Almost 15 weeks into flower and still not done!!!

Okay i have a plant that started from schwag bagseed and is now into its 15th week of flowering under CFLs, using one from Home Depot 68w 2700k (main light), and another spotlight daylight bullb that was used during the last week or two of veg, decided it was best to have more mixed light than less of the flowering spectrum.. anyway i know its obviouslly a mostly sativa strain and that is one of the main reasons its taking so long, ive also stressed it a few times during flower.

-once when i tied it back to do a crude method of LST

-i had to turn the lights off for a couple hours during its ON cycle

-may of also caused some stress when i switched to a slightly longer dark period 10/14

-once or twice i got nute lock (didnt read about MG soil til it was too late)

-ive also thought it was near ready a couple times and cut off nutes to flush (but was wrong), also done this again about 2 weeks ago when i thought it was only a couple weeks away

-had to transplant to a bigger pot at about 6-8 weeks into flower because it was highly root bound (learned from that mistake this time)

-and the worst of all, i have mites that just dont wanna go away, although a nicotine treatment seems to be working out the best, but im still seeing baby mites when i look at trichs.


Im not sure at this point how much longer i can expect or if i should just harvest now, fan leaves on the buds are dying right and left from mite damage, the calyxes dont seem to be swelling much more although trich production does still seem to be taking place and calyxes are still slightly increasing in size (note: calyxes started swelling at week 11-12), almost all of the pistils have turned red but i still have tons of trichs that appear to still be clear, but just as many have turned cloudy, havent seen but maybe one amber.

I have cut a few small buds here and there to quick dry and test them and they are just so airy (yes i meant AIRY), i.e. they just dont seem to have any density at all.

Im fairly patient but this is taking forever and i dont know if the mites have just completely stopped the buds from filling out and trichs to ripen or if due to all of the stresses over time is adding 3-4 more weeks to a plant that likely may not survive the mites in 3-4 weeks

P.S. for my crude LST, just bending & tying the plant over for light to get to lower branches gave me several nice sized colas that are almost on par in size with the main cola (Id post pics but i dont have any at the moment).

need pics

nicotene around mj is a nono can cause problems .. light leaks ?

green.budz said:

nicotene around mj is a nono can cause problems .. light leaks ?

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well shouldn't be that much of any light leaks, not enough that it should cause a major problem, and when there is light leak it isnt much more than ambient light from a single incandescent in my room and then the amount of light is less than what you would get on a pretty dark night outside, and that's only if i leave the curtain open for some air circulation, usually i notice it within 5-20 minutes and then close the curtain. Granted the first couple of weeks into flowering it was getting more light than that during its dark cycle (prior to putting up the curtain), yet it and a few others(yanked all others but this one) were still flowering/pre-flowering with all of the light pollution from my room.

As for the nicotine, ive read numerous posts on here saying it isnt usually a problem with MJ, i.e TMV rarely seems to be an issue. Plus i dont know what else i can do to kill off these little fuckers so late into flowering, No Pest Strips are not an option, i was using Garden Safe Fungicide3 (neem oil) and it didnt seem to do anything during the 2-2.5 weeks i was using it (and now being much closer to harvest i definitely dont wanna use it), i tried dish soap and alcohol and that didnt work (same as neem oil dont wanna be tasting soap after i harvest, plus i plan to make budder), however the nicotine does actually seem to be working and its even better because i dont have to worry about crap i dont wanna smoke after harvest (im a smoker anyway, so i certainly am not worried about residual nicotine), bad enough im gonna be smoking spider mite corpses but fuck em it will be a highly (no pun intended) deserved cremation for what they have done to my poor baby girl

heres some pics... they are crappy because they are from my phone... dont have any other way to take pics unfortunately.

It's likely because the fan leaves are gone, it's sativa-dominant, it's been stressed, and you're using CFLs. That's a receipe for a loooong flowering period, with airy buds.

I would have chopped it down weeks ago and started an indica.

Ph is way off also causing slow growth.

purplehazin said:

I would have chopped it down weeks ago and started an indica.

