2d Grow; Chemo; Closet; Soil

The posters on this site were very helpful when I did my first grow last year https://www.rollitup.org/grow-journals/17623-1st-grow-soil-closet.html, and I really appreciated all the great advice.

I've just started my second one and will post diary entries here for other newbies to learn from my mistakes.

As before, I purchased my seeds from the Vancouver Seed Bank, as I had 100% germ last time. Vancouver Seed Bank

Based on advice from this site, I purchased Chemo seeds for the low odour and medicinal characteristics.



I germinated 6 seeds, hoping I would get 3-4 females. So far so good with all 6 sprouting!

I selected 6 seeds for germination and used a damp paper towel as medium.

March 14, 2008


Germinating in progress March 15, 2006



Ding! March 16, 2008

Germinated seeds were placed into peat pellets until they are big enough for soil

March 17, 2008


Growth is pretty quick at this stage

March 20, 2008

1 week from germination, and 5/6 are growing nicely - the last one got tangled up in the seed pod but has finally taken root.

Having noticed some stretch in the last photo, I transplanted the seedlings into some soil (I use small peat pots so I can easily transplant into larger containers when the roots grow through).

I also set the plants up under a 200w CFL blue spectrum light. Look how close I can get the plants to their 13,000 lumen shower.

The plants have started filling out (although they are still pretty small). I am very pleased at how close together the new pairs of leaves are coming in.

I also added a small fan to blow over the plants and help to strengthen the stems. It's a little warm in my closet (I've taken readings as high as 29 celsius (84F)), so I might need to add a larger fan when the girls are up to it.

6 peat pots under a single 200w CFL light


4 pairs of leaves on most plants and very close together.


Stems are starting to strengthen too

I thought everything was going too smoothly.

This morning there were yellow patches on some of the leaves and a couple of the stems had turned purple.



By this evening, the yellowing had advanced quite a bit in one of the plants.



Based on my research, I have self-diagnosed that I've got some nutrient lock-up caused by my pH being too low.

I then tested the water and it's between 5.0 and 5.5 (I don't have a soil tester - yet). I've been giving the plants a lot of water over the past few days so the soil is probably way too acidic now.

After mixing in some pH up, to raise the water to about 6.5-7.0 I thoroughly flushed all the peat pots - I hope that works.

I should have remembered that the tap water here is acidic from my grow last year - I hope there's not too much damage. Most of the other plants have only very slight discolorations.





QUESTION 1: Is my diagnosis correct?
QUESTION 2: The pH Up I have (Technaflora brand) is so powerful it's a bitch to work with. If I mix some of it down with distilled water at 20:1, will it become unstable?

Thanks for your advice.

Balancing the pH seemed to get things back on track.

The plants were filling out quite a bit, but staying very dense - such a huge difference from my last grow when I used natural light only during veg.

I needed to re-pot to larger containers, but I couldn't find the time until tonight - I hope that they didn't get too rootbound - I want dense growth, but not bonsai pot plants!

My latest miscalculation was thinking that I could fit six 3-gallon grow bags into my closet space - no way. Since I only had room for three of the bags, I made a command decision to double them up - 2 to a bag. I'm hoping that once they get sexed, I can pull one or two out.

Here are some pics of the new set-up in the grow room - I would consider this veg part II.

Here are some pics to illustrate the tight bushy growth.





Comparison pic of first grow
https://www.rollitup.org/attachments/newbie-central/12097d1180052035-newbie-tries-his-first-grow-dsc00030.jpg

It's a little further along, but same number of nodes and 3-4x the height

It's been almost two weeks since my last update. Miss me?

The first week after transplant nothing much happened - I assume that the plants were just getting accustomed to their new home(s). The past week has shown some significant new growth with the plants all looking very healthy and filling out considerably.

I'm about a week behind schedule of where I thought I would be, growthwise, but I'm not in that much of a hurry (speak to me in 2 months and my answer might be different).

Here are the pics. Please give me your thoughts if you think I'm doing something wrong (or right).






I expect that I will move to flower in about one week - thoughts? Comments?

April 29 Update

Thinks seem to be progressing well, the plants have all doubled in size in the past week and they look green and healthy.

One thing is strange, the plants closest to the lights have leaves that are longer and narrower than the ones furthest from the light. All seeds are the same, and with two seeds in each pot, each one exhibits the same charateristics as its roommate.

Has anyone else noticed this phenomenon?

I'd also appreciate some advice as to whether or not it is time to start flowering.

Closest to the light


Furthest from the light


Lots of bushy new growth

Its up to you on the yield you want. You could go another 2 weeks veg.

looking great, mine had a stunt like that aswell

subscribed, do me and ill do u buddy.


great recovery.

Any updates today good budddy?

I try not to do updates more than about once a week - I can't imagine people care as it is.

I haven't had a chance to post an update in a couple of weeks. I hope you haven't lost interest in me.

I started flowering about ten days ago. As expected there was a tremendous growth spurt in the first few days.

Two of the six plants grew much more quickly than the others, and after about one week in flower cycle, they started to develop their male sex organs.

The first one (the largest) had many pollen sacs (see picture one), the other one might have been a hermaphrodite as it seemed to have both white hairs as well as the pollen sace (see pic two).

Alpha Male with big swinging pollen balls


Hermaphrodite possible, male organs definitive



Either way, I cut them both down today to protect the four girls that remained behind.

The final pic is a close up (not really in focus - sorry) of a female plant, to demonstrate the difference.

Fuzzy white hairs

After sexing the plants and destroying the males, I am left with four healthy females. there are a couple of burn marks where the quick-growing plants touched the CFL bulb, but fortunately the burns are only on the tips of some of the fan leaves.

Main Cola starting to form (top view)


Four girls remaining


I'm looking forward to the cola development over the next few weeks. Notably, the plants hardly smell at all - a characteristic of the Chemo strain that I was particularly looking for.

It's been two weeks since the last update and the plants are doing really well.

At 3 1/2 weeks into flowering the colas are starting to form and the upper leaves are filling with snow-white crystals.

Here are some birds-eye view shots of the plants.

Here are some pics of the plants showing the size of the colas. I'm hoping that they will still fill in a lot over the next few weeks.

Two more weeks, and it seems as though we are getting near the finish line.

The buds haven't gotten much larger, but they are filling in more, and many of the hairs are starting to turn red. I anticipate another few days to a week, but I am monitoring the trichromes (more on that below).

Here are the pics of the buds:

From this site I learned about checking the trichromes to see if the plant is ready for harvest.

Here is an earlier thread I started on my last grow. A number of the senior posters gave me very good advice on what to look for and how to look for the signs that your plant is ready. https://www.rollitup.org/newbie-central/20063-what-colour-my-trichromes.html

Here's a picture I took today through the microscope eyepiece.


The trichromes appear to be mostly clear but starting to edge towards cloudy.

Based on my varietal (chemo) I've decided to push the plants for another few days to a week - I'm looking for the trichromes to be about 80% cloudy before harvest.

In anticipation of harvest, I have stopped feeding the plants, but did give them a little water this week.

I would be keen to hear from others who have informed views on the timing/trichrome issue.

man i like your chemo,i got mine from jordan of the island and i never got the close bunching you did during veg,and i vegged mine under t5,s.but mine are turning purple after 71/2 weeks into flower.i find the chemo to be very resinous but not much in the way of size and weight,but keep us posted thanks.