HashGirl 2nd Indoor Grow: Girl Scout Cookies & CB Dutch Treat In ProMix

[HashGirl]

plants in late flower substantially reduce their water uptake...have you looked at the trich's thru' a loupe/scope...should be close now I would think...cheerz... ...h00k...

Any idea by looking at the photos to determine how close I am to harvesting? I'd like to get started on the next grow soon.

Any idea by looking at the photos to determine how close I am to harvesting? I'd like to get started on the next grow soon.

Thanks, h00k. It's like you knew what question I was going to ask before I asked it.

No, I haven't looked at the trichomes with a macro lens yet. I've ordered one but it hasn't arrived yet. In the meantime, I usually just take a close-up photo and then enlarge it to see the trichomes.

 

[InTheShed]

I don't want to have to open the tent every day and lift each plant to see if it needs watering.

I think that this is the issue you're having with both your plants and the advice we're giving! Almost all of the folks here will tell you that's the way we figure out when to water, and we enjoy tending to our plants. Lifting them, admiring them, training them, etc. is a both a ritual and a meditation for most of us.

CBD1 took 2L, CBD2 took none, CBD3 took 5L, GSC1 took 4L and GSC2 took 2L.

How can one dry plant take a different amount of water to runoff from another if they're all in the same size pot? If one plant takes 2L to runoff and another takes 5L, the 2L plant was not dry enough to need water.

plants in late flower substantially reduce their water uptake...have you looked at the trich's thru' a loupe/scope...should be close now I would think...cheerz... ...h00k...

This! ↑

Any idea by looking at the photos to determine how close I am to harvesting? I'd like to get started on the next grow soon.

I usually just take a close-up photo and then enlarge it to see the trichomes.

What h00k said! You will need a loupe to tell you what the trichomes look like, as those are fine details that a digital enlargement won't give you.

 

[dr.h00k]

...I think you're likely in the window given the length of time and lack of pistils...mostly cloudy with noticeable amber throughout the flowers does it for me...others like a certain percentage of amber trich's...it is a personal preference thing...quick dry a small bud and give it a test run...won't be as great tasting as a cured bud would, but would give you an indication...cheerz... ...h00k......

 

[HashGirl]

...I think you're likely in the window given the length of time and lack of pistils...mostly cloudy with noticeable amber throughout the flowers does it for me...others like a certain percentage of amber trich's...it is a personal preference thing...quick dry a small bud and give it a test run...won't be as great tasting as a cured bud would, but would give you an indication...cheerz... ...h00k......

Funny that you should suggest this. A bud was accidentally broken off when I watered on Sunday so I could try it.

I prefer a euphoric high so I don't want much amber.

I think that this is the issue you're having with both your plants and the advice we're giving! Almost all of the folks here will tell you that's the way we figure out when to water, and we enjoy tending to our plants. Lifting them, admiring them, training them, etc. is a both a ritual and a meditation for most of us.

I believe I may have mentioned this before but I suffer from low energy and mornings are the time of day when I need to get all my chores done before I fade. Watering is one of those chores since it takes time to do. I love looking at and tending my plants but it's still a chore due to my energy levels.

How can one dry plant take a different amount of water to runoff from another if they're all in the same size pot? If one plant takes 2L to runoff and another takes 5L, the 2L plant was not dry enough to need water.

This! ↑

Good to know.

What h00k said! You will need a loupe to tell you what the trichomes look like, as those are fine details that a digital enlargement won't give you.

I've actually ordered a macro lens attachment for my iPhone but it hasn't arrived yet. Next time I check them, I'll have a look with my 30x magnifying glass. It might not be tomorrow though as I'm hiking with my dad in the morning. The lights go out at 1:00 p.m. in the tent but actually 12:30 p.m. since Daylight Savings Time ended as I can't seem to adjust the timer to 1 p.m. for some reason.

 

[InTheShed]

I'll have a look with my 30x magnifying glass.

That should give you a close enough view. I use an 8x loupe!

I believe I may have mentioned this before but I suffer from low energy and mornings are the time of day when I need to get all my chores done before I fade. Watering is one of those chores since it takes time to do. I love looking at and tending my plants but it's still a chore due to my energy levels.

