Antics Power Flower - Cali Jack FIM Grow

[Antics]

Update, and some commentary from my experiences so far in this grow.

Power Flower seems to be growing much like the Sativas I see. It's growing tall, and dense, but with pretty short branches, which is making it hard to LST the way I want. I have defoliated/lollypopped 4 of the lowest branches so far. In my last grow I didn't cut anything, and these branches ended up producing a dried bud about the size of this letter 'o'. So this time around I've cut those off completely. It's just wasted energy growing these lower branches, when all the LST in the world won't get enough light on the to produce a decent sized bud.
Power Flower:

Cali Jack is a LST dream. It's growing short and bushy, but with some branches 2-3x longer than Power Flower. This plant hasn't had ANY low branches cut yet. The lowest 3 I supercropped, and they're growing straight out towards the edge of the pot, so I'm going to let those go and see what happens. The 4th branch is a tiny branch which would have been supercropped also, but I wanted to wait to see if it grows or not. I might just lollypop that one since it's only about 1" /2.5cm total length still. Everything else has been going great on Cali Jack, and I can't stress it enough how easy it is to LST her. This is definitely a strain I'd love to work with some more.

Cali Jack:

We are now 7 days past the 12/12 switch. All is going well so far, no current nutrient, pest, or PH troubles, the plants seem to be growing well since I have to adjust the LST strings 1-2 times a day, and I'm seeing decent results so far for another CFL grow.

I also have replaced all but 3 bulbs with 2700K, I am keeping 3 6500K bulbs running, with a total of 12 bulbs. 9 23w 2700K. 3 45w 6500K.

And as for the failed FIM on Cali Jack, all we have is a tiny stub of a leaf growing at the FIM site. I think we can write this off as a fail, but I'll have 3 tops at least, and I'm working on evening out the canopy now to hopefully bring most branches up to about the same height.

 

[knotspeeds88]

antics when did you FIM the top? Was it in vegging or flowering stage? She is looking great though

 

[Antics]

Both were FIM'ed in Veg, PF at 3 weeks and CJ 4 weeks. First FIM failed, then the second FIM attempt was 1 week later on both again.

Thanks for the support!

 

[MaggiesFarm]

Subbed...good looking girls!

 

[Antics]

Welcome to the party MaggiesFarm, and thank you. You're just in time for a fairly uneventful update lol.

I hate hitting the 3 day mark without some sort of update, and all I've been doing is LST, adjusting the strings 1-2x a day, moving leaves around, turning pots, And I watered once. So it's been really boring. We're making progress, but it's slow, and no flowers yet. I also took a close-up picture of the half-failed FIM on Cali Jack, the nub that I mentioned a few times in the past is growing finally, but holy hell is it growing slowly! I'm not going to LST or anything yet due to its size, and I may end up getting rid of it if I don't see any promising growth soon.

I'm also still trying to put together some sort of plan for defoliating Power Flower, Cali Jack seems ok, and I can work around the leaves for now with just some good LST, but PF needs definite defoliation.

Anyways, enough blabbering.

Power Flower:

Cali Jack:

Cali Jack FIM:

The tiny growth you see SHOULD have been the other half of the FIM, and should be LST'ed opposite the branch going in the down/left direction. But I'm left with this tiny little thing growing lol. I'm going to give it a week or so, and I'll see how well it grows. If it starts doing better, I'll supercrop it to help it catch up a bit, and will LST it like the others.

As of now both plants are pretty much where I want them except for 4 of the lowest branches on each. I'm going to give them a little time as well and see if they can catch up. I only need a little more height from them, and then I plan to LST them completely vertical, to come right up the center of both plants to fill that in, plus removing the bend will add a little height to each branch, bringing them closer to the top of the canopy.

 

[DaddiSwanga]

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!

Dude do all that! I'm on my very first grow Ever myself and can tell you i have experimented with multiple methods
From FIM, to LST ,and Super Cropping-And they're
All incredible and have their own unique benefits. I prefer super cropping over LST, and i definitely will FIM every plant as it combined with other tactics will increase your budsites ten fold. I literally saw my plants recover and rebound right before my eyes, and its exciting! Great work Brudda, keep it
up!

