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I am a husband, a dad (Zaddy), and a heavy cannabis consumer. After countless disappointments with the inconsistencies that come along with purchasing cannabis from outside sources, and a need to supplement my families income, I have decided to make my first serious attempt at growing my own cannabis. I have attempted growing bag seeds in less than optimal settings several times, but was never able to put serious time, effort, research, or funds into my endeavors. I have to say, when it comes to growing cannabis ignorance is certainly not bliss. It's my hope that my latest endeavors are full of fruitful, stanky, dank, and dripping nuggets of herb! Follow along, and feel free to offer any insight, suggestions, or tips from your own experience.
My setup:
- 4' long x 2' wide x 5' tall grow tent by Vivosun
- SolarXtreme 500 Full Spectrum LED Grow Light by California Lightworks (400 watt)
- 6" Inline fan and carbon filter with speed controller by Active Air
- 6" clip fan by Hurricane
- Smalll Humidifier with 24 hour tank (Walmart)
Grown in:
- 2 x 3 gallon fabric pots by Vivosun
- 2 x 3 gallon plastic pots (Home Depot)
- FoxFarm Happy Frog Soil
04/21/19: Started soaking 4 seeds in R/O water.
04/22/19: After soaking for 24 hours all seeds have popped. Three out of four already have tap roots poking out. I transferred the seeds to a moist paper towel, and place the towel into a plastic bag. The bag was placed in the tent with the lights off.
04/23/19: I sprayed the paper towel twice with R/O water over 24 hours to maintain moisture. After 24 hours all four seeds had exposed tap roots between 1/4"-1/2" long. The seeds were placed into 3 gallon pots filled with Happy Frog soil, 2 plastic pots and 2 fabric pots. I moistened the soil with a spray bottle and gently place the seeds in their new forever home. I numbered the pots with flower stakes to help keep track of their progress. Pots #1 and #3 are both fabric. Pots #2 and #4 are both plastic.
04/24/19: I placed plastic wrap over pots #2 and #4, and placed plastic bottles on pots #1 and #3. Hoping to maintain a higher relative humidity. I continue to spray the soil with R/O water every couple of hours to maintain moisture.
04/25/19: (Day 1) Boom! All four of the seeds have sprouted officially marking Day 1 for my white widow autos. Hopefully the beginning of a healthy and fruitful journey.
04/26/19: (Day 2) I have put plastic bottles over all four seedlings to keep the RH up around them.
04/27/19: (Day 3) Slow, but steady growth.
04/28/19: (Day 4) I started hardening off the seedlings by leaving the plastic bottles off. Concerned about a few signs of Cal-Mag deficiency since I have been watering with straight R/O water. I raised the light up to 30", it was previously at 26" (2" above the manufacturer's recommendation for Veg).
04/29/19: (Day 5) The plants got their first tease of a feeding today. 250 ml of R/O water with Cal-Mag (1 ml/gal) per plant at 6.5 pH and 70 ppm. All of the plants have started producing their second set of leaves.
04/30/19: (Day 6) The plants have responded well to the Cal-Mag feeding. No water today, letting the soil dry out.
05/01/19: (Day 7) The plants got their first real feeding today. 250 ml of R/O water with Bergman's Plant Food - Seedling (0.3 grams/liter) and Cal-Mag (1 ml/gal) per plant at 6.5 pH and 238 ppm. The plants second set of leaves have taken shape.
Overall I am very satisfied with the first week of growth. All of the plants are developing very well. They are short and very compact, and already have new growth at the node sites. Sorry for the novel lol I promise to not be so long winded in the future. Thanks for taking an interest in my first serious grow, please feel free to offer any knowledge from personal experience. Till next week....Happy Growing!
05/01/2019: (Day 8) The plants responded well to their first real feeding on Day 7. New growth at the nodes has taken off. They are starting to look bushy. I sprayed them with Bergman's Bug Blaster from ILGM at 1/2 strength. Noticed a couple gnats in the past day or so. Changed the plants to a 20 hours on 4 hours off cycle, had been on 24 hours of light previously.
05/03/2019: (Day 9) The plants received their second feeding today. 250 ml of RO water with Bergman's Plant Food-Seedling (0.4g/L) and Cal-Mag (1ml/gal) per plant at 6.45 pH and 322 ppm. Very pleased with their growth so far.
05/05/2019: (Day 11) 350 ml of RO water with Cal-Mag (3ml/gal) per plant at 6.58 pH and 144 ppm.
05/07/2019: (Day 13) Back to a nutrient feeding, trying to cycle in a water/Cal-Mag feeding after every second nutrient feeding to keep from having to much salt build up in the soil. The plants received 350 ml of RO water with Bergman's Plant Food-Seedling (0.5g/L) and Cal-Mag (3ml/gal) at 6.37 pH and 630 ppm.
05/08/2019: (Day 14) Let the training begin! Today was a big day for the girls. I am attempting two different training styles. Plants #1 and #4 will receive LST (low stress training) and defoliation only. Plants #2 and #3 are being topped at the third node, and setup for a mainline. Only a few hours after the first round of training they are staring to turn back up. I sprayed them again with Bergman's Bug Blaster at 1/2 strength, no new gnat activity.
