1st Grow

Gotcha Am new to this. Growing 3 Fastbuds Crystal Meth automatics (first attempt at growing at all in 30 years, grew a long time ago and things have changed dramatically). 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. LSD25 plants I am also growing the 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. The Crystal Meth plants show not signs of the same problems as the LSD25 strain, Crystal Meth plants look great. At the end of week 3 side branching is appearing but only 1 of the 3 Crystal Meth plants has stretched enough to start LST, the other two are very compact plants with little or no stretch yet. 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 globes per fitting, each globe rated at 225 watts but from the wall 75 watts, I have 4 fittings 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 5 Fastbuds LSD-25 Autos which I am starting a separate diary for. 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. The Crystal Meth plants seemed to be ok with the hot schedule but the LSD-25 plants were set back, two remained midgets, 3 are almost recovered and 2 coped very well like the Crystal Meth plants did.

Gotcha 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.

Gotcha 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. I noticed that two plants under the new 600w LED seem to be doing much more than the ones under the 4 globe CFL Lights I have so have ordered another 600w LED so that there is one per 4 plants. I would like two Viparspectra but because of finances and the stage of the grow I have ordered another cheap Chinese one.

Gotcha I figured out that the major mistake I made with this grow was to believe the nutrient manufacturers dose level of nutrients. Obviously things are different when you are top watering in coco. Whenever I tried to go up to the recommended dose nut burn would appear along with eagle claws. So bringing the dose back down to 4ml of A & B resulted in smaller doses of other essential nutrients, hence the stunted growth. Not enough CalMag. Have got some CalMag on the way so hopeful that by adding it I can still get a good yield. I must say these Crystal Meth plants handled the Ph swings and nut burn a lot better than the LSD25 plants I have did. Right the way through so far, although stunted these 3 plants have retained their colour and have looked healthy. So far these three plants seem like a very tough strain to me. Have added another 600w LED full spectrum so more light to them now, Have cut back on the CFL's just have two units of 4 globes and am moving them about to the plants that have slower growth.

Gotcha Nothing seems to phase this strain. Throughout the mistakes I made while the other strain got nitrogen toxicity and curled leaves with nutrient burn these Crystal Meth plants remained looking healthy with none of the same signs. Since they started showing signs of flowering and since I've started adding small amounts of CalMag and PK 13/14 they have really responded in a great way, very vigorous growth with fantastic health colour all over the plants. This seems to be a very forgiving strain and I will be using it in future grows for sure. I am certain that I will get a decent yield from these three and in the future now I have realised the mistakes I made I am sure they will be a much healthier plant with a good yield. For future grows in coco I will ph at 5.8 during veg and 6.1 as soon as they start to flower. I won't be using the LST method again I am certain it slows the grow so for any extra bud it might provide it takes more time to grow. Pretty sure a faster turn around would make up for any benefits of doing LST. Using side lights would provide extra yield so would make up for the overall yield. One thing is for sure I will be adding half strength CalMag to every feed for both vege and feeding. I've noticed with some new seedlings I've started it has made a big difference to the health of the plant and they are growing faster than the current grow did.

Gotcha All three plants have always looked healthy but growth is slow. They took off then became slow again, two are flowering and 1 is behind but seems to be developing better than the other did, it has only just now shown some pistils. I noticed a white substance on the outside of the cloth pots which is salt residue from the research I've done so I am undertaking a major flush of all pots and cleaning the salts off of the pots. Flushing with ph'd water at 6.1 for 24 litres then 3 litres same ph with less nutrients than before but have increased CalMag and PK 13/14. Still only using small amounts of CalMag and PK 13/14. Will increase PK 13/14 for one week once most of the plants have reasonable bud growth on them.

Gotcha Week 9 all plants look healthy but growth still seems to be slow. No deficiencies, no bugs, no problems apart from slow growth. The heat in the room might be the main problem, air con is going full pelt and room still makes 95 degrees during the day.

Gotcha They are definately in flower mode, Still feels like slow growth, have increased PK 13/14 dose. Dropped Canna A & B back to 2ml per 3 litres to allow for extra PK nutrient. Heads seem to be growing slowly so can't estimate the end of the grow. Will wait for the trichomes to tell me.

Gotcha Plants seem healthy and are growing although a bit behind the other strain they are with.

Gotcha Buds are airy but showing signs of fattening up, plants seem very behind at 12 weeks, I thought I would be harvesting and drying by now!

Gotcha Week 13 and both Crystal Meth plants are now in full flower and both forming some chunky buds. Probably another month to go. 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 of Part A and Part B 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. In flower I bumped the nuts up to 1ml per litre and added PK 13/14 for flowering. I've added small amounts of Calmag throughout and can say that if growing in coco you must also use calmag. You read a lot of people saying you don't give them any nuts for the first 2 weeks but that doesn't apply with coco. A very weak nut strength is required with some calmag to get them going. 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! For any potential increase in yeild loss of time is a factor if bending, twisting the plant! Coco Coir is a ton of work if hand watering with 10 plants. Investigating easier watering and water retrieval options is a must! This Crystal Meth strain is worth another grow. It has been strong and vigorous, while another strain had problems with nut levels these 2 plants sucked it up, always looked healthy and are now developing the largest buds of the grow. An interesting pheno if you leave them alone is that it develops like a christmas tree and looks like one when you have cleaned out the bottom growth. It shows it's Ruderelis traits. It seems to be a 12 week strain but for potency, Bud size and ease of grow it would be my pick for a relatively trouble free grow! There seems to be a point in the plants life when it slows down on nitrogen intake and most of my plants have turned or are turning very dark green (a sign of nitrogen toxicity). Not sure how to deal with that when already feeding very lightly compared to manufacturers schedule. Might have to back off on the nuts and increase PK 13/14 and Calmag to compensate.

Gotcha The Crystal Meth plants are finally forming some chunky buds. Took a long time though and I reckon still another month to go on these two plants. Interesting plants though, I think well worth doing another grow with them! Very hardy plant, vigorous growth, big main colas. Withstoood what other strains would not.

Gotcha One plant is fattening nicely and the other now has buds sprouting out the sides. Will be interesting to see how they develop.

Gotcha Am about to try feeding with separate nutes to avoid nute burn. I figure I will water as normal with Canna A&B then the next day feed with Calmag, rhinoskin, PK 13/14. Anything over 2.5ml seems to burn them so am working on 2.5ml as the maximum nute level, when I add any extra nutes like Calmag I deduct that dose from the A&B nutes in mls. If I don't do that then burnt tips turn up. This Crystal Meth is forming a crazy main cola, it looks like foxtailing but the buds are filling out. With set backs this plant is now 4mths old. I sprouted another and it also grew like a christmas tree. The other mature plant I harvested for just under an ounce dried.

Gotcha I have started a new grow of 8 Crystal Meth plants, 1 Northern Lights, 1 Blue Dream, 5 Black Cream and 5 LSD25. The last 2 strains are a small plant so they won't make it to the end of the grow. Something to smoke while waiting for the larger 9 plants to finish.