Grow Journal: Second Grow and Still Learning

I hope im doing this whole starting a journal right.. I have always read and learned from others journals and I wanted to start my own..this is.my second grow..first grow I ordered so much crap and bottled stuff that I think i did more damage than good..this grow is organic..but I have supplemented with a few additives to boost my soil..I planted my kids September 1..and today they are big girls..I hope they are girls..I.plan to flower tomorrow because I have spent so much time on them I need to know if they are girls..I wanted to go 60 days veg..but it will be 45..id like them to finish by Christmas..and.my birthday in January..and they are already too big for my space..tomorrow I will have to increase my grow area for.flower..and then get ready for these long weeks ahead..I will put up some family.photos of my kids along the way..and some.pics I took while they were.in veg...thanks to anyone who is reading and following..I'm no.pro..but I got healthy kids..and if they are girls I beleive I can get the max out of my space and pot size with this grow..stay tuned..

I started my seeds with a sink and soak and paper towel method..I didnt expect many to make it the whole grow..I expected to lose a few to deficiency..but organic is as easy as they say it is..I'm growing on Happy Frog soil..worm castings..and perlite in solo cups to start out..in veg when I transplanted to 1.75gal.. I amended the soil with very little amounts of chicken scat and bat guano..I added perlite..light sprinkle of blood.meal..and a lot more worm castings..again I expected.one to be weak or not survive..but they ALL did..all beautiful 8 of them

I have a small set up in a big spare bed room..since I started I've moved my lights up and made my grow space a little bigger..but it seems I have to go bigger again..I thought I could accommodate all 8 in the space I had..but they are all so bushy and greedy..that is why I want to flip to flower now..I cant handle monsters..I do want a big yield..but I dont want anything I have to fuss too much with along the way..8 plants.may have been more than I can chew..nevertheless here we are!
Here are some grade school pics of the girls growing up..my setup is a little rough but they seem to love it..so it works for me..I had a tent before but threw it out a year ago..I still fared okay..these pics are from week one up to a few maybe 4 weeks in veg..

I also had a strange little plant with three nodes..at first it just wouldnt grow big..and it stayed small..but when I transplanted a long tail of roots fell out of the 1.75 gallon pot I had it in..the root system was so massive..but the plant was still small..after the second transplant to her final pot she grew more..it is star dawg and chem dawg cross..seed I got from a friend..I did top her..just to see what would happen..I read this growth pattern with 3 nodes is a mutation..but no weed is bad weed to me..I read star dawg is a strong strain lots of thc..I will get into the other strains I have growing..and my setup in the next post..check her out..she's a cutie ..glad to be here getting this grow under my belt..feel real good with.my results so far..

So my grow space is humble lol..but goes to show you dont need expensive stuff to grow grass..anyways..i started out 3×4 and now that its filling in im not sure what the plants will do next..they look to want to stay bushy but are stretching out since I moved my.lights up..I want to go wider but my light stand is not that long...I will try to raise the lights higher if anything..my lighting is 1000watt hps and two 250 watt led's but I think the output is lower..3 large 6500k cfl and one t5 shoplight..they have.more than enough light..I switch what light they get and sometimes I give em all of it together..they like it..I'm in Happy Frog soil..perlite..worm scat..after the first transplant light chicken scat (real old not hot)..bat guano..and light.blood meal..and I water with 1/2 cup aloe and coconut water diluted per gallon every watering..they never burned or had deficiency..I had one mutation where the plant has three sets of leaves per node..she was small but now growing rapidly still throwing three sets per node..I topped her..and now she has 6 new bud sites throwing three sets of leaves lol..I tried an individual scrog for the first time with 3 of the plants..jury's still out on that..but they are growing into the nets..I supercropped and topped..fim'd 2 and left 2 untouched..I want to defoliate..but will wait to show sex first..and then do 2 or 3 plants and let the rest run..I have two autos in flower since the first of the month..one was a few days earlier the first to throw pistols..but now they are all on 12/12..i have space..just not sure what way I will go next..flipped to 12/12 2 days ago...here are some pics from last month til now and my grow space..ty for stopping by..2nd grow..putting what I learned the first time to work

Took some clones before flower..they wilted came back dropped and popped back up a fee times..never done cloning successfully before..hope this works..as I dont even know the sex of the plants I cut them from..ah well..fingers and toes crossed

In week 7 from planting..removed the screen from 2 of the individual scrog experiment plants..there were so many tops and bud sites they plant pushed the net up out of place..the leaves were catching n tugging and now the plants look a lil scattered.and.messy..but they are getting.light in still without the screen so hopefully they will stay scattered enough to continue to get the.light deep in the canopy that it needs..no other kids habe shown sex yet..just wish they'd hurry up..any that are not.girls I would be glad to stop caring for..so soon as I know the better..just let em sit in the light tonight..no water training or feeding..just chilling and me smoking a fat backwoods..have a good one

Slowly but surely watering the kids tonight..I have discovered 2 males in the bunch after a good inspection today..and 2 girls so far..I already had two autos flowering so that's 4 girls..I have one plant that was slow.coming along..not showing sex yet..and I have one about to go in the sink to water when I stop typing..hopefully this last one will be a female also..the two.males will be destroyed..I have no desire to breed..so altogether now there's 2 Northern Lights Auto females..1 Green Crack female..1 BlckBrryKush/Dosido female..1 SFV OG (not showing sex yet)..1 Sour Diesel/Star dawg male..1AlienKush/Sour male..here are pics of the two males..and pics of my girls..the 2 males are sitting outside of the.lighting area..also have pics of my second cloning attempt..first propagator sucks..hope this new set up will turn results better..because I need to make up for the 2 males I'm losing..fingers and toes crossed

The kids that are left..lost two boys this weekend..got one more that kinda looks like a dude but not 4sure yet..my two autos are the same strain from Crop Kings..but in flower one looks short and indica dom while the other is tall and looks sativa dom..hopefully i get a good yield on both..wonder if they'll smoke the same?..pics of the kids..the 2 autos are the ones on the right side by side indica short in front sativa tall in the back..

