GiGaBaNE's 3rd & Final Journal - At Least Until I Change Country

[donpaul.p]

it took my plants about 5 or 6 days to adjust to glr, but i had no problems switching from 24-0 to glr, you might notice the plants show sex sooner, my seedlings showed sex around 2 weeks, so if this happens dont think they are going into flower cuz none of mine went into flower until i switched to 12-12

 

[Heirloom]

Those babies will explode growth after adjusting for about a week. Once my clones show roots they go into the Veg1 bubbler on 3ml BPN and 1 drop ST per gallon, under a 4' T5 2 lamp on GLR. They freaking love it. 10-12" long roots in a week and a half.


Looking good, Brother!

 

[GigaGrew]

holy crap, i managed to get eyes on my indica before my lights went off..jesus i got bud sites that didnt exist 48 hours ago above AND below a leaf node!! seems they have grown from nothing to 2cm in length...did i lst last night or the night b4 oO
either way im looking forward to my next update.


been thinking about leaf cutting in my usual wierd ways.. i now believe i know which leaves must not be cut.

it didnt really sink in before when i have heard leaves called suckers, but that is in fact what they do..by perspiring they create a 'vaccum' in the plant that pulls water upwards.
so you must avoid cutting leaves that are close to the tops of any branch especially (like in LST) the upmost and outermost leaf, as this sucks the moisture right to the end of the branches allowing the smaller new growth of tops to sip from a nearby source rather than having to try and suck it up the whole plant by itself.

and fyi the reason leaf cropping is so important to me is a simple, i never got paid on friday like i was suppose to and am running out of everything...leaves smoke just fine, ok they dont really provide niccotene (i have lozenges for that), but they do help ease the deprivation and you CAN get a little something of the leaves in veg. no where near what bud would do...but in a crisis it does take the edge off =)

 

[Radioactive]

Looking good Giga!

I love those trash cans, great idea can't wait for some bud shots

Although I will have to pass on the leaf smokin

 

[donpaul.p]

thats the reason why growers leave the top and bottom set of fan leaves on a plant when they lollypop a plant, when i did my first hempie i was told to prune everything back and remove all fan leaves apart from the very top set and the bottom set, i wish i never followed the advice as i think i took to much and this just made the small bud leaves get bigger, but pruning has its benefits if done correctly and by not taking to much, also removing the leaves in one go does the plant less harm than taking 2 or 3 a day, your better off stressing the plants for 1 day when you prune instead of stressing them every day as you prune each day, now i only prune just before i flip 12-12 then if i have leaves touching each other and causing them to swet i remove these to prevent pm issues, i only remove anything in the way, if i can tie it out the or pull branches out the way then its best to do that before removing to many leaves

 

[GigaGrew]

yeah i dont 'nibble' my plants, i eat them in a single sitting

im certain that plants accept a certain amount of abuse because they know they are going to get eaten.

i wont take any leaves for the last 2 weeks of veg, i want the plant to think that the grazers have moved on so they can relax before i flower them. im hoping this will minimise any flowering stresses...dont want any males now do we

 

[shizznizzle]

Hey GiGa just wanted to say great job so far, lame that you have had issues thus far.....but those types of events change who we are as a grower. You reacted much more calmly then I when you dropped your plant....and you have taken them in stride. Great job Giga and I am learning alot here with you. Thanks I hope you do not mind if I hitch along for the ride. I will have a journal up soon and would love any and all feedback.

 

[GigaGrew]

welcome aboard =)
i hope i continue to develop as a grower and give much more back to the community =)

 

[Heirloom]

I don't nibble either. Last night I gave my two in flower a major thinning and slicked up the lower areas.

 

[fish cake]

I don't nibble either. Last night I gave my two in flower a major thinning and slicked up the lower areas.

just got to give her the num num first

 

[Heirloom]

Hey Giga, just added you to my 'inspired by' list. Go to my grow and check out what I found today.....

 

[GigaGrew]

ok just to let you know im still here and working away.
not enough has happened since my last update to warrant another just yet.

1 sativa clone RIP (the rest seem to be clinging on for dear life)
the 2 indica clones in pink pots now survive outside of the dome.
last night i extracted my mother indica from her pot, not as many roots as i expected but they look ok, lost the bottom half pulling out the plant, but would have chopped them anyway. She is now back in the same pot with half the roots and a total swap out of soil.
the new soil composition is about 20% vermiculite, 15-20% perlite and the rest is the new 'west+ light and easy 4 month GPC'.

I checked on it about 10 mins ago and it doesnt look like the soil is hot enough to vapourise the plant over night, my main branches have moved from horizontal to about half way to vertical as i forgot to tie them back down, but im happy as plants turning upwards are definatly happier than plants heading south, lol.

if it survives 2 more days i will swap out the soil on all my other plants.

 

[donpaul.p]

sounds like you been having problems then giga, i not been around for a few days been busy stripping the engine in my moms car, she had the head gasket fail when driving so just in the middle of stripping it down and replacing the gasket, the problem is that they make these european cars so compact that its difficult to get my hands in to undo bolts and i only got little hands, it seems they build the engine fully before putting it in the car because their is no way on this planet they would work on the engine after its fitted, instead they leave that to garages and people who know how, and its a good job i know how, its made a 400 pound job cost just 20quid, so that saves my mom a whole lot of cash, problem is i always end up doing work on cars just to keep people on the road, but its what i do, just pisses me off when i smash my hands to pieces trying to get a bluddy spanner on a bolt thats wedged between the engine and the chassis, i had to undo the engine mounts and jack the engine up just to undo the bolts holding the timing belt cover on,

thats enough of the car talk,

 

