First Time Grower, G13 Feminized

6 pics. see date & time inside each pic.
in pic 1, G13 is on the right, local loser is on the left
in pic 5, G13 is on the left, local loser is on the right
all other pics are G13 by itself
germinated both on 5/17/2011 @ 8:30pm
i honestly do not know if i'm doing well or not! please lemme know if i am doing ok! thanks!

today the 2nd pair of leaves (leaves 3 & 4) grew bigger than the cotyledon, and the 3rd pair of leaves (leaves 5 & 6) is definitely coming out but you can't see it in those pics. is this decent progress for day 8? any comments are welcome, thanks

today at least 5 pairs of leaves are showing on the G13. i'm gonna lose track & stop counting before long. my guess is that this will be a very dense plant, greedy to cover every square inch with photosynthetic leaves, like drgruber's. temps are chronically high when the light is on and i need to do more research to make sure there's no long-term side effects. there's a study saying lower temps = more potency. i am consciously trying to not count my buds before they bloom, but damn, the exponential progress seems to have begun.

the combination of a lowe's 5-gallon bucket and the ufo light inside it is almost completely perfect, because it's almost completely efficient. all that dense light inside that small space is unbelievably bright. it hits the plant from all sides, not just the top, because the inside is covered w/ reflective tape.
i have scrapped the idea of the aluminum-foil covered bathtub because too much light is lost in there. for flowering i may need to buy another ufo if i want good results, but that's 2 months from now. the 5-gallon bucket will be inadequate before long, if i start getting lateral growth, which is my goal.
there's only one downside to the ufo-in-bucket: air ventilation is a little low, and temps are a little high. i have a fix for that though: drill out many holes in the bottom of the bucket, and elevate it an inch or 2 off the floor. if that's still too warm, i'll just buy a budget fanthat i can situate flat on the floor, and stick the bucket right ontop of it, with its vent holes i just described.
from the start, ultra-low budget was part of my goal and still is. keep it simple, stupid. seems to be working great so far.
misc: mixed up some 280ppm food for usage starting tonight. if it has side effects i'll water it back down. also, haven't really used the 20"x24" mirrors but they'll come in handy in the flowering stage. i'm a big believer in light multiplication from a single source inside a small area; just place 2 mirrors facing each other and shine a laser pointer in there. you get shitloads of light from that tiny little laser. of course incoherent light scatters more than a laser, but confining it in the bucket works great. this is the principle i'll be using all the way to harvest instead of pricey/fragile/energyhog CFL/HPS/whatever

early on day 10

just finished 10am-5am 19-hour cycle. added air intake holes near bucket bottom. experimenting w/ small 4" fan & frozen water bottles. still feeding w/ 280ppm/5.8pH jacks classic 20-20-20. need to look into moving to bigger pots & finding the best local grow soil.
big difference between local plant (underwhelming shiny leaves, premature stem coming up between leaves) and G13 (high texture, high density, high surface area). day 11 pics later.

day 11, day 11 stem zoom, day 12, day 12 stem zoom. the zooms are just to show growth which may not be visible in the overall pic because pic quality is low. i am having to take screenshots of my canon camera with my cellphone camera because i have no way to upload the original hi-rez pics right now.
next investment will be 1 or 2 bags of Foxfarm Ocean Forest 1.5 cu. ft. maybe i'll try hydroponics next time around but not this time. hopefully i can get the soil locally because it's 35 lbs a bag and the cheapest internet shipping i can find is still over $40. total ripoff!
since i haven't gotten feedback, i don't know why the original pair of leaves is curling downwards from time to time. they seem healthy to the touch, so i assume they're either 1) reaching for light on the sides, or 2) taking a breather while new pairs of leaves up above are doing most of the photosynthesis. the upper leaves are growing much faster, and pair #6 is now visible in the last pic as 2 small vertical lines

is there a way to guesstimate how big the roots are at this point? i just don't want them running into any obstacles in the jiffypot since i don't have the foxfarm soil yet.

well it's still growing today but at a diminished pace because one root bottomed out in the jiffy pot and another reached the side. i noticed this this morning. the 2 original leaves have a subtle yellow tint which can't be good i'm fairly sure. i removed the dirt-and-roots monolith from the jiffypot and did a quickie transplant into a bigger container made of 2 split-up jiffy pots, filled w/ the same miracle gro root/cuttings potting soil. tomorrow i hope to have the foxfarm ocean forest in hand for what i hope is the final transplant into a 5 gallon bucket. a local place sells it. they're closed for the holiday. if they don't have it in stock, i'll go w/ whatever is closest to foxfarm, because the roots will eventually max out again and that's a good thing to avoid, since i already goofed once, d'oh.

and about 30% perlite mixed in. forgot

supersymmetry said:

well it's still growing today but at a diminished pace because one root bottomed out in the jiffy pot and another reached the side. i noticed this this morning. the 2 original leaves have a subtle yellow tint which can't be good i'm fairly sure. i removed the dirt-and-roots monolith from the jiffypot and did a quickie transplant into a bigger container made of 2 split-up jiffy pots, filled w/ the same miracle gro root/cuttings potting soil. tomorrow i hope to have the foxfarm ocean forest in hand for what i hope is the final transplant into a 5 gallon bucket. a local place sells it. they're closed for the holiday. if they don't have it in stock, i'll go w/ whatever is closest to foxfarm, because the roots will eventually max out again and that's a good thing to avoid, since i already goofed once, d'oh.

