1st Grow

Am new to this. Growing 5 Fastbuds LSD-25 automatics. Living in a very hot house so using a portable air con to try and keep temps down. Made the rookie mistake of too much nutrients but quickly corrected that. Leaves showed a potassium deficiency so raised nutrient levels to 5 ml Part A and Part B Canna per 3 litres new growth seems ok. After flushing all pots with 15 litres of water ph'd at 5.8 I finished the flush with 3 litres per pot of nutrients with rhizotonic 6ml and cannazyn 7ml. At the end of week 3 side branching is appearing so have started bending LST. 3 are not yet ready to bend with LST and one is showing signs of overwatering. Am now in spring outside and temperatures are rising. Will be interesting to see if the portable air con can keep the temps down in the room. Growing in an open closet. Using Coco Noir soil which I washed thoroughly, Was the brick type because I could not get the bagged Coco. 75% coco 25% vermiculite in 12 litre fabric pots. Currently the coco soil is not drying out very quickly so after the big flush I am waiting to see how long that will take. Will probably give a small 500ml per plant feed every 3 days because I am not sure and don't want another deficiency. The lights I am using for veg are photography green screen CFL White lights. There are 4 per light fitting each globe rated at 225 watts but from the wall 75 watts, I have 4 fitting so am running 16 globes. I have a cheap chinese full spectrum to add when they go to flower! My air con broke down so another new one is on the way. This is not a cheap first grow for me but must finish it. Also growing 3 Crystal Meth Autos which I am starting a separate diary for. They, unlike the LSD25 don't seem to have experienced the same problems and are really nice looking plants. The blurb from Fastbuds was that LSD25 strain can withstand ph swings and is a forgiving strain, so far that doesn't seem to be the case. Also I used the Canna Grow schedule that tells you how much nutes to use at each stage but it appears they are wrong their schedule is far too strong if you follow the doses they recommend.

This week growth seems to have stalled and there are signs of either nute burn or overwatering. The coco does not dry quickly, it is still very wet after 3 days so I've been doing small feedings but the eagle claw is still in the new growth which is very slow. I am going to not water until the top of the coco is completely dry which will be 5-7 days but am worried about starving them for nutes. Everything I read said it is almost impossible to overwater in coco but it doesn't seem to be the case. Plants are in 12 litre fabric pots so drainage isn't an issue. Side branching is happening but very slowly, not sure if upward growth stalls when side branching appears but am guessing it shouldn't. Week 5 will determine whether this grow will go well or if it is a bust I suspect. I am certain this has nothing to do with genetics but everything to do with my inexperience. Room temperature is under control and steady at 75, Humidity is where it should be but the coco isn't drying out very quickly. I added some powdered egg shells sprinkling it on the top of the coco lightly and watered it in with half a teaspoon of Epsom salts because I keep reading that coco should be charged with calcium and magnesium prior to use and I didn't know that. Perhaps that is why all plants have shown slow growth. Am now running a 600w LED as well as the CFL's all lights are far enough away not to burn. Apart from ceasing to water for up to a week and keeping the nute strength way below the canna feeding schedule I don't know what else I can do. The environment temp humidity is ok so all I can do is to stop feeding, dry out the coco and see if that makes a difference. They can't be far away from flowering now, they say growth will double or triple during that time so I hope these problems are resolved before flowering starts.

Sick of seeing very little growth I made some changes which seem to be making a difference. I have stopped tying the plants down and am now going to let them do their thing. Also I changed from rainwater to tap water for the calcium and magnesium content in the tap water. I've upped the ph to 6.1 and stopped all additives for one week. Dropped from 5ml canna A & B to 4ml. There is no way I can feed these girls at the levels canna recommend. It just burns them. All in all the lot of them look a lot happier with good side branching growing as a result of the LST I did. Plants are between 8-12 inches high but don't look it because they are tied down. I've ordered some Calmag and some more Rhitzotonic. Plants have still not shown that they are female but they are feminised seeds so should be all female. Hoping for a really good growth spurt so that I get at least an ounce per plant. My dreams of 2 per plant won't happen I am pretty sure. They all look well behind other successful grows I followed for the same strain.

If anything this grow being my first one has been a learning curve. The plants are in very early flowering mode now and are stretching. I think the biggest mistake I made was to believe the nutrients manufacturers directions. I've never been able to get to the nutrient levels they recommend without the plants going toxic from nitrogen overdose. So cutting back on the nutrients to avoid nitrogen toxicity has resulted in smaller doses of other essential nutrients. I think I have figured out that I have had a calmag problem the entire time so have some on the way which should get here this week. I am still hopefull that by adding that that the flowering stage will result in some good buds. We shall see. I've started new plants, couple more LSD, 2 Crystal Meth, 2 Red Poison, 3 black cream plus a Northern Lights.....all autos. Already they are growing better than these guys were at week 2. I also added another 600w LED so basically have one light per 4 plants at the present time. Still have the CFL's but have cut back to using only two which I am moving around to the slower plants. I will have to move them to be over new tubs that have the new babies in them veging. It's hard working around not having a large work area. With summer approaching the room temperature will go beyond what I can control with the portable air con so trying to get two quick grows in before that extreme temperature gets here. Will probably have to shut down for 3 months when it gets here because no use trying to grow in 120 degree heat or more. In the meantime I am anxious for the CalMag to get here because I am certain it will make a difference.

