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Week 2 - So far so good. Plants and roots seem healthy as far as I can tell.
Transplanted into larger 5" net cups. Hopefully I didn't disturb them too much. In future I think I will plant the seedlings directly into the 5" cups.
Also now using a larger bucket with more water in an effort to maintain a more stable water temperature. It's a small grow space and the light is generating quite a bit of heat.
Would appreciate any advice on any additional nutrients/supplements I should/could be using for my grow. Right now I just have the General hydroponic Flora series and I'm loosely following their nutrient schedule. Is this enough? Thanks in advance K
does it contain NPK, K, Ca, Mg, S, B, Cu, Fe, Mn, Mo, and Zn?
if so, and in proper ratios and concentrations, you don't need anythign else :)
if they have a data sheet showing elemental ppm, an anwers can be given.. otherwise it's a guess and relying on anecdotal guesses.
I think they look healthy. i'd do some googling on that brand.. if you dn't see bunch of complaining about how you ahve to do 1/2 strength, etc... it's probably fine. you'll find all sorts of comments over the past decade about FF like that an dplenty of others.
if a hydroponic system of nutrients doesn't provide it all and you must buy 2-3 other products on top of a 2 or 3-part system, i'd look elsewhere, as they are just doing that to increase profit margin...
a good system allows you to adjust a couple things and mostly get whatever ppm you want out of each nutrient. that way you can adjust to the diversity that you will see in each seed you germinate.
Heading into week 3 of vege, things still seem normal. Growth rate is starting to increase. Roots have developed nicely and the plant wasn't too fussed from the transplant last week.
I've increased the nutrients resulting in a PPM of about 850, looking forward to seeing how the girls respond to that.
Once the plants have a little more vertical development I will try some low stress training.
I'm Enjoying the learning process - I took the red pill and the rabbit hole sure is deep.
Appreciate any comments or advice.
Cheers
Update: Started some LST!!
Hey Growers,
I'm a few weeks into my first grow and I'm keen to try some LST. Is it too early to start training them? Also, they're a short strain so should I even bother training them at all?
Appreciate any advice.
Thanks K
I started LST this grow when my plant was 5" tall (a dwarf strain) and 16 days old. Though for your first time, I would recommend waiting until your plant is 6-12" tall with 4-6 nodes. Week 3 is ideal, but even week 4 is good. LST is absolutely worth doing even on a dwarf strain. The "stress" is beneficial and its a free way to increase your yield. The only reason not to use LST would be if you're a more experienced grower looking to use another method of training that doesn't work with LST (most do).
My first grow I began LST around Day 22 on a dwarf strain. LST kept it to about a foot tall (my first diary), and I defoliated because dwarf strains can become very bushy. This grow I started LST on day 16, defoliation in week 4, and will probably add super cropping in week 6 to further boost yield. To me this is one of the most enjoyable parts of growing.
Into week 4 now and I'm starting to pour the coal to these girls. I did a nutrient change and increased the solution PPM to 950. At the same time I replaced the air pump for a more powerful one as the other one I had was fairly weak.
Still seem healthy and they are getting very bushy. I did a little LST mid last week and they seem to be responding well to that. This is my first grow and I'm not sure if I should defoliate a little so I can expose more tops to light or if I should just let them do their thing. I will see how they go this week.
Looks like these birds are heading into flowering now. Started to show pistils and stretch earlier this week so I've started transitioning their nutrients. I also moved them from one large reservoir into their own smaller buckets as it was starting to get crowded. Although it's a pain to check individual buckets each day, it's a little easier to work on them. Maybe next grow I'll sort out a recirculating system to make nute changes a bit easier.
Checking the solution each day I noted that they were drinking a lot more water and the PPM's were increasing indicating that they were slightly over fed. Will probably try 2/3rds of the manufacturers recommended amounts next.
Pretty happy with how they are looking. They really exploded this week!
Note: The 3rd smaller plant in there is a photo period white widow freebie I got with the auto seeds. I thought it wasn't going to make it through the seedling phase and I was short on room so I put it outside. It ended up looking pretty healthy so I decided to put it in the tent with the autos and experiment with topping and mainlining her. Growth seems slow but she looks healthy enough.
Hey Growers,
Heading into flowering now and I'm wondering if my plants could benefit from some light defoliation? I've LST'd them as best I can to help even the canopy and help the light penetrate lower down as well. I'm just a little hesitant to defoliate because they are Autos.
possibly, but becareful as nothign will grow back at this point, eh? Always a guess about that unless it's a clone of a photo.
here's a few rules i follow.
Leave at least 1-2 per node.
Never more than 1/3rd in a sitting and time to heal after.
Have a reason.. what is it helping? Start there and pick a leaf to cut off, not the other way around. Find the reason, then cut. (simplified, but have to think about multiple sites to avoid cutting all leaves off 1 node instead of spreading it out to accomplish same goal)
Just trying to provide local ATP to nodes deeper into canopy. Think solar panels, not bud sites themselves, they are just nearby. LEaves produce ATP that powers cellular biology and it's more efficient if it's a close by leaf rather than trucked in via phloem.
Stretched quite a lot and starting to mass up a bit. The smell is very sweet and berry like - love it! You can see in one of the pictures that one of the plants is significantly taller/bulkier than the other. This has been true throughout the whole grow. Genetics I guess.
Anyway, looking healthy so I defoliated quite a bit on both plants, removing lower fan leaves and branches that had no hope of reaching the canopy. Hoping this will help light penetration and air circulation. They were getting pretty bushy. Looking forward to seeing some more growth!
Holy smokes! These girls are stacking up nicely and the smell is unbelievably good! Very sweet and citrusy. Already looking sticky and resinous.
I haven't changed much environment and nutrient wise, maybe pluck the odd leaf here and there - I'm just letting them grow.
They are drinking quite a lot, the larger one is taking about 2 litres per day so I have to be on it with them being in the small buckets - I need a bigger grow space!
These chicks are fattening up nicely. The bucket feels heavier every time I lift it.
Again, haven't changed much just been keeping an eye on them. I did get a little nutrient burn earlier in the week. It came because I was topping up the buckets with the same strength nutrients without realizing that the nutrients were not being consumed at the same rate as the water. So I ended up inadvertently increasing the PPMs to around 1800. I am now alternating top ups with half strength nutes and just PH'd water to keep the PPMs where I want them.
They otherwise seem healthy and the smell is amazing. I'm hoping to get a good haul off my first grow.
Any comments, advice or questions appreciated.
Cheers
This was my first grow and I'm quite happy with how it went. The plants were very easy going and I didn't have too many hiccups.
I've certainly learned a lot though and I look forward to the next one!
kapai
