My first grow

phil le b said:

THEY ARE LOOKING READY TO GO INTO FLOWEING MATE THEY GOT ONE MORE MONTH OF GROTH B4 THE START TO FLOWER AND POT THEM IN BIGGER POTS BUT WAT U HAVE DONE SO FAR IS ALL GOOD TO VEG BIT LIKE HOW I AM DOING MY GIRLSM DOING IT LOOK AT MY PICS

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Yo man what kind of bulbs are those? Never seen anything like it.

I'm gonna let these veg for at least a month, and I plan on doing some topping or fimming. I'm going to leave some in the 24oz cups as long I possibly can, just to see how they react. I'm also going to throw a couple into the flower chamber and grow them 12/12 all the way (as I planned on doing earlier). Now that I'm pretty sure my other girls are going to yield me some smoke, I can fuck around a little until I get the attitude seeds I've got my eye on.

Speaking of that...do you guys order seeds to the house you're growing in? I'm not gonna do it, but didn't know how other people roll.

Pics tonight after 8pm.

I tried to get this up sooner, but the RIU database was apparently down this morning. Plants are looking and smelling quite nice, though I'm still experiencing some top leaf droopage in tall girl, and similar developments are beginning to take place on shorty. After doing a little research, I came across a condition commonly referred to as "the claw." I think this most accurately describes what is happening in my plants (though it was difficult to find information about it and its not in those "marijuana plant problem" compendiums found online).

The causes are heat stress, ph imbalance/fluctuation, over-nuteing, and root-bound. My pots are big enough I don't think its root bound, the ph could be off but I don't think its fluctuating, over-nuteing is certainly a possibility and I'm been fighting the heat the whole time. So, it sounds like a combination of factors.

Though the ph may be off, I'm not showing any signs of nutrient lockout (at least not discolored or spotty leaves or weird leaf twisting), and the problem is still confined to the top few nodes, though it may be slowing moving down to the lower foliage. I could certainly have overnuted them--I just always want to feed those juicy buds! I think it is more likely that I'm getting a salt buildup in the soil, so I will flush when they wake up tonight and see if that helps.

On a related note, trichomes are beginning to appear around the little budsites . And, no sign of those possible pollen sacks! I'm thinking the irregular calyx thing was right on (at least I'll keep hoping!) though I continue to monitor the situation closely.

Anyway, things are starting to look real nice, and I think I'm actually going to get some quality bud when this is all said and done! Take a look for yourselves...

We begin with tall girl and her "claws." Some of the top leaves are still laying flat, and the lower ones still look good, so I'm not too concerned about it just yet. But I am still going to flush and try to better monitor my ph


Here's the top--beginning to fill in nicely.


This one's a little blurry, but its a lower bud with trichomes and her first orange hairs!


Here's a nice shot of one of the middle nodes...frosty...


Next, we have wide girl...minor clawing beginning to show on the foliage growth around the stem


Here's a better view of the clawing. I guess she is doing it more than I thought.


Here's her top. Looking good. Much thinner pistils than tall girl.


Here's a couple central buds beginning to get frosty


Shorty. Still short. Starting to see some clawing up top, but minor as of right now.


Here's shorty's top. Looked like it was developing a little cluster of something that I hope is not pollen sacks. She's never shown signs of hermie to this point, so I think its just new calyxes or something. The picture doesn't show it too well.


My little awkward looking family...


Oh, and can't forget about the babies!


I must say that this part of the growing experience is without a doubt the most fun! I'm still 30+ days away from harvest, which is kind of a bummer, but I can totally wait. And by then the next round will be ready to flower and I'll have a fresh harvest in another ~9 weeks! And maybe, just maybe, I'll get that blue cheese and violator kush I've been salivating over...

Hey Jerry they are quite the trio! buds filling in are looking very nice!!!

Buds look great man. As far as the curl, my bet would also be on salt buildup. Over nute and ph imbalance would be causing discoloration of the leaves as well as curling which I don't see happening. And too much heat usually makes the outer edges of the leaf curl UP rather than the leaf tip curling down. A good flush of the soil never hurts so I would give it a shot.

Thanks guys, I'm gonna give it a good flush when they wake up and go from there. Not much else to do.

I actually have this stuff, Final Flush, that my girlfriend bought for me (my hydro shop is a couple hours away and she was nearby, so I had her pick me up some things). I didn't ask for the stuff, but the stoner guys working there seemed to make her think it was "necessary." I proceeded to tell her thank you, but water works just fine for that. $15 we'll never see again I suppose...

Anyway, now that I've got this stuff, you think I should use it? I'll probably use it towards the end of flower, again just because I have it, but maybe I should give it a whirl now to try and flush out the salts?

Just thought I'd throw that out there. Anything for my girls!