I think the best thing to do is to have the lights on during the time of day that matches your ability to tend to the plants (along with everything else ). Is there a reason you have lights-out set for early afternoon? That means they're coming on at 1:30am when no one is around to admire/lift them! Also, can FP do the lifting for you, at least to let you know when the next watering day is for each?

I can't seem to adjust the timer to 1 p.m. for some reason.

Any time you want to adjust the lights off/on time, just extend the darkness to the next time you want the lights to come on.

 

[HashGirl]

That should give you a close enough view. I use an 8x loupe!

I think the best thing to do is to have the lights on during the time of day that matches your ability to tend to the plants (along with everything else ). Is there a reason you have lights-out set for early afternoon? That means they're coming on at 1:30am when no one is around to admire/lift them! Also, can FP do the lifting for you, at least to let you know when the next watering day is for each?

They were already set up that way for my last grow and I didn't change. But, you're right. The reason they were set up that way was because it was summer and it gets really hot in that part of the house. It's no longer summer (currently 32F, feels like 27F and due to drop further tonight plus about 4 inches of snow ) so I could do my non-summer grows so that the lights are on during the day instead. Good idea. Thanks, Shed.

Any time you want to adjust the lights off/on time, just extend the darkness to the next time you want the lights to come on.

Thanks. Another good idea. You're 2 for 2.

 

[InTheShed]

I'm gonna quit while I'm ahead

 

[Farthestnorth]

Looking good in here HashGirl, your going to love the Girls Scout Cookies

 

[dr.h00k]

...as a fellow Ontarian, once my girlz go out to the shed, I try to maximize the off peak hours for lights on(7 p.m. to 7 a.m.), to save money and not raise any red flags on power consumption (pre legalization)...in your case, consideration has to be given to your flip lighting schedule and your energy levels...being rural, I'm Hydro 1, so rates may differ somewhat from your local utility, but with retirement, comes personal austerity... ...cheerz......h00k...

 

[HashGirl]

Thanks, h00k. More food for thought.

Yeah, we're on Hydro 1, too. Yeah, I'll have to look at the best time money-wise as well as energy-wise. I should also find out what light schedule Felonious' plants are on if that makes a difference.

 

[Amy Gardner]

hi HG! I’m going to jump in here.

first one is some advice I got from @Teddy Edwards that made a big difference to me very early in my growing career

1. start seeing the plants as individuals rather than as a group. This helped me a lot and relieved me from feeling like I had to (wanted to) treat them all at once every time. They each have their own growth and drinking habits etc. - even different phenotypes of a single strain can be vastly different.

2. Tracking. Which actually, among other things, helps me mitigate the energy deficit a bit, Do it in whatever way works best for you and is *easy - that’s most important . These days I keep a chart I made up on the growroom wall and each plant has its own column. The dates run down the side column and I cross them off as time passes. This actually helps me manage my energy deficit a bit around the garden.
I’ll post a pic... I use colour coding for different events and can use it to plan and to track. It’s *super basic.

I have enough room to make little notes and can track when I watered and whether a plant was dry, or not. After a plant has settled into flower a bit I can see about how often it likes to drink and can use this chart to decide if I even *need to open the tent or not to check anything. For example last night I looked at the chart and was happy to go straight to bed because I could see that everything in there had been watered in the last 2days.

3. yeah the timing. I’ve done the same thing with this run and had the lights coming on at six or seven in the evening and it’s just the absolute worst time for me. I am literally at my lowest and at that time of the day I don’t know what I was thinking! There’s been many occasions I’ve pushed myself through dread to water a plant in the evening in the last couple months. I see it as an act of self-love as well as plant love in the long-run because I’m the one benefiting the most from the medicine (and the one who has to apologise to them if I let it go too long - there have been some apologies in recent weeks

All is still good tho.

So that’s my best advice really: try to come up with a way of tracking it so that you can start to see how often each plant is drying out and you’ll find that there are definitely times when you don’t need to open the tent and check - but you can only know this if you’re tracking stuff.

Oh - and slightly bigger pots will give you slightly longer between drinks. Adding vermiculite to your soil mix can do this as well (That works well for organic soil because I don’t fertigate much, if at all, and will be a bit different in a fertigation set up - because you need to feed so you don’t want it to be toooo long ).



