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
Germination was quick and succesfull. Damp paper towel in plastic bag method. Seed popped and was placed in the pot in 48 hours, and was out the soil in 24 hours. Day 1 counted from when the plant is standing and showing cotyledons (one was tiny and discolored but that didn't seem to impact the growth). First couple days fed only with RO water with additional CalMag (1ml/L) at 200ppm-6.3 pH, with little waterings just to keep the coco moist. When she showed her second node I started feeding nutes until about 400ppm-5.9 pH. Temp kept at 27°C and high humidity kept by using an airated dome.
I had to leave at the beginning of the week and was away from day 7 to day 11. When I came back I found the power out (lights and ventilation off = cold 19°C+very high humidity 99%). Luckily it happened the day I was coming back and it stayed like that just about half a day. If that wasn't enough, the dripping system I had set up some how failed and delivered about 1/3 of what it should've. The plant was starting to yellow a bit and she was not looking too good, but she bounced back immediately after the first feeding, and growth did not appear stunted. I also tested runoff EC to see if there was some salt build up going on, and it definitely was way too high so I flushed it until I got it down at around 600ppm.
After the flush calcium deficiency started to kick in so I bumped my pH up to 6.3 and it got corrected very quickly. I also gradually increased my waterings until I reached 3L/24h. At this point I am watering with 1L, 3 times a day, every 8 hours. I also started some LST and leaf tucking. I removed the fan leaves from the lower 2 nodes as they started drying out from the calcium deficiency damage. She keeps growing strong nonethless and she's very bushy.
I decided to let her grow naturally for a couple of days, just leaf tucking and hand bending her. She quickly gained a bit of height and made it easier to go back to LST. I also removed a couple of older damaged leaves here and there, just to facilitate training, no more than 1 or 2 per day. I'm also gradually increasing the nutes as she is starting to eat more. I had excessive runoff giving 1L each watering, 3 times a day, so I'm still trying to dial in my watering schedule. After a bit of testing I'm now giving 500ml 3 times a day.
You could take a few small leaves from within thr middle to allow better airflow and light to the lower branches but don't go mad with how many you take off as this is where she converts energy to grow...
This week has been a bit inconsistent since I wasn’t always home to water her three times a day like usual. The drip system I set up was supposed to provide ~80ml/h, but keeps failing when I’m not around, so I don’t trust it anymore. I still leave it running, but I also stop by at least once a day to hand-water 1L until runoff to keep the coco moist and prevent salt buildup. Despite this, she’s been growing really well, so no major issues so far.
Day 29 – Did a bit of heavier defoliation to expose more nodes to the light. Bending and tucking weren’t enough anymore, and the canopy was getting really dense.
Day 32 – No clear signs of stress from the defoliation. She’s growing so fast that I had to remove a few more leaves because the canopy was already packed again.
Day 34 – First white hairs showed up. Expecting the stretch to start soon.
This is preflowering and she's about to hit the stretch right? When should I start using the SCROG net? Also, does she look on track for her age (Day 34)?. Any advice about the next steps would be greatly appreciated, thank you.
i would lower your scrog or raise your plant and start scrogging before flower. but it looks like you already have pistils. so i would lower the net and start weaving her through over the next 3 weeks and then stop after that and let her bulk up. she will stop growing branches and leaves and roots once shes further into flower and only focus on bud structure.
so mold her and let her set and
I've decided to try the 420autoflower SCROG method - might have been a bit ambitious for a first timer, but everything has been going smoothly so far, so I figured it was worth the challenge.
About a week into preflower, I gave her a heavy defoliation and set up the net, flattening her canopy underneath it. However, I quickly realized that my stretchy net wasn’t ideal for this method, and I wasn't a fan of it overall. The squares were too large, making it hard to control branch placement, and I couldn’t move the plant easily.
Only one day later, I decided to remove the net and switch to a different approach. I bent the branches as much as possible without breaking them and used stakes and string to open and flatten the canopy.
A couple days later, I adjusted the ties again to spread her out even more, removing a few leaves in the process but keeping it light this time.
Removing leaves daily and some lower tiny branches. Tried the net again but once again I really didn't like that I couldn't move the plant so I removed it.
Stretch should be done, and I hope to see the bud starting to develop in the next days.
Stress? Could be defoliation stress? I defoliate lightly almost daily or once every 2 days to expose all the nodes. Wondering if that's also delaying flower swelling? Or is it more likely to be heat stress? Had a couple peak at 32°C in the past days-now dialed it in back to 24°C
it can be genetics if it happens naturally and when all other things are competently done, but it can also be a sign of poor nutritional balance. stress can do weird things too.
e.g. you bend a plant over and all of a sudden you revert back to 3-5-fingered leaves on new growth at times... doesn't always happen but can. After topping, my leaves usually get set back in their finger-progression, too.
plants that look overfed or some imbalance often have funky shaped leaves.. missing the 2 small ones near petiole or asymmetrical etc..
if the plant is suprmely healthy and unmolested (even light training), then it's likely just genetics.
Cell differentiation -- your liver doesn't pump blood, right? Leaves evolved to absorb light. Sex organs evolved to facilitate reproduction. Do not cut off leaves to shine light on bud sites. I realize this is something repeated a lot by growers, but it is not helpful. Not only do leaves absorb light, they are storage facilitis and also the lungs. If you feel skeptical, thnk about what is the limitingn factor - carbon from cO2. Limiting the limiting factor even further by reducing leaf surface area is not helpful. shouldn't need a biology degree to understand that.
Weird leaves are a pretty nomal event, it is not related to heat or stress, they are just weird leaves...........nothing more, nothing less.
Constant defoliation is bad.
Your plant is investing a lot of energy and time growing them....why remove them constantly??
If she would not need them, she would not grow them in the first place!
Yes you are delaying flowering by over defoliating.
Less leaves = less energy being made = less growth.........it is that simple!
Also, by constantly defoliating, you are upsetting the plants hormonal balance, increasing the risk of hermaphroditism.
"Bud sites" do not need direct light to grow flowers, just like how fruit does not only grow on the sunny side of trees.
What the "bud sites" do need though, are the leaves to be able to make the energy required to grow the buds!
32 degrees C is nothing that is going to cause any issues, where I live we get many days of 45 degrees C most summers outdoors and I do not get any issues with my plants...........watering correctly is essential though!
Camrude
