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DATES 8/2 - 8/8
This is my first grow and I want to be very close to 100% organic if possible. Starting with 2 Girl Scout Cookies Extreme seeds from ILGM in a 2 x 2 tent. I start starting off in a light potting mix. My first container size-up included a soil mix of 40%fox farm ocean forest, 15%fox farm happy frog, and 20%native topsoil/EWC mix, 25% perlite . I have very access to rich aged soil in my yard and think it could be a great addition of microorganisms to the grow.
8/9- 8/15
8/11 Fed ladies with VERY light compost tea 1 gallon of farm well water and 1 teaspoon mollasses, small clump of EWC, and 1 teaspoon of Kelp Meal, brewed for 24Hrs then applied evenly to soil.
8/12
BEGAN MIXING SUPERSOIL FOR FINAL POTTING
4 part FFOF (buffered 6.3-6.8) 2 parts harvested forest humus 1 part FFHP (buffered 6.3-6.8)1 part organic EWC 1 part backyard EWC (ph 7) some charcoal, cup of kelp meal, 1/2 cup molasses 1 part perlite (needs more drainage before potting anything, thinking of adding rice hulls instead of more perlite...
8/13
This day I began LST using gardenwire and a small wooden stake. GSCE1 began to wilt for a few hours, but recovered quickly once the medium dried out a bit more (i think i overwatered).
8/14 Plants looked great in the morning. Since I am overly eager I decided today to top the plants as well. The reason being, I wanted to minimize the overall duration of stress to the plants by combining both training methods EARLY and at the same time, resulting in fast horizontal branching which is my goal.
8/15
Both plants look like they are happy and responding well to the training. At around 17 days old the plants were topped, and I was wondering if this might have been too early since the plants were still so short. Looking back it was a great idea!
Please if you have any comments or advice, don't be afraid to comment!
8/16
I was worried my plants were going to soon outgrow their containers, so I decided to make today a transplant day. I have included a wide array of ingredients in my living soil and am excited to see the plants development throughout the week so stay tuned for updates daily!
BTW this is my first grow. Plants are only 19 days old! seem to be doing something right so far.
I raised my 300w grow light to 24 inches to support the plants transition into the larger container.
8/17
I began LST in the larger containers today using wooden stakes and wax coated hemp wick to gently pull down the main stem.
8/20
The girls have done some good growing! It looks like they may be affected by slight nutrient burn??? I am in fully organic soil no added nutes, maybe it was just too hot.
x-planted 4 days ago, Pics from 8/20 you can see the leaves are pointing down and overall lower leaves are limp. fabric pot, drainage rocks at bottom, 6.5 ph only "feed" was very diluted EWC molasses tea.
8/23 - 8/29
8/23 A week after topping, plants were developing thick stems and many shoots coming from under the canopy.
In attempting to LST, I broke one of major branches on one of my girls. After trying to duct tape it, I decided to just remove it fully.
8/24 Instead of buying a trellis, I woke up and said I was going to make my own! Using bamboo and hemp wick, I made a makeshift trellis with approximately 3inch squares
8/26
GSCE continuing to bush out from the inside. many potential bud sites are growing seemingly daily. Planning to switch to flower once I fill around 75% of the SCROG :D
8/27
been removing certain fan leaves to allow greater light penetration with this cheap LED. my 135w Rspec HLG 288qb was supposed to be here, but it arrived without the light. :(
8/28
exposing certain areas by bending branches/leaves under others, plants seems to be fine with whatever training I try. There does seem to be SLIGHT nute burn, should I worry?
How to go about defoliation during flowering? I am wondering if I should be removing leaves slowly over the weeks, or if I should do a major defoliation now before the plants start budding. some leaves are crowded, not out of control. It is the start of week 2 of flower.
Hey!
General rules for defoliation are taking away the biggest fan leaves with the long stems, the ones that give the most shade.
Then you can take out all the under growth on the bottom that simply won't amount to anything.
You want to take a good 20% off, enough to give more light penetration but where its still a bit hard to see through you plants.
This is done when you switch to 12/12..
Three weeks in to flower you do another defoliation. applying the same rules.
