that SOG is usually done from cuttings/clones, realized that these little babies will have to veg for a bit more time before flowering to make sure that the lot of them are matured sexually. thinking about letting them go 6-8 weeks veg (2-4 more weeks) and then flowering them. suppose the bottom third of the branches will be pruned too as per the SOG method; one and two weeks into flowering? That will get the 'lolli-pop' look going, with the one large, main cola. Answers? Questions?

 

[bodhisattva]

In addition to the questions above, could someone help out with this one too. Could the existing lights (4cfls, 3 fluoros) be supplemented w/ two 500 watt halogen lamps? they were free and was wondering if it would be good to put them to use so long as the heat can be kept down? Found that they get really hot and are not that efficient but not much more information than that. so, guessing no.

Photos from Week 4, Day 29 - post watering

The tallest stands at about 7", the smallest around 5.5"

 

[bodhisattva]

The stems of some of the primary growth/fan leaves are turning fairly red. Found that this is due to a general N,P,K, and Mg deficiency. How is it one should go about fertilizing/feeding the plants to best remedy the problem.

Plant food on hand: MG 8-7-6; recommended concentration/liter 10-20 drops/L
Titration suggestions?

 

[bodhisattva]

Help please : )

Day 30 - photos of aforementioned problem, 3 different plants

Also, around what node can one expect to begin seeing the alternating leaf pattern? or does it have more to do with the strain than other factors?

 

[bodhisattva]

Day 31 - Photos - post watering

 

[bodhisattva]

Day 32 - Photos

How are they looking so far? They look alright, I think. Am I missing something?

 

[Spittn4cash]

you are correct about the lolli-popping technique. you'd trim the lower growth so the plant will focus the energy into the top.

with the SoG you'd want to take clones first, sex the clones, kill the males, then continue to take cuttings from the female mothers. those mothers are to never be flowered while you are doing the SoG, and instead of harvesting large yeilds per plant, you will only harvest a single cola from each clone.

Don't use halogens to grow cannabis, this type of light generates huge internode spacing, poor vegetative growth, skimpy yields, and could set your grow room on fire due to the dangerous amounts of heat these lights produce. Spend your money wisely, invest in Fluorescent lighting (good), or High Intensity Discharge lamps (HID-- recommended). HID lighting such as Metal Halide (MH) or High-Pressure Sodium (HPS) supply the high-intensity light that cannabis needs for good growth and large buds.

also the spectrum output of halogen bulbs is by far the worst.

The stems of some of the primary growth/fan leaves are turning fairly red.

could be a Phosphorus Deficiency-
if its due to a phosphorus def it usually starts showing about 3 weeks into flowering since thats when the plants need P the most.

Or it could be caused by the temperatures during the dark period in your grow room.

Or it could be a trait of the strain you're growing. happens a lot with bagseed.

around what node can one expect to begin seeing the alternating leaf pattern?

if you are waiting to see alternating nodes on the main stem then you may have a while. all of my plants are on their 13th or 14th node and I still dont have any alternating nodes on the main stem. However, on my secondary branch growth I have alternating nodes about 2 or 3 nodes up the branch.

good luck and great pics and updates! keep em comin

 

[bodhisattva]

Thanks for all the input!

I figured as much with regards to the halogens, I guess I'll just stick to the fluoros. Depending on my yield this first time 'round, I suppose I might invest in an MH and HPS for my second grow. From what I've seen here on the board, the lights that I have, and maybe a few more CFLs, should be enough to pull out at least one decent bud from each fem. Can't wait!

I started increasing their nutes this week, both when watering and foliage feeding. I'm seeing little to no red on newly developing branches. So, thats good! I'm going to start shopping for flowering/bloom complexes over the next two weeks to ensure that there isn't a Phosphorous problem then, especially.

So, if I can't expect to see alternating nodes anytime soon to indicate a good flowering time, 8 weeks should be sufficient? In what ways would it effect the flowering process to drop it to 6 weeks? I've seen decent grows flowered at 3 weeks that turned out well enough.

 

[bodhisattva]

A little extra info on the goings on 'round here.

Strain: Hybrid? More sativa than indica, I think.
Growing from seed.
Growing in soil, MG, mixed with peat moss 2:1
Transplanted 1.5 weeks ago into 1 plant/2 qt container
Nutrients: MG Indoor Plant Food, 8-7-6%
Feeding: Once a week w/ Daily foliage feeding (very low concentration)
Watering with tap water
Light: 140W of Fluoro/SCFL
Day/Night temps: 79/68 F
Relative humidity? 47 - 52%
Relative Ph: 6.8
Air flow: Box fan

 

[bodhisattva]

Hope to start flowering next monday, day 42.
They stand at 7, 8, 9, 10, 10, 10, and 11 inches.
They would be a bit taller by now but i planted them 2" up the stem when they were transplanted about 2 weeks ago.
The lights that I am using seem to be working great. I hope to upgrade my CFLs to 42 watt'ers come flowering.

Week 5 - Day 35 - Post Watering

 

[bodhisattva]

Day 36 - Photos

Going to start flowering this evening!
Is there anything I should be doing/paying special attention to this first week of flowering??

 

[GoodFriend]

plantrs look healthy as fuck! but for floweirng, i would get those babes into atleast 2 gallon pots each so they do't get rootbound! you don't need anything stunting the growth of some really healthy plants

i hope many fems on you!

best of lluck!

