Hi...(Newbie) Tips Appreciated!!

Hi,

I'm new to the group and have been a new grower for about the last 2 months or so.
I used to grow back in the day ..mainly just dirt and water (and luck), outside.
About 2 months ago a friend of mine gave me a clone from his collection.

Well, I got right into growing again.
This time taking it a bit more seriously than my last attempt, years ago.
I bought lights, nutes, humidifier, built a grow room and got busy.

Well a few weeks later, my friend and i had a falling out of sorts.
Needless to say he left me high and dry with a plant that I knew nothing about.

I did a ton of research on the net, books, and my local AHL, to get where I have gotten today.
I grew the plant he gave me into what you see below. I took some clones, before starting the flowering process, and now have 7 healthy clones that are about 25" tall.

Now back to the mother plant....
Does anyone know what kind this is?
Is it indica or sativa?
I'm not too hip on the lingo and what name goes to what plant.

I think I've done pretty good, so far.
What with not knowing much about todays grow techniques.

Here's my specs on everything:

Lighting: 400watt HPS (good wattage for the momma, but I know I will have trouble doing the 7 clones under it so,I'm only going to keep the best 4 clone plants, in the end. Due to electrical limts ie: humidifier, heater, fan, etc.. 400 watts is the highest i can go.) I know you're probably wondering ...how does he do the 7 clones and the one mother with just one 400 watt lamp?? Well, part of the 5x10 room is partitioned to be a dark room. It still gets the same temps and humidity as the other part but remains totally dark. I have the mother plant on a small 4 wheeled furniture dolly and I simply roll it in and out of the light every 12 hours. Lots of work, but hopefully it will be worth it in the end.

Room: 5 x 10, ventilated, constant 76 degrees, 60% humidity.

Nutes: I'm using (Veg.) Better-Gro Orchid Plus 20-14-13 (Bloom) Better-Gro Bloom Booster 11-35-15 ...both water soluble. I'm using about a quarter to half dose of what the directions call for on clones and momma. I water the clones about every other day. one day water, one day nutes. The mother gets watered every other day too. water one day, nutes the next.

Water: City Tap ...air-stoned for 12 -24 hours. PH balanced by adding Phosphoric acid to 6.5-6.8 range.

Soil: Miracle-Gro Organic ( I went through it and removed most of the larger sticks and peices of wood. I'm going to try Black Gold Organic Potting Soil next time.)

Any tips on anything will be greatly appreciated!!

I think I'm getting near (about 2 weeks away or so) on the cultivation of the mother, and I've been doing a lot of research on that topic too. So hopefully everything will come out okay.

So any tips on cultivation will be greatly appreciated too!!!
















Thanks for looking....

ph needs to be lower, not much but try to get 5.5-6.3 and the plants will love it

watering clones before they root with nutes might slow the roots from grow, as the hormones need to change to want to make roots only then leaf-age growth returns

also seems like some work there, be care and dont forget about them

gl with the plants

Personally, I'd keep the PH where you have it, because it'll fluctuate to those lower levels, as the moisture is used up/added in the soil. PH is never constant in soil, so to keep it higher, is a good idea, if you ask me. They look pretty good though, so my only advice is to ease off the nitrogen a little, during early/mid flowering next time around, so those leaves aren't so dark, with curled tips. Your yield will pick up a little, and they'll finish a tad faster. Also, I'd say that you don't need to ever go any higher than 1/4 strength, with either of those ferts, unless your feeding them less regularly than usual. I feed mine at least once a week,(average every 4-5 days) and most will agree, that more smaller doses, are better than fewer big doses. Other than that, you're doing a good job. Excellent work, they look nice.

Thank you, jawbrodt,
Your advice on the nutes/nitrogen is well taken. I am watering about every 2 to 3 days ( I know i said every other up there, but it's a 5 gal. bucket and sometimes it is every other, but a lot is mostly 3 days) and was alternating between straight water and water/nutes mix, so thats kind of in line with your once a week nute schedule. So it must be the strength, like you said ....that would explain the dark leaves, curling, etc..
I'll be cutting back on the nutes dosage. Thanks.
The plant is in a 5 gal. bucket, if that makes any difference, with good drainage. I wouldn't usually let the plants get so big, but when i first tried to clone, as i stated above, the batch failed so I had to keep the plant in veg. stage a little longer than usual till a new batch of clones rooted ...and rooted well.

Thanks for the replies!! ..both of you!

Thanks for the Welcome ...and the back-up information ...purplehazin!

I still haven't heard any replies as to the strain or type ...anyone care to take a stab?
Is it too early to tell??

It looks and smells like it'll be some good smoke.
When i softly squeeze around the buds, my finger tips get really sticky ...and the smell is sooooo piney sweet!!!
I've never grown this strain/type/kind before, but the smell reminds me of fantastic stuff i rarely got to smoke ...back in the day.


Sorry one more question ...can anyone tell me, or point me to the main thread, that explains the watering process called "making it rain"?
Is this a good technique?
Should I use it or continue on as I have been doing?

Thanks again purplehazin ...and thank you too ...elfroggo.

Thought I'd post some more pics from my momma....
I love photographing these, it's such a beautiful plant ...not mine in particular, just all around in general.