Antics Power Flower - Cali Jack FIM Grow

[Antics]

Another photo update on the same day! Oh man how exciting

I noticed a couple things I wanted to ask about.

First, on Power Flower. Plant is 33 days in Veg. I'm seeing calyxes and pistils. I know they're definitely not Stipules, as you can see both Stipules in the picture.

This is not an autoflower, just a Feminized photo period plant. They've been on 18/6 since seed. No power outages or issues with my timer. How is it that I'm seeing sex now? I thought plants didn't show sex until the 12/12 switch??
Am I doing something wrong? Or hopefully, am I doing something right?

Calyx on Power Flower:

Next, Cali Jack has some tiny Calyxes forming as well, so that question can be answered with Power Flower. Both are in the same grow area, same lights etc.. RH ranges between 48%-54%, temp will vary between 68F/20C at night, and up to 82F/27.7C at its hottest point in the day.

But my question about Cali Jack, was these huge knuckles forming at the node. What are they? What causes them? And am I doing something right, or am I doing something wrong? I don't see these on Power Flower at the present time.

And a short FIM update, the new growth I posted pictures of in my previous post has increased in size from this morning, so I think we're in good shape! My untrained eye will know for sure in a few more days

 

[David Bowman]

My goal is 4 colas. So plan B would include topping the main stem, and then topping the two new stems. From there I'll use LST to keep them growing equally.

That was my plan as well for my current grow but with the increased side shoot growth of the node below the topped node I now have 6 evenly spaced colas on each of my kids with no LSTing required as of yet.

 

[Tugafox]

Good night Antics,
Catching up, enjoyed the updates. I think you got yourself a cool challenge already as Sativas have their own special way and are known to be more nutes sensitive than Indicas.
Well done on the FIM! Gotta try until you get it right
I´m more used to top so I can´t really add much just that I notice that some of my plants can take up to 1 week to recover from topping.
Your Power Flower is clearly showing sex, I know that some plants show sex when they reach maturity even before the lights flip.
The swollen branches on Cali jack are also a sign of getting ready for flowering, at least in my experience.
Just a thought: Maybe both plants are trying to tell you they´re ready for the flip
Cheers

 

[Antics]

That was my plan as well for my current grow but with the increased side shoot growth of the node below the topped node I now have 6 evenly spaced colas on each of my kids with no LSTing required as of yet.

Good night Antics,
Catching up, enjoyed the updates. I think you got yourself a cool challenge already as Sativas have their own special way and are known to be more nutes sensitive than Indicas.
Well done on the FIM! Gotta try until you get it right
I´m more used to top so I can´t really add much just that I notice that some of my plants can take up to 1 week to recover from topping.
Your Power Flower is clearly showing sex, I know that some plants show sex when they reach maturity even before the lights flip.
The swollen branches on Cali jack are also a sign of getting ready for flowering, at least in my experience.
Just a thought: Maybe both plants are trying to tell you they´re ready for the flip
Cheers

That's great to hear from both of you . I MIGHT try some supercropping still, just to get a feel for it, and to compare production on supercropped, and non supercropped colas, as I'd like to try it on one branch on each plant.

Tuga, the FIM isn't difficult, it's not much different than topping, it just seems to be very picky about where you cut it. Cut too little, and it grows back normally with stubby leaves. Cut too much, and you just topped it. So it's probably worth a shot on a future grow. All you have to lose is 1 week Veg time for recovery after a cut. And you have 4 colas (or more!) to gain if you do it right.

As for recovery from FIM, growth seems pretty slow now, It's been 3 days since the last FIM cut, and I only see about 2mm of new growth at the FIM site, so I'm guessing that in my grow environment it will be about a week or so to fully recover as well.

Normally in Veg I can measure daily growth in CM! Now I'm only counting MM in 3 days lol. I think it'll be worth it though, it's a cool technique to learn, next grow, I'm going to practice topping instead of FIM.