They are finally flowering and stretching but are well behind what I see in other peoples grows. I've started adding CalMag at half the recommended strength every feed as well as PK 13/14 and have the ph at 6.1, they are looking a lot healthier and more vigorous growth now. I think for future grows I will be veging at 5.8ph and when they start to flower adjusting to 6.1 while adding small amounts of CalMag and PK 13/14 most feeds. I'm not holding my breath for a big yield but maybe they will surprise me.

All plants are now in flower but seems to be happening very slowly. One is forming chunky heads but not many of them. I noticed all pots now have a white substance which research tells me is salts on the outside of the pot so have started a major flush and am cleaning off the excess salts off of the outside of the pots. Could be the reason for slow growth. It's a ton of work flushing properly using 24 litres per pot of ph'd water then an extra flush with 3 litres of nutrients to replace what's washed out. I still don't know what to expect, there is nothing here that is making me go wow! I research daily and found a technique called the 4 inch rule. Guy uses 4 inch rock wool cubes to start his plants and removes the plastic, he only waters around the edges of the rock wool and the roots air prune as they grow, the end result is a massive root ball, so when he puts the rock wool cube into the pot it already has a big healthy root ball. I'm going to give that a go after my next grow. I've already started my next grow to get a head start for when this one finishes. I reckon I've still got a good month or more before this on is finished. Days here are becoming hotter and the air con in the grow room struggles to keep the temps down. Room has got up to 95 during the day but the temps around the plants are cooler than that I have to have the air con blowing on the plants to have any cooling effect. On the 95 degree days I have it blowing on the actual pots to keep the root temps down which I believe is more important than the actual plant.

Week 9 and things are still going very slowly. Unless a miracle happens I won't be getting much of a yeild, very strong already though smoke wise. I nipped off some smaller growth with pistils to clear out the under growth that doesn't get much light and dried it in the microwave and it got me stoned for about 4 hours, very stoned so will be a good smoke when finished. All plants seem healthy enough, they have good leaf colour and no signs of deficiencies of any kind so the slow small growth has got me baffled. I was expecting more. Maybe the heat has something to do with it, even with the air con going the room has been reaching 95 degrees for the past three days. No wilting or anything abnormal except for slow growth.

None of the plants are showing any purple so far. All have small heads on them hoping they will fatten up. All plants look healthy, A few burnt tips as I discover how much is too much!

Nothing of note to report, buds are very slow to grow but they are getting bigger. Very slow process.

Everything seems healthy, buds are still tiny, very slow growth, some new growth happening, slight swelling of buds. I was expecting a lot more than these tiny buds. Trichomes are all clear so maybe there is some mega fattening on the way.

Well week 13 and am still waiting for a miracle to increase yield. What is there is fattening somewhat but not much new growth so I think it is all about done. Trichomes are still clear so will wait for them to go to amber before harvesting. Dribs and drabs I've dried and smoked have been very potent so perhaps this strain is one for your personal stash because what I have here isn't going to cover set up costs and electricity. Lessons learned are to remember that when you bend, twist, LST a plant it sets it back time wise. Swings in Ph set them back and stunt them, Nut overdose sets them back and stunts, feeding schedules from manufacturers are too hot especially early in the life of the plant. 2.5ml to 2ml per 3 litres of ph'd water seems to be the go. 5.8 ph when plant is in veg and 6.1 ph when in flower. 18/6 light schedule (a little dark time) electricity bill to consider as well, heat does not help but what do you do when the air con can't cool the room? I've got another lot coming through and I've not touched them at all they have developed much faster than the first grow! So doing LST, bending and twisting does set the plant back time wise, throw in any mistakes with nut's or ph and you can be a month to a month and a half behind with less growth! For any potential increase in yield loss of time is a factor! Coco Coir is a ton of work if hand watering with 10 plants. Investigating easier watering and water retrieval options is a must!

14 weeks is enough I think, this grow isn't going to get any better so am starting to flush 4 of the plants and will harvest in a weeks time. Not going to be much there I don't think. A few Amber trichomes appearing now so time to wind this up.

Small 12 litre pots, ph imbalances, nut burn stunted the plants. The smoke is very strong. I just wish there was more of it.