So..last one was a girl..now I have 6 plants..5 different strains..they all grow so differently..one not training..the others all sorted training fim'd topped let's..now I just wait n water I suppose..i didnt want to destroy my two boys..going to dig holes for them and plant them on the edge of my property in the back yard..if anyone notices I'll just act surprised I guess..they're still my babies and I put a lot of time in them..live and let live ya know? Ah well..

So the girls have really filled in my space..wasnt expecting that..starting to see little shit I dont like in my lower leaves..just gonna keep the air flow going and flush and feed and hope for the best..cant go bigger with my space and light stand..but they sure are..my runts have outgrown the others..but im giving them the best of everything so that's what I wanted to see..no complaints here..my actual children say I spoil them because I talk to them a lot lol..but hey anything that needs this.much attention is a baby in my eyes..love em and they'll love you back

So I did clean up the bottom leaves on my kids..not sure if its very noticeable..but they are in full flower so i didnt want to go crazy..I took some clones..I read a technique that made so much darn sense I decided to try it..clone in a cup of water and put it on the window sill..duh!..all the other crap with Rockwood and pellets never works for me!!..and my moms been cloning spider plants with a cup of water since I was a kid..so gonna give it a shot..these are pics of the exfoliation experiment..I cleared the bottoms and weaved the tops into an opened circle..lile a group hug lol..one plant in the pics is reaching for the light hard after her prune..I hope thats not stress related..anyways after I cut them with the ravor blade I salved the cut site with honey..I use it for my real kid's cuts lol..and I watered with 6.0ph and molasses..the funky leaves on the bottoms of the three plants is soil related amendments I think..I potted those three later..and I think there was something off about how much of something was in their soil..the other were potted a week before..so..yeah..soil slurry showed low ph though on them all..not sure if 5.5-6.0 acidic side is good for them..so may be ph related as well..going to try to keep them happy without anymore chemicals tho..and get er done!..thanks for stopping by ..

I dont wanna knock all the science stuff out there..but rooting clones in a cup of water worked! Lol..I read a guy did it with plastic wrap and holes poked for the stems..rough up the ends with the razor..put into the water..and viola! I have two with small roots..not sure what to do next..I was thinking let em grow longer..but I guess I have to read up on what to do next..hell ive never cloned successfully before lol!..a friend told me to buy an aero thingy and another said airstones this n that..well i just used a cup of water..few feet from light source..like a window..or in the grow room somewhere..heating pad..and I finally did it!..first time..I would love a comment from anyone on this if anyone thinks I should go straight to soil..or let em get longer?..I added pics..I'm only guessing that the others in the cup will soon sprout roots too hopefully..I didnt even label them lol..really didn't think it would work..again..and I cut them all from the mothers in flower..i was scared id miss the window of time to clone..last ones I cut early in veg died in the rockwool..and then a second batch died...no idea what to do next now tho..just seeing the one little root on each one sticking out last night..its been 10 days in the water..so what ya think let em get.longer in the water? If so..should I feed them.something? I have nutes and coconut water and super thrive..which would they.like you think? If I put em in soil should I harden em off somehow seeing as tho theyve been soaking in water?..really dont wanna kill em since ive got em this far lol..Feel free to respond..as I am a noob to cloning fr fr..thanks

I hadnt come back to my journal before harvest because well.. Life!..overall the grow was good..I had my fav's..my least fav was NL auto..after cure it still got dry and spongy and tasted like cat piss after a month or two in jars..I found that some strains do lose smell and flavor over time..but some don't..I think it's more or less how long you let it go in flower..longer and mature..the plant can develop those smell n flavor traits..cut too early..and it loses what little it has fast..on the whole cure thing..I like to jar spongy..curing correctly for the first time with glass jars with rubber seals was better than bags and mason jars..weed stayed sticky n had to cut with scissors to grind..I now prefer this texture over crumbly weed..but not sure how the boveda packs affected the bud..but now I prefer to dry in the jars..I'm now revegging two of the strains..first time..wasnt hard..not sure how long to let them veg before i flip again..hoping for the same bud second time around..they were really good yields n potency..well one and the other..one was face melting potent sticky n smelly..but low yield..and one was high yield/strong..but not as smelly/sticky..revegging with more food and maybe longer veg..in 5gal pots instead of 3..so we'll see..overall good yield..had 6 plants in 3 gallons..got close to 15oz dried..sold some smoked some..grew it for me and my personal needs..but helped a few friends medicate..made some hash..wax..tried to make vape juice..it was all a learning curve..revegging now just to get that under my belt and see the outcome..not for production and profit..but for the love of this plant..never cared to learn about botany in any way until i met Mary Jane pics of the fruits of my labor..ty for reading

More pics of the yield (what i have left)..and pics of the two fav pheno's revegging..I have them under 24 hr led..no rush no fuss..moved my lights so I have bare minimum as far a set up right now..will be putting everything back together in a few days..they dont seem to be affected by the space right now so..just letting them get bushy..I have plenty smoke so I'm in no hurry

Revegged two of the six from December's harvest..they're almost done..couple weeks I will be smoking them again for the second time..sold most of the first harvest and smoked the rest.. so I've been buying local weed and its been expensively disappointing..im going to let these two go til i see a bit more amber so i can get stoned the way i like to be..#growyourown #anxietypatient #ptsd #DAVeteran