Thanks for the info too, I was worried the plants were going hermy or something. What a relief! I've only seen/read about plants showing sex after switching to 12/12, so now I just learned one more new thing!

Anyways, I gotta go make some dinner. I think some burgers on the grill to celebrate the Calyxes would be appropriate

Later this evening I'll update pictures if needed, but I'd like to try to take a picture of the calyxes on Cali Jack also.

Thanks again for reading and sharing in my learning adventure! (Although it'd be more fun if you folks could be here to help out, and smoke one with me while we're outside enjoying the sunshine and grilling some burgers!)

 

[David Bowman]

Interesting, as I've not noticed any slowing down from the topping I've done. As a matter of fact, the side shoots of the topped nodes took off within a day or two of topping. Here is one of the kids five days after the first topping -

and here is another of the kids 2 days after the second topping -

 

[KingJohnC]

When a female cannabis plant reaches sexual maturity and is ready to flower the plant will begin producing calyxes that produce 2 white pistils per node.

 

[Antics]

Great info, thanks guys. Colorado, you're also more experienced, so there could be something little that I was doing wrong that slowed down the growth. The rest of the plants grow normally, height increases, leaves getting bigger, only my FIM site slows down.

I'll get some pictures tonight if I have time, the FIM on Power Flower is doing great, with new growth emerging at the FIM site, and the last 2 nodes at the top are doing good as well. The FIM on Cali Jack is only doing good on the one side, the other new growth is still a little nub, so we may or may not see something new there.

On to more the bad/annoying news. I spotted a couple fungus gnats around the grow area about a week ago. Simple swat kill, and I've killed eh.. maybe 4 or 5. So I started watching my soil for signs of larvae, occasionally moving the top layer a little bit and keeping a close watch for any movement. In the last week I was able to see what looked like one larvae. One.

I tried the sliced potato method yesterday, I checked the slices every 2 hours, leaving them for about 24 hours, absolutely nothing. I also mixed up some apple cider vinegar and a little dish soap and put the container right on my soil. Again, nothing. Although I did catch some other beetle, a little orange/brownish guy, I'll get pictures tonight of him.

So now to the next step, and since I don't have diatomaceous earth on hand, I'm using the closest natural substitute that I do have. Fuller's earth. It's a clay material with a very fine/powdery texture. It's much finer than sand, and I figured if sand works, this could work too. I'd say the texture falls between baby powder and sand, but slightly closer to the powder. And I applied a 1"/2.5cm layer on top of the soil of both plants.

Being clay, my concern was PH, but the PH measured out at 7.2, so it's actually lower than where my soil PH creeps up to so it shouldn't cause any issues.

I never over water either. Never!

My soil has never been muddy or wet. Moist only. I saw 2 methods of watering, one you let your soil dry out almost completely, and water until you get runoff. The other, you water in small amounts to maintain a low level of moisture. I chose the 2nd method, although now I'm thinking of reconsidering. Especially since the flood method is supposed to flush the soil of salts that can be harmful/slow growth.

So that's where the grow is today.

 

[David Bowman]

I've not tried FIMing yet so there may be a difference in recovery rates between topping and FIMing. I've seen a couple fungus gnats as well and personally I'm not that concerned, actually I was expecting more given the issues I had last summer. I had way more during the early part of my first grow and while they were annoying they had little if any impact on the grow, the overwatering which fueled the fungus gnat growth caused more problems than the fungus gnats themselves. I just do my best to keep the top of my medium dry between waterings and so far they haven't been a problem. I've found that larger less frequent waterings compared to smaller more frequest waterings help to fight off the fungus gnats as the top of the soil remains drier for a longer period of time.

 

[Antics]

Recovery time will probably depend a lot on the strain, the growing environment, growing medium, nutes, and of course, the butcher doing the FIM/Top. Since I'm new to it, that could be a big part of my problem.

But I took pictures as promised. The FIM on Power Flower is looking GREAT right now. It looks like I'm going to have the 4 colas that I wanted.

