First Grow - Need Advice - Images Included

I doubt it is auto from bag seed. Anything is possible. I think you use 18-6 for them anyway. yes, the cots die off.

I will be posting in a few minutes what I have going on with my all CFL grow two weeks into flower.

Maphyr said:

Quick update, I've let my soil dry out pretty good, dry 2 inches down, got a 2 inch white root growing out the bottom of a drainage hole, so I don't think I have a root rot problem. I've seen 1 more gnat, so I don't think I have a huge problem there. I didn't even put sand on top of the soil, just let it dry out real good. Plan on watering tomorrow with a cap full of hydrogen peroxide mixed in a bottle of water.. still debating if I should use that hydrogen peroxide or not, I've read alot of good about it.

Really have no issues at the moment, just letting her veg. I think I'll top soon she's on her 3rd or 4th node - I think. The first 2 petals that grew out of the seed look like they are turning yellow but I think this is normal and it's supposed to fall off? Also, I think this plant is Ruderalis because of the way the leaves look man, they are 3 leafs, with 2 smaller ones at the bottom. I don't know, we'll see I guess.

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I've been advised to topdress with some sand to get rid of the gnats boss! I don't have any, but I've been advised that it's the first thing I should do should I see some gnats..Then go get some diatomeceous earth.
And they starter leaves or cotyledons will turn yell and fall of..They don't matter bro.
And why do you think from looking at it, it's an auto?!

Sincerely420 said:

I've been advised to topdress with some sand to get rid of the gnats boss! I don't have any, but I've been advised that it's the first thing I should do should I see some gnats..Then go get some diatomeceous earth.
And they starter leaves or cotyledons will turn yell and fall of..They don't matter bro.
And why do you think from looking at it, it's an auto?!

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I read that all ruderalis are autoflower and my plant leaves looks exactly like ruderalis leaves. It has all the traits of a ruderalis, short, bushy, dark green. I'm just trying to diagnose based on what I've read. I'm almost positive it's a ruderalis/indica strain, it doesn't show enough leaves to be purely indica and it's clearly not sativa. I guess not all ruderalis is auto? I read that's why people started to breed with ruderalis was because they always auto.

All ruderalis is technically auto, as it flowers regardless of the light cycle. I guess some might flower a lot faster than other tho.
But I know you can look at the leaves and tell whether your plant is indica or sativa dominant, but IDK about looking at in and calling it out to be an auto.
The size of you plant has a lot to do with different individual factors in your grow room like the soil condition, co2 ppm, heat, and light intensity amongst other things.

Whe I start to LST, won't putting metal clothes hangers down into the soil destroy roots?

Would zip ties work, with holes drilled into the side of the pot itself?

When I used the LST method, I drilled holes around the sides of my pot and used zip ties through the holes to anchor the branches, just like you're thinking of doing. Worked great.

I echo GrowinDad and Sincerely's question: why are you convinced it's an auto? Some strains have really weird genetics, so it's pretty difficult to determine precisely what it is, even after it starts to flower. You'll only know for sure that it's an auto if it starts showing signs of sex before you change the light cycle to 12/12.

Check this: A Maui Waui (sativa dom). She looked like an indica for 7 weeks until I started flowering her. Then she stretched like crazy and thinned out.



Looks can be deceiving, especially during the early stages of growth.

Also, don't pay too much attention to nay-sayers. Work with what you have. Everyone will suggest you invest money into a grow, but there's also no substitute for spending time managing your grow and learning as you go.

Keep whatever lights you have as close to the plant as possible, try your hand at LST to increase light coverage. Try not to over-feed her, and you'll be surprised at how resilient these little plants can be.

SunnyJim said:

When I used the LST method, I drilled holes around the sides of my pot and used zip ties through the holes to anchor the branches, just like you're thinking of doing. Worked great.

I echo GrowinDad and Sincerely's question: why are you convinced it's an auto? Some strains have really weird genetics, so it's pretty difficult to determine precisely what it is, even after it starts to flower. You'll only know for sure that it's an auto if it starts showing signs of sex before you change the light cycle to 12/12.

