1st CFL Grow....here we go

[rambler420]

Lisa2 LST has decided she just wants to be Lisa2. I had been using bent pieces of thin coat hangers as hooks driven in the soil to pull her down. Without me noticing because I was too busy pulling down her branches, she's decided she wants to grow tall, and she pulled her hooks out of the ground over time. Her main stem has started to straighten out. It's twisted, but it pulled the stakes out of the dirt and is now too think to pull down. I'll try to take a picture momentarily.

 

[rambler420]

Veronica3 is really surprising me. About a week ago I turned her light around and starting shining it on her from a different angle and she's really just taken off. The fan leaves up top are huge and they don't seem to slowing down. Every day I go in and there's a new set. Last measured in yesterday at around 18.5".

The top of the stem shows no signs of hairs yet, though her other creases are filling up quickly with a few signs of mini-buds.

 

[rambler420]

Lisa2 LST has decided she just wants to be Lisa2. I had been using bent pieces of thin coat hangers as hooks driven in the soil to pull her down. Without me noticing because I was too busy pulling down her branches, she's decided she wants to grow tall, and she pulled her hooks out of the ground over time. Her main stem has started to straighten out. It's twisted, but it pulled the stakes out of the dirt and is now too think to pull down. I'll try to take a picture momentarily.

After getting half eaten by a pot-hungry, bored kitty, locked in a room overnight, Lisa2 LST has announced she's tired of this "being staked down" bullshit and without me knowing it, has decided to straighten up. My stakes weren't secure enough and her quest for light was too strong to suppress.

As she'd grow and I'd bend her over, when she got enough new growth, I'd moved the stake, instead of just adding another one to the new growth. Lesson learned. I now have a very twisted, gnarled, thick stem that I can't control. On the plus side, I have a lot of side branches already staked out that are growing independently, and quite chaotically, in every which direction! Next go-round, I'll know. Some lessons you must learn the hard way.

The kitty damage is evident. Though I trimmed most of the really bad fan leaves, there are a few that are just now showing signs of assault that I missed. Kitty loves leaf tips. Obviously. There are 3 or 4 or 5 branches that at one time were promising little bud tips, though now are sadly just long spiked branches that just grow off into nothing. The ends were eaten, but there are sprouts of green left and new growth, so I'm going to give it a chance to recover. I'm giving them their own good light exposure because they might just decide to become something. Mini-leaves may equal something if treated with care.

Her puberty hit before the others, though hard to determine what sex signs she was showing. Her buds are further along than all the others. They are plentiful, white and bushy. Some are even starting to show that sugar-coated look. yum. I expect she'll be ready for sampling first before the others.

 

[rambler420]

Minne4 needs a bigger pot. It's about a week overdue. She's not as tall as the rest, but her head is full and fuzzy.

She's a happy girl.

She managed to escape the nute burn of Tessa1 and the Feline Catastrophe of Lisa2. She has a little damage to her leaf tips from being too close to the light, but so far, the rest of her leaves look good and healthy.

I'm curious to see what becomes of her because as of right now she's an unexpected pleasant surprise. She's getting a new pot this week, with some good quality soil and I'm anxious to see what some TLC will do to this little girl that, thus far, has been somewhat ignored and overlooked.

As of yesterday, she measured in at 17 1/4".

 

[rambler420]

She only has two small fan leaves trying to protect all her goodies up-top, but she's refusing to go down without a fight.

She suffered from the nute-burn-incident, which went something like this.

Add nutes to water
talk lovingly to plants
A little bit to this plant
A little bit to that plant
A little bit to this plant
yada yada
repeat a few times
till you're left with an odd amount
The remaining plant that looks to most dry at this point gets the remainder, right?

wrong.

Her leaves got a speckled brown necrosis looking thing going on and starting bending at all angles.

It was too painful to watch so I cut the damaged leaves off.

This is what was left.

Her buds are healthy, and the bottom of her is healthy. I figure with some good light exposure to her top third, she might pull through just fine. With the new j-o-b comes that thing called income. Income=the ability to buy new stuff=rambler's splurging on some plant stuff=LIGHTS!

she's the tallest, measuring in yesterday at 20".

 

[rambler420]

The baby finally hit a growth spurt. It's still not mature enough to do anything, and the 12/12 light cycle isn't helping give it what it needs to get there.

I figure in about 2 to 3 more weeks it might decide if it's wants to join the rest in showing their gender, but I'm not sure what living it's entire life in 12/12 will do to it. I've heard of people putting it in 12/12 as soon as it's sprouts out of the dirt, but we'll see..... I don't expect much from this one, but if it decides to be a girl and actually produce something, it'll be ready WAY later than the rest of them, so if I time it right, I might be able to get a cycle going.

here's the baby, aka IThinkICan6. Yesterday it measured in over 7".

In the picture, you can see one or two of Lisa2's buds making an appearance, as well as one of the used-to-be-buds-now-a-branch, from where stoner-kitty decided to have a hallucinogenic meal.

 

[netpirate]

Wow! Your plants are looking really good. I love the bud growth, it looks like a pretty flower! Great stuff rambler. Can't wait to see it in a week or so.

 

[drybiedog]

maybe i'm way out there but i say top tessa. take the top 6 inches right off. otherwise you'll end up with a tall plant with 1 cola. the branches will never catch up. if you top the bottom branches will get a chance to grow. just a thought. i know cutting a healthy plant is difficult.

 

[Grimsoul]

She only has two small fan leaves trying to protect all her goodies up-top, but she's refusing to go down without a fight.

She suffered from the nute-burn-incident, which went something like this.

