DIY Stealth Cab, Hydro, LED & Multiple Strains in Small Space - Oh Boy!

[Mr. Krip]

QUICK UPDATE

I decided to give the girls a foliar of the Fungicide/Miticide I had picked up just as a preventative. I had been doing once per week or so, but didn't do this week since I'd been giving the Snow Storm. Now that I'm getting close, I don't want to risk either bud rot or a bug riot.

While I was there, I snapped a few more pics:

 

[Xlr8]

Sure look like they're starting to put on some weight to me, Mr. Krip! These probably aren't the same bud, but here is a bud pic of yours from a week ago, and one a week later (today). I'm definitely seeing some bud weight improvement, imho. Calyxes are swelling up -

Week ago:

Today:

 

[Mr. Krip]

Sure look like they're starting to put on some weight to me, Mr. Krip! These probably aren't the same bud, but here is a bud pic of yours from a week ago, and one a week later (today). I'm definitely seeing some bud weight improvement, imho. Calyxes are swelling up -

Week ago:

Today:

Thanks, XLR8, and no doubt, they are definately bulking up and some of those calyxes are huge! The second-to-the-last pic in the last set shows two calyxes, each with just a single pistil, that when I first saw them, I thought I had a hermie, but are really nice frosty buds-to-be.

I had just expected that they would be a little more developed by now, and I don't know how they'll develop enough to harvest in 3-4 weeks.

BUT, I'm sure a large part of that is simply due to my inexperience and not knowing what to expect having never been this far with a grow. Truthfully, I really dont mind if it takes another 6-8 weeks for them to finish, as long as I get a decent harvest of some good quality meds when I'm done!

I appreciate the help & positive vibes!

 

[Barry Manilow]

Thanks, Hemp! I'm certainly not going to rush it, so if the plants aren't ready, neither am I!

I'm pretty sure I'll be able to tell when they're ready from the trich's. I just don't think I'll know when it's three weeks before they're ready, and that's when I need to change my nutes!

I guess, I could always flush longer, if needed, but according to AN, I'm supposed to start the Overdrive two weeks before the flush.

So, think I should change this weekend, or wait another week or so before changing nutes? Or, would you rather wait until Friday and see what they look like then before you answer?

OMM, Thanks. I understand this and already have ordered a microscope. Here was the original issue:

So, I'll know by the trich's when they're ready, but I need to take some action 3 weeks BEFORE they're ready.

Thanks, XLR8, and no doubt, they are definately bulking up and some of those calyxes are huge! The second-to-the-last pic in the last set shows two calyxes, each with just a single pistil, that when I first saw them, I thought I had a hermie, but are really nice frosty buds-to-be.

I had just expected that they would be a little more developed by now, and I don't know how they'll develop enough to harvest in 3-4 weeks.

BUT, I'm sure a large part of that is simply due to my inexperience and not knowing what to expect having never been this far with a grow. Truthfully, I really dont mind if it takes another 6-8 weeks for them to finish, as long as I get a decent harvest of some good quality meds when I'm done!

I appreciate the help & positive vibes!

Hey Mr Krip I don't know how I missed the last 2 weeks I thought I was sub'd. Your pics are spectacular.

Have you seen the thread on another forum about how to tell when your plants are done? PM me if you haven't and would like to.

IMO your eyes and instincts are right, your plants are no where near finished. Your colas are still not filled in yet. My AK went 89 days from 12/12. And believe me - I was taking samples - the improvement of the quality of the high in the last week was staggering. It went from this is pretty good to holy shit! on the smoke meter.

Honestly anymore I'll check the trichs but I'm mostly going by what the plants look like, and IMO unfortunately almost everyone seems to harvest early.

Your plants will tell you when they're entering the end stage. Most telling is how they'll start to eat their fan leaves on the colas and turn colors, it looks like fall and is unmistakable. When you start to see that you've got 2-3 weeks left. The calyxes swell like crazy and absorb the pistils so that you will hardly even see any. Everything starts getting very frosty and beautiful. Those last 2-3 weeks are the most important and most growers never see them because they've seen some cloudy & amber trichs under the scope and are just sick of waiting.

Here's my ak after 40 days 12/12

Here's my AK 3 weeks before the chop:

You can see in these pics how the cola leaves are dying at the tips.

At the chop:

Please be patient, it will be worth it. It makes no sense when you think about it, we patiently wait for 3-4 months to grow our plants and then miss out on the best stuff because we're sick of waiting. It's like picking a tomato right after it turns orange.

Good luck my friend and I hope this helps, although I feel like the guy running around telling everyone that Santa will be running a few weeks late this year.

BTW, I think you're going to get a massive yield off of her.

 

[Mr. Krip]

Hey Mr Krip I don't know how I missed the last 2 weeks I thought I was sub'd. Your pics are spectacular.

Have you seen the thread on another forum about how to tell when your plants are done? PM me if you haven't and would like to.

IMO your eyes and instincts are right, your plants are no where near finished. Your colas are still not filled in yet. My AK went 89 days from 12/12. And believe me - I was taking samples - the improvement of the quality of the high in the last week was staggering. It went from this is pretty good to holy shit! on the smoke meter.

