By continuing to use the website or clicking Accept you consent to our cookies and personal data policy and confirm that you are at least 18 year old. For details please see Privacy Policy and Terms
This Is my first grow so i decided to document and take pictures every day. I started out with Blue Dream seeds from I Love Growing Marijuana. While I picked up the seeds i also selected there Bergmans All Fertilizers set and the bergmans plant protector set. Since this is my first grow i was trying to keep it as cost efficient as possible. I started off with a 2x2x4 grow tent. i Also started with 2 23 watt CFL bulbs (100 watt equivalent each). I did add more but for the seedling stage, i only ran 2 because the desert temperatures where i live get really hot and i had a feeling that running 8 CFLs at once while its 105 F outside, would be too much for her. She was planted in a little clay pot, not sure exactly what size, with Fox Farm's Ocean Soil as the medium. Before purchasing the seeds, i did about a month and a half worth of research and was looking into LST and HST training and SCROG techniques, but overall decided that i'm just going to let her grow naturally and get into the more advanced techniques on future grows. I did however remove discolored or yellowing leaves but that is the only thing i did other than let her grow naturally.
For this first week of Veg I am going to Include a couple baby pictures so we can sum up the first two weeks of the seedling phase.
For the first week of veg she was growing kinda of leggy so i shortened the distance between her and her lights. I also had to use two toothpicks to hold her up because the wind blew her over when i was seting up her tent in my shed.
Other then that week one of veg went pretty smooth
Week two of veg went pretty well. I did have to open the tent up and leave it open with an extra fan because the temperature hit 105 inside the tent. While the tent was open an aphid got in and spent the night with the plant and did some damage to one of the lower leaves. I found the aphid and got rid of it. Then sprayed down her down with the Bergmans Bug Blaster. Other than that there were no major hiccups for week 2 of veg.
So week 3 went ok, considering I ordered the fabric pot for her kind of late. The leaves were a little droopy towards the end of the week. But would perk back up in the afternoon. I repotted the day after the droopy picture.
After removing her from her first pot and taking a look at the root ball. It wasn’t as wound up as I thought it would be. So I’m thinking that I re potted at just the right time. Before placing her in her new home, a 3 gallon fabric pot, I layed down about an inch or so of perlite and the rest of the pot was filled with more of the Fox Farms Ocean soil. I put some water in the soil, so that it would be easier to work with. She took very well to her new pot, with none of the tell tale signs of shock. A Few Days after re potting I removed all the discolored or dying leaves and got her ready for her last week of veg.
So this is the last week of Veg and everything went amazingly well considering that this is my first grow and had no major problems. living in the dry hot desert makes it a little easier because we don't have as many bug or mold problems but we do have to deal with the heat in the summer. Which proved to be more of a problem than i thought it would be. But staying vigilant payed off and i will be starting flower with a gorgeous and healthy plant. At this point i am very excited to start flower and to see how my Blue Dream grows up.
Week one of flower went well. I switched from 18/6 to 12/12 (7am-7pm) light schedule. After switching her schedule she started rapidly growing. In the first week of flower she grew about 5 inches. The day i switched the lights she was roughly 12 inches tall. From evrything I've read she well double or even triple in size. So I would estimate she will be between 24 inches and 36 inches. With a 48 inch tall tent, I'm hoping she leaves room for her grow lights. Also switched from Bergman's Growtime fertilizer to Bergman's Flowertime fertilizer.
So week 2 of flower went pretty well but there was one, kind of major set back. Like i said at the beginning of this journal, I live in the desert, so dealing with the heat is one obstacle that i have to stay on top of to keep a healthy plant. But what i didn't think of was how cold it gets in fall and winter. It can go from 85-90 degrees F at night to 50-60 degrees F in just a week or two. I had the lights going from 7am-7pm so that way there's no natural light that might be able to get into her tent at night. That way i can avoid a hermaphrodite plant caused by natural sun light. After the first temp drop I realized I would have to switch the light schedule so she doesn't get too cold in the desert fall and early winter cold. Since I was already a week and a half into flower I didnt want to take any chances. So after a lot of research I think I found the best way to go about the switch. I did a full 24 hour dark period. I turned the lights off after they went out at 7 pm and didn't turn them back on until 8 pm the next day. The higher temp at night, caused by the lights, should be warm enough to keep her healthy through the cold months ahead and I haven't had any adverse effects since doing the light switch. I'll just have to make sure that her tent stays completely dark for the rest of the grow.
I've heard a lot of back and fourth whether you should, or should not use plant protectors (bugs,mold, etc) during flower period. I just want to know what is and what is not ok to give your plants during flower, assuming that the plant in question is in fact healthy.
Thanx guys
As long as there is no flowers yet, you can spray the plant with preventive stuff, like neem oil. When the flowers form, it's better not to, by the look of it, you are still in time to give it something (if you feel it's necessary).
This week of flower went very well. The temperatures did drop but its not too cold out here yet. I'm very impressed with the flower production and overall growth. She seems to be doing very well with her current set up and i'm happy to report that there's not much to report this week besides her growth.
Week 4 went well without any real problems at all. As far as I can see there are no major problems and she seems to be healthy. I will be adding extra nutrients in the last few weeks before flushing and harvest. looking forward to seeing what next week has in store for me.
