Progress Check - 60day Critical Mass

Hey all,

Just a post to see how ppl think im going with my grow. First time grower and just lost a lot of bagseed 90 days in when 4/4 hermied!

Have 2 fem Critical Mass 60 days in vege under 2x 250w mh and 2x 125w cfls running aqua flakes on a tdw res. Ec around 1.5 to accommodate for younger plants in system. Plants are 40cms tall and around 30cms wide and already have a good odour. Personally i had thought i would get a little more height by now.

Going to move to flower in 2 weeks under a 1000w hps and plan to supercrop and scrog at around 20cm height. Was planning on knuckling a few nodes as well in the next 2 weeks however have been told to wait until just before moving to flower.

Getting mixed advice on if i should trim below the scrog or not. Any opinions on the knuckling or trimming are more than welcome, otherwise just happy to hear your thoughts on my first grow.20180203_123258.jpg 20180203_123312.jpg 20180203_123323.jpg
 

4(207)

Well-Known Member
Yes, trim under the scrog, but generally don't do it in flower. Supercropping is very useful too, but may cause unnecessary stress during flowering stage. It's always best to prepare the plant during veg then simply flip the lights to 12/12 and continue veg nutes until week 2 of 12/12 or whenever you see the first buds forming. Lollipopping a bit is great for indoor scrog! Happy growing
 
Yes, trim under the scrog, but generally don't do it in flower. Supercropping is very useful too, but may cause unnecessary stress during flowering stage. It's always best to prepare the plant during veg then simply flip the lights to 12/12 and continue veg nutes until week 2 of 12/12 or whenever you see the first buds forming. Lollipopping a bit is great for indoor scrog! Happy growing
The plan was to let them grow a bit bigger over the next two weeks then do the supercrop and scrog the day it goes to flower. I had planned to trim under at that time as well however the one person i know with first hand experience is recommending not to. He has recommended to lower the scrog instead and try to utilize the short bushy nature of the genetics to full effect. Would it be better to give them some recovery time after all the training before the flip or will they be alright with a quick transition? I could run them on a 16/8 under the 1000w hps but my scrog nets wont fit in my vege room.
 

4(207)

Well-Known Member
I agree with your plan to grow them for two weeks before flip. Recovery time is important because you may be able to train right before like you said, but it most likely will decrease yield and add wait time. I have done it the way you described before and always get best results when I minimize stress during flower by completing training by the time I switch the light schedule. As for letting them realize their natural structure vs supercropping or training, it is up to the grower but imo your plant structure looks great. I would only stretch out the branches a bit more to get added light penetration! :leaf:
 
I agree with your plan to grow them for two weeks before flip. Recovery time is important because you may be able to train right before like you said, but it most likely will decrease yield and add wait time. I have done it the way you described before and always get best results when I minimize stress during flower by completing training by the time I switch the light schedule. As for letting them realize their natural structure vs supercropping or training, it is up to the grower but imo your plant structure looks great. I would only stretch out the branches a bit more to get added light penetration! :leaf:
Thanks for the advice man, its hard picking apart whats best from the 100s of sources of info online so always good to hear from someone thats been there. Ive put a lot of time into these girls so want to make sure i get it right.

Think ill leave them bushy with the 20cm height scrog and not trim, personally i prefer the idea of less pruning if possible, i would say its because its more natural but hey planning to scrog and super crop kinda blows that theory away lol. I had planned to leave one natural and one scrogged to check the difference first hand but seeing the improvement scrogging made on my last lots growth im pretty sold on the idea now. Just wish they hadnt hermied!

Will post some before and after pics in 2 weeks when i do all the scrog supercrop to see what ppl think of the technique, always want to get advice on how to improve.
 

Raven121415

Well-Known Member
Thanks for the advice man, its hard picking apart whats best from the 100s of sources of info online so always good to hear from someone thats been there. Ive put a lot of time into these girls so want to make sure i get it right.

Think ill leave them bushy with the 20cm height scrog and not trim, personally i prefer the idea of less pruning if possible, i would say its because its more natural but hey planning to scrog and super crop kinda blows that theory away lol. I had planned to leave one natural and one scrogged to check the difference first hand but seeing the improvement scrogging made on my last lots growth im pretty sold on the idea now. Just wish they hadnt hermied!

Will post some before and after pics in 2 weeks when i do all the scrog supercrop to see what ppl think of the technique, always want to get advice on how to improve.
For what it’s worth, the seeds produced from those hermie plants you just killed off would have still produced both product, and feminised seeds for future grows. Hermied plants are not always a genetic issue.
 
I did know that the seeds would have been fem however knowing nothing else about the strain and having a known producer specifically picked for the grow style already going strong i figures it wasnt worth the extra time waiting on it to finish
 
So ive done my scrog today and taken some clones. I upgrade the pumps last week and had a growth explosion with the girls gaining another 10cm in a couole of days. Moved them to the 1000w hps but still on a 24/0. Will give a few days to recover then go through and supercrop and change to 16/8, then a few more days and shift to 12/12. Running superthrive through the transition.20180211_120353.jpg 20180211_120408.jpg Was tough to spread them out as they are very bushy with very tight nodes. Hopefully will look a bit nicer when they bounce back up.
 

