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The plant started out looking like it was going to be a mutant ! However it now looks amazing and is out growing all the other plants that were all started at the same time and in the same soil mix.
The soil mix is aldi £1.98for 40 litres mixed with 40 litres of coir I bought for £8 delivered from an online auction sit
Watered once this week with fish tank water pH 6.2 adjusted with cider vinegar and 1ml/l shogun cal/mag added .
Started to tie the stems down with twist ties bent to hook the rim of the pot. Also managed to snap the tip of the main stem off so it's in soil in a solo cup to see if it will root (if it does I'll keep it as a mother)
Also flipped the light to 400w and 12/12 as I'm limited with space. (Done after 3 weeks from first cotyledons, first day of week 4)
I've switched to 12/12 but because I'm force flowering I don't count the time off the 8-9 week flowering schedule until I see pistil's however I've decided to add it to the diary as flower because I'm in 12/12.
Hope this isn't confusing things .
Growth was fast tied all branches down with twist ties bent into a c shape and gave first veg feed at 3ml/l .
I'm hoping this is what the tiger stripe effect on the fan leaves is as all other plants in the same soil are not showing the same look but they are different strains, time will tell but I'm guessing its early nitrogen deficiency in the soil as I've not added any yet and the soil is 50%coir mixed in .(though it still seemed very nitrogen rich)
Fed @ 3ml/l veg feed with cal mag and hygrozyme every other feed. There was lots of growth this week and the first pistils :-)
I'm not sure if flowering is supposed to be from first 12/12 or when the first pistils showed as the plant was not showing sex when I switched to 12/12 .
First pistils were on day 14 of 12/12 so I'm going to flower till around week 10 I think as there supposed to be a 8 week flower time.
Any thoughts on this ?
Anyway next week I'll add some bloom and pk .
started to use bloom feed this week @ 3ml/l and took veg feed down to 2ml/l.
I've taken most of the ties off now as the plant is the width and shape I need it (maybe next time I'll try manifolding it)
I'm going to use pk soon but don't want to overdo it so I'm being cautious !
also as I think I've said before I use fish tank water from my goldfish every other watering.
OK so it says 8 week flower time , I started 12/12 before the plant showed its sex and it was day 14 of 12/12 before the first pistils showed.so do I go 8 weeks from 12/12 or 8 weeks from the first pistils ?
Hey there @Kalikushmush! Your Flowering started Week 7 between "day 16" and "day 18" pictures. Most of the confusion in this topic is actually about what pistils are "Prefloweing pistils" and what pistils are "Flowering pistils". The Pistils that show at the base of the stem next to the stipules show the sex of the plant are Preflowering pistils(week 7 'pistles' picture). The pistils that grow from the budsights creating the actual buds themselves are the flowering pistles (week 7 'day 18' picture). If you are looking to time how long the Flowering stage is then you will want to use the FLOWERING PISTLES from "day 18" pictures.. If you are looking at a nutrient chart this is considered "early flower". The preflower pistils that show sex are considered the 'transition stage' on most nutrient charts and are included in the veg section in most diaries. I hope that helps clear some of the confusion. Long story short: Sex pistiles are not Flowering pistles and your week 5 and 6 were veg you started flowering week 7. I hope that helps! 😎
I took the grow nutrients down to 1ml/l at the start of the week and will stop from the end of the week.
still using 3ml/l bloom .
I gave pk14-15 @ 1ml/l .
so far so good :-)
this week I noticed i had tiger stripes effect on some leaves.
pH was 6.2 in 6.4 runoff. I got an ec meter and checked the runoff ec as well only to find it was at 4150 or there about !!
so I went back to the soil I used mixed with coir and tested the ec , it was 3365 !
from reading around im guessing this is because of added nutrients in the compost (from the bag) .
I also checked the coir (sold as clean just add water and nutes from an online hydro shop) the ec was 1650! I'm not sure if it had nutes added before drying and compressing into a block or if its sea salt (coconuts grow on beaches so maybe it wasn't clean as advertised and had sea salt in it ? or would that have finished a plant off ?)
when I started my seed it had rounded leaves that looked mutated and was very dark green up till around 6-7 weeks of veg at this point the tiger stripes were visible which made me think it was nitrogen deficiency(after all the plant had been in there for almost 2 months.
after adding grow nute's it seemed to darken up again (I also have a Cali skunk seed in same soil but smaller pot this didn't have the stripes but did start off dark green then started to loose its green and fade to yellow as It grew , adding grow nutes made it worse !)
now I've flushed them both till the run off was less than Ec 600.
I'll mix bloom nute's and water again as this seems to be the general advice online for this stage of growth.
I hope I haven't ruined it as it seemed to be going so well.
either way I won't be buying soil and mixing it with coir again . the soil has way to much salts (I'm guessing there added and not organic but not sure if organic has an Ec reading?) and the coir I bought online from a hydro shop was advertised as for growing just add water and nutes, it had an Ec of 1650 (wish I checked this before planting seeds)
still it's a lesson learned(I hope) and an online hydro shop I won't ever use again . I was going to put they're name up to save other people the trouble it's caused me but not sure if that's allowed ?
