Newbie Guide on Big Bud

^It all depends on your soil, whether they'll need fed, or not. If it's really rich, then no. If not, then maybe it could benefit from a tiny dose. I'm guessing it doesn't, judging from the size of the plant, vs. the size of the pot, because there's still lots of volume yet to be occupied, and depleted, by the roots.

It'd be a good idea to get ready for another transplant in a week or so, and get that thing into some soil with some perlite added. Drainage is very important, and could be the reason your plant is growing a tad slow(soil staying moist for too long = overwatering issues).

Unfortunately I can't find perlite anywhere here...and I've reaaaaaly looked. The plant was just transplanted a few days ago (into a 10 liter container - will post a pic tomorrow), because it overgrew its previous container. The soil is a mix of sphagnum peat moss, black peat and biohumus, so I guess it has enough nutritional value for the first 3 weeks. Watering has been done only once in 3 days, the soil seems to be pretty moist around the plant, about 5-6 cm deep. I'll let the soil dry some more (maybe 5 days) before the next watering. The plant doesn't show signs of bad growth, does it? (well, except the tip burns )

day 16:

also started LST:
...and 1 day after, side shoots started to appear (the ones on the node closer to the top are smaller, but growing - didn't catch them in picture):

I'm pretty content Also, the plant started to develop very fast within the last 2-3 days, which is a good sign, I hope. If all goes well, I might just be able to pull a 1 month flowering. When do the first sex signs show (or better yet, what to look for)?

Thanks! Happy growing!

Back with pics!

Here's my little girl (hopefully a girl) at 20 days:

I've replaced the black thread because it was exercising alot of pressure on the stem and I was afraid it could cut it by accident. Now I'm using some hard wire which is just great! I can easily move it afterwards if something's not right, and is much more easier to handle than the thread. The 2nd "hook" has been just added today. You can see how the side shoots are starting to develop more and more.

My WW, however, is about 15 days old right now, and still it has a long way to go before developing the 2nd set of leaves. It looks kinda stunned to me, not sure why this happened or if it will ever start growing normally. It's only 3 cm high and it's a softer, brighter green than the BB. It's been this color since it popped out of the soil. Same conditions as for the BB strain were used: same location, same soil, same water. Any advice on this? Here's a picture to help diagnose:

Thanks!

Hello again guys.Lots of stuff happened in the last week: the WW was thrown out because it was yellowed all out and it had just 2 tiny sets of leaves, so it was going to die soon (for 2 weeks+ of vegging this is unacceptable). I'm guessing the reason might have been overwatering, since the soil in the container was staying wet for about a week, even though it had holes in it. In the meanwhile, I've bought some plastic pots and I've planted a Bubblelicious seed, which is already growing up nicely (4-5 days old):

And now, the main "attraction", the Big Bud at 30 days (give or take 1 day):

LST seems to be performing well so far...yesterday I've added 2 extra lights (fluoros, cool white) and I'm sorry I didn't do that earlier..in just one night the plant grew like in 2 days (this might be also due to feeding - first fed about 2 days ago). I think I'll also apply the same technique with the BL, but we'll see how that goes later on. Hopefully in 1 week I'll be able to start flowering but it might also take 2...can't wait!

Update: Big Bud is now 2 weeks into flowering (14 days today), and my hope has been fulfilled: it IS a girl This will sort of make my grow journal once harvest is complete, but that might take another month. In the last couple of days, some of the leaves close to the buds (not the bottom ones) started to curl under a bit, but from what I can see, it's not a permanent problem. Or at least not until now. Might have been due to overferting, 2 days ago I just fed it plain water and curling stopped. Not only that, but some of them reverted to their "normal" state. Will continue with plain water for another watering or 2 and then maybe diluting the fert solution a little more. After all I went only with LST and not topping. The main growth tip is now almost as high as some of the highest branches. Some pics for your enjoyment



All in all, I think this grow is going great for a first CFL grow (and a first grow ever of mine). Before flowering I just took a clone from the main plant (not sure if it can be called a true clone, since it's just about 2cm long), just to see if it would root or not, and it seems it has and I planted it last night. It's the lst pic above. Used RO water for cloning, and just placed it out of direct light. Just in case the big plant turns out great, I wanted to have a little something left of this, as I have no more BB seeds left.

Oh, so I don't forget. The Bubblelicious is now 3 weeks into vegging and looks also very healthy and nice. Just fed once or twice before transplanting a week ago into the big pot. Only straight water given since.



Thoughts? Comments? All are appreciated here

I think you were right about the overfert, and the curling. They look pretty good, and right now would be the time to add some more CFL's, if you want to boost your harvest. The more you add, the bigger it will be.

i have got some big bud seedlings and 1 of mine has the same kinda burn thing happening like 1 of yours and mine was not close to the light at all, good drainage, no nutes.. dunno if its something to do with big bud or what.