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Remember Foxfarm is really hot and you will have to be careful with it. Let the plant go without any feeding for awhile after you transplant or you will probably burn them. i can fill you in with my experiences as you go along.

i shouldn't be worried about the yellowy-green leaves? it's the first 2 leaves and they are still mostly green but less than the rest. some of the others curled down some but it looks like a possible comeback. won't know till later. is "unyellowing" possible? i think it could be happening. it could also be my mind playing tricks on me. and yeah i read your post about foxfarm 2000ppm

supersymmetry said:

i shouldn't be worried about the yellowy-green leaves? it's the first 2 leaves and they are still mostly green but less than the rest. some of the others curled down some but it looks like a possible comeback. won't know till later. is "unyellowing" possible? i think it could be happening. it could also be my mind playing tricks on me. and yeah i read your post about foxfarm 2000ppm

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Well, its hard to say but i thought the transplant should take care of those yellow leaves...but if you are talking about the cotyledon leafs, then its not unusual for them to go a bit yellow.

Dr Gruber said:

Well, its hard to say but i thought the transplant should take care of those yellow leaves...but if you are talking about the cotyledon leafs, then its not unusual for them to go a bit yellow.

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the cotyledon leaves i.e. the part that surrounds the embryo in the seed & then splits open after sprouting? for a few days now that has been sort of withering dry but i'm not worried about that coz it sort of makes sense; no photosynthetic coverage, no use

the part i'm perhaps worried about is the 1st set of fan leaves out of the cotyledon. they are still green but less than the rest, & it's a new development as of last night. i think they are now recovering. since this a slowdown in growth, i need to give it at least a week to stabilize before i make a judgment call

hopefully foxfarm & final transplant 2moro. depending on bag instructions for seedlings / small plants, depending on more experienced internet users, etc., i'll probably mix a good chunk of perlite & this miracle gro rooting soil i already have into the foxfarm, and then keep an eye on it.

the "local loser" plant from the local seed, not from greenthumb - i think i'm gonna scrap that plant, like i said on page 1 (i think). it's been growing side by side w/ the G13. it's more wide and not as tall, but having smoked from that strain before, it's nothing special and i still have seeds from it if i want to retry later. it's obvious from the shiny leaves that there's not much substance to it. maybe i'll make it my hydroponic guinea pig, or move it outside and let it fend for itself & whatever happens happens. i never did intend to bring that one to flower. it was just so i could gain germinating experience

someone was telling me that when i do the final transplant i can snip the roots where they've curled up when they reached the edge of their container so they can keep stretching. is this a good idea or a bad idea?

supersymmetry said:

someone was telling me that when i do the final transplant i can snip the roots where they've curled up when they reached the edge of their container so they can keep stretching. is this a good idea or a bad idea?

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Read this.....https://www.rollitup.org/advanced-marijuana-cultivation/267989-uncle-bens-gardening-tweeks-pointers.html

The part at the bottom of the first post about Upcanning...Uncle Ben describes it and if done right is a very good idea.

she's hangin in there. no deterioration in the past 24hrs. lights going down in 20min, then my hunt for soil starts as soon as the local place picks up their phone, probly 2 more hrs

quickie questions:

- using about 70% oceat forest, about 20% miracle gro seed starting potting soil, about 10% perlite, filling a 5 gallon tub. is this ok? (higher % of seed starter soil right around rootball)

- foxfarm bag says water thoroughly. using about 80 oz straight tap water for first watering. pH7.1, 38ppm. is this ok?

- vertically sliced the visible roots (the ones that reached the edges of the jiffypot) about 1/2" into the rootball, per Uncle Ben, & horizontal sliced the bottom root. is this ok?

- buried stem to about an inch or less below lowest leaves, per Uncle Ben. is this ok?

supersymmetry said:

quickie questions:

- using about 70% oceat forest, about 20% miracle gro seed starting potting soil, about 10% perlite, filling a 5 gallon tub. is this ok? (higher % of seed starter soil right around rootball)

- foxfarm bag says water thoroughly. using about 80 oz straight tap water for first watering. pH7.1, 38ppm. is this ok?

- vertically sliced the visible roots (the ones that reached the edges of the jiffypot) about 1/2" into the rootball, per Uncle Ben, & horizontal sliced the bottom root. is this ok?

- buried stem to about an inch or less below lowest leaves, per Uncle Ben. is this ok?

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i dont know anything about that Miricle grow soil but from everything ive heard about it i would be careful. You dont need it as far as i know...the FF should be fine alone.But you may have info i dont.

Unless you have bad tap water(Really high or low PH) i would just water without PH'ing it...just straight tap water. Water until you have good drainage and the soil is evenly moist. thats what i do...my tap is around 7.0 ph.

Did you have root spinout going on? Were the roots wraped around the inside of container? Thats when you are supposed to do the cut according to UB. sounds like you did it right.
Also sounds like you burried it properly...