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yeah well that is not an option, highly doubt ill find mexi bagseed that is indica dominant and frankly put im terrified to "order" seeds with good genetics. So until i get lucky and find a local guerrilla gardener whos willing to part with good genetics, get brave enough to smuggle some seeds through Canada (which i am sure isn't that scary, since i doubt Canadian borders are as tight as Mexican borders, plus it would only be seeds being transported), or luckout and find some bagseed in any dank buds im fortunate enough to afford, then sativa dominant Mexican bagseed will be all i can grow.

Anyway this was basically my first solo grow (helped a friend with a hydro grow around 10 years ago, so not the first time growing), heck never even planned on growing this one inside or harvesting it.. The plan was to put them all outdoors in obvious locations just to see how many actually get noticed and busted.. All part of an experiment to prove that most people dont even know what they are looking at even when they are passing right by it.

And yea i know CFLs arent the best way to go, but they are way more cost effective than HID and dont have to worry about any heat signatures and in general heat stress on plants in a small grow space.

Anyway with all of the stresses and shit, if im sitting at 15 weeks now should i just keep waiting until i see trichs change to at least mostly cloudy or should i just say fuck it and chop in the next week or so.. i was thinking maybe go 2 more weeks and hope they are done by then.. any help is appreciated guys, i just hate to harvest and it all be for nothing

^You should buy a 1000 watt HPS, and finish 'er up right. Might even get some nice dense buds out of it.


Sorry man, had to get on your shit, because you're skimping in the one area where you can't if you're serious about getting some nice buds....lighting. I totally understand your concerns about heat signatures, etc....and think that if you choose to stick with CFLs, you should consider some big ones, at least 150 watts. Check out this 250 watt CFL.... http://www.businesslights.com/feliz-250w-6500k-mogul-base-cfl-lamp-p-2394.html They also have them in the right color temp for flowering, and the price isn't bad, either. They might be a good option for the future.

P.S. Also, I know this is basically an experimental grow, but want to suggest trying SCROG(screen of green), if you are going to stick with fluoros. It'll maximize your yield.

Have you checked your runnoff PH? I had a similar problem, the plants (4 different strains!) would not finish (trichs stayed clear forever), and I had to cut them down before peak potency. The reason was too high PH at runoff (PH 7.5 even with PH 6.0 input!), which had slowly happened during the long weeks in bloom - when the plant is in the same medium for a very long time. When I noticed (bothered to check runoff PH), it was way too late. I believe this is why my plants never finished (they could not get all micro-nutrients because of the lockout).

Yeah that plant looks str8 up light deprived to me.

Maybe lots of problems as you said but time (which obviously you have with 15 weeks) and a good source of light can correct many things.

If you can't get any good seeds then I would think about condensing the grow room and tightening it up a little. Looks like a big area for just a couple CFL's a pretty sad looking plant (sorry ). And if you want to stay with CFL's then jawbrodt has a good link, $75 is a lot for 1 CFL but if you are worried about the po-po then you gotta get some more light.

Good luck man

well it started off beautifully, then between nute lock and flushing when i still wasnt close it started fading a little, and the spider mites i think caused most of the damage you see. I did quit feeding it bloom nutes and have been sticking with plain water and sometimes with molasses added in, unfortunately its not blackstrap (no sulphur) but its what i had on hand so i figured it was better than no molasses. Oh well my poor green thumb turned brown on this grow, lol

May be a long time before i attempt it again but next time ill be better prepared, like i said this turned out more by accident.

Oh and the space it is in is actually fairly small, its just a corner of my closet, maybe 2' x 2'-3', and the height is determined by the lights position (on 2 chains). I do agree though that more light would of been better, i should of at least added in one more of the 68w 2700k instead of the daylight bulb but at this time money is really tight. I know.. i know... i know... that a little more $$ spent would of meant better results. Anyway thanks for all of the useful input, looks like i may just let her go a week or two more and chalk it up as a lesson learned, i may also go pick up another CFL and see how she does in that 2 wks with more light.

I really thought for one plant that would be enough light, guess i was wrong

cut them and start over

2' x 2' x 3"? Holy shit, I assumed that was about a 4' tall, sativa, in the pics. Ooops.