Honestly anymore I'll check the trichs but I'm mostly going by what the plants look like, and IMO unfortunately almost everyone seems to harvest early.

Your plants will tell you when they're entering the end stage. Most telling is how they'll start to eat their fan leaves on the colas and turn colors, it looks like fall and is unmistakable. When you start to see that you've got 2-3 weeks left. The calyxes swell like crazy and absorb the pistils so that you will hardly even see any. Everything starts getting very frosty and beautiful. Those last 2-3 weeks are the most important and most growers never see them because they've seen some cloudy & amber trichs under the scope and are just sick of waiting.

Here's my ak after 40 days 12/12

Here's my AK 3 weeks before the chop:

You can see in these pics how the cola leaves are dying at the tips.

At the chop:

Please be patient, it will be worth it. It makes no sense when you think about it, we patiently wait for 3-4 months to grow our plants and then miss out on the best stuff because we're sick of waiting. It's like picking a tomato right after it turns orange.

Good luck my friend and I hope this helps, although I feel like the guy running around telling everyone that Santa will be running a few weeks late this year.

BTW, I think you're going to get a massive yield off of her.

Blue, thanks, man!

I have seen that other thread, and I agree 100% on the extra wait (weight? ) paying off. In fact, I pretty much decided earlier today to not even try to harvest before the guests come in, cuz' even if I think they're ready, I know that extra week or so will pay off.

Your AK looks AWESOME! If my colas turn out 1/2 that size, I'll pull a couple of pounds out of that small cab!
(I may be exaggerating, but WOW!)



Thanks again!

 

[WeednFeed]

Very nice post (and pics) BlueDog. Some sage advice there that I'll be living by too.

 

[Barry Manilow]

Blue, thanks, man!

I have seen that other thread, and I agree 100% on the extra wait (weight? ) paying off. In fact, I pretty much decided earlier today to not even try to harvest before the guests come in, cuz' even if I think they're ready, I know that extra week or so will pay off.

Your AK looks AWESOME! If my colas turn out 1/2 that size, I'll pull a couple of pounds out of that small cab!
(I may be exaggerating, but WOW!)



Thanks again!

Haha that would be awesome, you'll be the greatest grower in history! I didn't top mine so her main cola is probably bigger than any one of yours, but you have more colas. I pulled 3 z's and I think you'll exceed that.

I think you'll be real happy you waited. It's worth it just to watch what your plants go through. Whenever I see pics of really ripe plants and nugs now it makes me smile.

Just make sure you keep the area well ventilated and your rh 50 or lower so you hopefully don't get any mold.

I forgot to comment before, hope your Lucy picks up. Seems like she's the big winner amongst my friends, a really great energetic high. I love the Ak though, it puts me on my ass. My other comment was I love how easily the ak clones too. I took some really skanky looking cuttings off an ak clone that had been put into flower and then re-vegged, and probably 15 out of 18 would have taken if I could have kept them all. I did keep 6 though and they'll be perfect in my sog.

 

[WeednFeed]

Sure look like they're starting to put on some weight to me, Mr. Krip! These probably aren't the same bud, but here is a bud pic of yours from a week ago, and one a week later (today). I'm definitely seeing some bud weight improvement, imho. Calyxes are swelling up -

Week ago:

Today:

Excellent comparative xlr8! Always good to look back at where you came from so you can really appreciate where you are. I definitely feel things are moving in the right direction. Those pretty buds wouldn't be there if that weren't so.

 

[Barry Manilow]

Very nice post (and pics) BlueDog. Some sage advice there that I'll be living by too.

Thank you WeednFeed! I hope we can all combine our best practices as we go along for the ultimate prize.... growing the best weed that we possibly can.

 

[Mr. Krip]

THE COLA CAGE!

Since I've been posting all those nice close-up bud shots, I thought it would be good to step back a little and let you all see what the colas are looking like. There's about 10 "big" colas and a bunch of smaller ones. I didn't get the one's in the back, but here's a selection of the big ones I could get to easily (all different!):

 

[Barry Manilow]

Looking good Mr. Krip! Are you going to trim any fan leaves? The more light you can get to the buds the better off you're going to be in my opinion, although other guys say it will hurt their yield.

If it was me I'd get out the fiskars and start removing any fans leaves that are blocking bud sites. That's what I did on my last grow, only wish I'd started earlier.

 

[Mr. Krip]

Looking good Mr. Krip! Are you going to trim any fan leaves? The more light you can get to the buds the better off you're going to be in my opinion, although other guys say it will hurt their yield.

If it was me I'd get out the fiskars and start removing any fans leaves that are blocking bud sites. That's what I did on my last grow, only wish I'd started earlier.

Blue, thanks!

Yeah, I did a major trimming at 3 weeks and was going to do again at 45 days (tonight will be #42 of 12/12).

Truthfully, I go in there just about every day and trim anything that's blocking a bud site, dead, dying, or just doesn't look like it will produce anything worthwhile. I've also done a lot of trimming of undergrowth to help maintain good circulation, so, I'm not sure how much more there will be to trim at 45 days.