But the FIM on Cali Jack isn't looking great yet. It looks like 3 colas, and the last is still a nub. The nub isn't visible in the picture but I figured it doesn't matter much now since not much has changed in it. It grew a LITTLE above the cut level, but it's still just a nub, and you can't tell what it is yet..


Power Flower:

And Power Flower FIM:

Cali Jack:

Cali Jack FIM:

This is the best picture I can get of that beetle I mentioned. I'm not sure what it is, and that vinegar trap really doesn't work well, but surprisingly, that Fuller's Earth caught a few more of the same little beetle I have in the picture here. They seem to be unable to flip themselves over in the dust, so that's a bonus.

And now that the evening is here, I'm relaxing, having a nice smoke (MED GOM 1st harvest), this one is for you guys and gals that volunteer your time here being moderators, admins, staff, whatever the titles are, and all the members too, helping people like me learn tons of new things, and always treating folks as equals, no matter how new they are to growing Cannabis, you're all super cool and can smoke with me any day.

 

[Antics]

It looks like the recovery of Power Flower is complete, and the FIM was a total success. The new colas are growing nicely, and much, much faster now. I'd say she's ready for the 12/12 flip

Cali Jack is a different story. The one new cola that was growing is right about the same size and height as the new colas on PF, but it still has that one nub! It's growing still, and has gotten a little bigger, but it's growing at a much slower rate. I'm guessing I might have cut too low on that side, or caused some possible damage/stress in the process, causing that part to grow back slower. The way it looks now, I'm thinking I'll have a 4th cola here too, but the other 3 will be much more dominant, so I'll have to LST those way down to let this smaller cola become a little more dominant. This cola might also be a good candidate for supercropping.

Power Flower:

Power Flower FIM site:

Cali Jack:

Cali Jack FIM site:

 

[budstep]

very nice.

 

[Tugafox]

Recovery time will probably depend a lot on the strain, the growing environment, growing medium, nutes, and of course, the butcher doing the FIM/Top

I must agree.
But from the different experiences one can think of averages and find a middle ground. For me, what´s really important is that the plant recovers well. When I decide to train a plant with stress I give her plenty of time to do her thing.
The time frame of one week I experienced when toping was with the Royal Medic, a Sativa (75%) dominant hybrid. Full recover - stem healed and new leafs totally formed took a handful of days.
ColoradoHigh pics show well the result of topping

Your girls are looking great Antics

Hope the sort of sand trick works for ya, if not check my journal for some tips other members gave me when I had the same problem.

 

[Antics]

Power Flower also took right around 1 week before I was seeing nice full growth from the shoots. Cali Jack only produced nice full growth on one of the two shoots at 1 week. So I'm guessing there was a problem that I cut too low on one side.

Power Flower is Sativa dominant @ 88%, and Cali Jack is Indica dominant @ 70%.

Thanks for stopping in again! As for the sand (Which is called Fuller's Earth, and is actually made from clay), it seems to have worked. I haven't seen any more fungus gnats flying around anywhere in the room, or in the grow area.

As for today, I have decided to stop procrastinating, and I'm going to finally try to get that closet cleaned out, and move the girls in there. So no more white peg board backgrounds in pictures for me lol. I'm also going to need to build a new 'hood' for all of my lighting, which I'll probably start on tomorrow and have finished by the end of this week (I hope!). And I plan to add a few more bulbs, as I'm going to switch to 12/12 very soon.

 

[Antics]

Alright we get another update today.

And I get to retype it again since I did something and made my browser go back to page 1, and I lost everything I just typed.

So the move into the utility/junk closet was pretty smooth. The girls are all moved in with all the growing supplies, and I was able to get the light 'hood' built today as well. By reusing the beautiful white pegboard you've all grown used to seeing, I was able to assemble it quickly with zip ties, and I have added 4 more bulbs.

However, during the move, the girls were without direct light for a minute or so each time I had to move them, which probably isn't an issue, but I figure why play with their emotions? So after 5 and 6 weeks Veg, 1 successful, and 1 half successful FIM, I made the switch to 12/12. Power Flower is at 6 weeks, and Cali Jack is at 5 weeks.