Check this: A Maui Waui (sativa dom). She looked like an indica for 7 weeks until I started flowering her. Then she stretched like crazy and thinned out.

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Looks can be deceiving, especially during the early stages of growth.

Also, don't pay too much attention to nay-sayers. Work with what you have. Everyone will suggest you invest money into a grow, but there's also no substitute for spending time managing your grow and learning as you go.

Keep whatever lights you have as close to the plant as possible, try your hand at LST to increase light coverage. Try not to over-feed her, and you'll be surprised at how resilient these little plants can be.

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Alright! Great minds think alike. I'm still unsure when to start LST, should I do it in veg? I think I'm on my 2nd or 3rd node right now. It's honestly hard to tell because this plant is so compact and bushy. I'll have to try to get some side view pictures of the stalk tonight and post them on here so maybe someone can explain to me a bit. Also, should I top and LST at the same time.. or is there some sort of protocol to that? I know GrowinDad tried to explain it to me in his first post, I just can't wrap my head around it yet.

Thanks for providing some insight for me about the strain. It's not a big deal, I just seen a picture of a ruderalis leaf and I said, wait a second -- my plant looks exactly like that. So I started reading and read ruderalis is used to breed with because it auto flowers. So I just thought wow, is this an auto flower?! I don't know much about the strains and genetics and all that. I do want to learn though.

I plan on adding another rubber maid box on top of my current one because the way I have my lights setup right now, the plant is about 1 inch away from the light -- so it's outgrowing it's space. Also I'm going to change the way my lights are setup after I add that box, right now they're all in a line -- I'm going to try to get them all around her, not just a line on top.

Going into the 4th week (in a few days, still in my 3rd week) since I put the germinated seed into a solo cup on April 24th. Here's a quick picture I took just now. I can't take her out of the box right now to get a side shot of the stalk, but I will later.

Really been thinking alot about transplanting to a bigger pot, a 2.5 gallon or a 2 gallon would be best for me in my limited space, I'm thinking. I'd probably use a 3.5 gallon if I had it.

LSTing can be a little tricky, and don't panic if you snap a branch - it happens! She looks ready for some LST now.

Put a hole in the rim of the pot, thread a zip tie through the hole and anchor one end to the main stem of the plant, and the other end to the hole in the pot. Pull the zip tie until the main stem is being pulled at an angle with the soil, about 60 degrees or so. Pull it too tight, and you'll snap the stem. If the stem is really thick and looks like it doesn't want to be angled too much at first, just bend it a little, and keep tightening the zip tie every day. Eventually you'll 'train' her to grow more horizontally then straight up, hence 'Low Stress Training.' It's a really great way of keeping the plant short. Some of the fan leaves might shoot straight up right after you start the LSTing, but over the course of a few days, they'll level out again. The bigger she gets, the more branches will need to be stressed and trained (pulled towards the rim of the pot).

If you're growing in a really small space and she looks to be outgrowing it already, I would consider putting her on 12/12 right away. Bear in mind that she'll triple in size during the flowering cycle. You'll also quickly find out if she's an auto flower by flipping the switch now. If that doesn't induce sexing within a week, then it might well be an auto, as they only sex when they're ready, not when you change the light cycle. I hope that makes sense.

SunnyJim said:

LSTing can be a little tricky, and don't panic if you snap a branch - it happens! She looks ready for some LST now.

Put a hole in the rim of the pot, thread a zip tie through the hole and anchor one end to the main stem of the plant, and the other end to the hole in the pot. Pull the zip tie until the main stem is being pulled at an angle with the soil, about 60 degrees or so. Pull it too tight, and you'll snap the stem. If the stem is really thick and looks like it doesn't want to be angled too much at first, just bend it a little, and keep tightening the zip tie every day. Eventually you'll 'train' her to grow more horizontally then straight up, hence 'Low Stress Training.' It's a really great way of keeping the plant short. Some of the fan leaves might shoot straight up right after you start the LSTing, but over the course of a few days, they'll level out again. The bigger she gets, the more branches will need to be stressed and trained (pulled towards the rim of the pot).

