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Here we go.. second time growing. Soil is fox farm ocean forest so I will be leaving nutes out for about 2 weeks. 3 purple kush germinated so to fill my last pot I threw in 1 gelato. I plan on being aggressive with topping fimming and training and plan on setting up 2 trellis. Put what I read about to the test. ( I started this journal a few weeks ago but didn’t like how it was so this is a redo will be caught back to date around week 5)
No problems yet, growing good. Transplanted other 2. I ran out of soil so I topped off the gelato with pellets. Starting low stress training on purple kush 1 and 2, will be topping pk 3, and maybe try and fim gelato after I read more about it. Maybe I should top it first.
Only if you like stressing the hell out of your plants. Would be better to do one or the other rather than using a high stress technique on them twice. Topping slows them down longer than if you FIM. If she's fast growing beast topping would be better to slow her down so the rest of her catches up. You will have a good chance of creating a nice even canopy this way. FIM for slower-medium speed plants to temporarily slow down the main stem growth but you will still have to do some wrestling with her along the way. It's a matter of preference. Good luck.
so After topping 2 and fimming 2 plants time to watch and learn to see what each method works best for these fems. I believe purple kush is reacting very well with the amount I have stressed them out. Although I may have ran into a bug problem, rust looking spots check my photos as you will see. ( After further inspection it is bugs I believe it was a aphide I found) I purchased some safers 3 in 1 bug spray so now I am worried,I never had this on my 1st grow.
This week is beast mode week, they are massive ! ( in my opinion) I haven’t seen any sign of pests this week fingers crossed. In the next week I will be building a new growroom and transporting them due to moving to new house. Once set up I think it’s a good idea to set up my first trellis net to support the branches, I have another net for after flower stretch.
Picked up a 60x60x80 went through a big move set up my trellis the smell is getting strong. I don’t know what to expect with what I’ll end up with after flower stretch 2nd grow first time training like this. Just picked up a co2 canister so hoping it’s legit
first week of flower, pistols are showing and they seem to be stretching . Moved my carbon air filter to top of canopy to allow my co2 cartridge to disperse it correctly. I am pretty excited for the grow. Feeling successful!
At this point in your grow I wouldn't bother defoliating. Next time around look to defoliate at week 2-3 of flower but yet again different plants may require defoliation more frequently than others.
@lanren Hi mate the only leaves I would be removing would be some of the larger fan leaves and only for allowing more air flow between the plants Hope this helps mate 😎
I am a fan. If you're new to growing just take big leaves that are blocking bud sites away and bud sites completely hidden from light, also taking yellow leaves off but beware it might cry out for more nutrients
changed up my nutes a bit, still using the 3 part micro,grow,bloom took away big bud and overdrive and started using kushie kush, I have herd good things about it. Very sticky plants and smells great my carbon air filter seems to not work anymore so the house is smelling good, saving on air fresheners lol
Im impressed with the trichome formation on all the buds and surrounding leaves so far. I had some minor nutrient burn from switching and pumping kushie kush into the girls. I flushed them and they seem to be pulling through with no new burn symptoms. Keeping up with cleaning and sanitizing the reservoirs and trays is more work than I imagined when purchasing the system. This grow is going much better than the last which leads me to believe I’m doing better this grow.
Another good week. Looks like they are showing different signs of age. Began to flush from the top today. I would appreciate any feedback on dry trimming vs wet trimming.
@Ianren, We can only guestimate when to chop. Just a guess 2.5 to 3 weeks? I usually like to count backwards about 10 to 14 days to start my flush depending on how heavy they've been fed. Best way I have found is using a 40x jewelers loupe with LED light attached. You can get them off Amazon fairly cheap. Don't waste your money on those little microscopes. Cellphone shots don't always seem to show the true color of the trichomes. Start with the pistils. When you see 30% to 50% of them starting to turn reddish/orange and curl in start checking the trichome color. You will see some clear and some turning half cloudy. When you have more half cloudy than clear you can start to flush your pots. As more pistils dry and curl keep checking the trichomes. The half cloudy ones will become fully cloudy/milky in color as time goes on they will turn amber in color. You will have a mix of all colors of them on your buds. Depending on what type of high you like you can take them in stages if you want. Some times the main cola ripens before the lower buds. Most growers seem to take them with a few clear, mostly cloudy/milky with 5%-30% amber trichomes. Personally I have been taking mine at about 5% amber it seems to give me a bit of everything from a head type high to start then drifting into a relaxing body high after an hour or so. It's really a matter of personal taste. Dry it slowly for 6-7 days to allow the sugars and chlorophyll to break down then jar it up and use small electronic humidity meters in each jar take them down to 62% humidity. If the humidity lands between 65% - 67% you can leave the jar tops off for a few hours then put them back on. You may have to due this more than a few times a day. If it's above 67% take the buds out and let them dry out a bit more before putting them back in the jars. Once you can keep them near 62% you can add a 62% Boveda humidity pack then let them cure for 2 weeks open your jars a couple of times a week and take a smell it should smell like weed not a musky smell then sample your smoke. If you can cure it longer 4-6-8 weeks the buds will get better lighter in color, smell and taste/smoothness improves.
