GrowingGirls' Mystery Seed Growing Adventure Journal - 2010

[GrowingGirls]

3 days after FIM:

 

[GaladrielDreams]

They are looking good to me! I changed my username from Tall-One-68 to what it is now. Hope it isn't too confusing for you! The first one lacked original thought.

 

[dfw-guy]

Looking great GrowingGirl. I love the SOG(SeaOfGreen) you've achieved with the big girls. Your at flowing week 5 correct? Not to shabby :] You'll see slow steady growth for this next month, and as you get closer to harvest time your girls will have growth spurts and things will really get exciting. Now is the time to really learn how your girls react to waterings and feedings, and notice all their little quirks and kinks. Hang in there, next thing you know they'll be ready for harvest.

The little girls are looking great. New growth looks healthy. Did you ever figure out what was causing the curling in the leafs? I notice that it happened to both the big and little girls.

Have you given thought to whether or not you'll trim off the lower budding spots on the big girls? In my grow I was curious to see what kind of difference it would make, so I trimmed the bottom budding spots on one plant and left the other plant to grow naturally. They both produced the same amount of bud, just in different styles. The plant which I did not trim had medium sized colas and lots of little half-gram buds. The plant which I did trim off the bottom bud spots had large colas, with a few 1g bud spots directly below the colas.
So if you want large colas, give em a trim. Oh and I can't tell whether or not you have already trimmed, just giving you some advice if you didn't know :]

 

[GrowingGirls]

Looking great GrowingGirl. I love the SOG(SeaOfGreen) you've achieved with the big girls. Your at flowing week 5 correct? Not to shabby :] You'll see slow steady growth for this next month, and as you get closer to harvest time your girls will have growth spurts and things will really get exciting.

Did you ever figure out what was causing the curling in the leafs?

Have you given thought to whether or not you'll trim off the lower budding spots on the big girls?

Thanks man, not only for the compliment but for suggesting I start training them in the first place. I'm pretty impressed with my SOG too...I love to bend those ladies. It's going to be really interesting to go from flowering these 3 ridiculously huge lanky ladies on the floor in this 4'x3' spot to flowering 8 of their babies in 1 gallon pots on a 2'x3" table in my expanded 4'x5" space. I'm actually going to have room around them to move more easily and really create a SOG that will put the current one to shame. I've even thought about a SCROG, but I'm still feeling intimidated by that concept.

Now about this next month and my time left until harvest...here's where I start to get long-winded...you might want to pack yourself another bowl.

I ran into some questions about harvest today and I do intend to make a post a question in the appropriate forum as well, but since you brought it up and I'm too tired to explain it all to tonight to someone who doesn't already know the history of my plants like you do...here's what's up. None of those ladies have a ton of trichs, but they all are starting to get them, and I looked at the trichs on the most well-developed one (she was the first to show sex and is the biggest, tallest, with largest buds) today. They are at least 50% cloudy already, and I'm confused! Like you said, I was figuring I had another month or so of flowering left...and I don't think my buds are anywhere near big enough yet.

So, I'm not sure how to proceed because one of my plants' trichs appear to be ready for harvest way too soon. And the other two aren't terribly far behind. I'm worried that maybe I stressed them the hell out when the temps were pushing 90 and now they want to be done blooming. Is that even possible? Or maybe, having all the height they gained during flowering bent and trained from them has been stressful. I'm going to get some trichs off the others to put under the microscope tomorrow. Oh, and I took a sample from the one with the half cloudy trichs today...I'm quick-drying it for a wake and bake test tomorrow.

The ladies have definitely been quite thirsty this week; I've had to water every other day. I never did figure out for sure what was causing the leaf problems, but everyone has had some cal-mag added to the nute solution, so maybe that helped. I'm still hoping for more improvement, though. Oh, and the big girls are getting molasses now too.

I snipped every single tiny little non-green bit off the little girls last night, and they look great today except for a couple that still want to curl a bit. No new discoloration, though. I trimmed some of the really dead shit off the big ladies too, but at this point removing everything that isn't green would be impossible.

I have thought about whether or not to trim the bottom baby buds, but hadn't come to a decision yet. After reading your experience, I think that I will leave the little ones on the oldest lady since she has the best looking buds on the top and bottom, in comparison to the other two. Since the other two are more comparable to each other, they'd be good candidates for a test...I guess I'll trim one and leave the other alone.

Man, I can't wait to see how long these measure out to be when I've got them hanging for harvest and can get at them with a flexible measuring tape. When I checked a couple days ago, the highest point was 3'3" off the floor (none of the pots are propped up anymore)...but I swear that biggest one would be as tall me (5'6") if she wasn't bent mercilessly. It's crazy, because she's the one in the smaller pot. How did I grow a 5 foot marijuana plant in a 5 quart (yes that's 5 QUARTS, or 1.25 gal) ice cream bucket? I can't wait to see what her roots look like.

