RSawr's second grow. Tips and advice welcome.

Rsawr

Weed Gremlin
Staff member
Hey guys. Been prepping for back to work so I haven't had time to post a proper journal. But since I am nearing the flower flip I thought I'd post something more regularly. Probably a weekly update on my 5 ladies.

We've got:
2x Skywalker OG fem and 2x Critical Mass fem at 4 weeks or so, and 1x Powerplant fem at 7 weeks or so. All from ILGM if that matters

Inside of:
-4x2 tent with 4 inch exhaust fan/ducting and a tornado desk fan tied to the top interior of the tent with paracord.
-3 gallon cloth pots from germ
-4 in ace hardware potting soil and 40% perlite
-1 in mystery unbranded coco and 40% perlite
-Nutrients are the GH trio, calimagic on deck
-Water is Chicago tap with ph down at the ready

Underneath:
-Spiderfarmer 1000
- 2 Wills brand cheap blurples.

Chilling at:
-Average temps of 82 +/- 3 during the day, 70 +/- 5 at night.
-Humidity between 45 and 65 depending on the last water

I have had no real trouble with these ladies aside from it being my first time topping or lsting. I topped all of these ladies a week ago except for the power plant which is on her 7th week of veg now. She has been topped 2 times at all nodes I could reach with my pinchy lil fingies. Just started bending and moving new growth on the younger ones.

They appear to all take nutrients fairly well, though they're all a tad dark, but not shiny. Probably because they're all Indica doms. I will be watching for nitrogen toxicity signs since one of my last plants got overfed because of some mistakes.

I am probably going to flip these around the 7th to give the topped new shoots time to grow enough to bend over with pins.

Phew, that seems like everything. Please let me know if you see anything extremely wrong or obvious that I have missed. Otherwise I will be back in a week with updates on how the ladies liked their bending this morning.20200525_092524.jpg20200529_165434.jpgScreenshot_20200529-171027_Gallery.jpg20200530_084824.jpg20200530_085751.jpg20200530_085802.jpg20200530_085807.jpg
 

Rsawr

Weed Gremlin
Staff member
One week of growth and bending later! Going to week 5 with the 2 skywalker og and 2 critical mass, week 8 for the powerplant. Flipping into flower tonight as the first dark cycle. All 5 ladies are showing preflowers and showing no ill signs aside from the leaves bumping the sides of the tent being a little bent. Switching my feed to what GH trio says as "transition to flower" So 10ml per gallon each of bottle. All are looking somewhat dark, so gonna go ahead and start alternating feeds and regular ph'd water. In a week we will be in the midst of the flowering stretch. Hoping I got my measurements/estimates right about final canopy height! 20200606_173356.jpg
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Cheers and happy growing ;)
 

Rsawr

Weed Gremlin
Staff member
Alright, the stretch is real. Week 1 of 12/12 is done. I managed to get 4 of 5 plants pretty damn even canopied, but the critical mass plant that's in coco has shot up several more inches than the others. It is under a light that I can raise higher than the other 2 though, so should be able to manage light stress.

Plants are all taking GH trio as written on the bottle with no ill effects or burning. I did have to start treating the coco plant with more waterings than the soil ones at this point. It needs water every day now or it droops. Others can still go every other day.

It smells sweet in the tent now, can't wait for another week to pass20200613_185536.jpg20200613_185338.jpg20200613_185331.jpg20200613_185355.jpg20200613_185349.jpg20200613_185408.jpg

Be back in a week, crossing my fingers for baby buds meaning that stretch is short this time!

Happy growing :]
 

Rsawr

Weed Gremlin
Staff member
Hey all, another week gone. Been a damn nice one in Illinois! Lotta porch time.

All 5 of my ladies are now budding! I got a few more days of stretch from the 2 critical mass and 2 Skywalker OG after my last post. Powerplant was more mature already and also topped twice. She stayed put at her nice low down bushy height. I had to use some S hooks to get my light above the critical mass in coco higher. At this point if she decides to grow any more she will get those top 3 branches that are above the canopy super cropped down again.

Feed has been every day to run off with my coco lady, and the other ladies are still making it most of 3 days without a water for now, but I am ready for the ramp up once the buds start stacking. Got some 5 gallon containers ready! No nutrition issues so far, lost a leaf or 2 from the bottom of the canopy, but they don't get much light down there, and aside from the few dropped leaves everything looks green.20200622_093325.jpg20200622_093356.jpg20200622_093341.jpg20200622_093427.jpg20200622_093410.jpg20200622_093459.jpg20200622_093315.jpg

Just a question if anyone has time, the coco plant does seem to be stretching small amounts still. Maybe a few centimeters over the last few days. Is this common in a plant in coco, or should I be worried about some stress? Did I find a pheno that was a bit more sativa in this one bean? Any input appreciated.

Happy growing folks!
 

Rsawr

Weed Gremlin
Staff member
Oof. Tired this morning. Work kicked my butt this week. Putting up with idiots who might kill me because the MASK GOES OVER YOUR GOD DAMN NOSE YOU IDIOTS *deep breath* can be tiring day in day out.