[GigaGrew]

yeah some minor problems. my clones keep rotting, think it had something to do with condensation build up inside the dome, but i wipe that away every day now if it appears.

my mothers have slowed down to a crawl, after the initial explosion of shoots on my indica when i lst'd it it hasnt grown any, the sativa didnt even burst new shoots and is just sorta sat there.

i now have my very first clone and my mother indica in new soil (i photo'd the repotting of the clone, will post later) and hopefully that will solve the problem, im sure the indica is looking darker now. im around day 60 now in soil that lasts 4 weeks at 100%, considering it was a 50/50 perlite mix its gotta be out of food and all i feed them atm is liquid seaweed and sometimes a dose of molasses.

as to car engines, im pretty new to the scene myself as i dont yet drive and have only been sticking my head under the bonnet since i met the missus. but there is a list of jobs you can do on an engine while its in situ, beyond that they do just pull it out of the block with one of those overhead pulley winches, lol.

 

[shizznizzle]

Sorry to hear about the clone issues Giga, and as far as cars go.....I hear ya Donpaul.....I was a professional technician for 15 years before getting hurt and going back to college. Now I do it just to save people money and the knucklebusting is a killer. But it sure is fine when you hand someone really in need their keys after doing a normally unattainable repair for them and saving them cash! Mixed bag....lol

 

[GigaGrew]

i dont mind, im still learning. being able to chop our plant in half and make 2 from it still rocks my world, its free income/savings.
ive set myself back quite a bit from cutting my plants to the bare knuckle, but it will pay off when i have a dozen or more plants on the go at any one time....in fact i now have 6 plants in soil that need no dome and still have another 6 or so trying to grow roots, so im almost there.

my plant for topping already has enough growth to make 4 more clones, i just need them to grow a bit so they have enough stem to take root and im nearly perfected my cloning.

for my way of cloning i have to
remove all leaf material that isnt the very top
dip them in clone gel/rooting hormone (not sure how much use this is, but any help is handy)
plant them directly into soil, burying at least one node.
make sure the soil is barely moist (plant doesnt need any moisture in the soil till it has roots, so just enough moisture to stop soil looking like a desert, lol)
open my dome twice a day for clean air, spray the tops with fresh water maybe 1 in 3 days.
MUST make sure to eliminate any condensation on the dome, greatly contributes to rot.

once i do harvest my topping plant, next time it will produce 8 clones, then 16, then 32 e.t.c. if its still possible along the path, try to imagine harvesting 256 tops for clones from one plant in a single sitting.....now thats a mother plant and a half =D

 

[donpaul.p]

you know the clones are you sure the medium you have the clones in is not to wet, you need to make sure your not watering the soil or what ever you use, you just need to mist the cutting and the dome over them, remove any leaves lower down the cutting and just keep the top set, if the dome is moist they should stay healthy for well over 2 weeks, but if the soil is wet then this will cause problems with mould and fungus so try and keep the growing medium dry or slightly moist and then just mist the top of the clones and the dome, this should then make them root, also i found having the temps to high caused problems and mine never rooted, so i tried them at room temp and they root no problems then, they can take 2 weeks or more but mine do grow roots at room temp. you need to spray them 2 or 3 times a day, im not sure about the light you need but mine root under glr and under normal daylight conditions.

ive sure saved my family loads of money in car repairs, my mom would not be able to keep her car going if she had to pay garage fees, some charge over £60 per hour just in labour but if you go to somewhere like bmw then they charge over £100 per hour just for labour then parts on top, so ive saved plenty of money by doing the repairs myself, plus it gets me a bit of cash every now and again when i get their cars back on the road

 

[GigaGrew]

yeah thanks donpaul =p no one mentioned dry soil till after i figured it out for myself, lol
but yeah that was my problem...once all these clones take, my next one will be in my new 4 month soil, just to test if it will burn them...if not then i can officially abandon westlands GPC with john innes numer 2 in favour of this light and easy.

i prefer this soil, there is much less pre crumbling to do and just looks finer quality add to that im now replacing more than half of my perlite with vermiculite and the soil just looks more even and less lumpy which should help a lot if need to repot. lost a fair few roots in the previous compost due to lumps of bloody clay tangling up roots that i needed to spread out.

whatcha think if it works...2 months of veg and 2 months of flower@ just add water....maybe a little foliar feeding towards the end of its life. =)

 

[donpaul.p]

you know what giga, the compost i use cost me £1 per bag, i raid the pound shop when i need compost, it has the john innes compost for £1 per bag, or their is another discout shop i go to and that sells it for £1 as well, even asda part of the walmart group sell compost £1 per bag and the bags are the big bags as well, i have been using this since the start and i have had no problems, the only thing i need to make sure i do is break the compost up as it does have the odd big lump in it and if the roots grow into that it stunts growth so i make sure i break it all up before it goes into the pots, i have had no problems using this cheap compost, its got peat in it or something, ill check when i get back

 

[GigaGrew]

you feed your plants nutes? i cant remember. this new one im using looks the closest for me ive found that i could only give it water its entire life. was only 6 pound for a 60 litre bag, 10 pence a litre that feeds for 4 months sounds very good to me, lol
my 3 mothers aside for a min i think with my mini air pots i can fill 2 on a litre, thats 5 p per plant plus whatever vermiculite costs ive forgotten.

ive almost got my first batch of tube lights ready, its going to be a roof of 12 6' 30w 2700k and all my little pots will cram under there to flower, think ill 2 stage harvest. but its looking pretty cheap per plant at this rate, just hope a 360w roof will give enough light to make good bud. rekon ill get about 70 pots under that =D