I took some pics of the developmental differences between the big ladies today, but I wanted to be asleep two hours ago and I find getting photos on this site to be a tedious task. So, tomorrow. Maybe.

Edited for stoned failure to answer your first question: Yes, they are between 5 and 6 weeks. I don't know the exact date I switched them over.

Edited again: One thing I've done that I failed to mention is change the light heights, again. Thanks to an embarrassingly shit-rigged extension on the AC vent (seriously, it's so bad I won't even show y'all a photo...but it works and it's safe and those are my only requirements!), I can keep it cool enough around the ballast to get that HPS at about a 10" average distance from the flowers. I like this! And I raised the lights to about 2.5 inches on the little ones. 1.5 was making me nervous.

Edited one last time to apologize for the longest rambling post ever.

 

[GrowingGirls]

Last night's pictures of the little girls...

 

[xkjtx]

Whats the paper that you cut a hole in and put around the plants right at the soil? I was thinking about doing this for more light reflecting up. Oh and by the way, I read up some more and read your post about lemon juice. I thought I had a broken pH meter because it would never raise when I put it in the water. So I am pretty sure that is why my plants were not doing good. I have mixed up some water with Lemon Juice and the pH raised!!!! F'ing love the site!!! 420 all the way!!!

-xkjtx

 

[HorseBadoritz]

Hey GG, looks like you're wrassling everything into submission

 

[GrowingGirls]

Whats the paper that you cut a hole in and put around the plants right at the soil? I was thinking about doing this for more light reflecting up. Oh and by the way, I read up some more and read your post about lemon juice. I thought I had a broken pH meter because it would never raise when I put it in the water. So I am pretty sure that is why my plants were not doing good. I have mixed up some water with Lemon Juice and the pH raised!!!! F'ing love the site!!! 420 all the way!!!

-xkjtx

That's poly (plastic) sheeting that is white on one side and black on the other. I also use it to line the walls of my grow areas.

Lemon juice is to lower PH, not raise it.

 

[GrowingGirls]

Pics of the ladies during and after training today.

 

[Woodsman]

Hello GG! You were saying that you've got some cloudy trichomes on one of the plants and your concerned because it's early and you don't have a lot of trichs in general..If that is correct, then I wouldn't worry too much. It could take a few weeks for those trichs to go amber and at 5 -6 weeks your plants are about to really fatten up. They really do grow quite a bit during the last few weeks of flower. I'll keep an eye out for any updates on that one. Great grow GG! The molasses will help with the uptake of your nutes also! Good job.

 

[GrowingGirls]

Thanks Woodsman, that's pretty much what I'd figured out. I was scared the other day, though!

I've got a couple colas that are starting to get awfully heavy and are soon going to need some kind of support system I have not yet devised if things are really about to take off.

 

[xkjtx]

Lemon juice is to lower PH, not raise it.

I am sorry, but I must have miss understood...? What I did was put 5 stage reverse osmosis water into a bottle and then put my meter into it. The pH was at like 2. Then I put some lemon juice into the water and mixed it by shaking. Put my meter back into the water and it went to 6.5... So I have no idea then if lemon juice is suppose to bring it down...? Sorry, I am a n00b, but I am reading. I am more of a hands on person. I don't have to much money, but I am getting by... Thanks for the help!

-xkjtx

 

[GrowingGirls]

What I did was put 5 stage reverse osmosis water into a bottle and then put my meter into it. The pH was at like 2. Then I put some lemon juice into the water and mixed it by shaking. Put my meter back into the water and it went to 6.5

Broken/misused meter, maybe? I don't know anything about reverse osmosis water or that kind of meter; I use tap water and a liquid PH tester. But, lemon juice definitely lowers PH. My water comes out of the tap at about 8, and a teaspoon or so of lemon juice per gallon of water brings it down to around 6.

 

[GrowingGirls]

Tons of rain yesterday...RH in the bloom room got up to 65% overnight. Got the dehumidifier and AC cranked now. Hopefully it's no big deal since it was just one night.

Oh, and I had the shit scared out of me last night when a circuit breaker blew and my bedroom damn near started on fire. It actually singed a towel that was near the outlet...let this be a warning to you; don't leave flammable stuff near your outlets when you have oooooooooold wiring. Anyway, I ran downstairs with my flashlight and thankfully found that everything my plants are connected to was unaffected. A few minutes of Googling later, I'd determined I've probably got a short circuit to fix in the bedroom. Not surprising; that outlet's always been kinda loose. It makes me worry about one of the basements ones that has always been a little loose too...that one has all my duct fan and dehumidifier plugged into it. The basement wiring is newer, though...so hopefully it's in better condition.

I tested all my smoke detectors last night. I am really really really scared of fires. Once I get the busted circuit fixed, I need to go through the circuit panel and figure out exactly how much I've got going through each circuit in the basement. It's been irresponsible of me not to check all that so far.

