first grow

sorry for lack of comments / pictures for this week. just signed up and uploading old pictures / filling out data the best I can. newer weeks should be better.

Sorry for lack of pictures data on these old weeks. newer weeks should get better. Had to leave for a week, but i'm watering these things once a week anyway, so no problems here. Unfortunately some stretching while I was gone, should have brought the lamp closer. Transplanted into 5 gallon pots end of week.

tried to optimize the lamp distance, the plants had stretched because I was being too conservative with it. also turned up the dimmer more, again was being overly cautious. topped the plants near the end of the week

Mostly left the plants alone to recover from transplanting and topping. After a few days I turned the dimmer up from 50% to 75% to give them more light.

Plants seem to have recovered from the stress of topping and transplant and are starting to take off. Lamp is turned all the way up now. I stupidly brought in some non-cannabis plants to chill with them, and they brought in some fungus gnats :( Not an insane infestation, I noticed it quickly, but trying to be proactive. Added a fan for more airflow, mosquito bits, neem spray, etc. GAME ON GNATS :) Upped nutrients from 1/8 tsp/gal to 1/4. Will back off if needed but its still a small amount. Trying to test how they take it. Had to raise the lamp a few inches. The plants are growing and so far 16" distance at 100% has been fine. It is currently 15" but I will raise it again another day to fix it. Rotated the bagseed indica to point in the middle of the net. I "f-ed up" the topping of this bush, it was really a FIM. As if it was not bushy enough!!!!! Added a net, not really for elaborate scrog, just "basic" control of which direction things are growing, especially now that they are growing into each other. Rotated the bagseed up front for better positioning. Clearly I sloppily "F- I missed" topping this one, so i really FIM'd it, kind of at least. 4 growths coming out. Just in case this wasn't already hellaciously bushy!!!!

Early week 6 update (i'll add more pictures and comments as needed): Unfortunately I hit some challenges! Light got way too close and stunted growth for a day. I noticed it on tips closest to the light only. Raised lamp to 22 inches. Indica bagseed (plant in the center front) got too stacked: stuff like leaves on top of each other with lots of moisture, no light/airflow penetration, etc. I did some basic LST, leaf tucking, net tucking, to open her up and go sideways more a bit at first. It helped a bit. Unfortunately aug 27, had to get more aggressive on this beast and remove 3 shade leaves on the right side. not happy about defoliating, but had to do it. Will see how she takes it and then look at left side on a later day. Growing the first time is educational and actually therapeutic in today's world for me. I've already learned so many lessons for the net time: don't need such a yuge pot, lamp brightness/distance, air circulation!!! Thank you to everyone that responds with positive encouragement/messaging, it really helps. Adding two more fans to help air circulation aug 28. hopefully it reduces the need to desecrate the plants! Meanwhile the plants in back (purple canyon) want to stretch their faces off, esp. the one in back left, so it is a balance. I only have so much vertical height :) aug 29, flipped to 12/12. plants are happy and i want to control the space for first grow. let's see how it goes. updated the humidity for the week to ~ 60. Ida etc has made it miserable, it should get better soon.

they are really stretching after 12/12 flip. i hung my lamp differently to buy a few more precious inches of vertical space. humidity is still pretty high, but that's due to environment and AC issue (fixed!).

did some last-minute bending of the largest branches to the corners of the tent, stuff wants to grow into the light. let's hope the stretch phase doesn't have too much left in it :)

on "average" plants are about 36 inches. Some stalks are really high such as 45 inches growing behind the light in the back. it is what it is. last week i bent some of the tallest ones to the corners of the tent with string/twistie-tie. plants are definitely still stretching a little bit, but hopefully not much more. if they all get too close to the lamp and upset about it, then I can use the dimmer as well. went back and documented various critters i have been giving the plants. they aren't really nutrients, but it helps to be more thorough. plus, i think they have really helped! for example, the mosquito bits bacteria really crushed my fungus gnats. So, i'll be adding more microbes to try to up the plant's defenses and PH tolerance, to help with flower weeks coming. defoliated about 10 fan leaves blocking too much light. don't like doing this but it was too jungle-y. otherwise, i've just been removing the couple of used-up leaves at the very bottom every morning and letting the plant do this for itself. update: end of flower week 3: added another net for support. raised lamp even more to get a few inches height. been picking 1-2 leaves a day per-plant that block light, that's it. the tall ass plant is stretched to the corners, but this one is maybe 5% male. picked some balls off of it. i think it was herm from the beginning. just going with it: I dissected some of these and there was nothing in them, its "shooting blanks". upgraded dehumidifier which made a big difference. on "easy setting" i am keeping RH below 50% now. it was working its way up into the mid 60s before I did this. plan to reduce it further later.

no big changes other than lower humidity. took some more string to unruly stuff, to get it on the edges of the tent. plants seem a big hungry, stealing a bit from the leaves downstairs. could be PH issue too, I know it was running a bit acidic already. Will do some investigations/tests and try to improve this situation.

I did investigations after last week (PH etc), everything is fine: My plants were hungry because they are all preggo! That tall spindly one in the back of the tent, the one i've just been picking balls off of... it knocked itself up, its sister, and the bagseed plant. Let's hope the number of seeds doesn't end out being insane at the end :) I was upset at first, but they this is just for personal use so it isn't the end of the world having to pick them out. Not all the buds are showing seed development, definitely a lot of the lower ones though. I've been giving a little of the veg nutes, thinking they might need a tad bit more N for the seed development. I've also dropped the night-time temps a bit to get a little purple color, seems to be working.

dropped humidity another 5% had to tie or net a couple stems the fell over started reducing nutrient amounts to at least normal levels: last feeding was 1/4 tsp/gal jacks and nothing else.

Lowered RH to 35%. Only getting water all week, with normal runoff. It all seems to piss them off a bit, dries out a couple lower leaves, tiny bit of fade starting. But i swear I saw a little growth spurt too! Esp lots of lower buds going to town. I'll let them have 40% again. Still hope to turn the tent autumn colors, but won't destroy my soil to do it.

not much to report, just giving plants water. trying to support buds falling over here and there, especially lower ones underneath the canopy. tops are starting to look pretty good to me, but lower buds are still making progress. it's currently 60 days since switching to 12/12.

The plants basically stopped drinking water across this week. But they frosted up a lot, and calyxes engorged! The two purple canyon plants faded differently, one went just dark purple, the other looked like halloween with orange and stuff :) In both cases the sugar leaves turned wonderful purple. Lots of stems falling over, basically chaos down below the canopy. Some stems basically "supercropped" themselves they bent so badly. So, based on the overall situation, I decided to harvest the plants at day 67 flower. Probably could/should have gone longer with better planning, but they didnt want to drink much water anymore, and stuff was becoming unmanageable. Will post harvest stuff if I manage to survive the process :)

I had a great time with my first grow, i have 20 mason jars filled with (too) dried weed. Unfortunately a close friend passed on during this process, so my life has turned upside down. I'll try to rehydrate the too-crispy weed if possible, but it still smokes ok, can cook with it, etc. I'll update this when I have a chance, it may be a few weeks.

I had a great time with my first grow, i have 20 mason jars filled with (too) dried weed. Unfortunately a close friend passed on during this process, so my life has turned upside down. I'll try to rehydrate the too-crispy weed if possible, but it still smokes ok, can cook with it, etc. I'll update this when I have a chance, it may be a few weeks.