Thanks jaw for dropping in. I was myself thinking of adding more CFLs there, but I also need to acquire proper ventilation. Now I realise the curling problem might be related to a heat issue, as well, as I've seen it documented here and there on the forum and my leaves keep curling, apparently. Since the weather got warmer outside it's getting to 30-32 degrees(C) in the tent. It was consistent at 27-28 before...I'll go get a fan and mount it in there and hopefully this will stop.

phear: you might also want to check the pH (I only use RO water ph 7.0), and also heat buildup. If the problem is curling DOWN, that is. For burning (spots on the leaves or tip burns), the cause can only be overferting (what soil u using? was it pre-ferted?) or a possible deficiency (N/P). These are 2 that come to mind right now. Posting a pic should help further. Can't be strain related, though, nothing to do with that. From what I've read, it's a pretty resistant strain.

definitely getting worse....for now I just left the door half open so air can ventilate naturally until later...



Yeah, so bottom line, after reading this post, is that I need a fan to lower the heat and a new pot to extend this one in order to increase the amount of water the plant needs to transpire. ASAP. This might be the most important issue, since I haven't seen leaf transpiration in a week now, but thought that was normal. The 3 gallon is no longer viable, I can tell that by feeling the soil....roots are everywhere, even at the very top.

i was just using tap water about 400ppm and just coco and perlite mix nothing else so has no nutes in it at all! exact same way i do my clones and never have an issue with them only the seedlings!

You kind of answered yourself then Seedlings also need food, if your soil contains 0 nutrients. So you need to use a fertilizer. Clones are just fine in water because they were grown on a developed plant, and have leaves, which contain food for the clone enough for the root to develop. The seedlings need to develop they're own. So your answer is: they are suffering because of nutrient deficiency. Don't know what kind of fert you need to use, you need to find that out for yourself, I use soil for myself and can't help you with advice further more. Hope I understood correctly that your mix isn't organic.

yeah u got it spot on i recon. not organic, just started running a weak nute mix so will see how they go! thanks for the help mate

Glad I could be of help

In the mean time, I have gotten rid of my heat issues, and most of the leaves are back to normal. Some might be permanently affected, but we'll see. Unfortunately while installing more lights I accidentally dropped 2 bulbs on the plant and one of the big branches broke :-s Glued it back together, not sure if it will recover since the crack was obvious, but I'll give that a shot. Otherwise it will just be lost crop, the bud is still too young to be smoked, just 3rd week into flowering. Fortunately the rest of the plant is perfectly fine, and the bubblelicious will follow up shortly and I'll be able to get over it lol. Will update this thread as time passes.

Sweet! New growth doesn't show signs of curling, so I officially got rid of that problem. Unfortunately I wasn't able to mount a cooler, but it turns out keeping the door a bit open creates enough air flow. Also I kept the 3 gallon pot, due to space limitations. Dam it! This first grow teached me a lot, now I know how to calculate my space needs properly and the lighting needs as well. Now I have 7 CFLs and possibly will add another one, but not sure, don't want to burn any more leafs lol ) I always seem to be placing them just too near and some of the leaves have burnt tips now

The broken branch recovered amazingly and also grew a couple more leafs and crystal lol ) Breakage didn't stun it at all. Pistils turned about 5% brown now and crystals started to really pump up these days Buds also grew alot, including the lower buds which didn't have very much light grew as well. I now see what some guys were talking about getting airy buds from CFLs, but I still think the result will be very much satisfactory for me. It's only 3 weeks into flowering now, so I would almost bet they would grow some more over the next 3 to 4, depending how much it will take. The bubblelicious is also under 12/12 for 3 or 4 days now and grew a little more, but didn't stretch as much as the big bud. Preflowers appeared and indicate it's a female. Cool. 2/2 females Unfortunately currently it's a bit (more) shaded because of the Big Bud taking all the space. But it's doing okay, I'm assuming. Very green and bushy. Doesn't show in the pictures, it's pretty hard to move it around.

4.5 weeks in flower now...I built a carbon filter of some sorts, using a computer fan, a plastic jar and active carbon of course. So far it works perfectly, no odor coming out. Buds continue to swell and are now about 40% amber with little crystals on the fan leaves. Don't mind the trimmed fan leaves, just one or 2 branches have been trimmed because of the earlier curling.

just thought u may want to know these look over watered. may wanna cut it back!

Thanks phear, I thought of that too and I will cut back on watering, but it's funny cuz only the bud leafs are this way...oh, these would be those affected from heat that never recovered...the bottom ones are pointing up (the big ones). I only water every 3 days, and the soil is dry every time, I check it with my finger.

ps: those leafs are also crispy...didn't think to check them before...heat buildup all over again? How can I increase humidity? I think it's below 20% now...some paper towels hanging around would help? Hope so, mounted some...

4.5 weeks they look a little small and definietly over watered or heat stressed.

do you have inlet / outlet??? apart from opening the door for ventilation?

BB strain grows like crazy these have been topped, fimed, and using moveable scrog technique (thanks Las)

plenty fresh air in and hot air out and they blast.

these are about 3.5-4 wks