I'm going to transplant the last of the babies today or tomorrow, so I'm off to buy more perlite. Those babies are going to need a bigger space soon...which means I am going to need more lights...which means I am going to need to buy more lighting supplies...but the bank account just can't handle it this week.

 

[GrowingGirls]

So much change in just one day...

 

[trichtone]

Tons of rain yesterday...RH in the bloom room got up to 65% overnight. Got the dehumidifier and AC cranked now. Hopefully it's no big deal since it was just one night.

Oh, and I had the shit scared out of me last night when a circuit breaker blew and my bedroom damn near started on fire. It actually singed a towel that was near the outlet...let this be a warning to you; don't leave flammable stuff near your outlets when you have oooooooooold wiring. Anyway, I ran downstairs with my flashlight and thankfully found that everything my plants are connected to was unaffected. A few minutes of Googling later, I'd determined I've probably got a short circuit to fix in the bedroom. Not surprising; that outlet's always been kinda loose. It makes me worry about one of the basements ones that has always been a little loose too...that one has all my duct fan and dehumidifier plugged into it. The basement wiring is newer, though...so hopefully it's in better condition.

I tested all my smoke detectors last night. I am really really really scared of fires. Once I get the busted circuit fixed, I need to go through the circuit panel and figure out exactly how much I've got going through each circuit in the basement. It's been irresponsible of me not to check all that so far.

I'm going to transplant the last of the babies today or tomorrow, so I'm off to buy more perlite. Those babies are going to need a bigger space soon...which means I am going to need more lights...which means I am going to need to buy more lighting supplies...but the bank account just can't handle it this week.

Wow....that is scary. I am glad that nothing caught fire. That would have made for a really bad day.

 

[GaladrielDreams]

Wow, that's scary! Glad all is well! I had fooky wiring in my other house. This one has much better wiring. I went and bought some different nutes in town. Wouldn't you know, all they had was MG, I bought this generic stuff. I didn't even see perlite or anything else to add to soil. UGH, I don't want to drive 60 miles into town! I wonder if pulverized granite ( my backyard is full of it) would work?

 

[xkjtx]

Broken/misused meter, maybe? I don't know anything about reverse osmosis water or that kind of meter; I use tap water and a liquid PH tester. But, lemon juice definitely lowers PH. My water comes out of the tap at about 8, and a teaspoon or so of lemon juice per gallon of water brings it down to around 6.

Ok, so I went to Home Depot and found another type of pH tester. It seems to
be working better. I also got Garden Lime(Derived From Dolomite Lime) and its
little rocks that dissolve in water. I put the tester into my tap water that had
been sitting out all night and waited 2 mins. The pH is at 4.5. So should I put
the Lime in the water to make the pH higher? If I am not mistaken, that should
bring up the pH? Correct? Also, please check my post here and tell me what
you think? I think they are doing much better then all the other pictures.

I will keep you posted.

Also your ladies look very good... Hope all goes well with them? I will keep
checking in on what your doing. I will try some of the same steps your taking
with training. It looks fun! Anyways thank you for all your help!

-xkjtx

EDIT: I was wondering if I could change my lighting schedule to 24/7 from 18/6? Will
this hurt my babies or help them? What do you think? Thanks!!!

 

[GrowingGirls]

Ok, so I went to Home Depot and found another type of pH tester. It seems to
be working better. I also got Garden Lime(Derived From Dolomite Lime) and its
little rocks that dissolve in water. I put the tester into my tap water that had
been sitting out all night and waited 2 mins. The pH is at 4.5. So should I put
the Lime in the water to make the pH higher? If I am not mistaken, that should
bring up the pH? Correct? Also, please check my post here and tell me what
you think? I think they are doing much better then all the other pictures.

I will keep you posted.

Also your ladies look very good... Hope all goes well with them? I will keep
checking in on what your doing. I will try some of the same steps your taking
with training. It looks fun! Anyways thank you for all your help!

-xkjtx

EDIT: I was wondering if I could change my lighting schedule to 24/7 from 18/6? Will
this hurt my babies or help them? What do you think? Thanks!!!

I don't know the answers to any of your questions. Please do some research as myself and others have suggested to you before; you can't expect the folks here to answer every question that comes to your mind...it's pretty easy to Google "what will lime do to my PH?".

 

[Myzz617]

I am 75% sure the lime will bring it up. No such thing as 24/7 if your at 18/6 and thinking of 24/0 I would not suggest it. I have read other people recommending the reverse from 24/0 or 18/6 but doing opposite will stress the plants most likely. IDK about the crushed Granite but would suggest that if a plant can grow in it then why not? Just need to check to see what Dissolved solids and if it has any NPK value and how well it holds/retains water. I have not started growing yet but read a good amount. You should do as much research as possible when trying to grow so you have the basics and some down pat.