Depending on how this grow goes, it'll give me an idea how I need to adjust the veg time for the next grow.

My artistic angle shots showing off the new hood..

Power Flower:

Cali Jack:

No LST has been done yet, so it's been really cool watching a Sativa dominant grow up next to an Indica dominant.

I do plan to start some LST to keep the tops growing evenly, as well as help the Sativa get a little wider. But I'm also toying with the idea of using a lot of agressive LST to bring the tops down real low, and let the smaller lower branches become more dominant in the hopes of creating more 'tops' from those.

And I'm definitely going to super crop 1 branch on each plant to see how well that works out, which will be done in the very near future before they get too far into flowering. I've been practicing on random plants outside in my yard to get a better feel for it.

So I guess that's about all for now. Oh.. I also removed the fuller's earth from the soil, it wasn't letting the soil get any circulation, and was taking a long time to dry out between waterings. Alright, now that's all for now.

Keep on growing friends!

 

[Tugafox]

Hi Antics,
I think you´re doing a good job for first training attempts. You will learn much from it, although each plant is different and not all react to stress the same way.
Good job on the move also, one can do a lot when sets the mind on it and has the resources.
If you don´t mind me saying, to improve your set-up, I would try to get those lights in different highs to be closer to different parts of the plant and not only from top. Not possible though when you´re using only one hood, i understand that.
I´m still using CFLs for veg but I have them two by two with a split adapter which is a bit of a mess with cords and extensions but has worked to better spread the lights and get them closer to the plants.
About the training, in my current grow, I´m being a bit naughty with 2 plants. Here´s one of my Royal Medics (75% Sativa), right after being transplanted to her final pot and before another def. She will be 8 weeks tomorrow:

I think the pic explains better why she took one week to fully recover

Have a great day Antics, it´s so sunny here today, just wonderful.

 

[knotspeeds88]

Nice grow you have there...any more info on the nats?

 

[Antics]

Hi Antics,
I think you´re doing a good job for first training attempts. You will learn much from it, although each plant is different and not all react to stress the same way.
Good job on the move also, one can do a lot when sets the mind on it and has the resources.
If you don´t mind me saying, to improve your set-up, I would try to get those lights in different highs to be closer to different parts of the plant and not only from top. Not possible though when you´re using only one hood, i understand that.
I´m still using CFLs for veg but I have them two by two with a split adapter which is a bit of a mess with cords and extensions but has worked to better spread the lights and get them closer to the plants.
About the training, in my current grow, I´m being a bit naughty with 2 plants. Here´s one of my Royal Medics (75% Sativa), right after being transplanted to her final pot and before another def. She will be 8 weeks tomorrow:

I think the pic explains better why she took one week to fully recover

Have a great day Antics, it´s so sunny here today, just wonderful.

Thanks x2! I actually started what I think to be fairly agressive LST to bring the top nodes down, hoping to even it out more, and get similar results as a SCROG, without the screen.

I do mind! HOW DARE YOU???? I'm joking bro! I always appreciate comments and constructive criticism in my grows
Yeah that was the issue with the last grow, and the lights aren't exactly what I want yet, so that's why I plan to train them as flat as I possibly can. I'd like to go buy more fixtures and add more CFLS with a tower of light on each side, and one in the middle, but the money I would spend on that I could spend a little more and have a nice LED setup.

My light in the middle is actually a 4 way splitter, I have 2 more bulbs directly over each, and one bulb on each end, then I have a clamp light with a splitter that I clip inside the pots right between the plants, but every time I check on the training, water, etc.. I have to remove the clamp light so I can turn the pots.

Your training is doing great man, I'm still nervous about defoliation, so that's why I haven't used it in any of my grows yet.

Nice grow you have there...any more info on the nats?

I removed the Fuller's Earth on Monday (June 30) because the soil wasn't getting any circulation and was staying wet too long, but so far I haven't seen any gnats flying around. So I'm hoping it worked for good.