Add nutes to water
talk lovingly to plants
A little bit to this plant
A little bit to that plant
A little bit to this plant
yada yada
repeat a few times
till you're left with an odd amount
The remaining plant that looks to most dry at this point gets the remainder, right?

wrong.

Her leaves got a speckled brown necrosis looking thing going on and starting bending at all angles.

It was too painful to watch so I cut the damaged leaves off.

This is what was left.

Her buds are healthy, and the bottom of her is healthy. I figure with some good light exposure to her top third, she might pull through just fine. With the new j-o-b comes that thing called income. Income=the ability to buy new stuff=rambler's splurging on some plant stuff=LIGHTS!

she's the tallest, measuring in yesterday at 20".

lookin' good but watch that stretch, keep floros as close as possible. taller plants have less potential bud sites as well as less compact buds. looks like you got a 60%/40% sativa/indica hybrid

 

[rambler420]

maybe i'm way out there but i say top tessa. take the top 6 inches right off. otherwise you'll end up with a tall plant with 1 cola. the branches will never catch up. if you top the bottom branches will get a chance to grow. just a thought. i know cutting a healthy plant is difficult.

I can't do it, man. I know you're right and I know I should and I know the reasons you cited are 100% valid, but as I look at the little buds growing on the stem, and think of that whole thing filling up, I just can't get myself to do it.

The stretching is something I'm just going to have to chalk up to trying to do this without having enough lighting. I need them closer to the top and more plentiful on the sides. I wasn't as prepared as I should have been when I started this venture.

Going shopping today to buy a few more lights. Next season I'll be ready. This go-round was experimental and a pop quiz to see if I could do it.

I won't be getting an A on this harvest, but I should get something above an F.

The BF's starting to comment on the smell. I guess a smell-masking system is in order as well. My to-buy list is getting long.





On a side note, I'm currently brainstorming on how to get separate veg/flower chambers going on to have a permanent cycle going.

This shit's addictive. I need a bigger house.

 

[rambler420]

I did it. I topped Tessa1. The bud sites on the bottom were already fuller than I'd thought. I chopped the top off, clipped it and hung it to dry. I'm guessing I'll get about an 1/8th of good speedy bud off that. I'll let it dry and consider it a christmas present to myself.

Went to the hardware store and got some y connectors and some new 100 equiv CFLs. I think they're 23 or 26w. They're each 1750 lumens, in soft white. I now two of those each in clamp on lights w/ y connectors in the corners, over the plants. I have a 150equiv over Veronica who is now in the middle. Lisa2 and Tessa1 are now around the same height, so I put Veronica2 in the middle of them so she could stretch her pretty dark green leaves out. Minnie4 and IThinkICan6 are in the front, using the lamp, which has a y in it, giving 100w equiv of soft white for each of those. I have the adjustable arm lamp with another 100w equiv over the baby, giving side light to minnie4 and veronica3. I have another y connector hanging over Lisa2, giving side light to Veronica3, with 2 more 100equiv lights. Over all, I have 7 23w/ 100w equiv, soft white, 1750 lumens each. I have one 26w, 100w equiv, 1650 lumens, and one 40w, 150w equiv, and I'm guessing it's about 1800 lumens......overall total, 10,450 lumens...which is about what I should have had to begin with.

 

[rambler420]

oh....and we have the sugar coating look starting on Tessa1, (both the part that got chopped and some of what remained), on Lisa2 and on Minne4. No chrystals on Veronica but she's still sprouting new growth.

I think.....I think I think I think I see the beginnings of root growth off the clipping I took off Minnie4. I could be imagining things, but I think I see stubbly things beginning.

 

[rambler420]

...and I finally bought a ph tester for soil. It's the stick-in kind, very similar to a meat thermometer.

I don't know if what I bought was broken, or my soil has no levels, but everything came out between 7 and 7.1.

Provided this new ph meter is correct, I want my ph to be lower than 7.1, right?

 

[netpirate]

Great job on the new purchases!! Do you think the lumes will be adequate enough for flowering?

This is my set up as of right now::

3-6500k's / 2-2700k's / 1-70w HPS and 1 long florescent tube for bottom lighting

 

[netpirate]

...and I finally bought a ph tester for soil. It's the stick-in kind, very similar to a meat thermometer.

I don't know if what I bought was broken, or my soil has no levels, but everything came out between 7 and 7.1.

Provided this new ph meter is correct, I want my ph to be lower than 7.1, right?

Try testing your yard dirt to see if the meter is working

 

[rambler420]

doh! good idea.

Just went and did that, upon your suggesting, and the yard was an even 7. No way! I measured some old dirt in an unused planter on the deck and it read 6.7. Okay. Good. It's working.

Now I need to figure out what it should be. I read it, but forgot it. I know it's lower than 7. I'm going to try to use ph-down from the aquarium setup to lower the water I feed it. Maybe that'll help.

They're happy plants right now. Pics in a moment.

 

[netpirate]

Be careful because some ph decreasers from aquariums are bad for our plants.

I believe the proper ph is around 6.4-6.8 for soil on flowering stages. you might wanna read more about that though.

 

[rambler420]

From left to right:

back row:

Minnie4, Veronica3, and Tessa1 with her new haircut

front row:

IThinkICan6 and Lisa2

 

[rambler420]

This is Tessa1 after her haircut and the little twig I'm putting away to dry. It'll be interesting to sample what she has to offer

 

[rambler420]

Lisa's showing a lot of flowers. I'm okay with that. She's gnarly and twisted but she's promising. She's starting to show crystals, too.