I do know some people completely defoliate their plants. Although I haven't been that agressive with the trimming, I haven't been afraid to remove anything, either!

There's not a lot of room as-is, so I want that plant focusing on making all those buds as big and fat as possible!

I'll try to get some shots of the whole plant when I do res changes this weekend so you can get a better perspective of what's there.

I also have to tell you that after seeing your monster AK cola, I've been trying to figure out how I get the Royal Haze out of the flower chamber and somewhere else to finish. I've even considered (but not ready to do it!) just tossing her to make more room for the AK. I really think if I let the AK spread out, get more light and better air circulation, the additional yield on her will be more than I'm gonna get off of the haze. I may try to rig up something temporary (and probably much less effective!) to finish the haze.

I definately like growing this AK and agree, it was very easy taking a clone. In fact, it was the first clone I'd ever taken in my life and it rooted successfully, which should be a testament to how easy it really is!

I have ONE Lucy seed left, and if I can get a perpetual grow going between the AK, Lucy & Pineapple Express, I'll be very happy! So far, Lucy is the only one that's been giving me problems, but once I clear some space in veg (probably after my next grow, when I plan to flower the last Royal Haze to make more room), I'll try germinating that last seed.

Question: Do you have any experience transplanting from Hempy to Hydro?

I can't imagine it would be too tough, since hempy is a form of hydro. I'm guessing I just need to get as much of the perlite off as possible first and it will be pretty straight-forward.

I appreciate the help!

 

[McCrackin]

I agree with Hemp, the only other thing I would add to that is that seed co.'s ussually under-estimate their seeds flowering times by about a week or so. So I would try to figure in a little extra time on your estimate. If I had listened to the estimates, I would have lost a ton of bulk in the the last week or so, very important, IMO.
NEPharmer

Especially in the last few days... I like having a bunch of bud in my stash when I get around to the last few days, just so that I can "keep calm"

 

[Barry Manilow]

Sorry Mr Krip I know nothing about hydro, although it does seem like it would be a no-brainer.

I found my lucy to be pretty tempermental also, she was big but never really filled out and her buds weren't dense like the ak's. I don't think she liked the low humidity and poor air circulation that I had to deal with most of my grow, until I found out that my local Ace Hardware still had some nice oscillating fans stuck way up on a shelf.

Still she's a kick ass smoke so hang in with yours, even if you only get a little you'll be pretty happy.

 

[Mr. Krip]

Sorry Mr Krip I know nothing about hydro, although it does seem like it would be a no-brainer.

I found my lucy to be pretty tempermental also, she was big but never really filled out and her buds weren't dense like the ak's. I don't think she liked the low humidity and poor air circulation that I had to deal with most of my grow, until I found out that my local Ace Hardware still had some nice oscillating fans stuck way up on a shelf.

Still she's a kick ass smoke so hang in with yours, even if you only get a little you'll be pretty happy.

Yeah...I'm really dying to get a good Lucy going and I have been hanging on. Beleive it or not, that run has been in veg for over two months and is still only something like 6" tall and all her leaves are puny!

I don't even think her roots have made it to the res yet, so I'm hoping someday they will and she'll start looking like a real plant. I wouldn't take up the space in the flower chamber to flower her as-is.

 

[Mr. Krip]

I thought I'd take a couple of shots to try to show why I was considering getting rid of the haze, so the AK could get all the light & space.

This pic does not really show ANY of the main colas. All of them are above the level of these pics. This is just what's going on with the "secondary" canopy:

There's buds right on top of other buds, and I'm a little concerned over bud rot, not to mention the extra mass she'll put on with some extra room and more light to the right spots!

Of course, I couldn't resist a couple of bud shots! They are continuing to fill in and put on more weight :

 

[Mr. Krip]

Sorry...one more quick update...

I just checked the mail and got these:

Seven bags, plus the carrying case, and they are original "BubbleBags".

Soon, I'll reveal my low cost Bubble Machine!

 

[HempRocket]

Sorry...one more quick update...

I just checked the mail and got these:

Seven bags, plus the carrying case, and they are original "BubbleBags".

Soon, I'll reveal my low cost Bubble Machine!

Very nice purchase my friend. You'll get some great bubble hash very soon.

 

[Troublesome2]

Have you tried to train them? Given some string and some tape you'd be surprised at where u can put your bud sites. I trained my crazy mess of a jungle and it opened up plenty of space. you can train them to go any place you want them to be if you can vision their reaction. Just my $0.02 .... Looking awesome either way

 

[Mr. Krip]

Have you tried to train them? Given some string and some tape you'd be surprised at where u can put your bud sites. I trained my crazy mess of a jungle and it opened up plenty of space. you can train them to go any place you want them to be if you can vision their reaction. Just my $0.02 .... Looking awesome either way

Troublesome, thanks, and oh yeah...I've trained 'em good.

The issue is two good sized plants in just under a 2'x2' cabinet that was built intending to flower one plant at a time. There is NO more room in the cab to direct the buds to that isn't already occupied by one or more other buds!