(Week 2)
Week two was a strong week for vegetative growth. The plants have all responded well to the nutrients so far. Being that this is my first serious grow I wanted try my hand at a couple different styles of training. I have been inspired by numerous experienced growers on youtube and instagram, From Seed to Stoned, Mr. Canucks Grow, and Green 75 to name a few. They are all very successful with their respective techniques, and its cool to see how cannabis responds to different stimuli. I hoping to learn a lot about the personal growing style I would like to develop over the course of this grow. Till next week.....
05/09/2019: (Day 15) 475 ml of RO water with Bergman's Plant Food-Growtime (2.85g/gal) and Cal-Mag (5ml/gal) at 6.39 pH and 655 ppm. The plants have responded well to training so far. The LST'd plants have not slowed down at all, developing several new tops. The HST'd plants have slowed down a bit, but the mainline growth is still progressing. I removed a couple leaves off #1 and #4 to expose nodes to more light. Trimmed up the bottoms of #2 and #3 to clean up mainline.
05/11/2019: (Day 17) 700 ml of RO water with Cal-Mag (5ml/gal) at 6.68 pH and 226 ppm. I gave the plants considerably more water than I previously had in hopes of providing a mini flush every third watering to prevent nutrients from building up in the soil.
05/13/2019: (Day 19) Continuing to lightly defoliate in an attempt to expose as many budsites as possible. No Staking or training today. I also forgot to water them plants today :(, Im hoping I did stress the plants too much.
05/14/2019: (Day 20) 475 ml of RO water with Bergman's Plant Food-Growtime (2.85g/gal) and Cal-Mag (5ml/gal) at 6.39 pH and 655 ppm. I may have stressed the plants out a bit by missing a watering day, rookie mistake. Im going to give them back to back days of feeding.
05/15/2019: (Day 21) 500 ml of RO water with Bergman's Plant Food-Growtime (1.5g/2L) and Cal-Mag (4ml/2L) at 6.5 pH and 799 ppm. Today was a big day! #4, which has been the most vigorous so far, has popped several white pistols on a handful of it's tops. They are now moving into the pre-flower/transition phase. Hoping the mainlined plants continue to veg and build a firm structure before going into flower.
(Week 3)
What a week! Definitely had its ups and downs, but we are certainly ending on a high note! The LST'd plants have really filled out. Lightly defoliating them has really stimulated branching and development of new tops. The HST'd plants' structure is slowly, but surely taking shaped. Its a bit nerve racking watching the LST'd plants explode in comparison to the others, but I have faith that the structure provided by the mainline will lead to even canopy with multiple main colas. All things considered I am very please with the grow so far, and things are going to start getting really interesting with the girls moving into the flower stage. I can't wait to see how these plants continue to develop! Stay tuned, buds are inbound!
05/16/2019: (Day 22) The plants are continuing to flourish! The soil is quite wet still, so no watering today. A round of defoliation. I try not get carried away when defoliating, but I always find myself wanting to take more leaves off. Some self control is definitely required.
05/17/2019: (Day 23) The mainlined plants received some more staking today. I was finally able to stake down the first nodes on the mainlines to spread the plant out a bit. They are staring to resemble what I envision as a "mainline".
05/18/2019: (Day 24) This was the first time I have had to feed the plants different nutrient solutions based on how they have been reacting to previous feedings.
Plant #1 - 500 ml of RO water with Cal-Mag (1ml/0.5L) at 6.3 pH and 360 ppm.
Plant #2 and #3 - 500 ml of RO water with Bergman's Plant Food-Growtime (0.7g/1L) and Cal-Mag (2ml/1L) at 6.68 pH
630 ppm.
Plant #4 - 500 ml of RO water withBergman's Plant Food-Flowertime (0.5g/0.5L) and Cal-Mag (1.5ml/0.5L) at 6.35 pH
and 1017 ppm.
05/21/2019: (Day 27) 500 ml of RO water per plant with Cal-Mag (5ml/gal) at 6.55 pH and 338 ppm. I decided to skip a nutrient feeding as all of the plant were starting to look a little more green than they should, in my opinion.
(Week 4)
Another solid week of growth for the little ladies. They continue to impress, they have handled everything I have thrown at them and haven't skipped a beat. The mainlined plants continue to be behind in overall size when compared to the LST'd plants. That's not to say that I haven't been satisfied with their overall growth. The structure that is taking shape on the mainlines is very promising, and I expect explosive growth once they start to stretch. #4 has been a joy to watch grow she is the furthest along in maturity, and it shows. She is a beast in size, and is packing on the pistols. Every week is more exciting than the last. The anticipation is killing me, and I fear it will only get worse as these girls start to pack on buds. Till next week! Grow Zaddy out!!!!
(Week 5) Another great week in the books! These girls have kicked it into high gear, and are really starting to stretch out to make room for some frosty buds. Plant #2 is a little bit behind her sisters, but her structure is setup to really explode over the next couple of weeks. Plant #4 is the front runner, and has been for a while now. I can start to envision the stacked colas she is going to produce. #1 and #3 are around the same stage of maturity, somewhere in between #2 and #4.
Its hard to make any real comparisons between the different training styles at this point in the grow. The mainlined plants seem to be a little behind their LST'd counterparts in maturity. That is not to say that they haven't experienced explosive growth as well. Their energy seems to be much more evenly dispersed among the many tops, which is exactly the intent.
I cant wait to see what next week brings.
Grow Zaddy out.......