As for a grow update, well I was a little late on my nutes today. I had a few things going on lately and completely forgot about it.
I actually was supposed to feed them when I started the LST, but anyways, moving on.. So they both got a nice dose of 7.5ml/gal of grow, bloom, and micro.

I only have the LST started on Power Flower, since Cali Jack is growing nice and wide for the time being, but LST starts on Cali Jack shortly since the branches look decently long enough to start.

What I'm doing on Power Flower, is training the top 6 branches down, to let the lower branches catch up a little, then I'll let it all go slowly to see where we end up. On Cali Jack it'll be the top 5 branches, since the FIM looks like I only got half a FIM so far. There's a tiny bud of a leaf or something, but it just isn't growing, so Ill work on the highest 5 tops, and train those down to let the next few lower branches catch up.

Power Flower:

Cali Jack:

I think that's about all for now, no other changes or exciting things going on. Still 12/12 lighting.

 

[knotspeeds88]

Antics, I was very nervous about defoliation as well when I first did it. I started at the bottom of the plant and removed 5 or 7 leafs the first time, (mine was a little father along than yours), and waited for it to recover which was only a few days, then I removed a few more and let that recover...it let all kind of light in to the bottom part of the plant. And I was surprise that she did so well. Just take it slow and let it recover before doing it again. Don't miss and watering or feed schedules though. I am in the flowering stage now and unsure if I should do it again though...but in the vegging stage it is cool.

Glad to hear that you haven't seen any nats of late.

I will have to put up some pictures on my LST plant. She is a clone and I femmed her and let her recover before I took it as a clipping for a clone and she is doing very well if I don't say so myself. I will be fimming her again in a few days.

Happy growing my friend and I will be watching the LST process

Just remember...it is just a weed and is a lot stronger that you think

 

[Antics]

Thanks for the advice knotspeeds. I started off by removing 2 of the smallest branches on each plant, which I noticed in the last grow, never grew much bigger than these, and never got big enough to produce any decent buds.

As for an update, Things are growing well so far. I have started Cali Jack on some LST as well now, and I have tried some supercropping on the 3 lowest branches of Cali Jack. These branches normally wouldn't produce a very large bud either, Maybe about 1cm/3/8" sized single bud on each, at least from past experience, so I figured they'll be good to try the technique on.

No big changes for Power Flower right now, I just adjust the LST ties for her when needed to keep her growing in the shape I want. In the last grow, and from reading grow journals here, I have noticed how strong these plants are, so I have continued further into my more agressive LST, and I have started tucking fan leaves whenever they're blocking bud sites, which right now only seems to be a few of the lower branches.

And I might as well mention HOW I'm doing this, since there wasn't much else to say for this report. These pictures were also taken yesterday morning, but I didn't have time to get around to uploading them until now.

Power Flower: Sativa Dominant, so I'm starting at the top 6 branches, and my goal is to grow them outwards towards the edge of the pot, while allowing some of the branches below to grow normally upwards, and I'm hoping to see a little more bud production on these sites on this grow. The branches are still shorter, so it's taking some time to get where I want. But I wanted to start training now before the branches get larger so I don't risk damaging the plant when pulling them out almost 90 degrees from where they were.

Cali Jack: Indica dominant, so we already have the bushyness started naturally, but the same basic principle, the top 4 branches are being pulled outwards, and I'd like to see them reach the edge of the pot before allowing them to grow upwards. Now the branches here are already longer than the Sativa, and are growing very nicely, and easy to train. But there's one change here. Since these branches are longer, when I'm training the top branches outwards, they cover the bud sites on the branches below them, so I have some lower branches tied off, and they're actually being trained to grow straight upwards in the gaps created from the higher branches being pulled out.

And a terrible picture of my supercropping sites. You can see the 2 on the left and right fairly easy, but the third branch is on the rear of the plant.

 

[knotspeeds88]

Looking great...keep on doing what your doing