I've never used a flush product. I guess that tells you how necessary it really is LOL. I'm not even sure what exactly they are supposed to achieve. And for that reason I would say to save it for the end. I imagine if you flush with it and want to feed again you would have to flush a second time with plain water to get all of the flush product out. Who knows, maybe this flush product blocks the uptake of nutes.

I also wanted to comment on your seed ordering question before but I forgot. I have to ordered seeds to place I live and grow twice and got away with it. That being said, it's not very smart to do that and I won't again if possible. I know people who have had their seeds confiscated and all that happens is Customs sends you a letter but still it's better safe than sorry, right? I would try using a friend or family members address if you can. And order no more than twenty seeds at a time which I imagine you are doing anyway.

mared juwan said:

I've never used a flush product. I guess that tells you how necessary it really is LOL. I'm not even sure what exactly they are supposed to achieve. And for that reason I would say to save it for the end. I imagine if you flush with it and want to feed again you would have to flush a second time with plain water to get all of the flush product out. Who knows, maybe this flush product blocks the uptake of nutes.

I also wanted to comment on your seed ordering question before but I forgot. I have to ordered seeds to place I live and grow twice and got away with it. That being said, it's not very smart to do that and I won't again if possible. I know people who have had their seeds confiscated and all that happens is Customs sends you a letter but still it's better safe than sorry, right? I would try using a friend or family members address if you can. And order no more than twenty seeds at a time which I imagine you are doing anyway.

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I'll probably hold off on the flush product until the end. They'll get some clean water.

As for the seeds...I just ordered some that we are shipping to a safe address. Got the barney's farm blue cheese and feminized autoflowering lowryder#2 x ak47. I'm excited!

Yeah sounds like the curling could be cured with a flush, and as fa as that flush product... yeah probably wont help any but then again it might, why not use it...

Man im still amazed the pistils on the tall girl are so thick. Im wondering if that means that the calyxes will be bigger as well, making for bigger buds... could be..

Girls are all looking very nice. Bud development is coming right along. I gave tall girl and wide girl both a solid flush yesterday using either 5 or 6 gallons of water. The runoff was a yellowish color for the first couple gallons, eventually getting clear-ish. Neither appeared to suffer any ill effects from the flush, but it also didn't straighten out the claws on tall girl. Maybe they are too damaged to return to proper form? Maybe I haven't given it long enough yet?

Either way, I don't really care what happens to them. They are relatively small leaves that would only serve to obstruct light from the buds anyway...I know they are the photosynthetic powerhouse of the plant and you don't want to remove them, but there are plenty on the lower branches that look healthy.

Having said that, I think the flush helped Wide girl out a little--the leaves growing directly around the stem seem to have straightened out a bit. She didn't have much curl anyway. None around the top either.

Shorty, however, seems to be progressively getting worse. I didn't flush with the others because I thought she needed one more day before watering, so I did it yesterday. Top and side leaves are starting to claw just like tall girl. When I flushed, the water was not nearly as yellow as that of tall and wide girls, probably because after it got burnt I used WAY less nutes to let it rebound. Either way I used 2.5 gallons of water and flushed the shit out of it.

Had another mini-disaster today, this time in the veg closet. The shelf that held all my hanging clothes, a bunch of shit on top, and my 10 cfls all came crashing down. I had just checked on them and walked away when it buckled (its a metal grate-type shelf supported by these flimsy braces. I had it fixed and strengthened some months ago (after a similar collapse) and it has been fine since.

On the positive side, none of the seedlings got too damaged, thanks to the humidity dome! Luckily I was in the house, cuz if not that could have been a fire hazard...

I'm going to cut some 2x4's today and fix it again, hopefully for good this time.

Here are the pics--my camera died before could get any of shorty, so it'll have to wait until tonight. Maybe she'll have perked up a little by then.

Tall girl. Lots of buds all over, getting frosty by the day


Here's one of her top. Still have many days left for that sucker to fill in.


Wide girl doing good. Still inspecting for pollen sacks, but no such development since those two balls were plucked 2 weeks ago.


Wide girl top. Thinner pistils, but looking good!


I tried to show the lower bud development...didn't work as well I hoped, but this girl and tall girl both are experiencing prolific bud production from the lower canopy!


That's about it.

Got a confirmation that my seeds have been picked up by the Royal Mail and are now en route! Exciting! Just a recap, I'm getting Barney's Farm Blue Cheese feminized, and Lowryder Seeds (I think this is the breeder name...not sure) Lowryder#2 x AK47 feminized autoflowering. And some free ones.

Now what to do with the closet full of seedlings...

Lovely looking ladies there. Well done! Can't wait for those buds to start swelling - I think you're looking at one crazy ass cola on that big girl.

Gastanker said:

Lovely looking ladies there. Well done! Can't wait for those buds to start swelling - I think you're looking at one crazy ass cola on that big girl.