If you're growing in a really small space and she looks to be outgrowing it already, I would consider putting her on 12/12 right away. Bear in mind that she'll triple in size during the flowering cycle. You'll also quickly find out if she's an auto flower by flipping the switch now. If that doesn't induce sexing within a week, then it might well be an auto, as they only sex when they're ready, not when you change the light cycle. I hope that makes sense.

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Yea, the lightning cycle thing makes sense -- I've read a lot about that. I'm about to double the space, I think I want to let her veg a bit more -- I planned on 4 weeks veg. Also, I'm almost scared to go into flower because a lot of shit changes from veg to flower and I've got some reading to do for the flower phase. I've been mostly concentrating on reading a lot about what to do and what not to do in veg.

For LST'ing, I thought I was supposed to just bend down the top, the main stalk -- and to make sure the top get's down real low so that the plant starts a new top. I read this https://www.rollitup.org/advanced-marijuana-cultivation/369528-low-stress-training-lst-guide.html right there. But I've also read what you're saying also. You're saying to pull down the branches, not the main top, right?

No, the guide is correct. I wasn't clear enough in my explanation. Pull the main top down, but as the plant grows you'll probably need to start pulling down other branches too (the off-shoots of the main stem will start stretching as they're exposed).

There isn't much to fear about flowering the plant. The process doesn't change much, and after replacing the bulbs with the right spectrum (a 3:1 mix of 2700k and 6400k) and giving her 12 hours of darkness per day, the only thing that changes is the feed you give her. And she'll grow. They do most of their growing during the dark hours of the day (lights off), and it never ceases to amaze me how much they stretch during the flowing period.

Trust me, there is nothing worse than a plant which has outgrown its space. I always seem to veg my plants a week too long. After some careful self-examination, I can conclude that this is because I'm too greedy for my own good. I always think if I get the plant a little bigger during veg, that she'll throw me more bud during flower. In fact the opposite usually happens. My biggest yields haven't come from my biggest plants, they've come from the plants which had the optimum amount of space to flourish and highest amount of light exposure.

This time, I'm going to be sensible and keep her smaller than my last one. Smaller plants are way easier to manage when space is limited.

SunnyJim said:

No, the guide is correct. I wasn't clear enough in my explanation. Pull the main top down, but as the plant grows you'll probably need to start pulling down other branches too (the off-shoots of the main stem will start stretching as they're exposed).

There isn't much to fear about flowering the plant. The process doesn't change much, and after replacing the bulbs with the right spectrum (a 3:1 mix of 2700k and 6400k) and giving her 12 hours of darkness per day, the only thing that changes is the feed you give her. And she'll grow. They do most of their growing during the dark hours of the day (lights off), and it never ceases to amaze me how much they stretch during the flowing period.

Trust me, there is nothing worse than a plant which has outgrown its space. I always seem to veg my plants a week too long. After some careful self-examination, I can conclude that this is because I'm too greedy for my own good. I always think if I get the plant a little bigger during veg, that she'll throw me more bud during flower. In fact the opposite usually happens. My biggest yields haven't come from my biggest plants, they've come from the plants which had the optimum amount of space to flourish and highest amount of light exposure.

This time, I'm going to be sensible and keep her smaller than my last one. Smaller plants are way easier to manage when space is limited.

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Alright, I gotcha. I should take your advice then, sounds like I'm walking in your greedy footsteps here, hah. I don't have any CFL's over 5000K, I do have a couple of 5500k's but they're older and seemed to be dimmer than the new 5000k's, so I just replaced the dimmed 5500k's with brand new 5000k's. I plan on having all 2700k for the flower, I've read about folks mixing spectrum.. Maybe I'll throw a 5000K in there with the 2700k's, I only have 6 sockets right now -- hopefully I'll have more soon.

So if I go ahead and go to 12/12 now, and LST and top my plant all at the same time, won't this stress the plant a lot?

About feeding her... I'm using MG potting soil, I haven't fed the plant anything at all. Should I look into feeding during flowering or just leave it as it is? I know MG is bad to use, I just didn't have anything else at the time - my next grow I'll be using some crazy mix of stuff I read about from Sincerly420.

