Green Knight - Hydro CFL - Auto Bomb - First Grow Journal

Aaah; link doesn't work - think it's because it's on a competitor site and the 420 software edits the site name automatically.

Just google keef treez defoliation and you'll get it.
 
Hi GK. Your girls are looking fantastic! Looks like the defoliation has really helped. Looking at Ruby she is definitely going to need a little bit of a trim so I really appreciate the help you have given here, and the pointer to the other information.

Keep up the good work :goodjob:
 
Fluffy Haze said:
Hi GK. Your girls are looking fantastic! Looks like the defoliation has really helped. Looking at Ruby she is definitely going to need a little bit of a trim so I really appreciate the help you have given here, and the pointer to the other information.

Keep up the good work :goodjob:
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Thanks fluffy; she looks healthy so I'm happy! Not sure if I'm helping as such, I think it's more a case of experimenting and passing on what I've read from other people's grows!! I'm glad it's useful though.

I do want to do a bit more of a controlled experiment to see if it does make a difference, particularly as there's so much controversy surrounding it. I've only got enough space for one plant at at time though so it will be a slow experiment. Shortly I'm going to germ my next seed which is a photoperiod. Once she's big enough I'm going to clone her and then I'm going to scrog her with aggressive defoliation and super cropping and record the exact nutrient schedule, veg time etc. When that one's finished I'm going to do exactly the same with another clone and give her exactly the same veg time and nutrient schedule so everything's as close to identical as it can be, but I won't defoliate this one. That way I should be able to provide a bit more of a definitive answer as to whether or not it has a big impact on yield, for better or worse.
 
Looks great after removal! I feel more comfortable after the pics.
 
looking good mate, the frosting is just the trichomes developing on the leaves and buds, this is what we check to find out if the plants ready, you will need microscope or something similar when you want to harvest so you can harvest at the right time, i got my microscope of the auction site for 99p including postage, makes it easier to judge when you harvest
 
spring2012 said:
Looks great after removal! I feel more comfortable after the pics.
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Cheers spring; yeah, it certainly doesn't seem to have done any harm. She's releafing very quickly and some of the buds are already getting shady again. I'm holding back for the moment but will have another stripping session in a couple of days, then leave her for a few days to recover, add the pk 13/14 and continue stripping as needed until harvest. We'll see how it goes!
 
donpaul.p said:
looking good mate, the frosting is just the trichomes developing on the leaves and buds, this is what we check to find out if the plants ready, you will need microscope or something similar when you want to harvest so you can harvest at the right time, i got my microscope of the auction site for 99p including postage, makes it easier to judge when you harvest
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Thanks dp; luckily my wife got me a USB microscope for Christmas a couple of years ago cos I like silly gadgets that I generally have little use for in the long run, but it's actually going to prove very handy! I just need to find where i put it! I'm looking forward to getting the triches under it though. I'm thinking of harvesting when they're cloudy but I have very few amber - I prefer the uplifting silly stone than the monged couch lock so I'm thinking of harvesting at the earlier stages rather than later, and before I get much amber.

Ps. On the test thing, you should be ok after 7 days, though it will depend on how full on their test kit is - when your body breaks down THC some of the metabolites (the other compounds that get created when the enzymes in your body break the THC down) can hang around for a few weeks. If you were an Olympic athlete they'd likely run a test screening for the parent compound and all possible metabolites (including metabolites of the metabolites if that makes sense), but for a work test they'll likely only pay the money for a test which can detect the parent compound and maybe some of the major metabolites, so a week should be ok.

A reasonable review here mate published in a reputable journal which suggests about 5 days is the average, but can be up to 90 for very heavy users
 
Thanks for forwarding that info by keef trees was very interesting, so interesting I decided to experiment on my plants, here they are after another serious defoliation.....I've been defoliating through the entire plants life so I feel I can get away with more vigorous and aggressive deleafing than you probly could, I'm also growing a photo which is a little safer bet than experimenting on an auto.
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I also did some super cropping/twist and bend on her, I'm gonna test the limits with these two! The proof is in the pudding, after seeing those pics on the defoliating tutorial I'm convinced. I couldn't wait for your next grow to see results lol so I decided to try it now and you can determine if its something you want to try. Wish me luck
 
Good luck mate - I'm sure it will work out fine and with great results. I'll be watching with interest to see how things go, but I think I'm sold on the technique; I'm keen to get good buds throughout the plant on the next grow - like those bottom buds in keef treez' photos - mental!
 
Green Knight said:
Good luck mate - I'm sure it will work out fine and with great results. I'll be watching with interest to see how things go, but I think I'm sold on the technique; I'm keen to get good buds throughout the plant on the next grow - like those bottom buds in keef treez' photos - mental!
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Tremendous link GK, and a bit more concise!! With you on 'sold on the technique' impatient to start another bean and getting going!

