Golfer420 - Soil - NL Auto - 2015

[Pigeons420]

You flatter me Bears! I'm a small fry out here. I do more listening myself.

 

[Big Budha]

Lookin Good Golfer your plants are coming along nicely keep 'em green!

 

[golfer420]

Here we are at day 26!! Still going strong. I fed them yesterday. Took 2 500ml water bottles, put in a 1/2 tsp of GrowBig and 1/2 tsp of Big Bloom in each and ph adjusted (needed to be raised). Poured the entire 500ml into each plant. Like last time, plant 2 drained quicker because I have more perlite in it. I keep the run off and put it back into the 500ml bottle. From each of the three feedings I've kept the run off and obviously the roots are growing well because the amount of run off from each feeding has gone down each time.

Question - is it normal that the run off has a low PH? I'm adjusting any water or feeding I put in but overall it seems to have a low PH (orange/yellow when I put drops in).

I finally have plant 1 showing she's female with a couple pistils (I know what they are this time!). I take plenty of photos and have a good macro so enjoy these photos. Still nothing concrete yet from plant two but should be any day.

I was moving some of the really big fan leaves and I think I moved one of the bigger ones on plant 1 too much. I fear I may have broke it at the branch but it's still there. Hoping that doesn't add too much stress.

It's becoming much bushier now and I should have the 300w LED tomorrow. Stay tuned! Tell all your 420 friends and family to stop by!

both under the lights

both from the top

Your pistil is showing

Pistil closeup

 

[HunterHunt]

Your first grow is looking good! Some tips to help you out:

Your soil looks to have no perlite in it? It should be a well drained soil so that it dries out quicker and doesnt stay wet.

You dont need 2700k spectrum bulbs while in veg. This is why your plants stretched so much after seedlings... You would have had a lot better growth and tighter nodes. But over all they filled in great. 5000k + on the spectrum. You want a "blue" spectrum for veg.

Also watch those cheap LED's. You get what you pay for and if you only paid $80 for a 300 watt im sure the spectrum is not correct. One of my friends on here grew with a cheap LED and his colas were mostly leaves and no bud... So be careful. I personally dont like LED's and dont believe in them. If you want to grow anything you need an HPS. Just my two cents! =)

Good luck I will be following along.

 

[golfer420]

Thank you for the tips, Hunter. I originally had 2 5000 23w bulbs but they both died the other day and I only had 2 2500 to replace them with. They've grown this far mostly under a mix of 2500/5000. The LED should be here today so when I put that up I will add a couple of 5000 CFL's in between. I'm hoping the LED's work about but if not, I'm willing to troll craigslist looking for HPS.

Still very happy to have made it this far.

 

[Bearswhowalk]

i found to 600w HArvest king HPS on facebook ( local yardsale site) for 75.00 only usd 2500 hrs so that is a possibilty for folks ( search facebook for virtual yardsale in your area for me it was walla walla virtual yard sale so say you live in boston it would be boston virtual yard sale)

 

[HunterHunt]

You can buy brand new 600 watt HPS's with ballast, new bulbs, cooltube, and hangers for $150... Personally I never buy used equipment especially when its something as serious as a light for my grow. I wouldnt trust a used ballast as it could have came from a commercial grow with hundreds of hours on it... Just my two cents. A cool tube or something like that cant be hurt from use...

 

[golfer420]

Thanks for all the helpful information. I got the LED and it's all set up. I put the two 43w 2700 lights on one side and two 23w 6000 (replaced the 2700's that were there) on another and I rotate the flowers around usually twice a day.

Watered today and they both took all 500ml with only a little run off.

It's been 24hrs under the LED and one looks a little droopier than it did before but nothing drastic. Still haven't found pistils on plant 2 yet.

I'm holding off on any additional purchases until I complete this grow, though that might be tough. Probably should have just went to HPS but I can't get ahead of myself.

I'll post pics tomorrow night.

 

[golfer420]

The girls are 4 weeks old as of yesterday. Looking pretty good today. It's been two full days under the revised lighting with the LED. They're getting 18/6. Here are some pics of the set up.

The first picture was before I did some light training by hiding some of the fan leaves behind what appear to be bud sites. Not exactly sure if bud sites always show up in the same place or you eventually identify them, but I think I'm starting to figure where the bud sites are on these.

Still rotating the plants around both in circles and switching places. You can see some spots on a few fan leaves. I'm not getting too worked up over them since they look really random and only in a couple of isolated spots.

I'm making some assumptions. Based on the fact that I see pistils growing on both plants, and because the seeds supposedly "In just 8 weeks, you will have a rich, potent, mostly Indica smoke" - that I must be close to a halfway point and flowering is starting.