Ladies are doing the flower thing big time yay! No big problems.
-I saw a few yellowing leaves at the bottom of the coco lady, but I just had to bump her nutrient solution up a little higher. So instead of as written on the GH bottle (5ml, 10ml, 15ml of grow/micro/bloom she is getting 7,12,17) she took those feedings all week with no burn. Looking better.
-Also raised the powerplant (farthest left) up onto a stool and adjusted lights for a better spread. Then Superceopped the three tallest branches on the critical mass in coco so get her away from the blurps. The new bud is already growing back towards the light.
-gonna S-hook a second fan in there to keep the air moving, help mitigate my humidity which will sit around 70 on the watering day for the 4 in soil, into the day after as they dry
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Excited for the next few weeks. Happy growing everyone, keep in cool ;]
 

Rsawr

Weed Gremlin
Staff member
Boy... Some weeks just hit like a truck around here. Glad to have a distraction. Poking around in my tent is always relaxing ;)

The ladies are doing great. No changes to the nutrients or feeding schedule. They are being watered about every other day, sometimes it takes another day for them to dry out depending on the humidity in the room. I got some plant yoyos to help tie up the lanky skywalker OG in the back. She was starting to lean over on top of the powerplant and shade her. Hope she doesn't mind being tied up.

Starting to see some frost forming on everyone! They're gonna start getting thick soon.

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Be back in a week. Grow some green guys! :weed:
 

Rsawr

Weed Gremlin
Staff member
Alright. Closing in guys. Going into week 7 of 12/12! The ladies are all starting to get browning pistils in higher numbers and the 2 plants that are farther along [far left powerplant, and far right critical mass in coco] are starting to get some cloudy looking trichs.

I cut the veg nutrient out entirely this week instead of the reduced rate suggested on the bottle. 2 ladies had just a touch of the claw after increased feedings due to drinking more. I doubt they'll need it any more, but I will keep an eye out for rapid yellowing and add it back in if needed.

No other issues.20200720_093012.jpg20200720_092731.jpg20200720_091631.jpg20200720_091515.jpg20200720_091544.jpg20200720_092105.jpg20200720_091607.jpg

Not gonna bother with the loupe for at least another 2 weeks, but I do think the coco lady is looking wonderful. I need to get a better light for pictures in my room. She is full with buds all the way down despite being so lanky. I bet she'll be almost half the yield in the tent.

Not super worried about wpm/bud rot because of all the exhaust and air movement, but I ordered a dehumidifier just for these last several weeks. Don't wanna ruin it now.

Happy growing guys!!
 

Grinch_

Member
Those look great. I'm surprised how well the GH trio did just following the instructions, the mix looked a little too high in K. Have you had this sort of success with GH in the past?
 

Rsawr

Weed Gremlin
Staff member
Those look great. I'm surprised how well the GH trio did just following the instructions, the mix looked a little too high in K. Have you had this sort of success with GH in the past?
Hey, thanks! I used GH for the 2nd half of my first grow as well. Aside from the fact that I was not PHing my water at the time and 1 plant locked out, they did great. For my first grow I got just under 4 zips from 5 ladies in 1 gallon

It does its job. Luckily I haven't had issues until this little bit of nitrogen build up towards the end, which looks common. It's easy and relatively cheap unless you start comparing it to powdered nutes which are my next goal.

Stay stoned, folks.
 

Rsawr

Weed Gremlin
Staff member
The ladies are doing basically the same as last week! No new issues, and still increasing the brown pistils, and showing a bit more frost. I think we are in the last 3 weeks for everyone but the large cola lady in the front who seems a bit slower.

I did take a bud off of the critical mass lady after work two days ago. My weed guy was MIA and I couldn't be bothered to go to a dispensary. Smoked really well, I got some of the best sleep I have had in months. [White ash from a microwave nug that was fed bottled nutes 2 days prior. Aaaalmost like it is moisture content that matters, not flushing... ;) ]

Probably gonna hop my lazy ass on the bus tomorrow to pick up a half so I don't pluck away any more at these ladies before they're mature. I am growing mostly for my back pain, so I want full potency.
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Hope everyone is having fun! See you all next week.
 

Rsawr

Weed Gremlin
Staff member
What a week. Some good was that I got my new D&D group started. Bad was that my back has been absolutely killing me. I think I lifted a box wrong in my haste. Oops!

Another week, and again not having any trouble with these ladies that hasn't been easy to fix. Still feeding basically what's on the GH bottle, but I am cutting down on the veg nute a bit. Added it back in at half strength when the lowers started to go light green middle of last week. Had to add a few more supports to some branches as well.

They're getting closer. Super excited. When I open the tent it's like getting kicked in the face by one of those gas station car fresheners that smells like a pine tree.

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Hope you're all doing well. :bigjoint:
 

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Rsawr

Weed Gremlin
Staff member
Just wanted to post a final update on this grow. I stepped away for a few months because of politics and work stress, I'll show what's up with my new grow soon. Just wanted to finish this out since I like reading old grow journals and sometimes they stop with no results and I get a little sad.

I got just under 10 ounces once I accounted for the one cola of critical mass that got bud rot. Due to heat stress. I didn't do a full weigh in because of a slightly staggered harvest. For a second grow in a 4x2 I am happy.

The critical mass was the highest yielding plant despite losing a bit from bud rot. The effects are heavily euphoric, a little light on the body high. Good weekend smoke.

Skywalker og got over dried and the curing has stopped. It tastes nice and floral and smokes really well. I will grow it again my next grow and see how it improves with a better cure. Nice body high, I use it mostly for work days as the head effect doesn't distract.

Power plant was the one that had the most aggressive heat stress from the lights and late summer heatwave, but is by far my favorite plant of the 3 types. Heavy body high, slow build head high, tastes like earl grey almost, very earthy.

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My biggest takeaways from this grow: that light and heat stress can compound very quickly and I was not prepared to deal with it. Having additional cooling options ready is now something I am doing.

Growing in coco is easier than dirt (to me, just my opinion) such that my new grow is entirely in coco.

And especially do not cram plants into the tent! I would have had the same yield with a little less stress if I had vegged 4 plants for a week longer rather than the 5 I did.

Gonna keep going with the GH trio for another few grows. It worked just fine, the nitrogen needed adjustment at the end, but now I know what to look for.

Cheers folks.
 
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