After that they can normally go untouched except for plucking a fan leaf here or there thats blocking major bud sites.
If you want visual, I recently posted a bunch of photos and videos of before and after defoliation on my diaries.
Will be posting the 3 weeks before and after defoliation this week.
If you want an in depth tutorial check this out.
https://www.growweedeasy.com/defoliation
Hope this helped.
Good luck and happy growing!
8/31 HLG 135w QB288 rpsec came today, just finished set up. Anyone have good success with this light? Hoping it isn't too intense for the 2 x 2 x 4 .
Topdressed 1/2 inch with coast of maine Quoddy blend Lobster compost. also added 15 garden worms to each fabric pot.
9/3 I raised my light couple days ago to 22 inches when I realized it was too intense for this stage of the plants life... so I dimmed the light to probably 60%. The heat stress has almost fully gone away and the plants look pretty good. Please call out any red flags if you see something that looks off! I am open to all help and constructive criticism as this is my first grow and I understand, I know NOTHING
I am currently growing in a 2ft x 2ft x 4ft grow tent, the top of the canopy under the scrog is at 14 inches (including the container height) which offers me 34 inches of space between the tent roof and the canopy. Should I throw one of these plants outside? Or Will I be okay?
9/13 I just came back from 1 week vacation yesterday, so today is the start of week 7. My plants were thoroughly thirsty. In fact, they looked so sad when I got home that I watered them immediately and didnt take any pics when they were in their worst stage. The containers felt lighter than ever. I also defoliated some of the yellowing/wilted leaves and very very thoroughly watered. Upon a full watering and about 18 hours later they are looking more recovered. I THINK I NEED TO UPGRADE CONTAINER SIZE as these fabric pots seem to be drying out very quickly in my tent. Which would mean... one of these plants likely wont fit!
9/14 I figure Out i had 2 containers that would work for the job. They are approximately 5-6 gallon buckets into similar Organic soil mix they were in before. Slightly increased composted material in the mix as I prep to flower tomorrow.
9/15 Switched to flower today, HLG 135w running at approximately 80% power which should be hitting somewhere around 4-600ppfd across the canopy at 18 inches hoping this is right for early flower.
9/22 8 days into flower, plants have been stretching a bit. Nothing too wild yet, and I am putting branches back under the SCROG every couple days, as well as removing some leaves from internal branching where it is getting crowded. Any advice on if/when to go more agressive with the defoliation?
9/27... first sign of flowers! this was 13 days since switching to 12/12... :D over couple weeks, been keping underneath canopy clean to prevent mold issues.
9/29 15 days of 12/12 light schedule. Plants look good, fed a compost tea to the microbe community.
I am trying to figure out wether my plants have light burn, too many nutes, or if they are ok, this is my first indoor grow so not sure.
9/30 Any input? Hoping a few experienced growers see this and can offer pointers when seen fit :)
Like the question asks, im lookin for someone experienced to look for anything wrong with the new budsites, specifically if they look overfed or too much light, etc. My only 'feeds' are for the microbes I brew teas 24-36hrs worm castings/aged compost, kelp meal, and molasses.
The buds look ok but you can see some burned tips starting which is a sign of overfeeding, in your case it could be the soil. Hopefully, I answered your question and remember Happy Growing and Free your mind one puff at a time.
week of 10/5
So I am trying to keep these girls going. It seems it may be too hot or too dry in the tent, some leaf edges curling and some lime green action in one of the plants. Overall, the buds still look pretty good and I am happy to see the next few weeks
10/11
Plants are doing ok. Top left plant needs help. Yellowing lower leaves, less bud production. Other plant looking really nice. Both plants have a lot of trichomes.
10/16.... As you can see, there is a major change in the grow. Yesterday I discovered the plant giving me trouble (or the plant i was GIVING trouble) totally hermed and pollinated itself. Hopefully I was quick enough and my other plant won't be affected. Otherwise, today marks 31 days in flowering. I already wasn't expecting a large yield with the 2 plants, now hopefully getting an ounce or 2!
10/19 day 32 of flower. Some nitrogen deficiency thinking its ok for this stage but I did feed 48 hour compost tea molasses, compost, kelp meal to see if she wanted some extra nutrients since some lower growth is showing deficiencies.