And next time I'll buy better soil :-( and do run off checks.
things are looking good after the flush , I'm watering every other day putting 3litres in with 1ltr run off.
pH seems stable and salts don't seem to be building up.
so I've been having issues where the leaves get tiger stripes , at first I thought it was nitrogen deficiency , then I was advised by someone in here to feed more call mag as it was a mag deficiency,I did this but it didn't change anything it just got worse :-(
after reading many sites and getting very conflicting info I bought a narrow pH kit (drops) and double checked the pH just in case my pH meter was wrong (calibrated with ph buffer 7)
it turns out that my pH meter was way out !!
The pH was close to 8 in the soil so I'm guessing this is what was causing the issue with magnesium deficiency. I've been setting the nutrient at ph5.5 and running a 2litre run off every time but the run of is still coming out at 7.2 after a week of such low pH feed going in .(4litres going into the pot and 2 litres run off every other day)
I was reading that you should use mag/sulfur after the first 2-4 weeks of flower as the plant doesn't really need calcium after this point ? and uses more magnesium and sulfer in bloom.
I also read that using calmag with pk boosters causes the calcium and phosphorous to bind and become insoluble leading to deficiency's ?
so I've decided to but epsome salt and use that instead of cal mag.
I'm trying to teach myself but find so much conflicting info :-/
next time I think I may go all organic so I only need to water :-)
this week I've only been giving bloom feed and hygrozyme .
pH of feed/water going in is 5.5 but still coming out at 7.2-7.8 .
when it goes to close to ph8 it starts losing it's colour .
I'm not entirely sure why the pH keeps going up (after watering with ph5.5 using a 2litre run off or comes out at 7.2 but the next time I water the first litre run off is back up at 7.6-7.8 !
this week I've been giving bloom feed @4ml/l every other watering which is every other day .
the feed goes in @PH4.5 but the run off is always PH6.4 to 7.8 , it's been staying closer to pH 7.2 since I started to put it in at 4.5 but it keeps rising between waterings/feedings
from searching google it sends that the microbes in the soil eat the vinegar and make the pH go up plus the soil buffers the pH but I'm unsure why it keeps climbing up ? I never read about needing to lower soil pH infact I was under the impression that you didn't need to bother about pH in soil ?
one thing I know for sure is the plant likes the pH below 7 and starts to grow better there.
I'll keep trying to get it closer to 6.2 .
why does my soil PH keep going up ? I'm adding water at PH 4.5 and feed at pH 4.5 (alternate) to try and lower it, I add 4 litres and have run off between 1-2 litres but the run off is always 7.4+ at first and 6.2 after the run off.is this normal ?
Just a small thought...in the podcast i listened to tonight they mentioned that soil that gets dry has a tendecy to have the EC and such go significantly higher. They were stressing the importance of accurate and consistent watering practices. Do you ever let the soil get just a little bit dryer than you'd like? Or have some days that you just skip watering? I know im guilty of having some longer dry periods until i realized my 1 gallon pots needed water every day and sometimes twice.✌️ i hope you find the solution. I know soil does have incredible buffering capacity though so if your ph is staying below the 7-7.3 range i wouldn't worry. Ph runoff seems to usually be higher than the initial input water. Perhaps the nutrients and the organic material both cause it.
this week I've been giving feed at ph4.5 and the soil is now between pH 6 and 7 .
the plant is growing much better now , next time I'll check the pH from the start (lesson learned)
the plant is now making trichomes and is starting to get smelly.
it's supposed to be 8 weeks flower but they are still growing especially now I've got the pH lower than it was, so I'll see how they go this week
This week I've only given pH 5.5 water.
the bottom bud pistils are turning brown and fan leaves are dying at the bottom of the plant so I think the plant is finishing up.
I'll keep flushing for another week or two as the top of the plant is still growing.
the plant has an almost peanut butter - black/mushy banana smell (like when you leave them in a lunch bag for a few days)
trichomes are slowly building up now :-)
just been giving water at pH 6 this week, the top of the plant is still growing but the lower almost 3/4 of the plant have brown pistils.
I'm letting the soil dry and going to chop her down as I've not fed her for 3 weeks .
I'll report back with the outcome.
at the moment the smell is strong (my wife says it smells like cat piss !) and the buds are long and starting to fall over .
I wish I'd used better soil to start and had more knowledge overall I'm really impressed and will grow this strain again.
thanks to everyone who helped with advice you all rule :-)
the high is nice , very thought provoking a definite mind opener keeps you awake but no fast heart rate like some Sativa's.
the high last about 5 hrs !! from a 0.30g vape bag and even taste good on it's second run through the volcano. its e longest lasting high I've ever had.
on inhale it taste like banana/fruit/pineapple and herbs or something I can't quite decide. I'm looking forward to the cure to see if its any different.
I'll grow this again in the future , it's a bit fluffy/airy and looks very sativa like and it took longer than expected but I guess it's all a learning curve and overall I'm really impressed , the plant will save me enough money to have paid for itself plus I know where it came from and I've got an awesome hobby so win win :-)
again a big thank you to everyone here for the advice
LittleBigTrees