:thanks:
 
ajagunle said:
Tremendous link GK, and a bit more concise!! With you on 'sold on the technique' impatient to start another bean and getting going!

:thanks:
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Thanks ajagunle, I'm glad it was helpful - its definitely a bit easier to read through than the journal thread. I'd read it some months back actually when I was doing all my research before building my grow room and getting started (it's the same site I plagiarised my top feed DWC system from) and I remember reading it and thinking at the time I must remember this and try it myself, before promptly forgetting again!! I then read Bassman's journal and followed his suggested link and the memory kicked back in!!

Interested to see how you get on with it. I'm going to start soaking my next bean tonight actually and get her going - because I want to do a reasonably controlled experiment I want to clone her, so it'll take a few weeks to get things up and running, by which time the Auto Bomb should be long finished
 
Thanks iSmokes, I really appreciate that. I'm really pleased with it and have got over most of the teething troubles so everything's working really nicely now - which makes life easier!

Yes, the Auto Bomb is very sensitive. I'm using Canna and even their suggested light feed schedule is too much for her. I've got her at an EC of 1.2 at the moment, and will likely increase this slightly next week with the addition of the PK 13/14, but autos do seem to burn even if you sneeze on them so less is definitely more with these plants!
 
Green Knight said:
Thanks iSmokes, I really appreciate that. I'm really pleased with it and have got over most of the teething troubles so everything's working really nicely now - which makes life easier!

Yes, the Auto Bomb is very sensitive. I'm using Canna and even their suggested light feed schedule is too much for her. I've got her at an EC of 1.2 at the moment, and will likely increase this slightly next week with the addition of the PK 13/14, but autos do seem to burn even if you sneeze on them so less is definitely more with these plants!
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Hmmm....I'm wondering if I will even put any nutes in them if this is the case...
 
I wouldn't necessarily completely rule out nutes; in hydro it's a bit of a necessity and I'm not to be honest familiar with growing in soil, but some additional nutes as the plant gets older will be of benefit. It's just a case of being cautious, and if you do burn it slightly it's not the end of the world and can be recovered quite quickly. But from the limited experience I have with autos it seems to be a case of think low versus the nute recommendations for regulars, and then drop it again a bit from there. Not very exact I'm sorry, but what I'm trying to say is if a regular feed is x amount and you're thinking of giving half that amount, then give a third instead, see how it goes, and you can always increase to the half dose if she does fine. I'd read a lot about how sensitive they are vs regulars and thought I was being cautious, but they really are that sensitive (at least the strain I'm growing is).
If they were people they'd need bloody sun cream just to sit in their living room with the telly on.
 
Green Knight said:
If they were people they'd need bloody sun cream just to sit in their living room with the telly on.
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Nearly spat my drink out all over my laptop on this one! LOL!

Please don't apologise for lack of precision, I don't think it is entirely possible in this game. You are giving me some great food for thought and prewarning, so for that I am extremely grateful!
 
thanks for the testing info mate, ill buy my own test from the chemist and see if i pass them, i cant see them using anything more than that,

im also giving the defoliation a try, ive been getting some advice off another grower on here, he says you need to get the plant ready in veg for this type of pruning, so removing some leaves during veg prepares the plant for flower, plus in the wild the leaves get eaten, i was told to remove leaves at day 21 of flower and day 45 of flower, this should help increase bud size, i did try this in the past and ended up with leafy bud but ill try it properly this time.

the info i found says that the buds are made up of lots of leaves, which we can clearly see as we can see the edges of the leaves coming out the buds, but i have not tried removing lots of leaves since so cant really say if it works or not, but the pics i seen show plants with lots of buds and very few leaves, the bud leaves act like the fan leaves,
so i plan on giving it a try with my next round of plants, ill use 2 clones and remove leaves on the one and let the other grow as is, its all about making sure every part of the plant and bud is getting the best light, so i will be giving it a try so ill document this in my journal when i start doing this,
 
Hey dp - I'm sure you'll be fine with the test but it must be stress you could do without. Best of luck with it all though- I'll be keeping my fingers crossed for you on the 8th. The job sounds great so I really hope you're successful in getting it.

Yeah, prepping the plant in veg by removing the leaves early to get it used to it seems to be an important factor to get the most out of defoliation. I think you're right about the leaves getting eaten - animals and insects will eat them in the wild and I'm sure the plants will have evolved to sense this stress and the threat to their reproduction and will go into overdrive to produce more flowers to do everything they can to get pollinated, which I think may be one of the reasons that defoliation could work, as well as the increased light exposure to the buds - nature's a wonderful thing.

The bud leaves will also photosynthesise so will provide energy to the buds if the fan leaves have been removed, but I think it's best to leave these on the plant and just remove the fan leaves from what I've seen and read. I'm really interested to see how you get on defoliating one clone but keeping another one next to it that isn't defoliated (I'd really like to try a side by side comparison like that but haven't got the space). Really looking forward to when you have a go and seeing the results mate
 
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