Also, do you think I should transplant to a bigger pot before flowering? Right now it's in a 1 gallon and I screwed up and didn't really fill it all the way up with soil when I transplanted from a solo cup.

You should do what your gut tells you. Either way, you'll amend your methods next grow because you'll inevitably learn a bunch of stuff about the way marijuana grows over the next couple months. The only kicker is that each strain has its own quirks, so no two grows are ever exactly the same. The only way to learn is by doing.

Your first grow, unfortunately, shouldn't be about yield. It should be about the learning process, and figuring out the limitations of your grow space/methods so you can increase production on your next grow.

I think you should be ok with topping and LST at the same time. The term "stressing" comes up a lot, but I've yet to see a plant "stressed." I try to imagine what a wild plant might be subjected to, and it seems crazy to think heavy wind bending a plant or a branch being snapped off is enough to kill a plant or cause it to start dropping seeds all over the place. A little bend here, a little snip there and the plant should be fine - just don't butcher it or bend it totally out of shape. Gently does it. I used to be petrified of stressing my plants, either by light leaks or too much bending, or whatever the horror stories are. Now I'm all "Meh, treat her with respect and everything will work itself out." Just take your time and be patient. They're hardy little awesome plants.

I've read that MG is already packed with nutes, but as I'm a hydro grower, I can't offer any advice on soil feeding schedules. I have a simple recipe I follow (20 ml of this, 20 ml of that every 10 days, and pH my water. Rinse and repeat). I would try to find out what the soil already contains. I would be surprised if you didn't need to start giving her some form of feed relatively soon, but for now she looks healthy to me, and isn't showing any obvious signs of deficiency.

I'm rambling. This Maui Waui is sublime.

Maphyr said:

Also, do you think I should transplant to a bigger pot before flowering? Right now it's in a 1 gallon and I screwed up and didn't really fill it all the way up with soil when I transplanted from a solo cup.

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The bigger the pot, the more space the roots have to grow, which translates to bigger, healthier buds. I would transplant into the biggest pot you can fit in your box without compromising too much of the available grow space. Am I right in thinking that most small soil growers use 5 gal pots?

SunnyJim said:

The bigger the pot, the more space the roots have to grow, which translates to bigger, healthier buds. I would transplant into the biggest pot you can fit in your box without compromising too much of the available grow space. Am I right in thinking that most small soil growers use 5 gal pots?

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That's what I've read, but I think 5 gallons is to big for my space.

I think I have pre flowers.. and from examples I can find on the web it looks like pistils? Look at these pictures.. what do you guys think?



Man, I tried LST'ing and I got scared that I was gonna fuck up and she started to droop while I had her out of the box so I panicked and put her back in the box, lol. I got lots of roots at the bottom around the drainage holes. She's starting to smell like weed, if I get pretty close and take a whiff, I can smell a hint aroma of dank.

I can clearly see my top, I know what to cut to top the plant - but damn man, I'm just so scared to do anything to the plant. I want to top it but it looks so good. It's like untouched snow, I don't wanna go step in it because it'll fuck it up. (yep, I'm a weirdo)

Can I top right now and it'll be ok in flower phase? It'll just continue growing?

Nevermind about the pre-flowers. I guess those are stipules?

I'm afraid I can't see any pistils at this stage. You'll recognize them when you see them.

Topping won't kill your plant. If you decide that you want to top her, just go ahead. She'll recover. I would top her during veg rather than flower.

It might also be time to transplant into a bigger pot.

I tried my hand at LST using zip ties. I think it looks like a nightmare. I've got the stalk anchored at the bottom with the zip on the right, and then the top pulled down with the zip on the left... I don't think I did it right at all.

You did do it right, dude. It isn't the prettiest, but it'll do.

You'll notice now that since the main stalk has been bent over, you've exposed the small, new growth lower down on the stem. Over the course of the next days and weeks, that new growth will shoot up. That's what you're trying to achieve - more light to the lower nodes. Had you not done any LST, that growth wouldn't have seen much light.

The top will continue to grow, and therefore level out, so you'll need to try it down again in a few days to a week from now.