@Philindicus,Thank you, yes the big chop ! But still uncertain of best way to know it’s the right time to chop. I feel like my first grow with auto fem I jumped the gun. What’s running through my head is, I wish I had a plan set and knew how many weeks left and when is the right time to flush with autopot system. Advice and experience is key to a successful crop. Definitely not just running to the hydro store and away you go.
Nice grow plants look perfect. I don't know if you are aware that Co2 is heavier than air. It may be better to locate your filter up high rather than lower you may be removing more beneficial Co2. They sell large/wide plastic zip ties at most home improvement centers these work well for strapping the filter to your frame.
@Ianren, you can buy a few things here and there as you grow. A couple small fans that clip on to the posts of your tent to create a slight breeze effect. Or they also have some small oscilating fans. This movement will actually help make the stems stronger to hold up the larger buds. Just don't over do it or the leaves will show signs of stress.
@Philindicus,thank you I will take your advise right away and relocate the filter to top of tent, maybe I should replace it with a fan to circulate air under canopy?
For me I would say it's purely down to the grower and how well they can read their plants, what other training has been involved etc. I've found in my first grow one of my plants would go limp if you looked at her, while that would normally be a compliment it was a pain to keep bud sights open to light. This time however on one that I'm running at the moment, she seems to strive from it. Timing wise I would agree around 2nd to 3rd and then I personally found that defoliating as required over weeks 4 to 6 was ideal, less stress to the plant over the flowering stage by taking a little here and there, rather than hitting the plant again with one big defoliation. If you target the bigger leaves at week 2/3 you will mostly just need to focus on the dead leaves over weeks 4 to 6. Hope that makes sense, and hopefully it helps, happy growing.
They are coming along nicely. You'll get 10 opinions for every question. You can simply tuck down any large fan leaves that are blocking light to the bud site. Also you can remove the fan leaves from the lower 1/3 of the plant and any tiny bud sites which will never get enough light to amount to much. This will direct the energy to the upper buds. When you have plenty of fan leaves which you do you can feel comfortable doing this technique. If you don't feel comfortable doing it all at once do it gradually a couple of times a week. But definitely remove the tiny bud sites the plant uses a lot of energy to make flowers.
Also do you know what the actual wattage draw your light are using? If the manufacturer recommends a specific light range use that. After they are done stretching you may be able to lower your lights a few inches to give them a slightly higher intensity which would be good for bud growth. You just need to be careful to watch for signs of light stress in the leaves.
Hi @Ianren! Defoliation is a controversial topic but in my opinion some plants gives you no other choice. Leafy plants with big indica-style shaped leaves will create a lot of shades onto lower bud sites. Defoliation is awesome when done correctly, but it could be a nightmare if done too much or at the wrong time. Before removing a leaf, I always ask myself: is this leaf really blocking the light? For how many nodes / bud sites? How close are the next leaves? How healthy is this leaf? You should make your own experiments and see how it goes. I usually try not to defoliate after the 2nd week into flowering stage, I want my plants to focus on bud sites and resin production, not on recovering from leaf tucking. Keep us up-to-date, happy growing! 👊
Let me start first by stating that I'm no fan of defoliating. Now, it should be done after the stretch, that is after the 3d week of flower, after that, you have 2 possibilities, a 2nd major defoliation around day 42 of flower (2 weeks later) or little by little over the whole 4th to 6th week.
@Philindicus,I have been having a hard time making this work on my phone, every time I add a week I lose my pics from previous week. I believe I would have a better time on a desktop
Can anyone give me a review on safers 3 in 1 bug spray, or recommend a better way to deal with this issue. Hoping I am early enough in veg to take care of this.
Thanks for the reply’s. I am not sure actual wattage draw just what wattage states when I got the lights. How would I check wattage draw? I feel like my growth has slowed down maybe lowering lights a bit will help. I am guessing buds will grow fast when plants stretch is complete?
Ianren