Raven121415

Well-Known Member
I am looking to try scrog on my next run. I usually top once for 4 branches, supercrop at least once, and lst until I have a good 10-12 cola producing mains. Seems to be working out, but feel I can still do better than the 2-3 oz per plant with all the time it takes to do all that. Would usay the time involved with scrog is similar to this method? I went 83 days from seed to flip. Plants are 2'×3' in 3 gal pots.
 
From my experience the time needed is almost identical to a full scrog however majority of the work is condensed into 2/3 sessions at the end of vege rather than with lst throughout. Im following hygro hybrids methods and he has just made most of his vids free again so worth a look at. Top early then leave the plant 100% alone until day 60. Supposed to have 4 main branches but these two got topped 1 internode late so have 6. Then i take out all my little shoots for clones and grab each branch 20cm up from the media (5cm below scrog height) and bend and work it until it becomes flexible and basically falls sideways on its own. Kinda like supercropping but i think he calls it splaying as its about positioning the branch more than it is forming a knuckle. Leaves a big bald spot in the middle with max light penetration to the canopy. Once it grows back through will spread them out better to fill the corners and start bending loose ones back into the center to fill the void. This will hopefully be my first successful harvest as i lost the last 4 to bad genes and hermies. They did however fill the whole 1.5x1.5m room with about 20 colas each so expected a good harvest. Ive got a mate who also followed hygro who is helping me along, he pulled 21oz of a single plant under a 600w total time 120days!
 
16hrs later they've bounced back a bit. 2 more days then re weave and supercrop. As much as I hate to say it i think the leggy pheno (top pic) is going to wind up better than the bushy one. Seems like my next 4 are all the bushy pheno so bloody hope my clones take. 20180212_181651.jpg20180212_181700.jpg
 

Raven121415

Well-Known Member
From my experience the time needed is almost identical to a full scrog however majority of the work is condensed into 2/3 sessions at the end of vege rather than with lst throughout. Im following hygro hybrids methods and he has just made most of his vids free again so worth a look at. Top early then leave the plant 100% alone until day 60. Supposed to have 4 main branches but these two got topped 1 internode late so have 6. Then i take out all my little shoots for clones and grab each branch 20cm up from the media (5cm below scrog height) and bend and work it until it becomes flexible and basically falls sideways on its own. Kinda like supercropping but i think he calls it splaying as its about positioning the branch more than it is forming a knuckle. Leaves a big bald spot in the middle with max light penetration to the canopy. Once it grows back through will spread them out better to fill the corners and start bending loose ones back into the center to fill the void. This will hopefully be my first successful harvest as i lost the last 4 to bad genes and hermies. They did however fill the whole 1.5x1.5m room with about 20 colas each so expected a good harvest. Ive got a mate who also followed hygro who is helping me along, he pulled 21oz of a single plant under a 600w total time 120days!
Nice! Out of the 5 plants I have now I've got somewhere about 45-50 tops total out of a 4x4 open area. I topped early for 4 branches on 4 of them, then mainlined one and am supper happy with that one so far. I topped for 2 branches, but she has the most tops @13 herself, while the ones I topped for 4 branches resulted in about 9-10. How big of pots are you using? Looking good though!
 
Nice man, sounds like youre in for a good haul there, you got a thread here you can link so i can check your ladies out? If not feel free to post some pics. Ive looked at mainlining as well but again having someone who has grown this way before help led me to stick with it. The pots are 15l which is around 4gal and i found within around 30-40 days roots were creeping into the bottom bucket now they hang out the bottom of both pots a good few inches when i lift them.
 
I always forget to get the pics before i start tucking!!! At least this time i remembered halfway through.

I think this will be the last retuck. They are now pretty well filling the scrogs and given they are a 60 day strain 9 days in flower i figure they wont stretch anywhere near the light in the last few days of growth.

Side note both showed their pistils over the last 24hrs so happy days there. Too small for a decent pic yet sadly.

20180227_172059.jpg 20180227_172105.jpg 20180227_172110.jpg 20180227_172129.jpg
 
Not sure if anyone else is still following but itll be nice to look back myself at the end.

Girls are 24 days into flower now so almost halfway through. Started running biodiesel over the last few weeks. Burnt them a little bit getting the balance right but they took off again with it so all good.

Will be doing a pk 13/14 supplement as well for week 5 and 6 so hope i dont burn them again.

Anyways enough of what ive done ill let the pics show the progress
20180315_123516.jpg 20180315_123524.jpg 20180315_123539.jpg 20180315_124543.jpg
 
So am nearing day 40 of flower now. Only 20 something to go. In the last week buds have added a ton of sugar leaves and over the last 2 days they seem to be fattening. Have started the pk supplement and have decided to run 2 weeks building up to full strength. Just about finished with that cycle now. Waiting on pistils to start ambering and trics to cloud. Having trouble seeing then with the camera im using.
20180327_161819.jpg 20180327_161828.jpg 20180327_161838.jpg 20180327_161904.jpg 20180327_161916.jpg
 
Top