Hey guys Im just looking for extra tips in the flowering stage. What would you experienced growers recommend to optimize overall yield, flavor, potency etc
thanks in advanced
You can do a few things to help increase the yield , flavour and aroma of your plants during flower . On of the things I could suggest for getting a bigger yield is to remove some of the bigger fan leaves allowing for more light to reach the flowers . This will do 2 things allowing your flowers to get bigger 1) by removing some of the fan leaves your plant will think its being grazed by an animal and in order to combat what the animal has "eaten" it will go into overdrive making new growth sites and making the existing ones bigger . The second thing is light penetration with few big fan leaves in the way the bottom or shaded flowers will get more light exposure leading to bigger and better flowers ! For the taste and aroma of the plant you can do a couple things Ill give you a few examples of things you can do 1) you can make banana molasses tea there are tons and tons and tons of recipe's on the internet but I usually do it like this I will boil 2 litres of water once at a roiling boil I add 4 banana peels and 1/4 cup of molasses I let it sit for about 10 mins while stirring it constantly . Once your ready to pour this for storage I suggest you strain it through a coffee filter to catch all the bits and pieces that will have broken away from the banana peels. This will breakdown the molasses and extract Potasium and Phosphorus . This will help your plants aroma yield and taste because the PK is what your plant is seeking to help the facilitation of flower development and the molasses break down will provide all the raw sugars your plants needs in order to get bigger yields as well as boost the aroma and flavour of your flowers ! I usually use 1 part banana tea to 4 parts PH corrected water . The other method you could use is a line up of Advanced nutrients they sell products called Big bud , Bud candy and Over drive that are used throught flowering at different times to boost yield , taste and aroma . I hope this information serves you well on your journey to becoming a master !-Happy Growing!
Week 5 of flower is in the books and i think it went very well. After some very well placed advertisement I decided to add Terpinator to her feeding schedule to increase production of terpenes and tricomes. I also added cane molasses from NPK Industries to increase her carb intake. I saw almost immediate increase in smell and tricome production and buds started to fatten up very nicely in the main cola and after some light defoliation the smaller colas started to noticeably increase bud production. Everything seems to be going as planned. The temperature is going to drop a lot in the next few weeks, so i'm a little concerned that it might affect her yield or overall health, but right now i'm just happy that she appears to be a happy and healthy plant
This week went very well. Buds are fattening up very nicely. I added Bergman’s Plant Booster into her feeding schedule this week and also next week before the flush. Everything is going very well and I’m excited to see how things turn out in these last three weeks
Week 7 of flower went very well without any major problems. The temperature inside the tent stays at about 55F at night now and I think that's as low as it will get inside. Shes fattening up very nicely and has pretty much stopped growing. Standing at 28 inches she grew 125% since i switched to flower. I had to put in a bamboo support to straighten up the main cola. It was leaning with the weight of the new buds. It wasn't too serious but enough to be concerning. Everything else is going well and i'm looking forward to next weeks update
Week 8 of flower went well. She’s producing gorgeous frosty buds and smells like pine and berries with a little bit of skunk but overal a fruity sweet aroma. This was her last week getting any nutrients I started flushing on the 1st of December to harvest on the 15th. 2 more weeks to go and im super excited.
Since its gonna be my first harvest in about 2 weeks are there any tips you guys might have to have a better harvest also what is the best way to keep odor down as much as possible. Its legal to grow in California I just don't want my neighbors to smell it
Hi @KrashAndBurn! Don't forget to flush your medium with plain pH'd water, 7 to 10 days before harvest in soil, this will ensure you a clean product without any nutrient/chemical left in the buds. Harvest in the morning (before the light turns on) if you want terpenes and effects to be at their peak, light and heat degrade trichomes during the day. Regarding the drying process, don't rush, try to dry your buds as slow as you can, you don't want to mess with this final step or you can ruin your product. I like to dry in 2 times, In a 1st time I hang the branches upside down for 7 to 10 days, then I cut the buds out of their stems and lay them down in a drying-net for 7 to 14 days. If you want to prevent the smell from invading your neighbourhood, consider drying in your grow tent, with the lights off but the air extraction (and carbon filter) on. You can also look for a product called "ONA neutralizer", this is really efficient when it comes to destroying odours, but don't put it in the same room than your buds, ONA is so strong it could affect your terpenes, basically your buds will taste like your ONA 😮 Combined with ONA, I also use a mister, with a few drops of essential oils, this embalms my place and does mask the skunky smell. Hope this will help, congrats and enjoy your 1st harvest 👊
Week 9 could've been better. We had a good rain and that kept the humidity up past 85% which has had me pretty nervous, but despite this she seems to be doing very well. Her buds just keeping getting frostier and fatter. Trying to flush has been a pain with the humidity but i can see her leaves starting to get discolored so i'm assuming its going ok. She smells super sweet like berries with pine and some diesel or skunk. Shes gonna have a new 600w LED in her tent for her last week and is no longer using CFLs.
Finishing up the last week went well other than the high humidity still. I was worried that she may not have flushed properly since I was only able to give her about 2 gallons total of PHed water in the 15 days of flush. But she received no nutrients during the 15 days so I went ahead and harvested on the 16th of December. She is currently hanging in her tent and drying. I will be back in probably 2 weeks to give a full harvest and smoke report.
KrashAndBurn