10/30 Day 43 Flowering!
I know, it isn't going to be much of a harvest. And my GSCE definitely doesn't seem TOTALLY thriving as I would like. Bud development is still nice, so I don't want to do anything major and destroy what should be a decent little harvest in a few weeks.
on 10/25, I tilled in about a teaspoon of an approximately 1-3-2 mixture of alfalfa, bone meal, chicken manure, kelp meal. Then covered
11/3 Got my new 3x3 for future purposes, set up my plant and am really trying to dial in VPD for end of this grow, as well as to learn for next grow to keep it dialed. Currently using an Inkbird to control Humidity in grow tent with a humidifier, it comes on when RH drops below 45, and turns off when it reaches 48. The temp has been steady around 72-73 degrees light on.
11/9 day 56 flower (Start of week 9) Been battling very low humidity all week coupled with warmer than usual november temps... Otherwise, buds look pretty good I think. Estimating 2 weeks left. What do you guys think?
11/13 Flowers ripening. trichomes still mostly clear, some cloudy, some amber on sugar leaves, nothing unusual. Still time for plants to fade properly, dropping temps to 64 at night and only water for last 25-30 days slowly letting medium dry more and more, should be plenty for a nice colorful finish...
BEGINNING OF WEEK 9 FLOWER...
63 days from switch to 12/12
Thinking this will fully finish within about a weeks time! Looking for heavy night time strain... I researched that although when trichomes begin ambering they are degrading to CBN, this does not mean peak THC production has stopped... SO I am looking for about 25% amber on these...
11/15 TRICHOME PICS... many sugar leaf trichs ambering, Calyxs still have at least 30% clear still...
overall estimate from looking at a vaster range of pics... (BUD TRICHS ONLY) 10% amber, 30% clear 60% cloudy AF
11/17 day 65 F... estimating a harvest this weekend.... stay tuned :D
11/16 removed some old trich pics and uploaded much better quality ones!
11/21/20
Weeks are slightly off, but this is day 68 of Flowering (at end of 10 weeks, beginning of 11)
Overall, Still letting this plant go a few more days. I had let medium nearly dry out in preparation for harvest, but I still see too many clear trichs for me to chop.
Watered a very small amount as I don't want to harvest when plant is bone dry...
New harvest date approximation November 23-26
11/22
UPDATE: Girls smell amazing, being careful keeping temps low at this point.
Aroma: hint of skunky chocolate, also definite minty/herbal/citrus notes... Excited for taste test in approximately 2-3 weeks.
11/24 new chop day
Full review coming in 2-3 weeks... While wet trimming, I knocked a couple bracts off (not calyxes) to check for seed development. Appears to be sensimilla.
Packed a couple bracts and some live resin from my scissors into a bowl. Not gonna make much of a conclusion based on that experience.... But as I like to say, this is definitely some THC weed 😂
*yes, I smoked those 4 little bracts. I heard Dr. Coco from Cocoforcnnabis on Growcast saying bracts attached to main stem are best way to try your harvest on the day of if you want just a little test to keep you satisfied*
Today I harvested, following the steps of many different growers, I managed to finish my first indoor grow! Overall, it was an eye-opening experience. Sure, I can read, research, listen to growcast, etc... but actually going through this grow has taught me so much about the important things as far as environmental control, light intensity, growing habits of indoor vs outdoor plants, and optimal watering. Everything from that list I had greatly out of optimum at least once during my grow. I still ended up with seed-free (I hope), aromatic, dense-looking cannabis!
Dr. Coco from Cocoforcannabis spoke on Growcast with Jordan River, saying his reasoning behind wet trimming. I slightly adjusted this method by wet-trimming the larger, denser buds more, while leaving more leaf material on the smaller popcorn buds to allow the plant to dry evenly. This is the goal at least! Of course, this is my first controlled dry and cure, so the journey is far from over! Thank you to everyone who has encouraged and offered advice as I believe this is a strong community of growers, who care not only for their own harvest, but for others.
Happy Green Growing!