One of my biggest challenges for me is patience. Another reason why auto flower is better for me - at least for the first time. I can remember just a couple weeks ago wishing my plants looked bigger. After looking at these pictures today I realized how big they're getting. I'm chomping at the bit to see how these ladies turn out. The stems on these ladies looks like they're mini weight lifters!

Today 'before' shot

Both plants from above

Close up of training some fan leaves on plant 2

Back tucked into bed with fans leaves tucked in as well for both ladies

 

[golfer420]

Decided to trim two fan leaves off plant 2. It will be interesting to see how it affects one of the plants.

 

[golfer420]

Day 31 and I took some pictures. 2 days ago I had done some light trimming of some big fan leaves off of plant 2. I haven't touched any on plant 1. I know I could slow the growth on plant 2. Keep in mind that plant 2 was always the runt of the two and has been smaller from the beginning.

Fed them very low dose of Big Bloom, Grow Big, and Tiger Bloom yesterday. Everything is looking pretty good. Leaves look healthy and I like the way the main cola is starting to look on both. I can also see what appears to be bud sites forming.

My next grow might be two plants in bigger pots. I'm sure the roots will be cramped in here but I'm hoping I still get some good results.

So far the LED seems to be doing ok. Barely gets warm at all. Plants both seem to look ok.

I don't know what actually kicks off flowering but I'm making the assumption both of the girls have started. 8 more weeks (theoretically)

Plant 2 on left, plant 1 on right

Plant 1 from side

Plant 2 from side - note the trimmed fan leaves

Some pistils

Close up top of plant 1

 

[Bearswhowalk]

yummy gonna have to learn some of what you guys are talking about when i go into flower in 3 more weeks

 

[golfer420]

Fresh pics for day 33. I have changed out all the CFL's to be 2700 spectrum. I last fed them 3 days ago and watered yesterday. The ph of the run off was kinda scary (dark green), so after I put 500ml of water in each one, I flushed again by giving each another 500ml bottle of water.

Plant 1 is still the bigger of the two. I haven't trimmed any leaves off this plant at all, instead tucking the big fan leaves behind others. It looks slightly droopy, but it's really because the big fans have been pushed behind other growth.

Plant 2 is smaller but I've also trimmed quite a few fan leaves off her.

I keep turning the plants and moving them around under the CFL's and the LED.

So far so good. One change I am definitely making will be bigger pots next time. I could have gone much bigger than these but I don't want to transplant at this point.

Just sitting and waiting patiently. Or trying to (as I grit my teeth...)

Enjoy the photos!

both together

plant 1

plant 1 top

plant 2

plant 2 top

plant 2

 

[golfer420]

Question - based on where these two ladies are at now, would there be any benefit in transplanting to a bigger pot at this point?

They looked a little droopier than the above pics from yesterday and sure enough they were very light (dry).

I'm just concerned that buds won't develop well because the roots are too cramped.

Probably a little discouraged because I just don't see them thriving. LED light is ok, but I'm still skeptical of how the buds will actually develop. Hopefully the restrictions I'v placed on these two doesn't make the grow totally useless.

 

[HunterHunt]

Are they droopy just because they need water? You should be on a watering schedule now and water right before they start drooping.

What size container are they in? I have no experience with autos, but have always heard to plant in the final pot.

 

[golfer420]

The pots are 5 1/2" h and 6" diameter. Way too small in retrospect.

I have been watering every other day the last 2 weeks but I didn't even realize it until you mentioned it.

I heard the same thing about transplanting the autos. Oh well. Learn with every grow.

 

[HunterHunt]

Yea, especially with that small pot you may even have to water everyday and adjust your feed schedule. Good luck!

 

[golfer420]

Thanks for the feedback

I feel like a helicopter parent. Worry one day, happy the next. It's now 5 full weeks and I estimate 1 week of flowering.

With the water and the mild feeding yesterday, the ladies looked improved tonight when I got home. Here are some pictures. I'm not sure whether these bud sites should be more compact or not, but I can see there is quite a bit of growth going on.

Hopefully these posts help other beginner, impatient, and worrisome growers

 

[HunterHunt]

With pre flowers like that you should be around 1-2 weeks into flowering. Your girls look a lot better since the watering. How do they feel tonight? If they are dry like i said you may have to water everyday. I always have to water twice as much between weeks 2-6 in flowering as they really use the water! Good luck!

 

[golfer420]

Thanks Hunter! I'm going to water in the morning. That moves up the schedule 12 hours (I would have watered tomorrow night).

They felt good tonight but I could tell by the weight of the pots that I should water in the morning.

Question on watering. Any opinions on pouring the water in from the top versus putting water in the tray to get soaked up?