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I sure hope so. Thanks for stopping by!

sounds good....great detail

DR. RESINTHUMB said:

sounds good....great detail

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Thanks Doc! I try to give as much info/pics as I can. Still learning as I go...

let me know if them seeds make it..I been looking for some new strains.Curious on where to go.so many choices..drchronics always worked.thought of trying something new..let me know eitherway

lazy88 said:

let me know if them seeds make it..I been looking for some new strains.Curious on where to go.so many choices..drchronics always worked.thought of trying something new..let me know eitherway

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I've heard lots of good things about attitude, but like any of them its a risk. Check back with my journal, as I'll certainly post some pics when they arrive.

I did speak with them twice over the phone during the ordering process, and they are professional and courteous. I used pre-paid debit card purchased w/ cash, and processing of the order was IMMEDIATE!!! So far, they get an A+.

I thought it was interesting that they can legally sell the seeds under the pretense they are used for "souvenir" purposes only, --OR--for you to store/preserve strains in hopes of marijuana being legalized in your area sometime down the road.

Awesome!

Jerry Garcia said:

I've heard lots of good things about attitude, but like any of them its a risk. Check back with my journal, as I'll certainly post some pics when they arrive.

I did speak with them twice over the phone during the ordering process, and they are professional and courteous. I used pre-paid debit card purchased w/ cash, and processing of the order was IMMEDIATE!!! So far, they get an A+.

I thought it was interesting that they can legally sell the seeds under the pretense they are used for "souvenir" purposes only, --OR--for you to store/preserve strains in hopes of marijuana being legalized in your area sometime down the road.

Awesome!

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Yeah ive heard good things about attitude as well.. thats where im placing my next order.

does attitude carry TGA seeds?

I don't believe so--only bidzbay (or breedbay, its the same thing but called both names) and hempdepot carry TGA, as far as I know.

Been a little while since my last update...I've been slacking. Everyone is doing well. I gave tall girl and wide girl a feeding yesterday. Buds are getting bigger every day. Freaking awesome.

Also, I while inspecting for pollen sacks, I noticed a couple calyxes that looked rather ballish and less tear drop shaped. They had hairs growing out of them, no mistaking that, but maybe the little balls I thought were pollen sacks before may have just been round calyxes that I plucked before they could sprout hairs.

Oh well, better safe than sorry! I'll get more pics up tonight after the lights come back on (if I haven't started drinking by then...)

So I finally got my act together this morning and took some photos before the girls went to bed for the day. Let's take a look, shall we?

We begin where we usually do, with tall girl. Holding steady at 31" and filling in nicely. Still got the claw, don't think there is any fixing it, but the leaves are still green and I guess still helping the plant, so whatever.


Here's a close-up of her top. New leaves coming out a little droopy/claw-like still. I'm working on it.


Here's some lower bud action. I've made a concerted effort to illuminate the lower buds, and I think it's working pretty well thus far.


A close-up of one of the middle nodes.


Next up--Wide girl. No longer exceptionally wide, but I don't know how else to describe her. Anyway, doing well. Note some yellowing of the bottom fan leaves...we'll address that in a moment.


Her top is looking very good. Nice flat leaves, minimal curling. Just shows how different strains react differently to the same stresses--we see virtually no clawing in wide girl, but some yellowing/spotting lower leaves. There's none of that in tall girl, but she's got the curl. Both have received the same lights, nutes, everything--they just take it differently. Just an observation.


Lower buds.


Middle growth.


Shorty. Not sure whats going on around the stem, but the curl is now apparent on her as well, even after the flush a couple days ago.


Still coming right along though.


Babies. Getting bigger by the minute (possibly growing faster on 24/0 cycle than my first batch did on 18/6...)


Now, back to the yellowing/spotting. I didn't notice this until today, though it's possible it was there for a couple days and I just didn't see it. Looking at my last few rounds of pics though there is no sign of yellowing or spotting. So perhaps this problem is severe and moving quickly through the plant...we'll just have to see how they look tomorrow. Anyway, here's a close-up of the affected area. I removed all tainted leaves after taking the picture.


I believe the problem is potassium (and possibly nitrogen) deficiency triggered by pH lockout. At least, this is what I've deduced from the various internet repositories of plant maladies I consulted. I think the problem stems from the recent flush. The pH of the water used was a little more basic than I think the plants like, which hasn't been too much of an issue before because the Tiger bloom tends to lower pH. But my pH testing methods to this point have been painfully inadequate to say the least.

However, I have just purchased a digital pH pen tester for $25 off ebay. So I will be CAREFULLY and diligently monitoring the pH of my nutrient solution as well as that of the runoff with every feeding/watering.

Now I need to know what is the next step. Should I flush again with pH adjusted water? Or just give a water-only feeding with pH adjusted water?

If the problem is deficiency from lockout, adding some soluble potash or something isn't going to help, right? The point is it's locked out, so I need to "unlock" it first?

Advice is greatly appreciated, especially before 8pm (EST) as that's when they will wake up and need some fixing!