...and everything h00k and Shed said as well

 

[InTheShed]

Brilliant!

 

[Amy Gardner]

Brilliant!

Meatballs!

 

[InTheShed]

I don't get it.

 

[Amy Gardner]

Someone might one day It’s a Seinfeld reference... no avail video unfortunately.

 

[Amy Gardner]

It’s become like a word association tic for me - I can’t hear “brilliant!” Without also hearing “meatballs!” in my minds ear.

 

[syenite]

Lovely looking flowers, HG!! Hope you get the watering down soon, but, regardless, looks like you won't be disappointed come harvest time!

So that’s my best advice really: try to come up with a way of tracking it so that you can start to see how often each plant is drying out and you’ll find that there are definitely times when you don’t need to open the tent and check - but you can only know this if you’re tracking stuff.

Yup. I need to do a better job in this regard myself. I check their weights every day but I don't take advantage of them to do any kind of forecasting. Which would be really easy.

I've been neglecting planning purely out of laziness, but the irony is I end up being caught off guard/unprepared often, and that ends up being more work..

 

[Amy Gardner]

and that ends up being more work..

Precisely

 

[Amy Gardner]

Lovely looking flowers, HG!!

And this too!!!

 

[HashGirl]

hi HG! I’m going to jump in here.

first one is some advice I got from @Teddy Edwards that made a big difference to me very early in my growing career

1. start seeing the plants as individuals rather than as a group. This helped me a lot and relieved me from feeling like I had to (wanted to) treat them all at once every time. They each have their own growth and drinking habits etc. - even different phenotypes of a single strain can be vastly different.

Thanks, Amy. I'm seeing that you're absolutely correct about the above. Top watering has shown me that. Thanks, Shed.

2. Tracking. Which actually, among other things, helps me mitigate the energy deficit a bit, Do it in whatever way works best for you and is *easy - that’s most important . These days I keep a chart I made up on the growroom wall and each plant has its own column. The dates run down the side column and I cross them off as time passes. This actually helps me manage my energy deficit a bit around the garden.
I’ll post a pic... I use colour coding for different events and can use it to plan and to track. It’s *super basic.


I have enough room to make little notes and can track when I watered and whether a plant was dry, or not. After a plant has settled into flower a bit I can see about how often it likes to drink and can use this chart to decide if I even *need to open the tent or not to check anything. For example last night I looked at the chart and was happy to go straight to bed because I could see that everything in there had been watered in the last 2days.

Keeping written records is hard for me as it hurts my fingers to write (and besides that, I hate my handwriting ). However, I do keep a notebook in the garden area that I have used to note specifics like how much water they each take and how tall each of them are.

Additionally, I created a Grow Journal spreadsheet where I track everything to do with the grow including the stuff I noted in the notebook. However, my spreadsheet has the calendar like this:

However, now I'm thinking doing the calendar the way you have would make it easier to compare and track so I will change that for the next grow.

3. yeah the timing. I’ve done the same thing with this run and had the lights coming on at six or seven in the evening and it’s just the absolute worst time for me. I am literally at my lowest and at that time of the day I don’t know what I was thinking! There’s been many occasions I’ve pushed myself through dread to water a plant in the evening in the last couple months. I see it as an act of self-love as well as plant love in the long-run because I’m the one benefiting the most from the medicine (and the one who has to apologise to them if I let it go too long - there have been some apologies in recent weeks

All is still good tho.

So that’s my best advice really: try to come up with a way of tracking it so that you can start to see how often each plant is drying out and you’ll find that there are definitely times when you don’t need to open the tent and check - but you can only know this if you’re tracking stuff.

Oh - and slightly bigger pots will give you slightly longer between drinks. Adding vermiculite to your soil mix can do this as well (That works well for organic soil because I don’t fertigate much, if at all, and will be a bit different in a fertigation set up - because you need to feed so you don’t want it to be toooo long ).



...and everything h00k and Shed said as well

I was so hoping you would reply to this, Amy as I know you and I share some symptoms. But, I wasn't going to ask because I know you struggle with fatigue as well. So, thank you for responding with such thoroughness.