 

[Antics]

I'm trying as much as I can before serious flowering starts, so today I decided to defoliate a little.

I removed all the fan leaves except for the lowest 4 on each plant (which weren't blocking anything, I assume they're just store nutes at this point) and on the lowest branches, I removed a few of the smaller fan leaves that'll never get enough light to grow.

It made a big difference from yesterdays pictures to todays, but I know I have more I could have removed. I'm just trying to start slow, I'd prefer to not remove enough, than to remove too much and cause serious damage to the plants.

I'll post both pictures from yesterday here so you guys don't have to go back to page 3, and it'll be easier to compare side by side. The pictures weren't taken at the exact same angle, since I keep turning the pots to hopefully increase even growth, but it'll give you all an idea of what it looks like with the little bit removed.

Power Flower.
YESTERDAY

TODAY

Cali Jack.
YESTERDAY

TODAY

 

[Pablo Tesla]

Hi Antics,

Have you pruned them?

 

[Antics]

lol yeah man, the previous post was all about that. You can tell the biggest difference in power flower, Cali Jack seems to look more crowded in the AFTER picture because I've removed some of the LST ties, but I'm going to get a nice picture of the canopy from above soon also, which will be a first for me, I never had a canopy worth showing off until now!

 

[Pablo Tesla]

I mean the top..

 

[Antics]

You mean like topping/FIM ? I did a FIM on both plants, but it only worked on Power FLower, Cali Jack only has half the FIM, and a small nub of leaves growing now.\

And have you had a chance to try your Med Gom smoke brother?

 

[Antics]

Me again!

I figured I might as well take a canopy picture now, to compare to a later picture.

So here is the view from above.

Power Flower:

Cali Jack:

 

[rick3066]

lookin good man

 

[Pablo Tesla]

Nice!!

How old are them?

 

[Antics]

Power Flower is 53 days.
Cali Jack is 46 days.

Both plants have been 12/12 for 12 days total now.

 

[Antics]

Ok as of today, 12/12 for 14 days, I have multiple calyxes and pistils appearing in multiple nodes on both plants.

Ladies and gentlemen, preflowering has officially begun

I'll take some pictures tomorrow, I'll probably have to water them tomorrow anyways.

How do I count "tops"? I may have multiples, aside from the fact that I FIM'ed, I have trained the canopy to grow as even as possible, and I have numerous lower branches with a similar thickness to the top branches, and those top branches have some serious bud sites growing as well.

What criteria must a branch or bud site meet to be considered a top?

Thanks folks

 

[rick3066]

what wattage are your bulbs?

 

[Antics]

12 bulbs total.
3 bulbs are 45w 6500k
9 bulbs are 23w 2700k
Total of 342w for 2 plants, approximately 36"x24" area. 90cm x 60cm.

 

[Antics]

Picture time. No amazing updates really. Fed nutes today, both plants still under LST, but a few ties have been removed from Power Flower, and 2 from Cali Jack. I removed 2 of the lowest fan leaves from CJ, and both plants have had 4 bud sites removed from the lowest 2 branches, at the innermost budsite. The way they're growing, these places will never see enough light to produce anything worth the plant's energy.

But at the same time, they're both shaping up exactly how I want. The canopies are staying fairly flat and even, and they're both taking on the bonsai tree shape I wanted to achieve. As branches hold their shape, I remove LST ties, when some branches start growing faster than others and becoming dominant, I tie them back a little to let the others catch up.

Power Flower:

Power Flower starting preflower:

Cali Jack:

Cali Jack starting preflower:

 

[Antics]

Anyone have any idea how to officially count tops? Come on guys, help me out here!

I took pics of the top of the canopy of both plants, and circled what I thought were tops. I included the original picture, and a copy where I circled what I thought would be considered tops. And I have a few more branches on both that I'm trying to train upwards.

Power Flower:

Power Flower tops circled:

Cali Jack:

Cali Jack tops circled:

I count a total of 17 on Power Flower, and 16 on Cali Jack. Maybe 17 on CJ, right in the middle of the pic where the FIM was, I have 2 tops coming up, but because they're so close, circled them as one, just in case I need to remove one to let the other grow out better.