 

[bodhisattva]

If i waited till they were sexed to transplant them, would that be too late and f- up the flowering process? just not sure if i have enough lights to accommodate 7x2 gallon containers.

 

[Rafiky77]

hi

looking great so far, i bet your really pleased, as the aforementioned poster suggested, get them into some bigger pots, if you cant go as big as suggested, do some measurements and work out the biggest ones you can get for your space, you could use square pots to save some space

other than that it looks a good set up, and the plants are looking good but i would deffinately repot before flowering, then give them a couple of days to settle into there new home before you switch to 12/12

good luck

 

[bodhisattva]

I'm currently working on a setup to allow for two 42 watt SCFLs per plant. Been working on some sketches of some flowering setups since receiving all the new suggestions.

Any more suggestions you all have would be helpful!

 

[Spittn4cash]

So, if I can't expect to see alternating nodes anytime soon to indicate a good flowering time, 8 weeks should be sufficient? In what ways would it effect the flowering process to drop it to 6 weeks? I've seen decent grows flowered at 3 weeks that turned out well enough.

6 weeks is plenty of time.

Remember ur in control of this grow, and its ur first so feel free to do things your way. I only vegged for 26 days before i switched to flower:
1. bcuz im using CFL's also and the light penetration sux with them
2. bcuz im limited on space so i vegged for as short as i could and then i sex'd them, eliminated the males, and now im well into flowering with my females.

What ive found in my grows so far is that no matter how long you vegg them it wont speed up flowering. you can veg them till they have pre-flowers at every node, but they will still take 8-10 weeks to flower. so hopefully you arent holding back from flowering bcuz you think the longer you veg the shorter it takes for flowering to be done bcuz it will take the same amount of time to finish up.

If i waited till they were sexed to transplant them, would that be too late and f- up the flowering process? just not sure if i have enough lights to accommodate 7x2 gallon containers.

wow, 7 - 2gallon containers is gonna take up quite a bit of space and im worried that the light wont be able to cover the entire area and reach all 7 plants.

I'd check to see if your plants are root bound now, if they are then yes go ahead and transplant and then flower...but if the roots arent quite wrapping around the bottom yet then you should be fine to flower now, eliminate the males, transplant and continue with the females. Thats what i did bcuz i couldnt afford buying 17 5gallon buckets at the time, and i knew not all of them were female...i dont wanna waste any money on the males... AND its a good thing I did that bcuz i only ended up with 3 females outta the whole grow...I woulda had 14 buckets sittin around lol!

whats going on with the SoG idea??

If your thinking about doing that then remember you arent gonna flower these original 7 plants. Youre gonna take clones from each plant, flower the clone, kill the males and focus on your mother plants.

I'm currently working on a setup to allow for two 42 watt SCFLs per plant....Any more suggestions you all have would be helpful!

are you talking about
2 - 42Watters for each female??
or 2 - 42Watters for each plant??

I ask bcuz 42W CFL's at my home depot cost 10 bux each, and you would need 14 of them if you are gonna get 2 for all 7 plants...thats $140! You can get a 400W HPS for $120.... even if you only get 3 or 4 females were still talking about 6-8 CFL's (thats $60-$80!) for that price you could get 150W - 250W HPS off of ebay. I paid $50 for a 70W HPS from home depot, but it was crap so i took it back and got 5 - 42W CFLs for the same price..im still upset about that bcuz i really wanted that hps....ahh well what can i do

 

[bodhisattva]

Spittn4cash -
1 - The only reason I was wanting to wait 6-8 weeks was to ensure sexual maturity of the plants before I put them into flower. I've been forced to crop my grow period to about 3 months so I'm having to speed things up a bit to ensure that I'm able to harvest at that 'peak time'. Sidenote: This morning, I noticed alternating leaf patters on several of the stems and limbs.

2 - They've only been in the 2 qt containers for 2 weeks or so now and do not appear to be root bound. I suppose I will wait for signs of sex before I transplant. Though the risk of the roots binding is a concern, I just can't afford the time/space/light to do otherwise.

3 - My grow has less to do with an actual SOG grow than it does with the idea behind a SOG grow. With a SOG grow, we all know that the goal is to harvest one, large bud from the main cola of each plant. That is how I'm gearing my grow, given that my resources are somewhat limited. I'm less after quantity than I am after quality. This being my first grow, I'm just trying to keep it as simple as possible without compromising my harvest.

4 - I will probably wait to invest in flowering lights until I've determined the sex of the lot and removed the males. Till then, I will continue to use the existing 140W setup that I have now. I have considered investing in an HID HPS however, I'm reluctant to go all out on this grow. So far, I have only spent a total of about $50 dollars getting this grow together and am trying not to get any more crazy than that. The benefit of buying 6-8 SCFLs is that they can always be recycled into the rest of the house's fixtures come the end of the grow. So, I don't necessarily include that in my grow expenses.

 

[bodhisattva]

Thank you everyone for all of your help, especially today. Your advice is appreciated more than you'll likely every realize. Only those of you that can remember how attached you were to your first grow will Know.

Unless its suggested that I do otherwise, tonight I will begin flowering. I will roll straight to 12/12 as I have read that a gradual decrease might do more to hurt the plants than help them. I know that I have to continue to use regular nutes through the first two weeks of flowering, after that I can switch over to bloom nutes, right?