Yeah, I played the drums with my GSCE nug. don't judge 😜
Yeah, I know this isn't a "flowering" week, but would anyone see this if I didn't update new week? 🙏
Yeah, I know what you are thinking. You think I'm high AF off these cookies rn. Nope. Decided to take a well needed tea break as I let these cure for at least a couple weeks. Dried 9 days in climate controlled room at 60-65 degrees F and 58-62% RH.... Hydrometer in jar tells me I dried them too quick :( at 62% already, I would have liked to get them in jars in the upper 60s...
Yes, I will be doing a taste and review soon.... the complex terpene profile I'm trying to decipher its characteristics... I get strong caramel/sugar smells lingering on my nose hairs long after sniffing the buds.... There is a secondary earthy almost nutmeg-like scent as well... Likely, smells will slightly change over the next couple weeks. I have an Arizer V tower dry herb vaporizer en route to mi casa... I am so excited for the official testing...
See you in a couple weeks!
I'd move the GSC's outside. Mine are Aggressive growers at over 6' in June and 8' by Sept. They Love the desert at the beach climate here. And are tolerant of our hard water. Good Luck!
@GDub51, it has since been a while since you initially helped me out! Currently, my one lady is very close to harvest... I am in 100% living soil with 0 added salt fertilizers. At first I did think I ran into an issue of "overfeeding" when in reality, it was way too dry and hot in my tent, and the plants couldn't transpire through their leaves, so they make up for it by sucking up all moisture they can from the soil (and nutrients). I would get a TDS meter if it were more applicable to Living Soil cultivation in specific.
Keep on the 100% organic! I am in the same boat. I attended a cannabis cultivation convention this past weekend, where it was all about Living Soil, and you will go CRAZY learning once you realize in a balanced living soil, the plant sends signals to surrounding organisms (fungi, bacteria, protazoa, earthworms, beetles) to bring it that exact nutrient in exchange the plant releases carbon for those organisms thru its roots! This is why in an INORGANIC setup, it is IMPERATIVE for the pH to be in a proper range, since there is no microbiology that can convert it to plant usable form if its even a little off. With more diverse soil life, it gives a much greater range of nutrient availability in the soil.
Also, I see you with that climate controlled dry room! I just set up my closest so thru ventilation and a humidifier, it retains 60-63 degrees F and 56-59% humidity. Basically, for 3 minutes the RH is slowly increasing, then the next 3 minutes RH slowly decreasing... Do you think this environment is fluctuating too much?
I just re read your post... I would be careful trying to combine organic with synthetic. The agricultural industry has tried this for decades and has depleted much of our earths soil so terribly.. If I could convince you to watch any videos from Jeff Lowenfels, or Dr. Elaine Ingham on soil food web, it will make sense how there is a better alternative to any addition of synthetic additives. Again, it is difficult to commit full 100%, but research has been done on greater diversity in terpene and flavonoid expression in cannabis grown in a biologically living medium.
I am totally obsessed with the subject of living soil, and am definitely a little high right now so if it looks like I'm trying to be smarter than I am, I'm not. Also (if ur still reading this) the grow on my diary is definitely not the epitomy of indoor living soil. I have only started cultivating indoors this year, and realized most cannabis advice is built upon the years of undercover grow operations which relied on stealth and efficiency leading to incredible progression in hydroponic indoor growing techniques that growers even try applying outdoors without success.
Anyway, I would totally send u some to dry if I had a larger harvest 😂
I will leave u with this... Who fertilizes the giant 100 foot tall Redwood Trees in California???? Certainly no human is replicating a fertilizer regiment like that :D
keep up the positive vibes my friend.
You've got to get the TDS meter before you can make that decision. Use whichever is lower (likely the tap) and buy an ionic filter if necessary to lower the TDS. (to make room for some fertilizer) Some of those solids are useful (Calcium, magnesium, etc) but too much of anything, like everything, is no good. The plants can only eat so much at a particular time of their life. Charts are easy to find on the web. If you don't follow the charts and keep your feedwater within limits you'll "lockout" your plants. This means they get clogged up with the extra food and it blocks new food from being absorbed. Follow the charts diligently, check your PH with each load of feedwater. Don't worry about it being exactly 6.2PH, let it drift a little each way for a more natural effect. Also, if you go organic, the TDS meter will not help you judge how much to use since the TDS meters only work on synthetic nutrients. Then one must follow a chart/feed schedule somebody else figured out or guess using your experience. It's hard to "lockout" plants with organics so one can be liberal but you can still use too much and waste it. I'm a new convert to organic. I found it seemed to have prevented previously experienced yearly problems with caterpillars and diseases! While producing the tallest plants I've grown. (GSC's to 8' in 12-gallon tall pots) Whether the quality is better is still to be shown. Flowers look better, but the wind and heatwave damage prevented a better study. Having lost the bugs and diseases though is enough to switch me permanently to PRIMARILY ORGANIC. I say "primarily" because I have been told by an associate who is the Professor of Soil Sciences, Dept. of Plant and Soil Sciences at a major university, that one can mix organic and chemical fertilizers as long as they are not used simultaneously. (separate feedings) My trichomes were more numerous than ever, but the heat waves and wind storms took a bite out of the quantity and quality making the majority of this years grow headed for the dry ice hash processing pile. Though, not all have been tested yet. I dry and cure very slowly in my wine cellar at 64'F and 55%RH so the October harvest is not really ready till at least Christmas and improves through the spring. (Have room in my cellar if anyone wants to try drying/curing there. ((a small sample fee required!) HAH!
@@GreenGrows, Yes, everything I"ve read for INDOOR is in the 55 to 60ph range, I'm familiar with the outdoor levels which are from 60 to 65 while shooting for 6.2, I've become so accustomed to our water that I know how many ML's to the gallon, yet I still check each time to make sure I'm correct. It's that important. Drift out of range and the plant will not absorb the food it could. When it comes to cannabis think Japanese Sumo wrestler or a Goose destined for Pate; stuff it till it starts to hurt. One must be very careful pushing the feed to near limits as it will burn the plant if something is too much or at the wrong time, so you have some studying to do. The first sign of "nutrient burn" or overfeeding, are brown tips appearing on fan leaves. Expert growers know just how hard to push that line and with which ingredients depending on the plants stage of growth and health. It's pretty simple to grow good pot, but it's ever evasive to try to produce something to rival store bought. And the process itself becomes consuming, at least as a hobby and some levels of obsession. I'm one of the obsessed, doomed to never reach that 33% THC bomb without the greenhouse or the expensive electric bill. Yes the sun is superior to ANY type of artificial light, except it cannot be controlled and one can get too much when it gets too hot like this year in SoCal. Then there's the diseases and bugs to master. I got two out of three this season, but the heat waves were the trouble this year. Bugs and disease were apparently fended off by the change to organic but the heat also begat moves into the garage to escape it. Those moves (imagine an 8' tall plant in a 2' tall wagon trying to negotiate the narrow side passage, rubbing against the sides here and there) left damage that burnt the flowers when back in the sun when the heat subsided. Looks like bud rot but it isn't. These browned flowers are still covered with tricomes as shown under the scope, so they were not trimmed away and in fact vape very nicely already. Yet a large harvest means some great dry ice hash if nothing else. Hot tip; if your first growths are not up to your standard, learn to process them with dry ice to separate the tricomes from the rest of the plant material giving you something you can sprinkle on your homegrown to turbo charge it's effectiveness. Have fun!
Very nice buds my friend :-) 👍. I don't understand at all why @@Blacklisted insulted you here in the forum 😡. I mean, has he even seen your diary compared to all of his 😂. Maybe one day you can drop by and explain to him how to manicure such beautiful buds 😍👍
Hey, these are some beautiful ladies you got goin'! Love your net, and training, cleaner than mine =p.... I have a question for you...The tint and some of the coloring you have on the upper fan leaves is what I am also experiencing. I am only a few days farther into flowering than you were during your post ( you said you were at 30 days). your canopy looks SO healthy now, before I pursue the rest of the answers in your journal, i was wondering if you Wouldn't mind looking at my journal and tell me if it looks like what you dealt with? I dont want to be eager and jump to any conclusions. Thanks man, Keep working that green thumb👍
GreenGrows
